Beginner Quilting Class Next Week

A short week from today, I will be teaching my first quilting class at the lovely gift shop and co-working space Gather downtown Cary, NC. If you have a yen to quilt but feel intimidated by the many steps, this is the class for you!

Dive into modern quilting, and join us for a fun evening of sewing. A beginner class, we will specifically explore flying geese—the building block of many a quilt pattern—as we piece a mini wall quilt or potholder from starting design to final binding stitch. This hands-on experience is sure to introduce you to every step of the quilting process and prepare you to embark on quilting adventures of your own.

If you're interested in signing up, register on the Gather website. I can't wait to meet you!

I've spent quite some time prepping for the class. From brainstorming project ideas to trying some out on my boyfriend to gauge class length time with a true beginner ;) it has been a blast. This past week was spent building a removable "Learn to Sew Flying Geese with No Waste" poster board that I'm pretty pumped about. I even consulted with my boyfriend's mother about what is the icing on the cake for a quilting class. The answer? Background music, snacks, and potentially some take home kits to practice again for yourself. I am a teensy bit nervous but mostly just unbelievably excited to get to share this skill with new quilter converts.

How many of you have taken a quilting or sewing class in person? What were parts that still remember today—the good and the bad? What is the icing on your porverbial quilting class cake?

Non-Stop

It's been non-stop sewing and snowing over here in Ann Arbor, which makes for a light-filled sewing space and a strong desire to snuggle up under a quilt. Talk about lovely. In the past week, I've developed a worrying sympathy for Chuck Bass, Gossip Girl's bad boy, while finishing two more blocks for my senior show. One is a modified cut-glass block and the other a crazy flying goose block, similar to the one I made on a whim this spring.  I've also set some new rules for myself when it comes to sewing. It turns out that cutting fabric after 10pm while watching a movie and drinking a beer is maybe not the smartest idea, so I've decided that cutting and sewing end at 7pm for the next couple weeks. It's possible that a movie with a lead less attractive than Heath Ledger in a Knight's Tale would be less distracting. However, I'm not going to risk it. Movie-watching and beer-drinking are welcome to follow, but they must keep a safe distance from the rotary cutter and the fabric.






Flying Geese: Progress

The weather is just perfect sometimes, hmm? Looking back at my recent posts, it seems that the weather must always be perfect on Sundays, since it definitely isn't as peaches and cream all the time as my blog makes it sound. In fact, Friday was pretty miserable.

The clouds, cool weather, and rain settled in just in time for the last day of classes, turning a Strummin into Summer concert on the lawn into Jamming in the Student Center basement. Bummer. Not to mention, my classmates and I thought it would be fun to bet how many minutes late our perpetually late professor would be, and when he walked in 15 seconds before the time I guessed, we all laughed....putting him in a foul mood for the rest of lecture. Coupled with the sinking feeling that the guy I have a crush on is gay (not really, but that's Olivia's postulate), Friday was not the most exciting last day of classes I've ever had. However, when my friend Kevin Marble finally started playing at the end of the concert and played my favorite song while we munched on free cotton candy and root beer floats, the night turned around. A walk at Herrick Lake on Saturday and a spontaneous dog pile in the grass with my freshman floormates solidified it. Classes are done. The freckles are returning. Summer is here :)


Today I picked out and cut fabric for two more Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks. May I repeat: I Love My Fabrics. I really want a quilt in them right now. I may have to buy more of a couple and whip up a picnic quilt for our research group lunches. How perfect, right!

Then I moved on to my Flying Geese quilt. I laid it out a couple times without settling on one I liked and then tried the random method. I mixed all the pieces into one heaping mound and, closing my eyes, pulled them out at random to create a formation that I actually quite liked. A little tweaking here and there, and I settled upon a quilt that was approved by both mother and sister. (Thanks, you guys!) I began to piece it together, and it is now in eight pieces instead of thrity-two. Progress I would say.


Plus, next week will be completely summer and multiple evenings in a row of sewing will begin! Hooray!


{Check out the beginnings of this quilt and the almost finished product}

Migration

Oh my, spring is here :) This is the first week I've been able to breathe in months, and it feels great. School doesn't feel like such a daunting monster swallowing my friends, my sleep, and my happiness. I actually have time to enjoy life again. I took an evening off to water color last week, and I could quilt today without feeling guilty about homework I maybe should be doing.

I started a Flying Geese quilt based off a quilt tutorial on purlbee in honor of the Canadian geese leaving us (and because I've been dying to do a flying geese quilt for awhile now). The colors make me happy and remind me of driving with the windows down. Yay, summer! I also made the exciting decision to cut up my newly printed fabric. It's so rewarding to se fabric that you designed and printed yourself. Hopefully this week I can squeeze some quilting time in so that next Sunday I can work on laying it out!


{Check out some progress on this quilt and the almost finished product}