Wrestling with a giant fish

I think I know how Jonah felt after wrestling most of the day with this big carp.

The fins and tail will get embroidery or quilting in black. The eyes on both fish will be black with a white margin.

I brought home some fabric scraps for the eyes but forgot to pick up stabilizer.

Tomorrow our group meets again. The golden carp is left to be assembled.



My other project for the week has been preparing for a class at the Women's Conference this weekend.

My class is, "When life gives you scraps, make quilts".

The theme for this year's conference is "Treasuring Our Gifts".The aim is to enable each of us to recognize our God-given gifts and to identify how we can better use and expand those gifts to glorify God and increase our joy.

I have been thinking how I can teach something in a one hour workshop that will be a learning experience and leave the participants with a small reminder.

Well, I cut squares from solid color fabric and triangles from different prints, a nine inch piece of batting and a ten inch piece of backing. The plan is to teach the process of sewing (by hand) the four triangles to the square. Then marking the center with a quilt design, baste top to batting and backing, quilt in the ditch, then quilt the small center design and turn the backing to make a binding.

The result could be a mug-rug or hot pad.

I am not sure how much learners can do in the given time but I can leave the materials out for finishing later.

I prepared 20 kits but I don't think there will be that many people who want to try the class so there will be a choice of colors and fabrics. One of my quilting friends thought what I can do in half an hour will probably take a lot longer for someone new to do. I haven't had anyone to try this out on yet, so will just go as prepared as I can and then fly blind.

I marked and cut the pieces from my plentiful stash and hardly made a dent. I still have to print out a selection of simple quilt patterns for the members to trace. I am also toying with the idea of making up felt pieces with needle and pins for each kit.

I have bought my ticket for the Tokyo Dome quilt show which begins on Thursday this week. Since the first few days are always jam-packed, I don't mind that I will have to wait until next week to go. I am also looking forward to meeting a few quilting friends in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow's weather report is more snow. That should add to the fun!