A First - Giving a class, a sew a long & a completion.

Well I did a thing.. I said yes to teaching a friend how to quilt. I warned and continue to warn her that quilting is an expensive hobby. But it does provide gratification. You create something by your own hands and either keep or  give that creation as a gift.  I give probably 95% of mine away. I rarely keep them. Where would I put them all.  Fabric runs $14-$28/yard and most quilts will take at least a total of 7-8 for just a lap or twin size. Then you have to pay for the quilting which can run .02 - .05 cents per inch. So you do the math. Oh and you need thread and batting plus the person's time that put the quilt together. So if you get a homemade quilt as a gift don't think the person is being cheap. LOL  I know most of my readers don't think that but there are some folks out there that do.  Anyway.....

Emily is my student and she's never sewn before. Clothing, quilts, crafts zip. So her first class was learning to cut with the rulers and rotary cutter.  I had made Emily a care package so we went through it and I explained why she would or might need the items.  Like Jack the Ripper. LOL  A sewer's least favorite tool, a seam ripper. It never fails that you'll sew a block up wrong.  I gave her some scraps to continue practice cutting and when she felt comfortable to start some fabric to make a Nine Patch block.  

Well she understood the assignment. Of course she did and I showed her how to lay out her blocks.  She did have to cut some more blocks to be able to make a quilt top.  She did a good job.

 

She pulled out her project journal I created for her with cheat sheets and Project Tracker to mark off the column for cutting.  I told her our next class will be learning her machine and  sewing the blocks together.  

We'll also need to go on her first fabric shopping trip. We need fabric for the sashing between the 9 patch blocks. I'm trying to teach her the good habits. Like pressing her fabric before cutting and how to square up her blocks as she goes along.  Two things I have been not to do but I'm getting better.  

The photographer for VTRA group at the race on the 9 & 10 in Little River captured a picture of David's motorcycle all shiny and waiting for it's turn to show off

Another thing I started last week was a Sew A Long with Moda's Blockhead 7 blocks. There's 38 blocks to make. One a week so maybe I can keep up and finish.

They used Fat Quarters and I just happened to have a Riley Blake Fat Quarter Bundle.  Hopefully it's enough to get all 38 blocks done. I find out.  

I picked the colors for my first block and chose which colors I wanted to use in this first block and labeled them.  You also have choices of what sizes to make your blocks 9, 12, 18, or 24. You can mix the sizes too.  I chose the 12" size thinking that should be easy enough. That's what I get for thinking. When I started cutting for the first block I realized that of the parts are really small. Yikes but I did.  

Block 1 finished.

Now Block 2 looked easy enough except for the paper piecing part. I am not goo with paper piecing but after watching the tutorial at least 4 times and twisted and turned the template I finally got it. Again I marked all the pieces so I'd know which was which. I laid the template on the fabric and lined it up according to the tutorial, double checked the line up had a 1/4" seam allowance, 

  

pressed it, then trimmed the excess off fabric.
                             

I sewed the left point to the right point and it worked! Until I sewed it together wrong and out comes Jack the Ripper. I didn't press the wrong one so it wasn't too back to rip out the seams. 

 

Here's Block 1 and 2. I only added one new color to block 2. The blue floral. Can't wait to see what block 3 looks like. 

Friday (10/16) was Debra's birthday. She's in bookclub and a quilter. She celebrated at the Pony Express in Hearne. She had quite the turn out and her man was in from Austin so it was extra special.  Food is always 
good and the service too. 

A good time was had by all. Especially the birthday girl.
My latest finish. It's called Voyager by Fabric Cafe'. It measures 42.25" x 53.5". Pieced by me and quilted by my awesome friend Donna Lynn @Donna's Lavender Nest.

 

This one is for sale. Message me if interested.

My next quilt will be a donation quilt for the Gause Vol. Fire Dept Auction I believe next month. Working on the binding this week to get it done. And I just finished a donation quilt for VTRA. The group David races with.

Pictures coming soon.

 

Monday (10/19) I went to exercise that morning then I went to my Bee group in Cameron.  Cynthia showed off her first donation quilt. Love it.  Front and back are great.

The next picture didn't turn out so good but every day I came home 2 weeks ago a

 different calf had found

 it's way into the hay ring each day. On Monday 

the 19th coming home from Bee there were 3 calves lounging in the hay ring. LOL

My sewing the 6 days after that was nil. I got sick Tuesday and stopped eating, had no energy and slept 90% of every day. Tuesday through Sunday I lived on a piece of string cheese and slowly drank my cold protein coffee drink. I had no appettite and did run some some fever.  David took me to the doctor Friday (10/23) but no covid or flu, numbers good and blood work good. So they called it a viral infection and my body just has to work through it.  Slow process. I'm over it.  I finally ate my first small meal on Sunday. And a small one today. Yahoo.

Well Tha Tha That's all Folks..

Until next blog...Do not run with scissors