Beginner Quilting Class: Friday Edition

This weeks post will be a little on the mild side. We did not have quilting class this week, as some of the ladies were going to be out of town. One lady lives in Oklahoma, on the Oklahoma/Kansas line and has been her staying with her cousin for the class. She said she simply had to go home for a week....man, can you blame her?

I did have lots to do however, and was really grateful we had two weeks to complete what needed to be done. I finished all my flying geese blocks....all double count of them!

I cut and did partial sewing on the friendship star blocks. We were instructed to cut all fabrics, and only sew the blocks that make the star points. I love these colors, and had to lay them out on the table to see how they were going to look. What do you think? Do you like the color combination?

Along with working on the friendship star blocks, we had to cut the fabric for the log cabin blocks. Thankfully, we did not have to do any sewing yet on these. I hope these are not has complicated as I am anticipating them to be.

The photos is not the best, and I was too lazy to retake it, so you will have to forgive me. The blue fabric with the cute little flowers on the far left, is the border fabric too. This is the first and only time I have used this fabric in any of the blocks.

I did make a few more rail fence blocks, because I have made extras of each block so far, hopefully, I will be able to enlarge the quilt in the end a bit, at least to a queen size. I should not have a problem, as I have lots of extra blocks...especially the flying geese.

I have been working on another quilt. I branched out on my own and purchased fabric for a quilt I want to give as a gift. I can not show it here, because the person it is for, reads my blog. It is a simple nine-patch and snowball block quilt. I felt secure enough in that choice to feel like I could do it. I found a photo online, and made the pattern on a sheet of paper, and purchased the fabric....from a different quilt shop.

I have discovered that the key to a great quilt is in the fabric choice. And that is one concept we have really not learned how to do in class. I may have to find another class somewhere on this, because this is the whole foundation for the quilt and I am just having a hard time with choosing colors and fabrics.

I purchased fabric from a different quilt shop. I loved the fabric choices for the snowball,and once they were stitched, they looked wonderful. However, once I cut the nine patch and laid them out, I did not care for the look at all. I liked all the fabrics, just not together, somehow, the look was just not right for the person this is for.

So, I took the snowball block to the quilt shop where I am taking classes, and I have to confess, these guys know their stuff. Especially that Leo. He took the block, and helped me choose the fabrics for this quilt and it was just like magic. Seriously. MAGIC. It was so perfect, it totally blew me away, I really think when this is done, it will be perfect for this person.

Lesson learned here....I totally thought the ladies at the other quilt shop were going to be able to help me choose the fabric perfect for my project, but was I ever wrong. These guys at my quilt shop are really talented, amazing and can visualize the finished project far better than the ladies did. Funny huh??? I feel like I should bite my tongue. I was so appreciative of Leo's talent, I took him a jar of my homemade pickles....remember he has a massive sweet tooth, and I knew he would be happy with a jar of homemade sweet pickles....yep, was I right about that!!!

I am really looking forward to next weeks class, we are getting so close to putting the top together, it is exciting. I almost see a light at the end of the tunnel......then it will be the actual quilting part.....Oh my!!