Second half of class and another Jubilee block

Someone commented that a good teacher looks back at the class for improvements.  So, I've been reviewing what happened in the two class sessions and thinking what I could have done better.

I could have relaxed more.  I was pretty intense.  I don't think that put anybody off.  The class was made of strong personalities.  I'm sure that practice will help me to relax.  And, having reasonable expectations of what I can really do in 8 hours will help, too.

Too much practice time?  That one I don't know about.  The class was mostly watch me do it and then you do it.  That made class very quiet.  But, one of the things I think I missed by being self taught was the chance to ask questions as I did stuff.  I wanted to give plenty of chances for that and wanted to give good feedback about what I observed.

Content.  I've gone back through the lesson plans twice and I can't find anything I didn't bring up.  Lots of stuff.  Some of it was of more interest than other stuff.  For example, bobbin tension.  Only one person in class could adjust her bobbin tension and she knew how, so we didn't spend but a minute or two on that.  I think everyone was interested in and wrote down Day Style Designs.  We covered selecting quilting based on the quilt top, but not in enough detail.  We covered thread color and weight and needle size and marking tools and the John Flynn backing method.  I was a little stilted as I talked about my quilting history and showed off my quilts.  Again, that's just relaxing.  We talked about machine feet and straight line quilting and ditch quilting and marked template quilting...tho not enough, and free hand, free motion background quilting...maybe a little too much.  But again, that seemed tailored to the class because they just flew through the marked quilting. 

All in all, I think I covered what I wanted to cover.  The class's new name is "Just add practice" and the intent is to present all the information that I use to make the quilts I've made.  Everyone said they got a lot out of it as I shook their hands when they were leaving.  And, I think they meant it.  I'm sure that every class I teach is going to be different because in each one, I will be different.  Sometimes, more outgoing, sometimes more reserved.  I'd like to teach a piecing class where all of the class is about seeing and doing and very little is about talking.  I think that would be a class full of laughter and talking.  The machine quilting class was quiet because there was so much to cover. 

And, I got this little sampler done during it.  Soon as I get a binding on it, I'm going to take it to the shop and bring one of my little wallhangings home.  Those empty spots on the walls bother me.



And, here is the 14th Jubilee block, all finished and the center matched as good as it's going to get.  It looks off in this picture still, but trust me, it's as good as it's going to get.  Time to start another one.

  

I've been sticking with my commitment to cut scraps for 15 minutes a day.  I finally see a dent in the top of one huge bag of scraps.  You don't cut many scraps into strips and squares in 15 minutes, but in 6 days worth of 15 minutes, I ended up with a nice pile of stuff, ready to use.  Yesterday was the first day I forgot.  Today, I cut for a half hour.  I don't think I'll be forgetting too often.  Thirty minutes of cutting for no intended purpose gets boring.

Okay, so that's it for me this Tuesday morn.  Time to make our daily bread.

Lane