Colour Variations

Mixed collection variation -  Snippets

C60 variation - Post Scrip

Charlene & Snippets

C2 I Love Lucy

Early last year I was fortunate to teach Raconteur at the South Coast biannual retreat. For this retreat I chose seven blocks from various collections and combined them into one collection, called Snippets. This was so that I could cover the different techniques in the one class and so cover what I felt might be some of the pitfalls people might encounter. 

C3 Burning Bright

Surprisingly, to me at least, after spending several years making Raconteur I had forgotten how long it actually took me to make those first few blocks. 

C4 Blackberry Freedom

These days I generally make a block in a couple of hours but when I first started it took me the better part of a day and for some blocks even longer. 
 I thought that the students would be able to finish a hand pieced block on the first day, perhaps two if they were experienced and two machine pieced on the second.... oops. 

C6 Crystal Dreams

Most of the students were similar to what I had been at the beginning and so finished one block the first day....because they were good students and went home and worked on it that night. 

C6 Enter With Care

I could definitely do with a few of those conscientious bones some days. Everyone found the second day a lot easier and finished at least one block. One student was even onto her third by the time we had to pack up. I found it a great bunch of students and learn a lot about teaching something so complicated... students will amaze. 
Charlene was in that class and has sent me photos of her finished blocks. She had not made miniatures before and hasn't she made some amazing blocks.

C2 The Rice Pickers

C5 Baby Blue

Snippets from Delma

C2 I Love Lucy

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to teach at the South Coast Quilters Retreat, which is held biannually at Cobargo. Delma was one of the ladies in my class and a short while ago she brought the blocks which she had finished to our sewing day at Nowra Quilters. Don't you just love her fabrics?

C3 Burning Bright

Delma usually prefers applique or machine piecing but decided to try the miniature Raconteur blocks. She has now finished the five hand pieced blocks and only has left the two foundation pieced blocks.

In the class we did a collection that I call Snippets as it is a taste of the different techniques and structures that are used throughout Raconteur. The seven blocks are taken from different collections and slowly build from easy to rather difficult. Unfortunately after having made so many of the blocks my idea of simple/easy and a beginner's idea of this are vastly different. It was one of the women at this retreat who first prompted me to enlarge the blocks and showed me what a difference this small change can make to not only the final number of blocks that someone needs for a quilt, but also to the success that different people can achieve.
Teaching is a great opportunity for people to learn from others, not just for the students but also the teacher.

C6 Crystal Dreams

C4 BlackBerry Freedom

C6 Enter With Care

Snippets Class continued

I Love Lucy

Crystal Dreams

I don't know where I have hidden the photos from my first day at the recent retreat. As I said in the previous post it was a two day class. The first was hand work while the second was machine work. I had taken more photos than this from the first day but am unable to find them, which is a shame as there were some lovely colour combinations. Hopefully the students will send me photos so that I can share them here.

I Love Lucy - in progress

I have found these four and you can see what a difference colour choice makes. Daiva again used bright colours and decided in Crystal Dreams that the flower should have some leaves. Also using different colours for the vase and the flowers creates a different look again. Daiva is planning, at this stage to back and quilt each block separately and then bring the backing over to the front and join these to form a bag. Looking forward to seeing it soon.... Daiva didn't seem to be someone who left projects to whenever to complete:) She finished three blocks over the weekend and made them all by hand.

Merry Xmas - in progress

Meg's fabrics for both this block and the machne pieced were pale..exactly what I had planned Raconteur to be when I began it. I wonder if she will make all of her blocks is such gentle colours.

Bev loved the machine stitching day and apart from sewing Enter With Care managed to complete all of the sections for Merry Xmas on the second day, even though it was a shorter day than the first.

What a Difference Colour Makes

Well here we have seven blocks from students at my first Snippets class. It was a two day class with the first day being hand work and the second machine work. Everyone appeared to enjoy the class, particularly the second day.

Several of these blocks still need their outer borders but you can see how great they are going to be. 
Daiva changed her colour layout and achieved a totally different block. I love it when people add their own preferances into something.