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.