Flying Birds Quilt Update – Part One

Just before sewing club this month, I attended my third Flying Bird Quilt class over in North Vancouver.

Now, I did worry that I might appear to be a bit of a class swot when I showed up with 12 completed quilt blocks, rather than the 9 that we had been asked to complete. However by the mid-point of the class, I knew that I could relax. I realised (as I sat there with temporary basting glue in one hand, pins between my teeth and glaring at seams that refused to align) that I was quietly slipping into my usual place at the back of the class while the people around me romped ahead with their projects!

The objective of our third class was to piece all of our quilt blocks together. Three of the five people in my class finished their piecing and headed home early. The other person started the evening at a slight disadvantage because she had not had time to create all of her blocks before the class. However, she managed to finish all of her blocks AND complete the same amount of piecing as me during our class.

At this point, I would like to show you some of our work in progress:

Exhibit A: hard at work on sand and greeny teal quilt blocks

Exhibit B: quilt blocks in calm, coordinating greens

Exhibit C: quilt blocks in complementary, vivid blues with acid green splashes

Exhibit D: finished quilt centre & block detail in moss and a lemony cream

For some reason, I do not have a snap of the blocks that our tutor is working on. I must remedy that at our next class! As you can see from the above, while we are all working on the same design, our choices of fabric mean that our quilts are all turning out with quite different moods and character. About the only thing that they have in common really that they are all turning out very well and I like them all!

Okay, I know - where's mine? Well, after three hours of class, all I managed to put together was three separate rows of blocks.

(So it seems that the Rare Knits concept may apply equally to my other crafting pursuits - Gabrielle Rare Knits, Rare Sews, Rare Spins, Rare Photographs?!)

This meant that I had quite a bit of catching up to do after class. In fact, it took me a whole afternoon to put my quilt top centre together:

Exhibit E: completed quilt centre

When it was done, I was just so pleased and amazed that it worked out (with a little seam ripping and swearing, here and there) that I had to tell someone.

Straight away. At a run. You know me.

So I raced down the entire length of the corridor in my building (where my craft space is) to tell the people at the other end (who run a business making stained glass). I burst merrily through their doorway, gabbled excitedly for a moment, noticed that they were looking a little bit bemused and then I noticed that they were working on a church commission that was really beautiful plus far more complicated than my quilt top.

I stumbled to an embarrassed halt. After all - piecing fabric and piecing glass? I see a connection (kind of) and these guys are pros, running a business, they are not just noodling about with fabric and fibre like me!

So I jerked my thumb over my shoulder and said rather lamely, "Y'know, my stuff. I just finished an important bit. Learning how to quilt, never done that before. It turned out okay. Kinda pleased. Hope that I didn't disturb anything crucial. Sorry. Going now."

Luckily, all of the people that I have met in my building so far have turned out to be quite cool. Much to my relief, they laughed and even better still, my sudden and excited entrance did not cause any of the professionals to hammer anything sharp into a glass saint.

Can anyone say, "Phew?!"