janestarz | Basic Patchwork workshop (1)

Today was the day I'd finally start on the Basic Patchwork lessons I'd subscribed to a while back. While I had ordered my fabrics on Etsy as soon as I knew how many I'd need of what kind and density and shade, I had been anxious they wouldn't be arriving in time. Yesterday I visited the store I would be getting my lessons and asked if I could use any quilt fabric, as I still had some fat quarters lying around.
I figured I'd be making my ninepatches out of fat quarters and do them in the 'real' fabric as soon as these arrived.

The store has many reproduction fabrics.

The lovely and quaint little quilt store near my home is called "Quilt It & Dotty" and it's a historical building (if not a monumental one) with a lot of original elements still intact. From the floor tiles in the hallway, the (semi-) period kitchen cabinets to the reproduction quilts hanging from every door and wall, it's probably the most gingerbread-safe house I've ever seen. It breathes atmosphere.

I told Dorry, who would be giving the workshop, that I loved the look and feel of their quilts, but that my house is decorated with white and blue and light wood, and antique beige and off-white don't mix well with these colours, which she understood perfectly. We had a little conversation over the e-mail about fabric choices, and yesterday I dropped by her store to buy some of the final necessities -- paterno paper, a sewline pencil, some very tiny applique needles, cotton thread and a tiny ruler. I was ready, set, go (albeit a little late) this morning.

Dorry is nothing if not thorough, and she showed us many tricks she has learned in her twenty years of experience. She started quilting in her teens (if I calculate correctly) and has done everything by the book and off the record, and wants to keep us from tearing our hair out at any given moment. From threading a needle so the thread doesn't tangle to making a see-through mold of the pattern piece (even if it's just a 6 cm square!).
What surprised me a little bit was that this workshop was completely 100% hand-sewn. (Oy.)
Very Zen.

Dorry (left) shows us how to sew the ninepatch. My paterno pattern of the squares (right).

Since my fabrics had indeed not arrived on time I brought the scraps from my mother's quilt fabric -- at more than half a meter each, more than ample fabric to make my first official Dotty-quilt. After the workshop, I bought two more coordinating fabrics so there was enough variety to go around.
I loved my sew-line pencil, which can switch between lead and chalk at a turn of the wrist. And I don't mind hand-sewing, really I don't. It's also very impressive to see a block come together neatly with corners nicely matched while hand-sewing in a running stitch. Dorry says it will keep everything together well enough. Nothing is done by machine, which gives me more than ample homework for next week. I have to finish three more blocks in this simple ninepatch, alternating fabrics.

I had a great time and promised to send Dorry the pictures. She has her own blog too, you can find it here.

The stitches we use are really tiny.

And of course this afternoon there was a ring of the doorbell and a guy from the post delivering a package. I didn't have enough cash to pay the fee, so he'll return tomorrow, but it's a safe bet it's my fabric, exactly five hours too late to be used in this quilt. Now that I have one block finished (by HAND!) I'm not going to start over again.