Getting Ready to Teach a Beading on Fabric Class at Quilt foundry

         I love the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for beads with others.  It always amazes me when I meet quilters who love non-tratitional quilting, but haven't done any beading on their quilts.  To me it seems a natural step to take, and it adds so much with very little effort. 

        Lisa Spaulding, from the Quilt foundry in Maumee, Ohio invited me to teach a class in her shop and I jumped at the opportunity.  They have an active non-traditional quilt group that meets at the shop one Tuesday evening a month and I would imagine that the largest percentage of those signed up for the class come from that group.  I,ve heard so much about the group and really look forward to meeting them. 

        If a person has not done any or much beading it can be daunting preparing for a class.  What do you take, what size beads, do I need stabilizer, can I use regular needles,  do I use regular thread?  Oh my, this can convince one not to take a class.  All of us who teach or take classes , know about the suggested  materials "list" can bring an other wise gentle woman to words that she doesn't use often/never.  Sometimes we even hear about students who get everything on the list and get to class and end up not using all of it. 

        I love to make the canvas, a small quilt  (8" x 10") with all of the quilting done and the area that will be beaded all ready to be finished after the students have been taught the basics of beads, thread, needles, stabilizer and have the opportunity to make a sampler with a dozen different beading stitches.  It is a piece they can take home and feel ready to hang on the wall and brag on.  Each will receive with their little quilt a kit of beading supplies  and a  Timtex  square to practice all of their new stitches on.  It will serve as a permanent reference card for future endeavors. 

       Does this make you want to get the beads out?  Larkin Van Horn has a terrific book, Beading on Fabric, that make a great  gift for any one on your Christmas list.  Lyric Kinard also just came out with a new DVD about Beading on Quilts available through Quilting Arts.   All this talk about Bead has me waking up and thinking I have another two hours before bed time and maybe I can get a bit more work done. 

Ta Ta, as we prepare for Christmas, use your time wisely,  have happy dreams about what you got done today, not nightmares about what you have to do tomorrow.