{"id":161,"date":"2021-01-18T22:03:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T22:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/?p=161"},"modified":"2021-01-18T22:03:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T22:03:13","slug":"busybusybusy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/18\/busybusybusy\/","title":{"rendered":"Busy\u2026Busy\u2026Busy!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Such wonderful things happened this weekend!\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m so pleased with the progress of my students over the past two days.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday our Wedding Ring Class met with the goal of laying out their finished piecing and seeing for the first time what their quilts will look like.\u00a0\u00a0We had such a great time! Over the course of the last 6 months we\u2019ve been meeting, using the Quiltworx Wedding Ring pattern and its variations as a Block of the Month.\u00a0\u00a0There have only been a couple months we weren\u2019t able to meet, but that happens even without a pandemic going on.\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019ve all made wonderful progress and each step of the way there were oooh\u2019s and aaaah\u2019s as we shared our progress each time we met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we all learned something\u2026including me!\u00a0\u00a0Some things I learned because I was asked a question I didn\u2019t know the answer to, and others because I needed a creative solution to help them obtain a goal or to make it easier to continue their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest solution was what to do about a design wall!\u00a0\u00a0In the pictures, you\u2019ll notice their units (or block pieces) are being laid out on sheets.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a curiosity, but a solution that I suggested and they agreed to with enthusiasm.\u00a0\u00a0Neither of these lovely ladies have design walls at home.\u00a0\u00a0My goal was to find a way for them to layout their units without: 1) having to take copious pictures with their phones; 2) disassemble what they laid out; 3) transport everything back home; 4) reassemble it all and lay it out only in small portions either because of space or foot traffic concerns, and then hope they were getting everything together correctly They jumped at the idea!\u00a0\u00a0So, after handing them each a flat sheet, we got busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here is Shirley laying out her units.\u00a0\u00a0After each row across there was a happy dance of excitement and a \u201cBoom-chicka-boom-boom\u201d coming from her as she saw things coming together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And here is Jean working on a table doing the same thing.\u00a0\u00a0From her came \u201cmmmm-mmmm-mm-mm-mm\u201d. For Jean, we worked out a number chart for her to follow as she laid out her units. It worked like a charm!! Another teaching aide that will go into my files for the next time I teach this class. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As they laid the units out, each one was pinned to the sheet.\u00a0\u00a0And at the end of class, each sheet was gently rolled up and carried to the car with the confident knowledge that each time they went to work on their project they could just go right to work without the time spent on trying to find their place in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dottie was also with us and she brought her AccuQuilt Cutter to make quick time of cutting the 2 \u00bd\u201d strips for her project.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve never seen one of these in action, and I must say, it was so cool to see how they work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m thinking this may need to be an investment for some time in the future. They sure are slick little machines that make quick work on lots of repetitive cutting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was an awesome day full of great friends, fun and lauging, and tremendous progress!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday was much the same for the ladies that joined me at Clubb\u2019s in Delta for our Judy Clubb.\u00a0\u00a0The Judy Clubb is an open sew kind of class where anyone working on a Judy Niemeyer pattern is welcome to come and sew for the day, and I\u2019m available for as much or as little help as is needed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The entrance to our classroom. Our class area is the furniture store. And the fabric store is right next door, always open for us during class and ready for anything we need. It’s a terrific arrangement!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We have a wonderful work area at Clubb\u2019s where a terrific cutting table and ironing area are provided.\u00a0\u00a0Lots of beautiful lighting and abundant room is provided for us to work our magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These stations are sooo nice! Plenty of room for multiple people to work at the same time. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at what was worked on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheryl is working on putting the binding on her Impatiens placemats.\u00a0\u00a0Her color choices are simply beautiful!\u00a0\u00a0And one of the best helps I could give her was to show her the UTube videos by Judy Niemeyer on that very subject.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s amazing that we have the ability to carry an iPad, secure an internet connection and tune into a free, on-line video and then help the student to utilize the same resource at home.\u00a0\u00a0When Cheryl had a question, we worked through it together finding a few additional helps for her to use at home.\u00a0\u00a0She\u2019s doing a marvelous job!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I love Cheryl’s color choice on this project and she is so precise in her stitching. What a lovely project she will have when all finished.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here is Jean, using a sheet as her backdrop on the design wall to pin her Prairie Star to.\u00a0\u00a0Her goal for the day was to get one quarter of the quilt on the wall and assembled and marked with notes on how to complete assembly for the rest of her quilt when she\u2019s back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The quarter section of Jean’s quilt is nearly put together. She’s added some little yellow notes for her to follow when she gets home so she can get this project all finished up. How exciting!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jeans pulling a few more papers off the back of a unit before assembling the next section. Making great headway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All in all, it was a very productive, and rewarding weekend.\u00a0\u00a0I think one of the things I truly love about this work that I do and the quilters that start out as students and then become friends, is that I get to help them reach their goals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People, non-quilting people, frequently remark to me about how this is nice and all that, but what\u2019s so special about a quilt\u2026. it\u2019s just a blanket after all.\u00a0\u00a0And my knee-jerk reaction is that they just don\u2019t get it.\u00a0\u00a0And they don\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0But what I say to them is that quilting is a tool. It\u2019s a tool, or a means to reach a huge plethora of outcomes.\u00a0\u00a0Quilting is a creative outlet, which is a crucial aspect of our mental and emotional health.\u00a0\u00a0Quilting is a skill-building tool that enhances our cognitive and deductive reasoning utilizing color theory, math, planning and organizational skills to just start the list.\u00a0\u00a0And one of the very most important things quilting does is to both create and revive memories for those making the quilts as well as those receiving the quilts.\u00a0\u00a0Quilting as an art and a skillset is something that has a huge ripple effect on all those around us quilters.\u00a0\u00a0And no\u2026these are not just blankets.\u00a0\u00a0They are works of love.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2026.me\u2026I get to help these lovely people create and fulfill their goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What better job in life can there be??<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time, may your bobbins never be empty!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Such wonderful things happened this weekend!\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m so pleased with the progress of my students over the past two days.\u00a0 Saturday our Wedding Ring Class met with the goal of laying out their finished piecing and seeing for the first time what their quilts will look like.\u00a0\u00a0We had such a great time! Over the course of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Busy\u2026Busy\u2026Busy!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[59,56,54,57,7,55,4,15,5,58],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-block-of-the-month","tag-double-wedding-ring","tag-impatiens","tag-judy-clubb","tag-judy-niemeyer","tag-prairie-star","tag-quilt","tag-quilting","tag-quiltworx","tag-utube"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivervalleyquilter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}