This is particularly true about my Papercut Appliqué workshop.  Based on my book Sewflakes:  Papercut Appliqué Quilts, students learn how to design their own one-of-a-kind snowflake-style designs.  The results are always different, amazing, and beautiful!  I love teaching this class.

Sometimes, a student arrives to class with a clear idea of what they hope to accomplish.  Such was the case with Jan, who took the workshop at the Quilts in the Gardens show in Burlington ON last year.  She was in the process of making a quilt for her daughter’s upcoming wedding and wanted to design a co-ordinating wallhanging for her future son-in-law.

She was working with African fabrics and a safari theme, and knew that she wanted to incorporate elephants into her sewflake design.  She even came to class with pictures of elephants!  I remember debating with her what would work best in the center of her design and was delighted to see what she came up with.  I was also most impressed with the way she made the elephants three-dimensional and with the embellishments that bring the animals to life.

Congratulations, Jan, on your stunning design.  Your daughter and son-in-law must have been thrilled to receive such beautiful gifts from your heart and your hands.