The Moonlight Quilters are Blooming!

What a great day we had Saturday in Titusville, making flowers and leaves for the BLOOMS class!

This class was inspired quite a few years ago by Cherry-cherry, who wanted to know why a beginners' class had to be old tradtional blocks...why couldn't it be contemporary?
So I designed the piece on the left, to include the basic shapes of quiltmaking using fast-piecing techniques, but requiring very little matching.
It was rather bitter-sweet teaching this class, because the other basis of it is Designing on a Grid. I learned that truly valuable skill from Judy Hopkins' book One-of-a-Kind Quilts (That Patchwork Place, 1989). Judy passed away this month.

This fabulous big room had plenty of space for work tables and lunch tables both! It's the American Police Hall Of Fame museum, which happens to be right next door to the Astronaut Museum....just turn in when you see the Space Shuttle!

Almost everyone had strips cut and jumped right into the sewing.

We made the flower first, because it actually has sections that need to match. After that, the leaves are totally random. The hardest part of this class is throwing away the precision and matching that we've worked so hard to learn!

The Moonlight Quilters are a really fun group who also know how to get some sewing done.

One of the best parts of a class is looking at all the beautiful fabric...I love the way each person's choices reflect her personality. There was everything from Tropical to Traditional, with a large contingent of Batik Lovers.

We spent the morning sewing flowers and leaves, followed by a good lunch.  (I won't mention the fantastic snacks that simply appear by magic at any quilters' gathering!)

The afternoon started with a short round of sewing. Then everyone contributed some flowers and leaves to learn how to work out her own design by creating the grid space, moving parts around, and filling in the spaces with whatever pieces she thought would be best.

I can hardly wait to see some of the finished quilts!
Will they be larger? Smaller? Contain some new design elements? Be totally turned around? (C-C says she wants to see this as a landscape orientation instead of vertical).
I love to teach this class, where a simple-to-make pattern opens the doors of creativity!
And I love to teach for a group like the Moonlight Quilters, who enjoy learning and having so much fun together.