Sunday, August 21, 2011

A Class Without a Teacher!

I always look forward to quilting classes even if I'm pretty sure I know how to do everything we're going to be working on. It's being with my quilting buddies and spending a whole day with only sewing, pretty colors and catching up with my friends' lives to occupy my thoughts that makes classes fun. Oh, and I always do end up learning something new--even if it's from the person sitting next to me.

Our quilt guild in Yuba City, California has a favorite teacher and we have so much fun with her, we have a standing contract with her to come teach a class every January and every August. This has been going on for probably 10 years!! You might have heard of Linda Ballard whose specialty is mystery quilts. We just LOVE them--and her!

So yesterday was the class and there were about 30 people signed up, but on Thursday, we heard she was in the hospital with a gall bladder issue (except she had her gall bladder out years ago). Anyway, she was hurting and they had to do surgery but even though she returned home on Friday, she still wanted to drive 150 miles to teach the class the next day!! Well, it didn't even cross our minds to cancel the class OR to have Linda threaten her health and come--we just got together with the pattern for the class, which she sent down, and we spent the day making "Dancing with the Stars". Linda has taught us well over the years and we just used that knowledge to 'channel' her right into that classroom.

I changed my quilt up a little and put applique baskets where there would have been big, blank areas I would have had to quilt--not my strong suit. I sure do like the way this quilt turned out! 30s fabrics are so 'happy' don't you think?

One more thing: I was very late getting last weeks DWM out and it was the reveal of my Spring Chick's group's challenge so if you missed it, click here to view all the great quilts that came of our "3 Little Words" challenge. And don't forget to see what everyone else has on their design walls on Judy's blog!