Classroom photos

It is a rare occasion that I get photos from my classes.  I’m sure you understand why.  My visit to Olde City Quilts was a fluke.

This time around Maggie Szfranski took a number of photos for me.  Thank you!  This first photo I’m sharing is a fun one for me because Maggie gave me that pin.  It says, “Will Quilt for Wine”, it’s true, so true.  It’s also fun because I’m wearing my faculty name tag.  A little later in the day Jeanie & I picked up our finalist ribbons at the Information booth.  And I could have one more since it was my first time even being in Houston for Quilt Festival.  Talk about an amazing moment in my quilterly life.

 

Whatever I’m saying in the photo below must have been really, really important because my fingers are closed.

 

 

This is the Designs in Machine Quilting (And Now What?! Class exploring machine quilting designs and how to practice them effectively.  Whether you are quilting on a long arm or a domestic machine practicing on paper is an effective means of developing skill as a machine quilter, and practicing with your dominant and non-dominant hand really helps develop muscle memory as we quilt with both hands.

One other tip: quilt one of Paula Nadelstern’s kaleidoscope prints.  Oh my these prints are gorgeous and provide plenty of quilting area.  Figuring out the stitching path on these will go a long way towards figuring out the stitching path on many other quilt designs.

 

 

I get my 10,000 steps in during the course of every class I teach.  I’m all over the place talking with and encouraging my students to look at the “quilts” and “quilt blocks” on the pages in front of them.  This group was certainly game for opening themselves to creativity and seeing what’s in front of them in a different way.

One of the quilt blocks we work on is a “New York Beauty” and a student created a Ferris wheel.  I can totally see how to draft and stitch that out using a variety of colors of metallic to create the lights, a combination of Aurifil Lana and Superior’s SoFine to create the structure and a deep purple or an ombre for the background of the quilt.

I can see a very large NY Beauty block used to create this.

As a side note when I quilted “When Alex and Jinny met in NY, Beauty Happened” no two blocks would quilted in the same manner.

One of my favorite parts of both the Beginner Machine Quilting class and this class is doing a quilt consult.  I offer quilting and thread suggestions.  The quilter is free to use the suggestions or not, my only goal is to get their creative juices flowing.  If I do that then in essence I’ve done my job.

The next afternoon this quilter was in my beginner class and showed me the thread she picked up for her quilt.  I like it and think the quilt will be quite stunning when she’s finished with it.  Oh what am I saying, the quilt is stunning now and the quilting will enhance its inherent beauty!

I loved being in Houston, the vibe, the students. Sigh, this is one happy quilter!

The next couple of months will be full with 4 quilts that fall into either the “super secret project” category or “I can’t share it publicly until I get it into the competition it’s intended for”  That partly frustrates this quilter because I love to share my work with you!  I’ll be able to share the back of at least one piece I’m working on after I get the old stitching out!

Happy Quilting!

Teri