Getting organised

One of my quilting students is starting a new quilt using a lot of fabrics of the same colour family. When I asked her how she was going to remember which fabric is which she showed me these plastic zip bags with a pocket on the front. She has printed out all the colours and numbered them and has cut each one out and put in the pocket window. When she cuts each piece of fabric she is going to put it back in the correct bag.


I thought it was a brilliant way of keeping things organised. I suggested she stick a piece of masking tape to the end of each piece of fabric and number it as well, so that if things get mixed up she has the actual fabric labelled as well as the pocket. Of course she will have to be careful to cut the fabric from the other end to the label :-)

In New Zealand We Call It Tinny. . .

. . . when things are lucky or work out just right, and so it was for the latest rookie quilt I have made for my beginner lessons. I had just a tad over the right amount of binding to overlap to do the diagonal join. The border fabric is quilte busy so I decided to join all the off cuts to use for the binding. I did a rough measure and this is how much overlap I had. Just right for trimming to the 2 1/2 inches overlap required for 2 1/2 inch double-fold binding.

This is the finished piece. I've called it 'A Touch of France' because of the colours used. It measures about 74 cm by 80 cm.

Quilting Content - and about time too!

This blog has been bereft of actual real quilting content (as opposed to the fabric acquisition content) so I thought I would post a photo of a teaching sample I have made. Recently I was asked if I would teach some beginners quilting classes as a local fabric shop and this is what I came up with. It measures about 85 cm square and I am calling it the "Rookie Quilt"

I'm teaching it in 6 parts, both in an evening class for 6 weeks and a Saturday class for 3 weeks with double lessons. We have done the nine patch blocks and the inner border(the blue & red bit.) in the evening class and the Saturday class starts tomorrow. I have to say I wasn't totally happy with the design or my fabric choices but deadlines loom and sometimes you just have to go with what you've got.