Elven Garden Teaches 2016

It's been a big organisational week for me this past week, planning and scheduling the classes I'll be teaching at Frangipani Fabrics this year. We added almost 20 new classes to our website last week (not all mine!) including patchwork, bag making, hand sewing and kids sewing classes. I'm working at Frangipani a bit more this year (in addition to teaching weekend classes), including helping with kids sewing classes

Over the last two years, teaching patchwork and quilting classes has become a huge part of my life. I don't think there's any better occupation than teaching other people about something that you love. Watching people learn new skills (and that 'aha' moment when a new technique makes perfect sense) and have fun in my classes brings me a ridiculous amount of joy. So I'm thrilled that I'll be teaching even more this year - it's going to be an awesome year!

I have a few classes starting in February and March, some new and some repeats from last year and 2014. We are kicking off 2016 with a repeat of the very first class I taught - the Necessary Clutch Wallet, which I'm really looking forward to. I still use my NCW almost three years on, and it's still in amazing condition.

Another class I'm teaching again is the Aviatrix Medallion by Elizabeth Hartman. I taught this quilt last year, and it was simply amazing watching 12 different versions of this quilt evolve. I'm hoping to share my students finishes with you pretty soon, they are all remarkable quilts! One of the nicest things about teaching a quilt like this is that I get to know my students really well over the 7 or 8 classes, and see friendships blossom between my students. I've started quilting mine again, and I'm really hoping I'll have the quilting done in the next week or two.

One of my new classes for this year is Gravity (designed by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts). While I was writing this post I realised I haven't actually photographed this one for a while - the diamond blocks have multiplied slightly since this ;o) Spaces in this class are filling up fast, it is going to be such a fun quilt to teach! I'm making mine using all Tula Pink prints, and I am so in love with it. It's been a great way to use some long hoarded fabrics and a few precious scraps - I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into finishing the top once I finish quilting my Aviatrix!

I have a bunch of other classes starting later this year, so I'll share those once my class samples are under way. In the meantime, I'll be sharing progress on these two quilts a bit more often - my kids start back at school this week, so I'll actually get a day or two a week to do some quilting ;o)

xx Jess