Thursday, May 26, 2016

Crazy Quilts, Sessions 4 and 5: Progress


In January, Teri and I (Kara) started teaching a class called "Crazy Quilting: Start to Finish." You can read about how this class came about here. We began with block construction in session one, marking and stitching motifs in session two, and in session three we got creative with ribbon. We have had two classes running simultaneously at different quilt shops, but with different schedules; once a month on Saturdays and every two weeks for six Wednesday evenings. Our Wednesday class wraps up tonight, and we will share our students' finished projects in a future post, but this week we'd like to show you their progress thus far.

As part of the class we gave our students a piece of flannel-backed muslin to use as a practice piece for the stitches we taught. Some of our students turned their practice pieces into samplers, and another neatly labeled her stitches for future reference.

Working on a practice piece


Labeled stitches


















A sampler-style practice piece 

Teri and I have taught our one-day crazy quilting class multiple times over the course of the last two years, but the drawback of that class is we rarely get to see the finished outcome of our students' work, let alone any progress they may have made. For this reason, we developed our 6-week class, and we have been floored, amazed, and tickled to see the creativity of the stitchers in our classes. And these aren't even the finished blocks! I won't wax on too much about how pleased we are to see our students' inspiring work; I will let it speak for itself. 

This student utilized the fairy tale theme.
A beautiful flower using hand-dyed silk,
a ribbon stitch, and some French knots
A stunning rose out of wired silk ribbon
A block close-up, with gathered ribbon "fireworks" over the castle
What a delightful, traditional spider and web
Neutral background fabrics set the stage for this student's creative and whimsical embroidery.
Adding a drizzle stitch
A birdbath in a garden
A clever use of narrow silk ribbon

Hardanger embroidery was incorporated into this block

Peaches, hummingbirds, and woven roses: three of my favorite things!
This student is using crazy quilt stitches on her
log cabin-style quilt block made with silk.

Did a love of music inspire this motif?

We love the use of the pearls on this block. 
The daisies are a great use of a piece of trim cut apart. The daisy petals in the motif represent "He loves me, he loves me not."

What a clever use of a crocheted doily!

We have been thrilled with the progress our students have made so far and are grateful that we have been blessed to teach them. They have taken what they've learned and run with it! As with any class we have taught, Teri and I have learned just as much from our students as they have from us. Stay tuned for our final wrap-up and review of this class!

11 comments:

  1. It is so nice to see how creativity blooms with the new stitches the class learned. There's so much variety. Love it!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by the blog, Felice. There seemed to be no limits to the creative ideas these ladies put into their blocks. It has been such a fun journey!

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  2. I especially like the motifs stitched on each piece on the blocks. This style is reminiscent of the early crazy quilts I love to look at. The lacy creations are so pretty, but I love this style so much more. If I lived anywhere near you, I'd be in one of your classes.
    xx, Carol

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    1. Thanks, Carol. It really is fun to pick out the motifs to stitch. So many creative opportunities. We'd love to have you join one of our classes!

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  3. Hello Teri and Kara. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I am blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you through your profile on the blogger and the blog post because of who you are in the Lord Jesus Christ and your love for Him. After seeing your post ,I am impressed by your stitching work and felt like inviting both of you to come to Mumbai to teach women in the slum how to do such stitching. One of the program our church has for the women in the slums is to empower them and we have a Tailoring school where by we give them training of stitching clothes and also after completing of the course we give them certificate so that they can go the garment industries to get a good job which gives them good earning to better their life style. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 37 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come with other friends of yours to work with us and also teach women in the slum how to stitch clothing that is displayed on the post. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends and also wishing you a blessed and a Christ centered rest of the year 2016

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  4. Hello Teri and Kara. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I am blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you through your profile on the blogger and the blog post because of who you are in the Lord Jesus Christ and your love for Him. After seeing your post ,I am impressed by your stitching work and felt like inviting both of you to come to Mumbai to teach women in the slum how to do such stitching. One of the program our church has for the women in the slums is to empower them and we have a Tailoring school where by we give them training of stitching clothes and also after completing of the course we give them certificate so that they can go the garment industries to get a good job which gives them good earning to better their life style. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 37 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come with other friends of yours to work with us and also teach women in the slum how to stitch clothing that is displayed on the post. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends and also wishing you a blessed and a Christ centered rest of the year 2016

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    1. Thank you so much for your interest in our page and our stitching. We are honored and pleased that you were able to recognize our faith through our blog. Because we are a fledgling company, we feel we are unable to take you up on your offer at this time. However, all things are possible with Christ and if he wants us to come to Mumbai, He will make it happen. For now though, we will lift your ministry up in prayer and thank you for the work you are doing in Christ's name.

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  5. It has been very inspiring to read of your class's progress. I really loved the antique blocks and the wonderful quilt!! Pam Gonzalez

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  6. It has been very inspiring to read of your class's progress. I really loved the antique blocks and the wonderful quilt!! Pam Gonzalez

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  7. It has been very inspiring to read of your class's progress. I really loved the antique blocks and the wonderful quilt!! Pam Gonzalez

    ReplyDelete