Teaching fun!

/ quiltinggail

For the last 2 Thursdays, I was teaching at Essem Textiles. We were using the book, “Scrappy Improv Quilting” by Kelly Young.

The first week we made slabs … Kelly discusses one method in the book, but we covered about 6 different methods of making slabs.

Everyone got busy making their slabs … there were all sorts of slabs happening … blue, teal, purple, pink, and a whole mixture of fabrics …

Making slabs can be very freeing when you haven’t done it before! I “caught” one lady using her seam ripper and told her to put it away and just cut off the offending piece of fabric … so she did! There is NO place for a seam ripper when making slabs!

Here’s a few pictures from the first week ….

The “homework” was to finish the slabs and cut them to size as per the instructions in the book. Some of the slabs were easy to cut, and others had a LOT of cutting … but everyone came back ready to roll.

Karen was going to make a large version of the hot air balloon, but didn’t like the way her slab was going, so she decided on making 4 hot air balloons and putting them in one quilt! I like all the polka dots and the blue grunge she choose for the sky!

Prismatic was a popular mini that Robin, Judy, Sue and Joan worked on. Purple, blues and teals were the popular colours for this mini!

Sue managed to get her top completed by the end of the 2nd day! Isn’t it great? I like how she mixed up her colours in her slabs and just went with it!

Robin was also working on the ornament quilt in traditional Christmas colours … red & green. She had completed 2 ornaments before class and worked on the 3rd ornament, using Tri Rec ruler, in class. It’s going to be a beauty!

Cathy, was super keen, and made the hot air balloon before the first class, worked on the Heartstruck quilt during the first class and finished it at home. When making Heartstruck, she used a variety of neutrals – so it made it super scrappy! Which looks great! At the 2nd class, she worked on the Churn, Churn, Churn mini. It was fascinating to have a glance at her book. She had followed along with the blog hop (see HERE) and wrote down how different quilters made the different mini quilts. Oh, and she’s also started on the houses for Funky Town. (hmmm, I think she LOVES this fantastic book!)

Here’s some pictures of her work!!! Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the houses she’s started.

Yes, I worked on a couple of mini quilts as well, but didn’t make much progress on them! It was too much fun visiting and seeing what everyone else was making!

Oh ya, and the venue! Essem has a cosy spot at the back of the store. It is absolutely lovely!

But here are the 2 quilts I made prior to the class! You can read more about them HERE and HERE.

I was Featured

Jennifer, from Inquiring Quilter featured the 2 birds I was given at the retreat. You can read about it HERE.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting!    
Gail 

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14 thoughts on “Teaching fun!”

    • Hi Kathleen,
      When i originally planned the class, I was going to give them the choice of doing one of the projects I had already done. However, I soon found that the instructions are so well written that I thought “why not let them do what they want?” It was fun!

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  4. Hi Gail, how wonderful. I love making slabs – although I always just though of it as improv blocks (good that there’s a name for them). It must have been fun having an in-person class after so long. Thanks for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks. Take care.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Andrée,
      It was fun to have an in-person class! We still have to follow the provincial guidelines regarding double vaccinations and masks … but it was well worth it!
      Thanks for hosting Free Motion Mavericks! 🙂

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  5. I like both of Kelly’s books. Maybe someday I’ll finish the quilt from Kelly’s first book. Hm, I did buy the go with fabric recently so maybe it will get done soon! Sounds like it was a really fun class.

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  6. Hi Gail! I LOVE IT!! Pul down the seam ripper . . . step away from the table. HAHA! There is no place for seam rippers in slab making. How wonderfully freeing. I wish I could have taken the class. I would definitely be one of those that would be tempted to use a seam ripper – I’m not good at random at all. What fabulous projects!! I love all of them. The hot air balloon is so cool as are the ornaments. Fun, fun, fun. ~smile~ Roseanne

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