One of the lessons learned is to  get your class a good title AND a good class description.  I clearly failed on the Chunk and Jigsaw Fusible applique!  The class had only 7 students, but I opted not to cancel (I was given the choice), figuring getting paid for seven students is better than none, and they had already planned and prepped, and I had spent more money and time on kits and materials for this class than any other, so I might as well.  In reality, the class is using fusing and other art techniques to make fabric postcards (or slightly larger) pieces in the class.

Well, it turned out we had a ball!   I decided the best way to organize things was to demo the fusing first, have students fuse up a stash of fabrics (thanks to IQA for providing extra ironing stations in the hallways….due to electricity charges and wiring you can only have two irons in a classroom, clearly not enough for full classes!), then move to art techniques in the late morning and afternoon.  I set up an “Art Smorgasbord” in the back of the room, with materials and supplies for various techniques at three tables / workstations.

At the end of the day everyone put their stuff up on one of the foam core sheets and we all took pictures (photo above).  Among the techniques we tried were angelina (a hairy fiber that is sparkly which you can emboss with a stamp), making your own stamps from rope, glue, “stuff” (such as metal washers), foam sheets (I used Darice Foamies from Wal-mart…an adhesive backed foam that you can cut with scissors), painting on fabric, freezer paper stencils to stencil, couched yarns and other stuff, making your own cording from yarn, strips of fabric and whatnot, scrunching/texturing fabric…. and finally, my favorite finish for postcards:  the couched-yarn edge.  I made sure everyone tried every technique or had some of the materials to take home and try.

Here Auian made the most adorable reindeer…she had brought many Christmas fabrics, and I am totally in love with this guy!:

and her friend Tanyel made some wonderful postcards with her to-die-for selection of African fabrics:

Marie used both African and regular quilting fabrics and my Little Brown Bird pattern to make her own, slightly larger quiltlet… wish I could see this one when it is done! I was SO excited… early in the day I did a small exercise that helps folks understand that drawing really can be easy if you just break it down into basic steps and concepts…and Marie said she actually thought that now she might really be able to draw, and she never had before…WOOOOHOOO!!!!!  I think what I love best about teaching is when I can help a student realize that the really CAN do it!

and

Our fantabuloso Janome rep (who helped with the machines, and tips and all sorts of fun stuff) got to join in the fun on Thursday since we were so few– it was truly a pleasure to have her in the classroom helping, she was everything you  hope a classroom company rep will be!

Renee worked quietly over on the side of the room and boy did she cut loose!  Her mom and dad are both artists, and you can tell she is comfortable in a creative, free-form environment.  Plus, her taste in colors and fabrics and mine overlap a lot… I loved what she has done in these cards:

Mary’s frog and lily make me think of spring.  I also shared in the class how to use some funky tape-yarn to “bind” or edge-finish a postcard.. that’s what Mary has done on the top edges here:

Stacia had fun with abstract design and Angelina:

I’m not positive, but think this one may be Stacia’s also:

Kitty said she likes to work in series, and this is part of her seasons series:

She also used the paintsticks and a stamp I had made of cardboard and glued twine (done in the shape of a tree)  with the Shivas to color this cloth for future use:

Last but not least,one more beauty from Renee:

It was a great class to end my first teaching stint in Houston.  Because the class was so small, it was very informal and we got to sit close and work together to do some truly fun stuff!

I’ve just sent in my application to teach again next year in Houston…here’s to hoping!   Thanks to ALL my students, it was truly a privelege to be able to come teach and to have you in my classes.

Despite being a relatively unknown teacher, I was thrilled that my Wednesday class was FULL!  It is called Tame Fussy Fiddly Threads for Machine Quilting, which is really my “More Machine Quilting” class but with a better name.  It is for folks who are comfortable with free-motion quilting.  You don’t have to think you are good at it, just willing to try it!

The photo above shows the four 15″ square samples I made for the class.  (Click on the photo for a larger view.) The one on the top left is on the cover of my book.  Since I kit up the threads, and the ones I used in that sample didn’t match the kits, I decided I needed to make up three new samples to match what was in the kits because many students want to “make it just like that.”  I always encourage students to make it their way, but many will follow the class sample for practice.

