Adventures in Teaching, in three parts

On Monday we had a great Quarter Circle class. We had a full group, but I only managed to get pictures of three of the beautiful blocks:

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With a little inspiration and some graph paper, anyone can be a quilt designer. That was my hypothesis when I developed the curriculum for my two-Saturday class Modern Quilting 101. We had our first day of classes on the 25th and it was a lot of fun to see my students get inspiration from the mid-century African American quilt exhibit From Heart to Hand at the Montclair Art Museum.

Luckily, with a little guidance, my hypothesis was proven right.

After spending an hour in the gallery, we headed down Bloomfield Avenue to the workroom at Rock Paper Scissors to make those designs a reality. Here is Chrys’s design:

And her (nearly) finished mini quilt top:

Thalia-Marie sewed her first ever seams!

Selma was so inspired by a denim quilt in the exhibit that she ran home during the lunch break to grab some old jeans. Check out what she made! (Do you see the bear in the middle?)

Daphna experimented with improvisation:

Pat made foliage-inspired log cabins:

And Jen made some pretty patchwork:

Next week we quilt and bind.

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And I got some great news yesterday– I’ll be teaching at Mid Atlantic Mod, the MQG retreat hosted by the Central Jersey and Philadelphia MQGs and sponsored by DC, Baltimore, and my very own North Jersey MQG. It’s a new quilt design and a new class, designed to practice and perfect your quarter-inch seam allowance. Registration for the April retreat in Lancaster, PA, starts November 1.

Here is the first block. I’ll keep you updated on the quilt’s progress. I’m so excited.