Monday was our first day of Quilt Camp but I left my camera at home. I got there early today before anyone else was there yet and I took some pics while everything was quiet. This year our participants are from 6th grade through 12th grade. Sixth grade is the earliest they can attend and we have had some college age participants; it is a wide age range but it works!
On the left is our main cutting station which we set up in the center of the room. The photo shows one of the sewing set ups. There are two narrow tables pushed together with a sewing machine on opposite sides of the table and on opposite ends, and an ironing board at the end of the table. In the background you can see the design walls. we used flannel back table cloths fastened to strips of wood that are held up on the wall with Command Hooks. There are 10 kids and five sewing stations like this one.around the perimeter of the room. We often have one or two boys; this year we have two.
Everyone has their own design wall so we don't have to walk around the quilt blocks on the floor this year. This is our 5th year and we have been able to improve our room set up a little every year. The room is nice and bright with good lighting, spacious enough for 10 -12 kids and we have another room available for when we start to layer up and tie the quilts. We are very fortunate to have such a nice space to use.
Everyone got there on time and started working and they accomplished a lot today. Yesterday most of the strip sets were finished but not all cut into blocks yet. One of the mom's who came to pick up her daughter studied the design wall a while and asked if there as any rhyme or reason to the layout. I understood her questioning. Today with the horizontal strips added to the blocks it started to come together and make sense. Most of the quilt tops are ready now for the borders. I think they look good.
We hope that by tomorrow we will be ready to layer up and tie. We have opted to tie instead of quilt for several reasons; the time restraints, the lack of space to give everyone an optimal setup for machine quilting, lack of experience sewing let alone quilting. Some of our quilt kids have attended other years but I am not sure if any of them have done any sewing in the time between Quilt Camps. I think they do very well and for the ones that return we can see a definite improvement in their skills . It is a fun time getting to hang out with them for a whole week. More pics tomorrow. 
1 comment:
I wish there had been this sort of thing way back when I was a kid. Good job. KKF
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