A New Class

I've been interested in colour theory for a long time and have wanted to come up with a class that was interesting (not having your students fall assleep in a theory class is a good thing) but also informative, covering everything you ever wanted to know about colour (not really, just the important bits like value).

Today I taught this new class at one of the shops I regularly teach at, Quilter's Loft in Mooresville, NC and it went much better than expected.

I've been teaching for close to 14 yrs (egads! who told me to put that bit of info in) and find that new quilters struggle when picking colours for their quilts, heck I still struggle at times. The class was small, only 2 students, but it gave me a chance to test my concept for the class.

My quilt, Blueberries and Mint Parfait (above), was the teaching sample. The reason I think this quilt works so well is because of how simple it is to piece. Students could quickly get to the theory part of the class without having to think real hard on how to piece the block.

When I teach I like to provide a complete picture of the subject at hand so that students walk away from my class being able to transfer that information to any quilt they produce. I'm finding these days that I prefer to teach techniques rather than how to make a particular quilt or pattern. The satisfaction I get is seeing the light bulb come on (or at least flicker a bit) in a student who was struggling before.

The class was 3 hours long (I hear a big sigh out there) but wait...it included a lot of playtime on the design wall, interspersed with all that scrumptious theory. Even so I think I can expand the class to include some colour exercises so students go home with work they can reference. For now though, I think I did good...or so my students told me.

See ya next time" In the Hayloft",