Teaching a Saturday Workshop

One participant's scraps

Last Saturday was the Clark County Quilters guild Saturday Workshop day. This is the day members teach members. There was a fabric painting class, a mile a minute piecing class, a how to create realistic doll faces class, a how to create lace with thread class, a how to make a quilted tote bag class, a how to stitch sashiko class, two different paper piecing classes, a how to make a jelly roll rug class, a gifts to make with fat quarters class, a how to make fabric twine class and my bust your stash class.

This is one of the activities that I look forward to attending each year. The cost of the class covers the rent for the facility and the teachers volunteer their time. A half day class is $10 and a full day class is $20. If the teacher has a kit for the class, the participants pay the fee to the teacher.

It is an affordable day, an opportunity to learn new techniques or to practice/perfect those techniques and a chance to make new friendships.

Making nine patches out of batik scraps

Five ladies attended my class. Of those five, I only knew one so I made four new friends! I decided to teach the workshop to support those people who were stuck doing the bust your stash guild challenge which I'm in charge of this year.  It is always interesting to learn why people register for a particular class!

I thought that people would be stuck in the quilting phase or how to attach a binding or a sleeve; but, I learned it was more of a "am I on the right track," "do my fabrics work with what I'm thinking" and "does this sashing work for these blocks" need for support instead. I learned that more people would have signed up for this class had I offered a specific pattern that they could sew. Hmmm perhaps, I will do that next year!!

I loved seeing all the beautiful scraps, two inch squares and fabric options that arrived. One participant said that her husband used to eat a lot of ice cream and that she used the clean and empty plastic tubs to sort her scraps by color.

Getting to work on the projects

One participant had sewn a number of kaleidoscope quilts over the last 20 years. She was ready to sew the bits into a useable project. She said she was able to cut one two inch square from each of her kaleidoscope leftovers. She was excited to use the yardage that she had accumulated and petted over those years.

She brought a small plastic rectangular organizer container with two layers.The top section contained a tray of her sewing supplies.  Her fabric squares were in the bottom section. She had named this section the "randomizer." She would "stir" the pieces a bit and then select five mediums for her nine patch block. She would sew the block and repeat the process. Her nine patches were beautifully sewn.

I recognized many of her fabrics and couldn't believe some of them were the age she said. Time moves quickly! She was making a pattern from one of Bonnie Hunter's books. Her quilt is going to be stunning when it is finished. She plans to hang it on a wall in her home.

Leftovers becoming a plan

A second lady shared her story about the first quilt that she had machine pieced. She said once she had the top together, she took it to a fabric store to learn how to put the "stuffing" in it. She laughs now. . .realizing it was batting and backing that she needed; but, at the time she thought quilters pushed the fiber in the middle of the layers somehow.

She ended up taking her top to a longarm quilter and the longarmer commented how her quilt wasn't square and wasn't flat which the quilt creator had no idea that square or flat mattered! The lady said she finished the quilt and even made a second quilt for a grandchild.

I loved her story. I admired her can do and see what happens attitude. She spent part of her time cutting  squares and parts for blocks. Then she sewed the pieces together intuitively. She said she couldn't follow a pattern and that she was more of a painter or potter. She said she that one of her friends told her to come to class to get ideas on what to do with her scraps. I so want to see what her project becomes!

The third participant brought samples of scrap quilts that she had made which gave us a great opportunity to talk about how to choose fabrics that work well together and to see different designs. She is a machine embroiderer and she brought samples of stitch outs that she was picking scrap fabrics to use as sashing. I sure want to see those quilt/quilts finished! I'm thinking that I might invest in some of those embroidery designs. . .

The fourth participant had participated in a 52 week block challenge with a friend last year. The participant completed all of the blocks. Her friend dropped out after a few weeks.

One nine patch finished

This participant used fabric that she had loved a number of years ago and which she had moved several times. The block challenge was a way for her to finally use the fabric she loved. She decided that the guild challenge was the way to get the blocks set and the quilt finished! She designed sashing using two inch squares. Her blocks were shades of blue and yellow which were so pretty and so beautifully made.

She made some choices regarding fabric so that her block setting would be more modern. She made a sample sashing and then decided to adjust it a bit. She was at the point to stitch a coping strip around her blocks when class ended. She too is creating a beautiful project.

The fifth participant had left over HST triangles from different projects. She stitched them together in a couple of sizes. She too made nine patches with her two inch squares. Her plan was to set the some of the nine patch blocks in the center and then follow up with larger squares. She is planning to gift the quilt to a great niece arriving in the spring.

All in all, it was a good day. I sure look forward to seeing their projects hang in the show in April!