School Girl Sampler

 OK -- it's time to get caught up on the homework show and tell and get the assignments out to the groups. Yesterday was a bit of a relaxed day, which was good as I really needed to lounge around for a bit. Wednesday was a bit of an intense day, and it takes me a bit to catch up. Thankfully, there's only one more crazy Wednesday in the forecast, and my goal is to get most of the prep work done this weekend. 

I love the service that I received from Goeman's Appliances. The shopping experience was great, the delivery was perfect. The microwave was delivered at 7:43 yesterday morning, so we were only slightly late with the walk. Having access to all the information via text was an amazing experience. It was a good thing I blogged about it yesterday because I realized that the appliance was going to be delivered when I would normally be out! Oh my -- I bought a Bosch! I hope it's good. 

My new microwave

I got confirmation last night about the installation, and that should happen today. All via text or e-mail. I LOVE it. It just means that I had better keep on top of some of these e-mails, or I could be in trouble. 

You do NOT want to see a picture of Studio B. Oh my -- in a short period of time, it looks totally upside down. Pulling out samples to photograph, or making a few, switching out sewing machines - well, it's a disaster. 

Studio B 

The show and tell today is from the Schoolgirl Sampler quilt. Lots of SMALL blocks that finish at 4". I love it - the blocks are super simple, so they do not take a long to sew together. Yeah!! A little bit of applique, but I can handle that. I just had someone join, so if you want, it's not too late to join!

Schoolgirl Sampler

Remember that many people have not had a chance to get out to shop for this quilt. They're using what they have! And we're all doing a GREAT job at picking fabrics. 

The first set of blocks belong to Anne. I love the warm feel of these blocks. 

Anne

This set of blocks belongs to Barb. The warm browns are YUMMY. Great choice of color. Did you notice her design board with the binding? Sorry - I did cut some of it off. You can never have too many mini design boards. 

Barb

These are Cathy's blocks. Love the colors, and I see some fussy cutting happening in here! 

Cathy

These are Lucy's block. Oh my - do you see the fussy cutting she did on some of them? Looks AWESOME. 

Lucy

And we're all becoming obsessed with twirling the seams on the back. She did open some of the seams as an experiment. My PERSONAL opinion is that pressing the seams open is a copout from a designer. They just couldn't be bothered to figure out the best way to properly press the block. I find this quite prevalent in the modern quilt world. This is NOT directed at Lucy - she wanted to check out the technique. But seriously? Open seams? Less stable seams, you can't stitch in the ditch, and it takes WAY LONGER to do. I don't like it at all unless I have no other choice. 

The back of Lucy's blocks

These are Mary's blocks. Again - a nice warm feel to these blocks. Scrap quilts are the best! And you can use ugly fabrics if you have them, although none of these fabrics are ugly. 

Mary

Megan is going for a totally modern feel. I love it - that's the beauty of all these projects. You can change the look and feel by totally changing the fabric. You should never poo-poo a project because of the fabric. That's where creativity should kick in, and you make it YOUR OWN. 

Megan

The next set of blocks belong to Rose. She wasn't sure about some of the colors, so she made a few colorings of a few of them. I'm super excited because I see a few people submitting their homework that I haven't seen in a while. That's exciting!!!!

Rose

These blocks belong to Ruth, and I LOVE the pink and blue combination. It's gorgeous!!!

Ruth

Sharon is using a layer cake. Working with a layer cake is always interesting as you are at the mercy of how the fabric designer assembled the collection together. But that little pop of blue looks great. I think she was going to tone that down a wee bit. 

Sharon

The last set of blocks belongs to Zildi. She's using up scraps of fabrics from other projects. Remember, these blocks are 4", so it's perfect for scraps. 

Zildi

And here are my blocks. I've pulled out the teal scrap box and using whatever I can find in there. 

My blocks

Here are the NEW blocks assigned for this month. Yep - there are a couple of spots where the value contrast could be a bit better - well, only one spot, really, but I'm OK with it! 

The homework assignment for this month

Isn't that exciting??/ I love it. And I need to get working on the next assignment, or it'll be in my face before I know it! 

On that note, I'm out of here. I have one presentation today, no prep required - well, maybe just a wee bit. I seem to keep tweaking the presentations every time, so even if you watched the same presentation in a different week, I might have found or made a new sample to include. I'm getting amazing feedback from the presentations, so if your local Husqvarna Viking or PFAFF dealer is NOT hosting these presentations, get on their case. I should say CANADIAN as I can only do Canadian events. 

We haven't had to declutter in a while. Here's a HUGE one. What about those magazines? I can't even think about that. But it might be time to start. Set aside a bit of time each day to browse them. And remember, unless you have someone specifically lined up to read them after you - let them go!! I'll offer some more suggestions tomorrow. Today, think about pulling them off the shelf and sorting them by title. Then tomorrow, I'll have more instructions.  

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!