Quilt class

My guild invited Kay Capps Cross of Cross Cuts quilting to make a presentation and teach a couple classes. I like her stuff but almost didn't take her Slaphappy class because I already know how to piece string blocks. Fortunately someone told me the class was much more about color than about piecing, and they were right. It was a great class!

During her lecture, Kay showed two versions each of about 8 quilts -- one version was made with color and one with black, white and one zinger color. Then she talked about the different effects of the quilts and the things to consider when making each version. On her color quilts, I especially liked her "flowing borders" as she called them (sorry, I don't have a photo), where the color/texture change is small but very effective -- it gives a sense of both boundary and background. For blacks and whites, she talked about scale of print, how a mixed black/white fabric reads, and what happens with grey. Translating a color quilt to black and white is not simply a matter of replacing value for value. I learned so much! Here are two blocks I made in the class -- fun, easy, and I loved playing with the fabrics (there were lots of us and we shared). In the blocks below there's a fabric full of 3 Stooges quotes and one with gentle sayings like "If all else fails, pet the cat."

My friend and co-worker Marilyn is not a big fan of blacks and whites, so she decided to make the block with her colors -- creams and tans with yellow and orange zingers. Even though those are not my colors, I think her group of 4 blocks is just wonderful!

It's a constant wonder to me how different we all are in our response to color and design. While I can appreciate and like -- even really like -- lots of things, I would just never want to spend much time working with certain colors or styles that others can't get enough of. Keeps life interesting!

Here's a block I made this week that is definitely not my colors. I often participate in the guild's block lotto for the practice of making different blocks, and it's fun to do. They always provide the background fabric, and it's almost always a tan or cream. As often as not, I don't have much in my stash to put with it. I had to work hard to find fabrics that fit what was asked in this one, but I like the block pattern.

Other quilting things I did this week -- I cut batting for these 3 Linus quilts. Someone donated a bunch of flannel cut into various sizes and I stitched them into tops. It was amazing that we had this piece of batting that just fit them!

And Val was home for a long weekend! She volunteered to make dinner one night (look at how fast that hand is tossing the pasta!). She lives in a coop at school and says it's such a pleasure to cook at home where no one has taken the food you need and all the utensils are put away in the right places!

I kept checking in with her while she cooked to see if I could help, and she kept saying no. I knew she didn't need my assistance, I just liked being told I didn't have to make dinner! And it was a yummy dinner indeed.