English Paper Piecing Class

Today I taught my first quilt class at Appalachian Piecework Antique and Textile Studio. I had only one student. If I was going to just have one student I'm glad it was Cyndy. I met her and her daughter at the Staunton Farmers Market. They sell fabulous grass-fed meats and eggs from happy hens. Cyndy has a blog Mountain Glen Farm Journal. We held our class out on the patio of the studio. A couple of times the wind picked up and we had to chase down hexies but other than that we couldn't have had a nicer day.

Appalachian Piecework is one of a few shops in the old train station here in Staunton. The train still runs on the track and went by a couple of times during class - just about a dozen feet behind us. We had to take a break and take some photos when the second train came by.

 Cyndy and me

Laurie, the proprietor of Appalachian Piecework, and me 

Rachel's Quilt Patch is next door and this caboose is part of that shop. The garden is Laurie's. She once told me what some of these plants are and now I can't remember. I know there were some that she uses to dye fabric and yarn. Laurie dabbles in several textile arts. Her works is beautiful so I should really say she is a master of several textile arts. She sells them at Appalachian Piecework as well as antique textiles and some very special silk scarves her talented daughter creates at Nellie Rose Textiles.

After class Cyndy and I browsed through the shop-

Can't you see yourself spending hours in this shop?

It was a very enjoyable afternoon and I can't wait until our next and final class in two weeks. I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of Cyndy's hexie flower and the applique piece that was her fabric inspiration. I'll take some photos next time. Luckily Cyndy picked up on the technique right away. We'll both be stitching on our hexies for the next class.

I took a few photos yesterday morning while I sat on my front porch drinking my morning beverage of ginger and green tea.

We've already had a couple of very chilly mornings. I'm hoping for a beautiful fall leaf display here in the Shenandoah Valley this year.