I just finished my first blocks of this year’s Saturday Sampler at American Quilting. I’m so excited!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Saturday Sampler, here’s a quick run down.
Each year American Quilting does a year long class that is more or less a block of the month club. You make an entire quilt top for $40 and that includes instruction and fabric. (for those of you who aren’t familiar with nice fabric prices, that’s a steal. Most block of the month clubs would be about $30 a month for around 12 months, rather than $40 for the year). It’s so amazing! They are always a great skill building class and I’m always so jealous of the people in it!
What’s the catch? Well, to get the price so low, they run things a little differently. There is a whole list of rules that you absolutely have to follow- the project is always a surprise so you don’t get to see it when you sign up (though you can see the projects of past years which are all so great), you absolutely have to come to each Saturday Sampler day (if you miss two, you’re out) and you have to sign up way in advance to get a spot. (I’ve been signed up for months now). So there’s a bit of a price you have to pay to get in (which is why I haven’t been able to do it until this year) but if the stars align and you happen to be in town for the right Saturday each month, it’s a fantastic set up. So great that they have over 600 people sign up each year. Crazy, right?
I went to my first Sampler day this past week. It was so fun! To get so many quilters through their doors on one day they run the class over and over every half hour. It was crazy- there were seriously hundreds of women going into the class or coming out of the class or picking up materials. The atmosphere was so fun though. It was fun to see the first glimpse of our fabrics and that along, with our fabric packet, we got special Sampler customers only coupons. They sure do know how to keep us quilters happily browsing their shop after class :).
This year’s quilt will be a Quilter’s Alphabet. So far our fabrics are looking pretty traditional, which I’m loving. My first two blocks were an Evening Star for ‘E’ (above) and a Chimney’s and Cornerstones for ‘C’ (below). They measure about 6 1/2 inches square so they’re pretty small. I’m not sure why we’re not going in Alphabetical order, but I suppose I’ll see why when I find out what the A and B blocks are!
For tutorials to make these blocks yourself, check out the American Quilting blog. Click here for the Evening Star Tutorial, the Chimney tutorial should be up soon too, so keep looking!
Quilting goes back pretty far in my falmiy. My sister has an heirloom quilt (much abused, but still), that my dad had when he was a kid. It’s a real Depression-era quilt, hand-sewn from clothing scraps and hand-tied with red yarn. My mom did some machine quilting for a while. She made my daughter’s crib quilt and matching crib bumpers and sewed me a red-and-white quilt. Those projects take hours and are such a gift. The quilt becomes much more than fabric and batting, for both the quilter and the recipient. Thank you for sharing your story, Susan.
Nice work! I am doing this too and just finished my blocks. I want to learn to watercolor too. Thanks for posting about your blocks and painting. I am not sure how I found your blog, but happy I did! Keep up the good work.
I’m so excited to hear someone is reading all this! Thanks so much for commenting!