My Students Are Flourishing

Sigh. One of the great things about teaching is that eventually your students don't need you any more! That is becoming the case with both Claudia and Denise, students I have worked with for a few months. Claudia came to sewing and quilting as an absolute newbie; Denise had some background but lacked confidence in certain areas. Today I will show you a few of the projects they have worked on all by themselves. I appreciate their sending pictures and keeping me updated on their progress.

First, let's take a look at a couple of Denise's projects. First, her Summer Breeze quilt top is finished and looks fantastic. She worked on this quilt with Claudia and me back in January and made the entire finish on her own, right down to the piano key borders. What a fresh, airy quilt.

 Another project Denise has begun all on her own is an Edyta Sitar pattern called Trail Mix. Here is the picture she sent, with the following note, "about 100 more diamonds to go." Gives one an idea of how much piecing will go into this quilt!

Now let's see what Claudia has been up to. First, we will take a look at her version of Summer Breeze.

 She was here today for some work on finishing this quilt, and I will bring you that finish along with my own Summer Breeze activity tomorrow. Today, we are focusing on the progress of these two fantastic students. More from Claudia...

Above, Claudia has figured out a way to cover a basket she uses regularly - she keeps "cow ears" in in for her dogs. Clever gal!

One of the last times Claudia (and Denise) were over for sewing, we did a little paper-piecing project. Click here to revisit those wonky pine trees. Well, Claudia thinks that paper-piecing is a technique she could totally get into, and she went ahead to try other patterns like the one shown above. The picture is supposed to be blue denim inside a range of pink prints. (I think it looks orange and black, but maybe that is just my computer screen.) Claudia intends to use this as the side of a bag.

This house block is another of her paper-piecing efforts. I think she is getting more and more confident all the time. I believe she mentioned that this block, too, may become part of a bag.

The other project we worked on back in January (link above) was the snappy bag; Claudia took the pattern for the bags we made, adjusted it to fit her iPad, and added handles! Look at how inventive she is!

And one last doggie accessory - collars. Claudia and her husband are "dog people." They raise and train Shelties and Border Collies. Dog collars are forever getting chewed, she says, so she has figured out how to make replacements herself. Again, she is inventive. That willingness to risk making mistakes and to problem solve is proving fortunate for her, wouldn't you say?

Well, that 's enough for this post. As I said, Claudia and I sewed together today, and she finished the quilt top of Summer Breeze. I worked on mine, too, so I will bring you those updates tomorrow.

Happy Quilting, Friends!