Welcome to August! It’s been so hot here in central North Carolina. It seems every day is hot and humid, with thunderstorms in the afternoon that don’t do much to cool everything off. I was lucky enough to escape for a week to the Outer Banks with my family for some much needed down time. It was still hot and humid, but being on the sound side we had nice breezes that made everything a bit more bearable.
July also saw the start of a new year of Tucker Tool Club. We learned about the versatile Tucker Trimmer and all the amazing things you can do with it. I have three tools that never leave my cutting mat: my favorite rotary cutter, a 6 ½” x 12 ½” Creative Grids ruler, and my Tucker Trimmer. I actually own five of them just in the smallest size! We had so much fun in class and my students had a great time making their blocks for Month 1. You still have time to join if you are interested. You can read all about it and sign up here on my class page.
I also announced the class Tuckerizing Alaska. This two session series shows you how to use the Wedge Star tool to make this fun quilt by Laundry Basket Quilts. It actually filled up so quickly that I’ve decided to add more dates to the calendar. The session starting August 18th is full, but I have another session that will start October 1st with the second class on October 15th. If you are interested in signing up, I recommend you do so as soon as possible. The first session filled up in less than two days! The gorgeous quilt pictured below was completed by my amazing student Dottie Fiddleman. Didn’t she do a beautiful job?
Have you seen Journeys, the Studio 180 Block of the Month done up in their brand new line from Island Batik? They have reworked the pattern in the soothing tones of Tranquility. I am going to be teaching this as a six month series starting in September. You will have the option of a weekday or weekend class time. I’ve got my kit on order from Quilter’s Obsession. You can order the full kit with or without the pattern and shipping is free! Debbie and her team do a wonderful job with customer service and I cannot recommend them enough. Or you have the option of digging into your stash and using your own fabrics. The pattern is available to purchase on its own at http://studio180design.net
You can register for classes here on my classes page.
One other thing I have been taking part in is the Studio 180 Design Monthly Block Challenge. Each month a few of the CIs take a BlockBuster and make it their own. Every Thursday of the month we show you how we put our block together. We start with a fabric pull, then give you a couple of sneak peeks of the block, and on the final Thursday we reveal what we came up with. We are working our way through the BlockBusters in order, and nothing says we have to stick to the original design. Here is what I came up with for the first one. You can follow along each Thursday on my Facebook page and my Instagram, where I will link to all of the other CIs who are participating. You’re sure to find something that stokes your creativity!
As you can see, I have a busy month coming up. Feel free to message me with any questions about upcoming classes. Until next time, may all your points be perfect.
Diana
