The first class I took was called, "Breaking the Rules," with Susan Powell. This class was great! I was totally out of my element with no pattern. The piece I was working on ended up being two pieces because my elements couldn't play nicely together in the same quilt and then I just wasn't settled with how things looked.

I took them home and put them on the design wall and left them there for a few days. Here they are magnetized to the side of a file cabinet. You can surely see my problem. The one on the right is behind the left one.

Finally, I decided to cut one of them into strips and sew all the strips back together and start something different. I really like it now.

And here is the second one. I really like the fans in the corners.

I have since added some decorative stitching to the yellow areas and that looks nice. I will finish it off with some beads so there will be more to see later.

The second class was "French Braid" by Stephanie Pennington-Grant. I have nearly finished my braids. I just need to get the corners on and then we will work on the sashes this week. I LOVE this quilt! I think it is the most dramatic quilt I've ever made. Here is one whole braid and then a bit closer on another folded in half. I may have messed with the pictures here and changed the quality. We'll see.

Okay, now about the fabric stash. My goal with the French Braid class was to use only fabric from my stash. I was very close. I first had to borrow from two friends' stash and then finally I had to purchase for the corners (not on yet) and borders.

So, that didn't even show a smudge on my stash and after discussing how hard it was to find fabrics to work together, I was informed that my stash simply wasn't large enough. Augh!! How does that all work? You want to make things from your stash but then you find out you have to buy more fabric for your stash if you want it to work together!

So, the solution is that I have to have an expert come and evaluate my stash and tell me what I need to fill in. Then my purchases can be more useful and less spontaneous.

Whew! A good week sewing and looking forward my next session of the French Braid class.