Intro to Curves Class

This November I will be teaching an intro to curved piecing at Quilter's Way in Concord, MA. I will be using a drunkards path block to teach curved piecing and we'll make this great block! Come join me on November 3rd if you want to learn curved piecing or just want to learn how I made this fun block. You can sign up here.

It's an easy and fun block to make. I threw a bunch of these together a while back into this quilt top:

I still need to quilt this, but it's hanging up at Quilter's Way right now. 

What I've Been Working On

I've been pretty busy lately with work, having just taken on a new role. I have managed to steal a few hours here and there to work on a couple of things. Just not as much time as I would like.

I finished making all nine blocks, now I'm playing with layouts. The version above is what I'm leaning towards, but I'm still not positive. (Please look past the crappy photos, these blocks are HUGE, measuring about 26" square, so they won't all fit up on my design wall. I have been laying them out on my living room floor, making it hard to photograph the full quilt. I'm standing on my couch to take these pictures, and I can't even get the whole quilt in.)

This was the first layout I tried. I wasn't crazy about it because although you get the rainbow gradation, the balance of color value wasn't working for me. I'm all about balance.

I might take these blocks outside this weekend when I have some time to play around with the layout a bit more. Hopefully I'll settle on a layout soon.

Sewing Curves

I first took a class on sewing curves about 8-9 years ago. I've made a couple of things with curves, but I never really thought much about them before. It's not like I stayed away from them on purpose, I just never really thought about it. Recently, as I was thinking up my next class to teach at Quilter's Way, I thought sewing curves would be a fun class.

I decided to use the popular drunkard's path block to make a fun quilt. I pulled a bunch of fabrics in a rainbow assortment with the help from my sister and got to work. I used an AccuQuilt die to cut all of my drunkard's path pieces, saving a lot of time.

I played with a few layouts and decided on a floral-type arrangement.

Right now I have two blocks complete, all of the drunkard's path sections sewn together and am in the process of cutting all of the square and sashing component of these blocks. These flower blocks measure around 26" square, so this will be a pretty good size lap quilt when it's done since there will be nine blocks total.

4 Blocks Down, 4 To Go

I made another 3 blocks for the Fiesta! quilt that I'm making.  I'm loving how these are coming out. 

And here's a pic of the first block that I made...

Fiesta! Quilt Class Part 1

Last Thursday (I know I'm late on this post) after work, KK, Lynn, and I got together at one of our LQS to take the Fiesta! class.  It meets every other Thursday night for 3 sessions.  In this class we made block 3 which combines paper piecing and curves, which I've done before. 

This was my first block.  If you remember my previous post where I showed the fabrics I'm using, I picked brown, teal, and rust batiks. 

This one is Lynn's block. 

And these are the pieces of KK's block.  She didn't have the chance to put it all together during the class, but you get the idea. 

I love that we're all using batiks.  I've been trying to use them more regularly in my quilting.  I've tended to stick to printed cottons, but I really want to branch out.  I love batiks and I don't know why I don't use them more. 

I hope to have all 8 blocks of this particular block done by our next class on the 18th.  My first priority is to get the binding attached to my cousin's quilt for their bridal shower on the 21st.  Must finish!!!!!