"My Beginners" Workshop

This past weekend I had the pleasure of teaching my 3-day Beginner's workshop to 14 newbie quilters!  I have several workshops that I teach and we snug up at the Hyatt House in Rancho Cordova which is just outside of Sacramento, California.    In addition to the 14 newbies, I had three Alumni students (students from last year's class) as well as three local students who joined us for some quality quilting time.

My students learn all the basics the first day including basting, getting your hummm-purrr and stitch length and learning how to do free form feathers and backgrounds.  

 The second day they spend at the Open Thread Bar where they learn how to use any and all kinds of threads in their machine, learn how to solve thread related issues  and the best of all they get to put their newly learned skills to the test with some thread painting.  Day three is spent learning the basics of designing .

I was given a green foam glittery crown by one of my students to give as an award to a deserving student at the end of the workshop.  It took me a bit to decide on the recipient...Congratulations Denise!!!  Denise came to my class with her cart before the horse.  She is about as new of a quilter as you can get...she hasn't learned to piece yet but she's determined to learn how to free motion quilt!  She also came with her new "big girl" machine which she has never used.  She is bound and determined to learn how to quilt and by George she did it!  The entire class was quite proud of her.  Way to go Denise!

Before and after my day of teaching the workshop I had my hotel room all set up getting class prep done for the upcoming Road to California show in Ontario.  I brought an extra table into my room and had class handouts strewn all over the couch and chairs, etc. while I did my assembly.  Now that I'm home I have all the tubs lined up in the garage (one tub for each class) and am patiently unpacking my suitcases from Rancho Cordova  and loading everything back into the tubs for Road.  Never an end to the merry-go-round!

I will be taking lots of pictures at Road and looking forward to sharing with you again next week.  Gotta run...lots to do before next Tuesday!  Hugs, Cindy :)