Will We Finish The Quilt in Class?

As a teacher, I hear this question more often than I would expect. Most of my classes have been four hours long, although the "Hat Party" class and the class this Saturday for the "Fireworks!" pattern are six hours long. Still . . . we have to have time to eat and chat and have some fun, so no, the chances of finishing a quilt top in class are pretty slim. Besides, my philosophy has always been that quilting is not a race. Sure, quick piecing methods are great--I love them and use them whenever I can! But it seems to me that quilting just isn't a hobby for those who require instant gratification.

My main goal in any quilt class is to show my students the steps they'll need to know to complete the quilt once they go home, offer any tips and suggestions that occur to me, and make sure to demonstrate anything that may be a little "tricky" or not quite common. And, as I tell the students, they're always welcome to email me or call me if they run into trouble or have a question--in fact, one of my Hat Party gals called me at home yesterday to ask a question about the sashing, and I'm always happy to help.

So why am I telling you this? Because my students on Saturday just might come reasonably close to completing the Fireworks! quilt top in class, and I'm pretty tickled about that! Realistically, I don't think we'll get the borders finished, because piecing them will take about as long as piecing the center, but still, they should go home with a quilt top that won't take too much longer to complete.

Remember I had cut my blocks for the center last night? I gave my students the information they need to precut their fabric up to that point as well. Tonight I sewed the half-square triangle blocks and trimmed them up. Then I put everything up on my design wall--

I tried to time myself, and I think it took about 3 hours tonight to get to this point with a few interruptions. I figure I'll be able to sew the blocks together and add the inner border in about two hours, so that still leaves an hour of class time to work on the pieced borders. Or maybe we'll just eat, and chat, and have fun! Yep, it's not a race. But I think this is about as close to instant gratification as it gets!