Workshop Day One

On the first day of our workshop Wendy, Della and I were greeted at the shop by 20 eager students, all the group leaders with a quilter from each group. They had not done much hand applique and no embellishments. I had two interpreters present to help with the introduction of the class and what I hoped to achieve in the two days. I had taken some of my quilts to share and was amazed at how interested they were in the embellishments and finished product. Thanh explained to me that they had never seen finished quilts other than what they had done themselves so it was good for them to see what they could create. We had taken all the supplies for the workshop. Wendy had hand dyed cotton, wool and velvet along with fun prints, batiks, ribbons, beads and buttons which were donated by some of my students and suppliers. I gave them a choice f three fun folk-art flower patterns and allowed them to choose what ever they wanted for backgrounds and applique. We talked about color selections and Wendy and Della helped them get good contrast in their pieces.

I demonstrated freezer paper templates and spent the day helping with needle turn and wool applique. I was amazed at how eager they were to learn and how much fun they seemed to be having. They were all very good at handwork as they had done so much hand quilting so they took to needle turn very easily.

It was good to see them all working independently yet enjoying this creative time together. I was amazed at the end of day one how much they had accomplished and I was very eager to return to see what day two would bring.

Sue