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!