As many of you know, I’ve been teaching quilt making to a small group of women since last June and we gather about twice a month in the Plenty church basement to discuss and make all things quilty. Some of the members are long standing and were quilting with me way back when I first starting teaching in my studio/gallery space around 2010, and some of the students have only been with me since last summer. The one thing we all seem to agree on is how much fun, creativity, and satisfaction quilting adds to our lives.
Each time we gather together I’ve been presenting a new block to the group, which teaches a different skill or technique to add to their personal repertoires. I started out with some very simple offerings such as strip piecing and half square triangles, and as the months went by the techniques became more advanced to include partial seams, curved piecing, and applique, just to name a few.
Now that all of our blocks are complete, this weekend we’ll be focusing on sashings and borders, with each student designing a setting unique to them, with some help from me, of course. Our main goal at the moment is to have the quilt tops sewn together in time for our third annual Plenty Piecemakers Quilt Show scheduled for Saturday, May 4th, 2019.
This week has been a busy one for me, with lots of class samples and preparations to do and tonnes of sewing getting done. As you can see, I’m still doing most of my piecing in the home studio where the design wall is practically non-existant, but it hasn’t slowed me down much and I’ve managed to get my teaching blocks all sewn together as a top. I know that I’ve already set aside a large piece of yardage for the back of this quilt but, since I’ve set the blocks on point it’s turned out a bit bigger than my original plan, so I’m hoping I have enough. There is still binding to consider for this one and I haven’t wrapped my head around that yet. It will be easier to decide when I get a good look at what’s in the stash, and I’ll definitely be heading to the studio this weekend as the weather report looks very promising. We’ve recently had some days just slightly above zero and next week’s predictions are looking even better. Soon I’ll have no excuse at all for not getting in front of the longarm and it’s a good thing as that pile of quilt tops is beginning to topple over 😮
Quilty forecast – Â sunny days ahead, perfect for quilts on the clothesline!
Until next time,
as always, carol xox
Oh what fun! Loving the setting triangles fabric and the sashing! This one definitely looks like spring (only there is still a lot of snow in that picture!) Things are beginning to melt around here too…finally. xoxo
Thank you so much, Tammy! The funny thing about this project is that every single piece of fabric came out of my stash, which tells me one thing – either I’ve got way too much fabric or I just need to dig deep and use it more creatively each time. I vote for the second suggestion. Hugs, xox