Talking Koi at Quilt Class

Posted by Michelle Dompierre Southern Oct 21, 2006

This weekend I began the first session of a Stack and Whack quilt course. I've been dying to make one of these beautiful kaleidoscope quilts for years, but I thought the process would be too time consuming and difficult (I don't have very much patience... and my life right now is focused on quick-to-make quilts because I give them away as gifts). When this class came to be I didn't take the chance of driving to the store... I called in and signed myself up right away.

I've been looking forward to this class for months now. The thing is, I've also been looking forward to having a kitchen again, since we've stripped ours bare in August to have everything -- even the receptacles, even the floor -- replaced. It will be November soon and a simple chore like making a coffee requires a trip to six different rooms. So when I got an installation date for our kitchen for next week, everything went clean out of my head.

And I ended up late to class.

I was mortified but the teacher and my fellow students didn't mind. I got to have the teacher all to myself while she showed me the basics of Bethany Reynold's technique, modified slightly to suit the quilt we were making, and then I picked my fabric.

I picked an Oriental pattern with the colours that will be in our new front living room, and two paisley fabrics. I did the "check" with the mirrors and decided on the Oriental print. It's incredibly gorgeous. I went back out and waited to have it cut I saw another fabric, this one with koi fish on it. It was resting against the other fabric, as someone else had apparently chosen it for their class quilt.

I did a double take. I stared at the koi. I turned my head away, and then turned it back to admire the colours in that fabric. I could almost hear them calling to me: I am the faaaaabric you waaaaant. Taaaaake me hooooome! Who could resist talking koi? I bought a length of it to make a second kaleidoscope quilt at home. Talk about serendipity! I would never have considered this fabric if I'd arrived to class on time.

So far, we are allowed to do no sewing whatsoever. We can only cut, and move pieces around, and stare, and dwell on positioning. The background fabric can't even be considered until the teacher has decided you've done enough of the moving and staring. My background fabric, which ended up being so perfect it made two of my classmates gasp, might not even be available so I'll have to wait until next week to see if I can get it or not. I might have to start slicing and dicing those precious koi so that I can choose an available background fabric for class.

Anyway, if you get a chance this fall or winter to get into a class at your local quilt shop, please do so. The techniques you learn will inspire you, and you'll get to peer at all the pretty fabric, as well as find out about the latest do-dads. The coffee might not be the best but the smell of it wafting through the shop, the feel of that gorgeous cotton through your fingers, and the chatter of others who share your passion can't be beat.