Sue Ross Whirligigs, Prickly Pears and other sweet delights (Part 1)

How lucky are we Paddington Patchworkers to have Sue Ross visiting us over 3 months to teach us some of her most graphic quilts?
It’s a measure of Sue’s skill as a teacher that she can simultaneously teach three quilt designs, moving around to each group, instructing and advising, then moving on to the next.   Gail is making Sue’s Prickly Pear design, an exercise in putting together fabrics in difficult-to-use hues, and after she and Sue had crawled around on the floor swapping and re-swapping blocks, this was the final layout.  Taking a photo is the perfect way to remember the plan you’ve settled on, once you’ve gone home, walked the dog, cooked dinner, stacked the dishwasher – and then decided to get the sewing machine out again, and you have a “Now, where was I?” moment.
Jan and Di B are tackling the intricately pieced blocks of Strawberry Shortcake, but where Jan is hand-piecing hers --  Di is machining her version (working title “Lemon Cheesecake”!) Machine stitching calls for an accurate 1/4” stitching line, so once she had drawn around her perspex template, Di used this nifty little gadget to draw a cutting line exactly 1/4” from the first line.  Easy peasy. I love collecting sewing gizmos!!!  How about you?