Student Work and Class Offerings

 I spent some time with students last week at Sweet Home Quilting, a local quilt shop and INNOVA dealer.

In the morning, the monthly lecture/demo class met for Color My World. This runs all year, and allows those making the 2021 Block of the Month quilt for The Quilt Show to show off their progress in person and get specific help as needed. Great ideas come from this sharing experience.

Cyndi always has good ideas and she adapted the Little House in the City pattern to have fewer seams in the background. In the lower portion, she combined sections 1, 2 and 3 first, then added the one piece of background to either side. Very clever: 

On the left, is the original pattern, blocks made by my friend Pam. On the right are Cyndi's blocks, before the trees are added. 

Cyndi's Tall Buildings, ready for the Little Houses to be sewn in  place:

Paula's progress, made completely from silk, a lot of garment remnants and ties: 

As every fabric is interfaced, it's quite heavy: 

Beverly is making progress:

Beverly got help designing the Saturn V rocket pattern that is a highly recognizable landmark in Huntsville, AL. The pattern was the 2016 Row by Row block from Patches & Stitches, another local quilt shop. They still have this pattern available for sale:

By increasing the diagram on the pattern above by 200%, Beverly has an almost perfect size paper pattern. Here you see the original full size design and the design area for the Corner Skyscraper: 

For those looking for Lighthouses,  the Washington Monument, Windmills, etc.,  first search online for such patterns. You may find exactly what you are looking for and will only have to adjust for the size needed. The Seattle Space Needle is very similar to the Centrepoint Tower which will be provided November 1--it would be very easy to change the shape at the top of that pattern to create your own version of the Space Needle.

Mary-Louise hasn't let some medical issues keep her from making progress:

I have seen several photos of fussy cutting cute things in the windows and doors of these buildings:

In the afternoon, six students gathered to learn how to make Scrappy Trips,  a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter, available here, on her blog  This is Bonnie's version--I love that green border: 

A quick description of how to select fabrics, the size to cut, and how to get started had everyone ready to begin: 

Each student quickly got the hang of it and blocks started to  appear: 

In less than 3 hours each person had two blocks done, or very close, and declared this a great "scrap buster" quilt. It is good for donation quilts, or a Girl Scout/Boy Scout project or to teach someone who wants to learn the basics of making pieced blocks without much stress: 

Sadly, I had to cancel two local classes recently, due to lack of interest. If you are not interested in taking a local class at this time, I would like to know why. Some  have really gotten used to sewing at home, taking ZOOM classes. Some are not ready to gather in public spaces yet.  Maybe it's just lack of sufficient advertising. 

The classes were good ones I was eager to offer locally, and the couple people who signed up were disappointed the classes were canceled. I will try one of them again locally next year but the other will not be offered again as the sample quilt is a gift for a friend and I won't own it any more.

The one I will offer again, Charming Sampler, uses 5" charm packs and teaches a LOT of tricks for making 4 different blocks quickly, as well as paper piecing for those who want to give that a go. I also sneak in some "quilters math" on how to make these same blocks larger than the 3" used here. It has been a successful class the previous times I've taught it:

As I am starting to travel to teach again, there will be less time to offer local classes. If you see a class you are interested in locally, mine or other teachers', sign up or perhaps miss the chance on that project. This is true for all shops/guilds--support them when they provide learning opportunities whenever you can.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

COLOR MY WORLD--MONTH 10--LITTLE HOUSES IN THE CITY

 It's Month 10 and we've got an easy month: 4 Little Houses in the City. Even if you are not making Color My World, this is a terrific little house for other projects:

one of mine in the completed quilt

These are pretty easy to make, there is only one piecing step that might seem a bit confusing. 

Pieces 2 and 3 are the Window sections and they are  made separately, then joined before being sewn to piece 1, the Door section. My friend Pam provides me with hers so I can share these visuals with you. She writes on the paper--what fabrics go where, and that really helps. There are some tiny pieces of House above those small windows. 

