Fireworks Class!

It was a long and tiring day, but in a very GOOD way! I had a lot of fun, and I think my "students" did too, judging by the chatting, laughter, and the headway made on the quilts.

The class was full with 12 quilters--13 including me, but that doesn't seem to have been an unlucky number. Several of the "regulars" came as well as a few new faces. In particular, I was quite tickled that Ruby, one of my blog readers, drove 1-1/2 hours from home to attend!

Here's a basket stuffed full of the little "gifties" I made and couldn't show you before:

I think I mentioned in a previous blog post the Studio e Classmates pattern I'd bought and made. Well, I modified the size a bit, making it a little larger so it would hold the pattern. I also tucked a pencil and a half sheet of paper inside for class notes, and I added an extra copy of the block layout sheet. A few people are making the quilt using different colored fabrics--I brought crayons so they could color the extra layout sheet to match the fabrics they were using.

A couple hours into the class, we took a lunch break. I didn't get too elaborate with the table decorations this time, because I knew we wouldn't have very much space. You can't see them in the photo, but I had hot dogs heating in a crockpot. I took this photo an hour or so before lunch, so not everything was laid out, but I knew we'd get busy and I'd forget to get a picture. Colleen was thoughtful enough to bring a cake to add to our feast!

By the end of class, just about all the food was gone!

This is where I sat. (Notice the nearly empty Starbucks iced latte? Yep! You just knew it was MY spot, didn't you?! Oh, and those were my sunglasses--it's always important to make a fashion statement, even when attending a quilt class!) You can see I had a good view of all of my students, and I kept them hard at work! I was sitting next to Gran, my embroidery teacher, so what did I do? I embroidered, of course!

We took another little break later in the afternoon for some show and tell.

Imelda had brought her Hat Party quilt top--it's not done yet, but she had it pieced. Pretty, isn't it?! And much prettier in person--my photo doesn't do it justice!

Bev brought her tulip quilt from the Spring! class--she opted to leave off the bunny and added garden bugs. I think it turned out great!

Imelda was the first to finish her center. Ooooooh! Aaaaaaah!

Followed soon after by Julia! Oooooooh! Aaaaaaaah! Julia marked her rows with Post-It notes--given the limited room we had, we weren't able to lay our blocks out, so marking the rows helped.

By the end of the day, we were all starting to get tired, and a few of us made errors in positioning blocks or sewing the correct row on. But just about everyone either finished their center or came pretty close. One of my friends, Jackie, wasn't able to get to class until we were a little way into it and so she didn't get quite as far, but since we work together, I'll be able to help her if she thinks she needs any more help.

And I finished my "M." But not in class--I brought it home and finished it here.

Thank you all for the comments saying you wished you could be in class--I wish you could too! I asked Hubby to pick a number and he picked--gosh, I can't remember what it was! I guess I'm tired too! I think it was 26. No matter, though. I counted up and figured out the winner of my "honorary student" giveaway before my mind went numb. The winner is Melissa from Cornbread and Beans who said, "I sure wish I could see you in action in one of your classes, I bet you would be a hoot! Thanks for hosting this give-away JUST FOR ME!! hehehe =)melissa." Congrats, Melissa! Please email me your address and I'll get your "student packet" in the mail to you!