The Quilting Lesson

So I went into one of my favorite quilting stores last week in search of light pink chenille and light green minky fabric - both are for the puff quilt I am making for Dani and her baby girl who will arrive in June. Luckily they had the Minky (which is the softest most yummy material ever made but kind of a pain to sew with because it sheds all of the place, including the inside of your sewing machine, and it has a tendency to be very slippery and move around while you are trying to run a seam) - alas, there was no pink Chenille...

 

While wandering through the store, however, I noticed a small wall hanging advertising a class they were offering for hand quilting. The stitches on this piece were magnificent - perfectly spaced and tiny. I had to learn how to stitch like that so I immediately signed up for the class - never mind the fact that I had already been taught to hand quilt by my mother's dear friend, as well as my own, Joan, and she took a class at the same store over 15 or 20 years ago to learn the same thing. I was sure that another formal sit down class would improve my stitching considerably.

 

I arrived at class and eagerly set up my little work station. I was probably the youngest person in the class by 20 years at least. We learned about the different kinds of thread and needles, how to create your "quilt sandwich" and also how to properly "hoop up" your project. And then we stitched. We were shown how to create a quilter's knot - Joan had shown me that. We were shown how and where to start a newly threaded needle - Joan had shown me that. And we were shown the rocking method - Joan had shown me that.

 

I did enjoy the class and I did learn a few things that were very cool. The teacher showed us how she prepared her thread and then let us use a piece of her thread that she had prepared with her waxing and ironing method and I was hooked - the thread slipped right through the fabric and was much easier to thread. We were also taught the Tennessee walking stitch - also very cool.

 

So I have to give snaps to Joan, who is an excellent instructor, and thank her for the private hand quilting lessons she held in her sewing room in Houston. Learning from her was the next best thing to learning from my own mother.

 

Thanks Joan --