BOMs Away

One of the fun things I have been doing is taking a "class" called Saturday Sampler. It is a Block of the Month (BOM) program sponsored by one of our local quilt shops.

You pay $35 to sign up for the class. It's once a month. The owner will have 4 or 5 color runs to choose from at the beginning of the year.  You don't really know what the finished quilt will look like until farther along in the year, when finishing instructions are passed out. What you do know is that you will make twelve different squares, thus creating a "sampler" quilt.

Each month you get a package with instructions and fabric for that month's block. You only get the package if you show up in person and bring last month's square - completely finished. If you know you are going to be out of town, you can reserve a block for yourself by paying $10 before the month you will be gone.

When you go to the class you are treated to wonderful snacks made by the owner's mother. Then you have an opportunity to show your square to the group. It is interesting to see the variations and substitutions that some quilters choose to make. It is also quite interesting to see the differences that can result from the use of different color runs and different placements of dark and light fabrics.

Most of the class time is spent being shown new fabrics and new products. We also hear about current sewing machine specials, quilting retreats, and so forth. It's not really a class. It's more like an infomercial. 

I enjoy this part of the class because I get to see new fabrics and I find out about products I wasn't aware of. For example, one of the recent items was a small rotating cutting mat. I may have seen this in a store before, but I never really thought about how it would be used. Not only did I find out about this, I had the chance to hear what others thought of it. I bought one not long thereafter, and I love it.

So far, the quilt patterns/instructions have come from a company called From Marti Michell. She makes the patterns available to quilt shops only, so you can't get the patterns on your own. The instructions in the patterns are EXCELLENT.

The patterns are designed to be used with various sets of cutting templates sold by From Marti Michell. The templates are nice, but somewhat expensive.  Most of them are designed for very specific quilts, as far as I can tell. If you really knew what you were doing, you could probably use them to create your own squares. She has a log cabin template, however, that is very nice. If you are going to make a log cabin quilt, try to get one.

I have to say that I am not wild about the BOM patterns that come from Marti Michell. Most of them are very traditional. Some are designed for specific fabric that she sells, and it's not the type of fabric I like. (I like batiks and modern fabrics!)

I have a lot more to say, but I'm out of time, so I'll have to finish this later.