Spring Racing

It's spring in Melbourne and the topic of conversation is moving from footy to horse racing. My Patchwork by Machine class at the Neighbourhood House are racing along too. We did lesson 4 last night. Often by this stage in the course some students are flagging and we're cheering on those who have managed to put their blocks together. This group is somewhat different. Most of them already have material for their next quilt. Several of them have already started another quilt to complete alongside the one they're making in class. One student has five quilts on the go already. I'd asked them not to rush into stitching the sashing and cornerstones because we would spend some time in class talking about ways of sorting through any difficulties . . . so H just did the sashing and cornerstones for her four other quilts and left the class quilt to work on last night!

This little collection belongs to J, one of the students who is only doing the class quilt at the moment. Mind you, she is working on an elaborately smocked Christening gown for one of her grandchildren at the same time. She bought the dinosour fabric for her grandson. She plans to just put a border around it, since she has four grand-daughters waiting their turn for quilts like the one she's currently working on in class. The Beatrix Potter print is just irresistable. We talked about ways to handle the framed pictures so as to minimise stress. I don't recommend stitching a seam parallel to a printed black line to beginners. In fact it's a task I would avoid for myself.

As for me, I'm feeling a little slow this morning. My next stop is the Council offices. I need to discuss the plans for my studio with the planner there. I'm hoping it will all go through OK. Then it's back to the shed company to hurry the building permits along. I only wish I could get that process into the spring racing mode!