On The Road Again - Teaching

My favorite part of teaching is being IN the classroom with my students. I definitely do not like teaching via Zoom. I am getting ready to teach 5 classes this coming weekend for the Sewing Expo in Fredericksburg, VA. Let me show you the projects.

Machine Quilting is first up and it's my most intense class because I try to fit as much as I can into those 3 hours. Here's a fun sample of my Fat Cat pattern. We take a simple shape and draw it on freezer paper, stitch around it onto the fabric and then fill it in! I introduce stencils, too!

Fat Cat

Divided Diamonds is next. This is a pattern I had published in Quiltmaker Magazine several years ago. The small brown quilt is a 12" size. It is foundation paper pieced.

Divided Diamonds in 12" size

Then I remade it a few years ago and upsized the block to 18". I use the same Michael Millers batiks for my class samples to demonstrate the technique. These are just so happy!

Divided Diamonds in an 18" block

The next class is my Scrappy Diamonds to Jewels. I've shared this before, but it still is a favorite of mine (with a sold out class of 20 students) because of the variety of bright prints I got from my scrap pile.

Scrappy Diamonds to Jewels

The fun of this quilt is that the assembly is unique, there are NO y-seams, we create our jewels from rotary cut diamonds (NO templates) and the border uses a special trick in those corners! You can find this pattern in my Etsy shop.

My 7 Sisters Variation is Saturday morning. I have taken the vintage, traditional 7 Sisters pattern and updated it with today's fabric and a little twist by adding those extra strips to the stars. I actually have 2 quilts and several blocks wanting to become a 3rd quilt!

7 Sisters Variation. 16" x 18" blocks. 51" x 51" quilt

Here's a single block. Check out the Etsy listing to see a few more photos. (This class is also sold out.)

7 Sisters Block

And my 5th and last class (all in 2-1/2 days!) is my Festive Starfish quilt.

Festive Starfish

The pattern focuses on the larger, 4 block quilt that I made using some Hanukkah fabrics by Michael Miller. The 8" blocks are paper pieced in a log cabin manner. Easy!

Festive Starfish Quilt: 44" x 44"

I think that's enough for today. Yes, I will be exhausted after 3 days in the classroom, boots on the ground, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I love my students and sharing how they can play with their fabric and get quilts as a result!