Week one of my Crazy Quilting Class

If you remember me posting my goals for this year, you will remember that teaching a crazy quilting class was one of them. I have been an absolute bundle of nerves anticipating the first class, which was this Monday night just past. Since it is a three week course, I decided to structure it so the first week was piecing, the second week seam treatments and the last week for fun with motifs. I have to say it was much better than I had been anticipating - but I'm still a bundle of nerves - have to work on that!

I had four students in the class and they all succeeded in piecing their blocks or getting close enough that they can finish at home before next week. Jasmine wanted to learn crazy quilting because she loves to sew but never manages to make a straight seam. Sounds like a great candidate for crazy quilting to me! She made her block from the tie remnants I recently added to my stash.

Pat is a long time sewer and quickly caught on to crazy quilting and got her block sewn up.

This student had never sewn before! She brought some lovely cottons to class and made a great block. Even though English is her second language she managed to follow along which was great.

This is the block Janice made, almost complete. Janice is a proficient traditional quilter and came armed with a huge bag of great scraps of quilting cotton. It was fun to watch her putting them all together.

So, with the first week of class under my belt, I am feeling a little calmer, especially since piecing is my least favourite part of crazy quilting. Next week is seam treatments, which I love, so should be easier! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Giveaway Day! (CLOSED)

I am very happy to be joining in the Giveaway Day through Sew, Momma, Sew . I have chosen to share one of my finds from a shopping trip, or treasure hunts as I think of them. This is an antique sewing box - I could not resist it when I saw it for sale! Were you able to guess the item from the sneak peek earlier in the week? The box itself is fairly small, 8 inchs X 6 inchs and 4 inches high (20 cm X 15 cm and 10 cm high). From my research it is of Asian origin. Inside the sewing box is lined with hand-painted silk. The inside of the lid features a neat little needlebook. In the bottom of the sewing box there are more beautiful hand-painted blossoms and an attached pincushion. I hope you are as charmed by this little box as I was when I found it and that you will enter my giveaway. I will be pleased to mail internationally so everyone is invited to enter. To enter, visit my Etsy shop and then come back and leave me a...

Giveaway!

I am feeling like celebrating for various reasons! Firstly, this is my 100th post on my blog and that seems worthy of a little celebration. Secondly, I can now count the days on this year's camping season on my fingers! It has been a busy summer out here at the campground and I am anticipating getting home for a rest - I am so looking forward to hot showers, a real bed, good lighting and my comfy stitching chair! So, I have decided to celebrate with a giveaway! I think these are great fun and have put my name down for several and even won once so it feels like time to be on the hosting end for a change. I have decided to give away a squishie of items for stitching, embellishing and inspiration. I can't show you a picture right now because of the twist I have come up with! I'll start out with a squishie containing some fun items like an oya or two, specialty threads and fancy yarns, a silkie and a couple other things. For every person who puts their name in the draw by leavi...

BAS - Week 73 - Raised Fishbone Leaves (and Tutorial)

It took me a little while to get this one ready - lots of photos in the tutorial. This Build a Seam (BAS) Challenge is for Raised Fishbone Stitch leaves. With a little practice you will get much better results than I did - this was my first attempt on these as well. For some reason I have basically avoided fishbone stitch but no time like the present to learn! I hope you enjoy this BAS Challenge! Begin by marking your leaves on your fabric. You will find it handy to have an outline to follow while stitching. I used a mechanical pencil to lightly mark mine - hopefully not so lightly you can`t see them! To begin, bring your needle up at the point of the leaf and take it down again about halfway down on the center vein. Now come up again directly to the left of that, on the outside edge of the leaf. Take your needle down again just barely to the right and down from the top leaf point. And bring it up again just barely to the left and down of the point...

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