The Reveal

I enjoyed teaching the Buggy Barn class today, but for some odd reason, I woke up at 6 a.m. feeling quite nervous. Seriously, I haven't been at all nervous teaching the last couple classes, so this came as a surprise. And, since I've quit smoking, I couldn't even have a cigarette to calm my nerves--and boy, I sure wanted one for a little while there! Once class started, though, I settled down. I think it was partly just anticipation!

I had 11 students today--the class WAS full with 12 but one of the students had to cancel. Still 11 was a nice size. First I wanted to show you the quilt top Lindy (Bearpaws & Hollyhock's shop owner) had made that generated a lot of interest in this particular Buggy Barn class.

Cute, huh? I love those dangly legs! Lindy had "kitted" up fat quarters for the witch blocks--three deep yellow fat quarters, three black fat quarters, and three blue fat quarters--and that's what I used for mine. Last night, one of the things I did to prep for class was to make some of those dangly legs.

The students were to pick any of four quilts in the Buggy Barn's Frightfully Crazy book, and out of the 11 students, 9 decided to do the witches and 2 were working on the cats (I want to make the cats for the next class I teach in September), so most of us were working on the witches.

This was the first time some of my students had made any of these types of "stack and slash" patterns and I really got a kick out of seeing how exact one of the gals, Darlene, was trying to be about sewing the pieces back together. The whole method goes completely against everything we've learned as quilters, and some of us take to it just fine, and others go kicking and screaming--Darlene was kicking and screaming and clutching her rulers the entire way, but I was very pleased that by the end of class, she seemed to have relaxed into the process and was doing a great job.

I loved Darlene's choice of fabric, so I thought I'd take a quick photo to share.

Here I've put up my block and Darlene's block on the design wall--it's helpful for the first time Buggy Barn students to see how "wonky" a "completed" block looks; otherwise they tend to think they're doing something wrong! I wish I'd gotten a photo of Imelda's block--she added a little bit of stuffing to her witch legs and they were really cute!

And the treat bags? Since one of the students dropped out, I got to keep one for myself, so I figured I'd share and show you what was inside.

A bag of snack mix--the recipe comes from the Frightfully Crazy Buggy Barn book; a Halloween bag stuffed with candy, a pencil, a couple of erasers, and some stickers; and my new "Little Adventures" pattern along with scraps of the wool they'll need to make it.

Part of the way through the class, when no one was paying much attention, I "distributed" the "treats" hubby contributed. When the Halloween pencils I'd ordered online didn't arrive on time, he volunteered to go to a party supply store on Friday to get pencils for me, and he couldn't resist buying everyone an eyeball.

These eyeballs are kind of sticky, so I was able to set them on the tops of the sewing machines, where they'd stay in place. And weren't my students surprised to come eyeball to eyeball with them?! Yes, I think they were!

All in all, it was a good class--in my opinion, anyway! After class, I came home and took a little nap before cooking dinner. I then spent the rest of the evening in the Sweat Shop, taking all the fabric off the shelves and sorting it out, dusting it off, and sneezing my head off! I wish I could stay I finished, but I can't--I still have more to do tomorrow. At least getting reacquainted with some of the fabrics I've purchased and forgotten about is kind of fun! How are you doing on finishing UFOs and cleaning things out? I think I'll do a little blog hopping tomorrow and stop by to visit you--see you then!