John C. Campbell Folk School #2

The week of teaching in August at J.C. Campbell Folk School was so full of images and memories that it's difficult to sort out what to talk about or show on this blog. Suffice it to say, I'd teach there in a New York minute again!

Imagine a whole big place--acres, buildings, fields, mountain views, people in hives of activity--all devoted to arts and crafts.

Here is one of the design walls showing some students' works (left to right: Pat, Annie, Penny, and part of Mary Jane's).


The last day we did some reflection and talking about how to finish the pieces. Annie from Asheville explained how her quilt grew from a tiny embroidered mola in the center.

Stephanie even got to basting her piece, a long art quilt that could viewed and hung either horizonatally or vertically.

Linda, who named her large quilt "The View over Chunky Girl Mountain" (what she sees from her kitchen window) made two companion quilts. I told her I'd be happy to adopt either one.

Penny, who also teaches gourmet food and wine classes at J.C. Campbell, got fancy with the center of her medallion quilt. The stars are teeny!



Penny's across-the-table friend Claudia brought Civil War reproduction fabrics and showed us all how her bitty calicoes could work just fine in these patterns. She also gave us a heart attack climbing a ladder to place her pieces on the design wall!


Pat, the quilter-in-residence at J.C. Campbell, modified both the star pattern and the Drunkard's Path to make her wall hangings. See the first picture (at blog beginning) for Pat's first quilt and then look on the left behind the musicians for her #2 piece. We hung the quilts on the stage curtains the last day during the "graduation" ceremony in front of all the students and faculty of J.C. Campbell. I know--they emphasize that the learning environment there is not competitive but if you were me, wouldn't you bust your buttons with pride at what they accomplished? I am grinning like a loon.

Teaching at Joseph C. Campbell Folk School (#1)

Two years ago I was mailed an invitation to teach at the prestigious Joseph C. Campbell Folk School www.folkschool.org and happily accepted. August 16, 2009 finally rolled around and so I boogied over to Brasstown, North Carolina driving a comfortable rental car. Although I love my Toyota, a 19 year-old stick shift, no radio or floor mats pickup truck isn't the best ride for an 11 and 1/2 hour jaunt!

The class started with a get-to-know-you session Sunday evening August 16 and then proceeded for five straight days Monday-Friday. Imagine: five full days of quilting! The titles was Eclipses and Meteor Showers and combined an old-fashioned Drunkard's Path with a simple eight-point Star to make interesting new variations. Three of the nine students chose to work only with the traditional Drunkard's Path templates that came with the kit I provided. These were custom-cut by Brandy's http://www.brandysquiltpatterns.com/acrylic.html .

Other goodies in their bag: graphs of several possible quilt lay-outs, a six-inch alternative template, perle cotton, and a pack of basting needles and another of Big Stitch needles courtesy of the Colonial Needle Company http://www.colonialneedle.com

Our two most senior sewers, Mary Jane and Hilda, put us all to shame. Working across from each other, they set their sights on queen-size quilts and I have no doubt they'll finish both these beauties.

Mary Jane used both intense and 'muddy' batiks and this shows only 1/4 of her large quilt. Hilda opted to long vertical rows of Rob Peter to Pay Paul blocks in batiks.
Jennifer, beavering away at her sewing machine, also chose traditional blocks off-set with dark solid purple.








Here Linda is contemplating choices for her star blocks.

The remaining six students opted for Drunkard's Path+Star variations. I'll post more pictures next time!