Here you see pieces 2 and 3 upside down--they are ready to be sewn together to create the Window row and can then be added to the lower Door section:

We add tree trunks to both sides of the Little House, using the Clover 1/4"  Quick Bias makes this a snap. I printed the Placement Guide for the Trees on vellum so I could see through it:

Pam made her tree trunks thicker, using two pieces of bias for each tree, as the pattern shows. Here are Pam's 4 Little Houses in the City:

After adding the tree trunks, it's time to add the tree tops. You can make a template from freezer paper or Templar, a heat-resistant template plastic, to make it easy to turn under the lower edge of the tree tops:

Press freezer paper to back of tree top

Use a pencil to draw the turn line at the lower edge

Trim the lower edge about 3/8" beyond the pencil line, turn and press the seam allowance under

Remove the freezer paper template--the tree top is ready to stitch in place with a straight or decorative stitch

I cut away some of the right side tree top before adding the left side:

 The pattern says to cut away the Background under the treetops to reduce bulk. I don't think I did that on mine but you certainly could:

Once the four Little Houses in the City are made, you can join them to 4 Tall Buildings. The Little Houses go at North, East, South and West. Tall Buildings 1, 2, 3, 4 LEFT go on the RIGHT of the Little House because Tall Buildings LEFT means they are LEFT of the corner SKYSCRAPERS.  

Remember, you are making another complete circle of this last outer ring so you can sew your Upper Road circle edge to the lower edge of the Tall Buildings/Little Houses/Skyscrapers:

My sample, finished

Just a NOTE: I gave the design area dimensions for Little Houses in the City last July for those who want to design their own houses. Find it here:  Design Area Little Houses in the City

Next month will be here before we know it and BOTH Months 11 and 12 will be released November 1. This is a special gift to those who joined last November when Color My World was first announced. We assured you all 12 patterns would be made available to you so you did not have to renew your membership just to get the final month's pattern. 

But I really want you to renew. The 2022 Block of the Month quilt is beautiful and sure to be another winner. It's still a secret, but I expect you will finally get to see it in early November. Here is just one of the posts I have written about all the value you get as a Star Member of The Quilt Show: What The Quilt Show offers

It's not too early to remind you: the COLOR MY WORLD BLOCK OF THE MONTH PATTERNS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL DECEMBER 31, 2021. 

The licensing agreement with the designer gives her back the rights to  her pattern as of January 1, 2022 so The Quilt Show is not able to provide these patterns to you after December 31, 2021. Print out the patterns, save them to a thumb drive or a hard drive, but beware, those things sometimes fail, hard drives crash, life happens, and if you lose the patterns after December 31, 2021 you will have to BUY them from the designer, for somewhat more than what your Star Membership costs. 

And if you haven't started yet, and think you might "someday", be sure to save/print all the patterns now so you have them when you are ready.

Let's quilt,

Barbara

Teaching Beginning Quiltmaking

 At a local shop Sweet Home Quilting, I recently taught a 9 hour class for beginners. The project is fairly simple, and the 3 class sessions are about right for beginners to get the hang of making their first quilt. I call the class Learn to Quilt--the Basics, Fast and Fun:

39" x 48"

This time, I did session 1 and 2 in the same day--so the students had 6 hours of instruction the first day. For true beginners, just learning to cut fabric and the basics of piecing a block can take 3 hours--then it's time to pack up. This worked very well. Everyone got all the instruction they needed, as often as needed, and all went home the first day with at least 4 blocks complete. 

A week later they returned for the third session, 3 hours of instruction on how to finish their quilt--whether they will quilt it on their machine, will pay to have it longarm quilted, or will rent time on a longarm and quilt it that way. They also got detailed instruction on binding their quilt.

Four of the six students returned for the last class. The other two were unable to make it. Leila used luscious Cherrywood fabrics for her blocks. While not a true beginner, Leila knew she could benefit from learning tips and tricks and she was very pleased with her improvement in  piecing:

In the 3rd session we also discuss selecting borders that really add a great touch to the quilt. This Kaffe Fassett fabric is absolutely perfect for Leila's blocks and navy sashing:

Betsy chose a beautiful, soft palette and made several sets of blocks at home. She has just ordered a brand new Bernina 770 sewing machine and is eager to step up her quiltmaking a notch when it arrives: 

I have taught almost 2000 beginner students over the past 35 years. Many of them make beautiful first quilts in the classes, quilts that impress me with their workmanship or color choices, or a design element added.  I am not usually totally gobsmacked by a student's quilt but Ida did that. 

