Westalee Ruler Quilting

 Linda took the very first Westalee ruler quilting class I taught at my shop several years ago. Since that class she has finished more older UFO projects than I can count and taken quite a few virtual classes through Sew Steady University. Linda is participating in the 2022 2nd Saturday Sampler Block of the Month through my shop and she is doing hers quilt as you go style and quilting the blocks with her Westalee rulers. These are the last blocks she brought in to share with me.

There are 12 "blank" blocks in the finished quilt. Linda is quilting each of the "blank" blocks with a different design. I am really looking forward to seeing her quilt when it is finished!

Nancy has also really taken to the Westalee rulers! She took the ... And Beyond! class from Donelle McAdams through Sew Steady University. This is her finished class project.

The ... And Beyond class is a great second class to take for ruler quilting. This is a 9 part class. The first three sessions cover the piecing part and the last 6 sessions cover how to quilt it. It's a great class! All Sew Steady University classes are yours to watch as many times as you need. And when you buy it through the link I provide I get a small kick back.

Reverse Applique Class

Last Friday I took an all day class with my guild. The teacher was Margaret Willingham. Her company is Eye of the Beholder. The link will take you to her website.

This is my class project.

It is currently 12" by 12" but it is meant to be cut down to about 7" square. I have no idea what I will do with this block. Margaret suggested we could turn them into pot holders. For now I just put mine in my orphan block basket. I took the class to learn her technique, not necessarily for the project.

It was a fun class and Margaret is a good teacher. On Saturday she did a lecture and trunk show after our guild meeting. It was fun to see all of her designs up close. 

A Class and a Gift

I took a class yesterday on the back basting method of hand applique. It was so much fun to take a class rather than be the teacher for a change!

We made a little flower. It got a little wrinkled on the way home.

Well ... I only got part of my flower done in class. There are two more pieces to add. You can see them drawn in on the photo below of the back side.

If you aren't familiar with back basting you can google it. I probably won't use it for everything, but it is really nice for leaves and stems. No matter how careful I am some of my leaves always end up too far away from the stem. Both of these leaves turned out perfect!

When I arrived for my class I had a surprise gift waiting for me.

Inside was three yards of this fabric.

I have had my eye on this fabric for a couple of weeks but hadn't bought any yet. Two friends went in together and bought this for me as a thank you for running the scrap group and not charging for the class. Thank you so much Debbie and Maria! As you know, I love it.

Selfish Sewing Month

Last year I decided that in January I would only sew projects for myself. It worked out so well, I'm going to do it again. I find that a lot of my sewing time at the end of the year is spent sewing for others so January seems like a good time to focus on myself. In addition, January is my birthday month so this is my gift to myself.

The first project I am going to tackle is to finish my Modern Monday quilt. The link will take you to the post in which I showed the completed top. That was on April 8, 2013! Quilting has already begun.

During Craftsy's end of the year class sale, I purchased the class The Secrets of Free-Motion Quilting. The design I'm doing on my Modern Monday quilt is one of the designs covered in the class.

I've only watched the first two sessions of this course. Despite not even finishing the course yet, I feel I can safely say that I love this class and am so glad I purchased it. The class is not a basics of free-motion quilting type course. There is no information about basting your quilt, stopping and starting, batting, needles or thread. The course covers free-motion quilting designs, which is exactly what I need. The lessons are organized by design type. Within the first two lessons the instructor, Christina Cameli, covers several designs, how to mix and match them to create more designs and how to look at a finished quilt and deconstruct the design so that you can figure out how it was stitched. When I finish the class I'll try to do a more thorough review, but if you are looking for free-motion quilting design ideas with instructions on how to stitch them, I recommend you check out this class on Craftsy.

The instructor, Christina Cameli, has a blog too, called A Few Scraps.

Daily Craft TV

Have you heard about Daily Craft TV?

From their website,

Daily Craft TV is a community showing new craft ideas & projects with online webinar videos. Expert instructors provide online craft classes in Quilting, Scrapbooking, Sewing, Crocheting, Knitting, & Paper Crafts.

Our classes are:

• Convenient. Watch anytime and anywhere.
• Accessible. Watch as often as you like. Your classes never expire!
• Interactive. Share questions, comments & pictures with other quilters.
• Affordable. All classes start as low as $4.99!

I was given the opportunity to take a class for free and chose String Piecing 7 Ways.

This is mainly a technique class, rather than a project class. However it does include three patterns with the cost of the class. One is a pattern for a complete quilt. The other two are block patterns. When you consider the fact that most patterns cost $9 or more, the $9.99 cost of this class is a good deal. I looked through all of their quilting classes before choosing this one. I did not see any quilting class priced higher than $9.99 and there were quite a few that were only $4.99.

The video quality was good. It did look a little pixelated when enlarged to full screen on my laptop, but I don't watch many videos on my laptop because they all seem a bit pixelated to me on this screen. I watched the class on my iPad. The video quality on my iPad was great, even at full screen. The video was professionally filmed. The camera angles were excellent. All steps were clearly demonstrated. The sound quality was great.

The list of quilting instructors is impressive: Cindy Hathaway, Dawn Cavanaugh, Fons & Porter Staff, Heidi Kaisand, Janet Pittman, Jodie Davis, Liz Porter, Marianne Fons, Marti Michell, Mary Fons, Pat Sloan, McCall's Quilting Staff, Quilters Newsletter Staff, Quiltmaker Staff, Stacy Michell, Susan Beck, and Tony Jacobson.

I choose this class because I love scrap quilts. I have never done a string quilt and have been thinking that I might like to give it a try. Even though I haven't done any string piecing, I am pretty familiar with the technique. I was hoping the class would give me some ideas and tips. I was not disappointed! If I hadn't been so sick recently, I'd probably have some string piecing to show you. I'm looking forward to getting back into my sewing room and giving this technique a try!

Disclaimer: I was given a free class but the review is my own opinion.