Teaching Again
I taught my first two classes this last weekend for my guild, the Austin Area Quilt Guild. Most common comment from my students...."This is the first class you have ever taught??" (with astonishment). No, this is not the first class I've taught, just the first quilting class. I used to be a science teacher for high school kids. I loved that job. Honestly, I LOVE my parenting job the most, and it's the hardest. And the new career of quilting and art is uniquely satisfying and rewarding and well suited to my strengths.
I have found that if I teach on the weekends, the child care is doable. For the first class, Satin Stitch, we learned about machine settings for getting a nice looking satin stitch in straight lines. We moved up to curves, and traveling, and satin stitch as a quilting line, and lots of other cool stuff. We mostly made small samples, which could be made into Affordable Art, or postcards, or coasters, or uniquely joined to make small art quilts.
And you should have seen their faces when I took my 8" x 8"class samples and cut them up into 4" squares! You can arrange and rearrange, and then satin stitch them together to make a completed quilt. Sadly, I lost one of my little squares for this little quilt that I planned to donate to the Austin Area Quilt Guild auction. Hopefully I will find it soon and get this little quilt all stitched up!
The class was so fun, lots of very friendly and willing participants. I so admire their willingness to try new things, like free motion satin stitching! And I appreciate their patience with me, especially when I gave them tiny circles to satin stitch (very difficult)! They did a terrific job. Perhaps you recognize Michelle, holding her little circle? She was a first place winner in the embellished category in Houston last fall. Also included, Janis, holding up her wonderful satin stitched composition! Just lovely!
The second class was Finishing Techniques. Using some altered trading cards and postcards that I had, along with small works owned or made by my students, we learned how to: apply fabric to canvasses, paint canvasses, apply traditional bindings, fuse bindings, hand stitched edges, and more! It was fun! A very creative group made the day pass so quickly!
First up, a postcard made by Heidi Miracle McMahill (from Virgina Speigels fundraiser for American Cancer Society) that I mounted to a stretched canvas. The canvas was wrapped with a hand batiked, dyed, and quilted piece. It looks as if it was made to go together, but it was quite serendipitous!
Next, two samples for my class, one a monoprint with hand quilting demonstrating the escape hatch from Laura Wasilowski, and small piece showing a satin stitched edge.
Next up, a couple of samples from students, and last a group photo of their work! Amazing!
These are class samples, incredible aren't they?
6 comments:
thanks for sharing! how inspiring. Also - love the mounted postcard...I think I'll do that for some I have by other artists, and maybe a couple of ATCs from special people.
Free motion satin stitch? How in the world would you do that?
Christine, you drop the feed dogs and let her rip! It never looks good at first, you have to practice a lot! But its very liberating from perfectionism!
What a great class! Thanks for sharing. I like the idea of using a canvas.
A fabulous class... I finished my "Ode to Hot Stuff" and it has become our first "Kitchen Quilt"... food is big in my family, where the "Boys" do most of the cooking... Thanks for a GREAT Experience. Especially the link to Carol Soderlund... I am really thinking hard about signing on to the dying class! - I'll try to send you a picture of the quilt.
Karen Alexander
Karen,
So glad to have you in my class. I loved that little kitchen quilt! Happy that you are enjoying it too!
...eh, what dyeing class?
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