Sunday, May 31, 2015

Look what we brought home today!


I cannot believe that this happened! I have been wanting to try a long arm at home but of course they cost so much and a friend of the family is selling a simple Pfaff machine and frame for just a few hundred dollars so I'm giving it a test run! Now I looked it up and the reviews are that this only works really for small designs (4-6 inches) and straight lines because of the small throat size of the machine.


I'll post more pics as soon as I get the machine working to see how it sews! I'm so excited to try it out!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Shapes Sampler 2015 Simple Sew-Along

It's been awhile. I have dropped the ball on a few projects because I started a new part-time job at the local Domestic Violence shelter which is super rewarding work. I am actually doing a wonderful quilt project with the women that I work with. It's called the Monument Quilt. I look forward to reaching out to create opportunities for more survivors of male violence to make a square to contribute.

In the meantime I am gearing up to teach my very first quilting class! I rented the sewing room at our local Fiber Arts Center and have eight women signed up. I am doing a skills-based class with a lot of flexibility so that each participant can design a quilt with the blocks they complete in the eight weeks. One might just quilt a pillow. One might make a full bed quilt. You never know, especially when everyone is at different levels of experience. It's my first time so I will just have to see how it goes.

I am posting a page on the Shapes Sampler 2015 so that the participants can reference it during the class and beyond. Feel free to sew along with us this summer. I will be posting progress pics and instructions as we move along.  First meeting is June 2nd.

Here's my Shapes Sampler so far. It covers squares, rectangles, half-square triangles, and diamonds. I added one piece in each set of blocks in the red fabric to show each shape for my son's kindergarten class. I'm thinking I'll count up each shape and piece the number and name of each shape around the border of the quilt. You'll see. :) There are several more shapes to add (60 degree triangles, hexies, circles) depending on how we move along as a group. I'll get a pic posted to update the page once the top is pieced.

Fabrics- Lights and Darks



Squares


Rectangles

Diamonds



Half-square triangles