Robbi came to speak at our quilt guild last month and to teach her Free Expression Buffet class. We got to see a history of her I wanted to take her class because I heard her classes are fun and I already had all of the supplies I needed for the class.

I don’t take a lot of classes. Besides the obvious cost considerations of classes is my desire to create my own visions. Even when I purchase a pattern, I don’t follow it exactly. I adapt it and modify it to my needs and desires. That is hard to do in a project class, so I tend to be drawn to technique classes. The problem with technique classes is too much freedom. I rarely create spontaneously. I like to plan my projects out.

I knew with Robbi’s class she would be providing us with patterns, so I felt I could focus on the technique. This was mostly true, but it is amazing how quickly I forget how much color choice means to me.

I selected one of her gears and flowers patterns to complete in class. I was supposed to start with the gear in the lower right corner, but in looking at it, no color choices spoke to me. I could see it being any of the colors I brought with me. Instead I started with the flower in the lower left. It reminded me of a sunflower, which gave my brain a color starting point. If I wasn’t in class I would have sketched the image on the computer and played wither the colors there until I was satisfied.

I consider classes my opportunity to stretch myself, so even after the class was done, I decided to continue with the piece in the more serendipitous manor. When I finished with the 2 gear shapes I was not overly impressed with my color choices. I decided to forge ahead and complete the last flower and see if that could be used to pull the colors together.

I am happy with the end result. I don’t know if I would have chosen the same colors if I planned out the piece, but it was an interesting exercise for me.

Now I have to decide what to do with the finished piece. Do I finish it as a wall hanging or plan another life for it? For now it will go on the design wall.

I had a great time in class. It was a fun and relaxed class structure. The project I picked allowed me to really get a good feel for how Robbi’s technique works and piece order when fusing.