Class Sew A Long - project 5 & more...........

For the last two weeks the ladies in my classes have been working hard, making Decorative Storage Hoops. Here is my sample hoop which allowed me to use a precious piece of Charley Harper fabric that I had loitering in my stash.

And here is a selection of the fabulous hoops made by my ever creative ladies most of whom appear terribly camera shy.

Just one more small project to go before we get down to planning part 2 of our course, more of that later.

Meanwhile, some of you may recall that earlier this year, many of my students contributed blocks to Nicky's Siblings Together drive. Recently, Nicky asked me if I thought we could go one better for next year and perhaps come up with a quilt. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a plan. I have asked for 20" quilted blocks -  just nine of these will join together into a pretty decent 60" quilt. I have planned four different colour options and have already had lots of blocks pledged (and some already made!!)

 My role will be to join the blocks using QAYG strip techniques and then bind them too.

 Here is the block I have come up with -

and how such a block will look in a quilt -

The ladies in my classes always rise to a worthy challenge and I have no doubts that together, we will pull this off too.

Class Sew A Long - Project 4

Nothing like a progressive sew a long to make Christmas loom even faster than usual.

So, the last two weeks was a real quickie - we made Microwaveable Bowls. I first spotted this gem on Judith's blog and searched further for info. I found a great tutorial here that indicated that this great wee project could not be attributed to any one person in particular.
I followed Kathy's advice and emphasised the need for 100% cotton, down to obtaining enough Quilter's Dream cotton wadding to go around all my classes. This has proved to be a bit of a bonus as I have been stuck in a Hobbs 80/20 rut for years now but having felt and used Quilter's Dream I am definitely going to give it a try in a quilt.

So our bowls were very achievable within our class time of 2 hours, several ladies had time to twiddle their thumbs too!!

I really recommend these bowls - great for porridge, of course, but also soups etc, anything hot that you scoff from a bowl.

Meanwhile, I got going on Block 2 of Jen Kingwell's BOM which is being featured each month in the new magazine, Today's Quilter. This month was a 6" block.

And I also got to work on my Secret Santa Sewing for Bee a Brit Stingy, the brilliant online Bee that I am part of. More later.

And finally, can't resist sharing this nugget.........indulge me.