June's Busy-ness

Lora and I had a wonderful time together last week. We gave our "What is Modern Quilting?" program to about 150 quilters at Quilting Guild of The Villages (QGOTV). I'm happy to say that we received some welcome feedback, including one person who said that our program was one of the two best ones she's ever heard! Now that's positive reinforcement!

We might have impressed QGOTV with the 17 door prizes we brought, thanks to generous book donations by AQS (Modern Quilts and More, among other titles) and Storey Publishing (Quilting With a Modern Slant), and seven battings for this event from Quilter's Dream. All good stuff!

Following our presentation, an extra special addition to our modern trunk show was having Sandi Snow join us, from Lutz, Florida, to show two of her award-winning quilts. 

(L) Lora, and Sandi

At the AQS show in Paducah, one quilt won a blue ribbon in the modern category.

Sandi's other quilt was the AccuQuilt Challenge winner. If it looks somewhat familiar, you've probably seen it in AccuQuilt print ads, in quilting magazines.

The day after our program, Lora and I led two Improvisational Block workshops. Students made these 15-1/2" X 15-1/2" blocks using fabrics Lora and I pulled and cut from our own stash. Yah, that was somewhat painful. By weight, each bundle was wrapped into a 3 kit.

The morning class was full. That's Lora (in the orange top) and me, lower left front, with 13 of our quilting friends.

The afternoon class was smaller, but no less enthusiastic! I have no doubt whatsoever that we'll be seeing some of these quilters at future Central Florida MQG meetings. Maybe even tonight!

After I was featured on the Quilter's Dream blog as their June battgirl, I learned I was being sent a box of "thank you" battings! Look at the great assortment I received! Looks like I've got a few quilts to make! In my next quilt, I'll be using a combination of Dream Poly (request) and Dream Wool - that's something new for me to try - and then I'm anxious to use Orient. The pink pin at the bottom of the photo says I'm a BattGirl.

The weekend saw me prepping samples and hand-outs for this week's classes. Tomorrow, at Bradenton Quilters, I'll be showing how to make a thread catcher, using three of my examples in various stages of completion.

On Wednesday two-weeks/eight hours of Beyond First Time Quiltmaking starts. Besides making the 54" X 60" quilt top with a variety of pieced blocks, students will learn how to make my favorite binding - the one with no tails to join, and machine-sewn mitered corners, like the tutorial here. To demonstrate, I prepared this 32" X 42" quilt and binding.

So, everything is ready, though I'm just now getting to quilt the quilt! I'm feeling a little free-motion-rusty, but as I keep quilting every day, I can tell I'm getting back in the groove. 

I'm trying to include quite a bit of straight-line quilting, so students will see how effective it is, and very do-able.

It's been two weeks of too much fun! Linda