I love everything about this quilt. She chose a line of fabric, so everything blends nicely. But it is her choice of a small print for the sashing and the geometric outer border that just did it for me. Remember when we learned "you don't wear stripes with polka dots"?  It's kind of like that for me--my sashings tend to be solids. Ida used a lovely small vine-like print for her sashings. Then she knocked it out of the park with the terrific geometric print for the outer border. To cut that accurately, she had to cut one layer at a time--she figured that out on her own. Great job, Ida!:

A close-up: 

I love teaching beginners or those who are learning on their own and want to enjoy the process more by being more successful in their efforts. Now I look forward to seeing these lovely women again in future classes.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

I Love Texas!

 Recently I had the pleasure of traveling to Houston, TX to give a lecture and workshop to the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston. Here are some photos of the trip. All four flights, from Huntsville to Atlanta to Houston, in both directions were on time or arrived early. No travel issues at all--that alone makes for a great trip.

I will also mention: almost everyone I saw in  public was wearing a mask. Of course, at the airports, that's required, but also in all the stores and restaurants I entered, many had signs posted masks were required. Many at the meeting also wore masks and I put mine back on after I gave my lecture.

The lovely woman I had been communicating with for almost two years, picked me up right on time and we had traveling mercies: Houston traffic is tough,  it was late afternoon, but we made it from the airport to the hotel in about 35 minutes--that was super! The kind woman at the front desk of the Hilton Westchase recognized my status with Hilton and upgraded my room. This trip is just getting better and better:

My quilt on the bed

Spacious

Double sinks

The view

The Rio Rancho hotel restaurant was totally about "sense of place"--can you tell we're in Texas?

I highly recommend the Breakfast Tacos--Brisket and Eggs, yum!

The following day there was some touring and shopping then dinner before the evening lecture:

Ready to begin

Slideshow prior to the meeting, with announcements

The next day's workshop

The audience to my left

The audience to my right--some are still  out in the foyer conducting guild business

They had some ZOOMERS watching from home. After I gave the lecture they had show and tell. I was thrilled many brought their Afternoon Delight quilts to show me: 

One of the ZOOMERS sent her Afternoon Delight show and tell for all to see

Love this border, inspired by Sue Garman's pattern Ruffled Roses

Another fantastic border--great way to enlarge this quilt without making even more Double 9 Patches and Applique' blocks

Another beauty

And another beautiful border

THEN: the Color My World quilts came out to impress me: 

These two ladies are happy to be keeping up

This quilter was inspired by Color My World--Mariner's Compass center, circular design all around, but totally her own quilt

One more in the home stretch now

The next day we had such a great workshop I took no photos! The group was small but eager to learn and all got individual attention throughout the day. I have already received a lovely email from one who said she was thrilled with what she learned in class and that her original plan to only make one block as a trivet has now changed to something more useful and beautiful. It is that unexpected note from a happy student that keeps us traveling quilt teachers on the road.

After a lovely early dinner after the workshop, we took the trek back to the airport so the next day would be easier for everyone.  Alas, what should have taken less than an hour, took more like two. Houston traffic at the end of a work day--it is what it is. But I was settled for the night and the rest of the trip, back to home, was uneventful.

One more good meal at one of my favorite places, Pappadeaux at the airport, salad with grilled salmon:

Then I was home. Someone was happy to see me: 

Goldie

I love teaching quilting just about anywhere but especially in Texas. All my Texas quilter friends--I am ready to come back any time!

Next stop is BACK to Houston in a month for International Quilt Festival. I am very excited to see my Special Exhibit "My Joyful Journey" hanging in the Convention Center. I hope to see many of you there. 

Let's quilt.

Barbara