Chubby Churn Dash

This weekend I had the opportunity to take a class with Mary Fons (yes THE Fons and Porter Mary Fons!) When I saw she was going to be teaching at a retreat center 30 minutes from my parents I knew I had to go. The class was aimed at beginners, but I wanted to meet the woman who taught me so much about quilting.  She joined her mom on the show around the same time that I started quilting. It was so nice to see someone my age asking the questions I wanted answered and making the same mistakes I was. We really did learn together.

The class used the half and quarter triangle ruler. I love learning different ways for making HSTs. It seemed weird at first to cut triangles out instead of squares, but I loved being able to press and move on with perfect HSTs. It was also really fun seeing how the quilters all made the same block, but every block was unique. It was so wonderful to get together in a relaxed setting and learn from each other. Most of the ladies and gentleman who were there have been quilting for several years and were there to meet and learn from Mary. (Even though we were experienced quilters who could have made a churn dash on our own I heard everyone say that they learned at least one thing in the class. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from Mary DO IT!!!!!)

I lean towards the modern and while I haven't done improve or wonky, I do choose more modern colors. I decided to do (another) monochromatic quilt that plays on shades of grey. I did push myself though and chose grey prints. I might have a couple that are the same line or designer, but I chose fat quarters so for most of my fabrics I don't have a clue who designed or made it. As I was laying out my blocks they looked a bit flat so I added a pop of yellow to each block. It ties together all of the blocks and really makes everything pop.  I think there will be one yellow churn dash some where in the quilt too. I can't wait until I get the rest of my churn dashes made and get to see this quilt. I think it's going to be a stunning one.