Easy Arch at JCCFS, May 2021

After months of our lives being shut down and everyone working alone, it was time to get together and have a class at John C Campbell Folkschool. The staff at the school had spent a lot of time to get classes starting up in a safe and secure manner, with new cleaning and distancing rules. As well as reduced         class sizes.                                                                                                                                                     

And with all that in place we were all more than ready to spend a week at this beautiful campus, and learn new techniques and create new quilts, one more interesting that the other. Cutting free form      curves and sewing without pins was not a problem for more than five minutes. Honest.                      

A small snapshot of my design and sample wall.

Eight very creative women from all over the US flew or drove to Brasstown, NC packed with fabric and enthusiasm.                                                                                                                                                   

Cindy from North Carolina, a long time quilter, with lots of experience in quilt making, and an incredible stash of fabric, brought a large amount to play with. She has a very special sense of how to use bright colors, and was not afraid of trying something new. This one has a lot of movement and the curved border add to the 4 block arrangement.

Her big leaf tree did not get completely finished. The brightly colored leaves are appliqued to the background, and it is just so whimsical and fun. The little bird in the nest keeps an eye on it all. These two designs just fit Cindy's personality.                                     

Chris from Ohio has been to the Folkschool a few times, so she came  with a plan, and did she ever execute it. Her very cute collection of fabrics truly was a great choice. The first quilt was made with a collection of "bubble" fabrics in bright colors. It comes to life when you move closer to it, and all the bubbles show up. The piano key curved border creates the        perfect frame. This one is quite large. (love the bubble fabrics)                                                                                                      

Chris's second project is for her sister-in-law's coming grandson. Little trucks, and cars and trains with all kinds of traffic signs are perfect for a little boy. The colors are soft but she was able to really create some movement with her placement. This will be a great "I spy" quilt for years to come. I truly enjoy having Chris in my class, as she has been in a few of mine before.                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                           

Marilyn from Florida, started with a softer color pallet, but by the time she had two sets of blocks together it was bright and vibrant. It is a very good choice to use the softer arches in the center and the diamond shapes in the corners.

 In her second quilt, she has chosen the diamond in the center and the arches in the corners.  It can really change the look.  It is not very often that the first layout of blocks is perfect, requiring no moving around of block, but this one was it!  I think Marilyn moved two blocks, and everything fell into place.  Just love this one!  She might add an outer border when she gets home. I am sure glad she is picking up quilting again!           

Patricia from North Carolina came with one plan in mind. She had promised her sister to make her a quilt with curves in it. She came to the right place! She brought several beautiful sets of fabric to work with and arranged them very well. Her first project was the purple and brown / yellow. Choosing to stack the blocks in rows she achieved a wavy look, and know    her sister will love it.                                                                                                                                                   

Her second piece is red, black and white. After making a few sets of blocks and trying a few different arrangements. Patricia decided on this very graphic and stunning design. For me it shouts "star" very loud and clear, but for others in the group it gave a different impression. Either way, this is one of the best black and white "Arch" quilts I have seen. Patricia also has been quilting for a while and are         getting back into using her skills.                                                                                                                          

Her third project was making many sample blocks from some of the many variation you can do with this block. Very precise piecing and experimenting with inserts and random curves, she will soon have another quilts ready.                                                                                                                                     

Peg from North Carolina, has been quilting for quite a while. Something very interesting to know about her, is that her family arranged a quilt show to celebrate her 80th. birthday just a few years ago. It was a very inspiring show of creativity and variety which told the story of her long time interest in quilting. And she is still being so creative and interested in learning new techniques, like in this class. I absolutely love her color sensibility, and her block makes me smile every time I look at them. Her two projects can easily stand alone or be combined together. The scale of the large and small blocks compliment each other very well. 

It's a little hard to see, but Peg's hat has a log cabin block on the top, so very cute and practical.

All the way from Oregon, Holly came with packed suitcases and loads of enthusiasm. She has also been to school a few times, and does not mind coming from across the country to attend classes. I have been very fortunate to have had her in one of my classes before, and was very happy to see her again.            

Holly is very creative in her own right, as well as very productive this week. Her first project in yellow and blues is quite fun, with lots of movement. She may or may not add a border to this, it could easily be a great quilt without anything more added.                                      

Her second project too off as soon as we worked with some of the "variations" of the block. Holly got so into making the leaf blocks and the blocks with inset bias strips, I lost count of how many she made and how many went into this quilt. Her fabrics and colors are beautiful and very much gives you a Native American, and an oriental sense with the asymmetrical design all in one. I do not know if that is the intention but somehow it all works. She might even make it bigger if she keeps making more of the blocks. There might also be some applique and embroidery involved. Hope to see this one finished.

There was no time to finish this beautiful rose, which Holly had made before she came to this class, but the new addition of the leaves will tie it all together. She has some great ideas of what to do to finish it.                                 

Carol from North Carolina, came with, in her words, less experience in quilting to the class, that's what she claims anyway. She had no problem mastering this and very much knew her way around the sewing machine. Truly fun and very open to play with unusual color combinations. These blocks are so bright and vibrant, I just love it! Before the week was over, she has borders, basted it and was ready to quilt. Camping at the Schools campground she planned to hand quilt it while her and her husband are on the road.                                                                                                                                                            

Carols second piece started with larger blocks, but as she was not happy with them, she cut them       smaller and smaller, until they were all about 3 "square. Knowing Carol she will make something fun out of these, maybe a grid in between the small blocks would make them pop. Carol has very fond      memories of her husbands grandmother making scrap quilts, and it is obvious that she is carrying on that tradition.                                                                                                                                           

In between her "serious" work, Carol got scraps from Cindy's blocks and covered her plain fabric pouch. How cute is that? Totally Carol's personality. A pleasure to have in class, and I think we might have made a quilter out of her (haha)                                                             

Susan from Georgia didn't have one dull fabric in her stash.  She brought the brightest and happiest        fabric of the group. Her initial blocks went through a few transitions during the week, and her final quilt had joint blocks with sashing and border. Love the way she cut the border fabric to have different parts of the fabric create a different looking border. It really compliments the setting. She also made several    bright leaves, but unfortunately I couldn't fine a photo of those. I know she will continue using those      bright batiks in many quilts.                                                                                                                        

So here we are, in the aftermath of Covid, following all the guidelines and wearing masks inside. For a very brief moment we took them off, to show our happy faces.  It was a great week, good to be back!