Farmers Wife week 16 - a trip to Bundaberg and a busy week

Two blocks this week, what a week it has been!

I have worked full time for 3 weeks, nothing like trying to get things done at home while you are exhausted from work- we had a very busy few weeks! a baby boom!

Another basket in the patterns this week, makes me think the original patchworkers were making their homes pretty with flower baskets when their gardens were bare.

 I love this large dotty fabric, it is fun to use in these small 6 inch blocks.

I had the pleasure to travel to Bundaberg last weekend to teach 2 classes; Improvisational piecing. What an energy filled weekend! apart from the lovely company, there was great food, and an abundance of creativeness!

Many of the ladies started from scratch with their fabrics, some used older previously pieced blocks and revamped them. There was some painted fabric which got a new life, also some very planned colourways. While I do have a few pictures, I am saving them for the quilters themselves to show, many of the pieces are still in progress.

Teaching and planning- did make me think about classes and being both a student and a teacher recently ( several times as both).

At one stage, I had the thought when I was student "when am I going to get my money's worth?"- that is - the teacher does not come my way very often.

Then, when I am the teacher- I am very conscious of getting to everybody 

personally, equally. 

I have a system to rotate from one student to the next and then go round again and again- in the same order- always.

I did do some calculations! in a class of 12 over a 6 hour class- taking out introduction, general class instructions and class recap (approx 1 hour), that leaves 5 hours. Divided by 12 students gives every student 25 minutes each individual time over the day, broken down into several visits by the tutor (that is the maximum time per student in a class of 12- if I don't stop to give general class information from time to time). 

If there is general class instruction or a longer recap- which happened last week, or someone leaves early, or comes late, it reduces the time per student to less time.

 Its a tricky balance.

If I take 1 hour to cover the class as a recap- that is to go round each student and discuss design and show work, planning and taking it home to finish- which is nice to do as a group - the time per student reduces to maximum 20 minutes per student- or less if there are more students. In my mind that is 4 individual visits of 5 minutes each over the class day! 

So while my brain is helping you choose colour and designs and troubleshoot - I am acutely aware of the time restrictions.

I hope that I have got it right and that my students are happy, it takes a lot of energy to teach a class! A primary school music teacher once said to me that every class she taught was like " a one woman cabaret show- every class!"

Sometimes I feel like that - especially with the improv class,but the end results are worth it.