When I teach this class locally and for guilds where students have their own machines, we work on a thread tension sampler (the pattern/instructions are in my book) so folks can learn how to achieve a balanced tension no matter which combination of thread, needles, fabric and batting (well, there may be impossible combinations, but we talk about that, too).  However, I learned the hard way in Paducah in Spring 2008, that doing a tension sampler on a borrowed classroom machine isn’t the best idea.  SO, I developed the leaf sampler so students can actually make a small item in class while testing different threads and tension settings.  I also hand out the instructions for the tension sampler so they can start on it when they get home to have their own personalized ready-reference quilting tension guide.

Anyway, the morning was spent making the freezer paper stencil template and painting:

The colors the students combined were GREAT!  I loved the pink and green tinges to the copper and gold:

Here are three happy students….the lady (my classroom helper…thank you!) on the left used a gray/black print that looked great in the real… it didn’t photograph as well, but is really cool:

The one in the middle used the Brytes thread, a heavy poly from Superior Threads, for the stems very effectively:

Lynn was one of the few who totally wanted to go her own way…yippee!  Instead of using my leaf, she drew and stencilled an oak leaf:

And here is Lynn  in the middle of quilting—thanks to Janome America for sponsoring several classrooms of machines!

And of course, a whole bunch more of fun quilting and stencilling and quilting.  Some students preferred to mark guidelines for their stems and vines:

and even more pictures:

I really like Barbara’s composition, colors and that swirly vine:

and here’s a detail:

Next post about classes, I’ll share the Fun Fabric Postcards class!

The final figure is one that means a lot to me, as our oldest son is named after him:  Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.  He also means a lot to Mainers (only we didn’t know when we selected the name that we would end up living in Chamberlain’s beloved state!).  Chamberlain was a professor at Bowdoin College here in Maine at the outbreak of the Civil War.  He asked for leave to fight, and was denied.  So he asked for leave for a sabbatical, it was granted, and he promptly enlisted.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, he was in charge of the 20th Maine.  That small group of men held the outermost position (the left flank) on one end of the union line on Little Round Top, a hill at the end of Seminary Ridge.  On July 2nd, they took a wicked battering from Confederate forces; by the end of the day, they were out of ammunition and engaged in hand to hand combat, but they held the line until darkness fell and fighting stopped for the night.  Because the 20th Maine held their position, the other Union forces were able to hold their positions.  Because the Union held the line on July 2nd, the tide of the battle changed in favor of the Union, and by nightfall July 3rd the Union had won the battle.   The Union victory changed the tide of the war, and the nation remained one.

SO…. when it came time to pick historical figures, and one for Maine, the choice was clear (at least to me!).

Here’s a drawing based on this photo:

And the rendition in cloth (before I colored the eyes):

And on the quilt top:

I also worked on Barack Obama…. Initially, we had stipulated that only people from 20+ years ago would be allowed, because they would have stood the test of time for importance.  Then the 2008 elections happened.  SO…, the principal and I decided that Obama will clearly go down in history as the first non-white-male President of the US, plus his inclusion places this quilt in 2009.  I used a picture of him giving his inaugural address.  Because he is contemporary, however, I decided to make his figure a bit smaller…..Here’s the sketch (sorry the tracing paper is kinda transparent, making it harder to see the sketch):

And the close up of the fused figure (down to the red tie!):

I am not entirely happy (even now that the quilting is done) with his face…something is a tad off, but so be it… it is done!  I’ll share the quilted pictures next week or so….

And here is the panel so far:

Next came Jackie Robinson who is widely regarded as the African American baseball player who first really made it in the major leagues.  Using a black and white photograph, reference information about the colors of the Brooklyn Dodgers uniforms and such, I created an image of him sliding into a base…. I decided not to try to simulate the cloud of dust!  Here is the tracing/sketch from the photo, with shadow lines:

And the fused figure:

Then the panel with Robinson pinned to it, sliding into base from the upper left corner….

Next post:  Obama!