What a Week !

This was the end-of-the-week student display 

for last week's quilting class at

John C. Campbell Folk School.

(this is roughly 1/3 of their total work)

I had four eager and able students

who jumped into making scrappy strata

with enthusiasm and laughter.

It was such fun to watch them grow their skills

and gain confidence working with color.

And we spent Tuesday evening visiting 

Bless My Stitches 

(Murphy NC's LQS)

in order for the students to update their choices

for corner and optional sashing fabrics.

(BIG thanks to DH for driving the school's borrowed Suburban)

L. plans to make a queen size quilt 

using these (and many more)

scrappy kaleidoscope blocks.

She will add soft blue sashing between the blocks

when it comes time to lay out her quilt top.

S. had 8 of her block centers completed

and strata made for the remaining four blocks

by the end of our week in the mountains.

(one was on the cutting table when this photo was taken)

The calligraphy print will be used for her block corners.

K. used a mix of vintage fabric, 

yardage from her late mother's stash,

and fabrics from a number of estate sales

to piece her kaleidoscope blocks.

She added the mottled gray print to one block

as a test to be sure she understood the process.

She has sewn for years but this will be

her first-ever quilt top.

D. worked with bright colors and completed these block centers

plus 3 more that were not on the wall when I took the photo.

She plans to use the bright on black print 

to corner all of her blocks.

(love the spinning design the print creates)

Fun to see how they found four new ways 

to interpret my inspiration quilt.

While they stitched and pressed, 

I did some intermittent scrappy sewing of my own.

This is the companion block to the one I made

for the Instructors' display case at JCCFS.

I'll use the same backing with blue binding.

Once quilted and finished, 

these will be used as mats on our round end tables.

L. passed all of her strata end cuts and leftovers to me.

I plan to use them to make a wall size version of

Moments in Time using background greens instead of blues.

Leftover strata from making the two sample blocks

and other step outs for the class was cut into wedges.

This set will become a long reversible runner.

This group is sewn together 

ready to become a wall quilt.  

(the Ghastlies from Bless My Stitches 

will be used for the backing) 

And the smallest leftover bits of strata

were crumb pieced into three long strips.

One is 6" wide, 

one is 7.5" wide,

and the third is 8" wide.

I have a coins-related plan for these

 after combining them with two other pending projects.

We'll see how it evolves.

* * *

And while we were busy in the quilting studio,

DH was busy in his class - click here to see what he made.

Quiltdivajulie

Student Work from St. Louis Workshop

I had an email from Josephine last week.

She was one of the students in my St. Louis workshop

earlier this year.

LOOK what she did with her liberated birds!

And look closely at her hand quilting - 

bird houses and so much more.

SO wonderful.

She also sent me photos of Regina's work.

First is this piece with big birds and little birds,

plus right facing and left facing birds,

all with fabulous wings and legs.

Well done!!

And this is a detail photo from the table runner

Regina put together.

She added tree limbs for the birds to perch on

along with free hand leaves and branches in the solid areas.

Here is her complete table runner.

I love it.

* * *

And the even better part?

Josephine shared this thought -- 

". . . it was liberating for me, and although I haven't tried it yet, 

I realize that any kind of block can be done in this way 

liberating it from the confines of rigid, measured lines.

YES!!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"Every adventure requires a first step."
The Cheshire Cat

What a Class!!

Wow -- what an awesome group of bird makers!!

(Kathy had to leave early so she isn't in this group photo)

Be sure to double click these photos

to see just some of the fabulous fabrics

were chosen for bird legs!!

These ladies definitely got the memo to go colorful.

Regina made her birds in related pairs

for a table runner she's planning to make.

And as the ladies made their second and third

(or fourth and even fifth) birds,

I pretty much ran out of adjectives

to describe how innovative 

and wonderful their color choices were.

Stylish, sophisticated, elegant . . . 

. . . bold and dynamic . . .

. . . striking and exotic . . . 

. . . unique and flamboyant . . . 

And like me, some bird makers

just HAD to go their own way

and make birds with a non-white background

and one with these gorgeous tail feathers!

(all photos should supersize if double clicked)

And there were many, many more birds beyond these -

so many that we all lost count after about 2:00.

It was indeed a marvelous class.

Many thanks to the Thimble and Thread Guild

of Kirkwood, MO for hosting this fun

and so-very-colorful workshop.

Many thanks to Glen for sharing her Bird A Day quilt (L)

and to Lynne for sharing her Flight of Fancy (R).

Lynne also loaned me her Extras quilt (left)

and I took my own Just Wing It quilt (right)

for even more inspiration.

The students LOVED them!

Have you made a liberated bird?

If not, you can get Lynne's most excellent tutorial

by visiting her Etsy shop 

Happy birding to all!!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"What seems mundane and trivial is the very stuff that discovery is made of. The only difference is our perspective, our readiness to put the pieces together in an entirely different way, and to see patterns where only shadows appeared just a moment before."
Edward B. Lindaman

Look What They Made!

This is Miss Martha with one of her finished blocks.

(week 2 photo)

This is her finished quilt top -- 

except that during our third class she decided to

make three more blocks so her top will be rectangular.

Check out the borders she plans to add -

love the way the saturated orange and green 

play with the rest of her top.

This is Miss Marie and her first untrimmed block.

(another week 2 photo)

Here is her finished 9-block top 

with sashing and cornerstones.

Gorgeous!

This is a partial view of  Jean's quilt top.

She accomplished all this in the first two weeks

since she had to miss our third class.

This is Geri with her quilt top.

She chose these fabrics for her husband - a deer hunter.

We all think she did a great job and that he will love it.

This is the backing she chose.

With all those compasses, 

he'll never get lost in the woods.

That is Alice hiding behind her quilt top.

She made more and larger blocks 

and with her sashing and corner stones

her top now measures roughly 65" x 85".

She's planning to add a narrow turquoise inner border

and an outer border featuring the focal fabric

used in the corners of her blocks.

I snagged these two photos of Margaret's blocks

from her Instagram feed.

She has 15 of her 25 blocks completed

with the remaining 10 partially sewn.

(her goal is a queen size quilt)

She's also working on her 3-strip sashing segments.

I love the story behind her corner square fabric,

the way she cut them in different sizes,

the wide variety of fabrics in her strips,

and how the Flamingo cornerstones 

bring the whole top to life.

* * *

I am so impressed with the quilt tops

these ladies created in just three short weeks.

We're already planning the next class for August

that will feature Sujata's free form rail fence 

from Cultural Fusion Quilts.

There's more fun and learning ahead

at Fabric for the Flock!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------
"Let's work hard, but take the pressure off ourselves and have some fun with the process. Otherwise, what is the point?"
Gaye Adams