Debbie Bowles

What a great day I had today in a class lead by Debbie Bowles. She created my all time favorite Block of the Month quilt called Yikes! I see by reading the description that I must have been in the very first group of people who did this quilt as a, black, pink and while batik fabric, block of the month program. What you may not be able to see from the pictures is that the rows of this quilt are offset from each other by about three inches so none of the blocks line up vertically ... a definite advantage when you are unsure of your piecing skills.

Today we did not do Yikes! but worked with Debbie on her curved cutting and piecing techniques. The pattern we used is called 'Bent Pieces'. She is an excellent teacher and spent most of the day working with individuals. She only taught, in the traditional manner, twice during the day. Once to outline the whole process of cutting and piecing such wiggly pieces and another, later in the day, to review how to add the borders and finish up. Her hints and fabric ideas were invaluable.

There are two basic size choices - one is a table runner size while the other is a lap quilt, though, I bet, any size is possible with this pattern. The projects use just about every scrap of fabric and, based on you fabric choices, can be very dramatic or very suble. I went for a subtle table runner and actually finished the top in class. I used the Moda pattern called Posh which is a lovely brown, pink, cream, yellow and light blue fabric line. Here's how it came out:

To me it looks like a Chinese garden.. but that might be the influence of watching many hours of the Olympics' opening veremonies this evening.

Someone asked during class if my home was decorated with these colors. Since I've never met a color I didn't like I had to disappoint her by confessing that I really didn't know how I would use it. It might fit in my bedroom, but maybe not. Heck, it might end up in someone's christmas package later this year... you never know!

Have a great weekend!