COMPLETE AT LEAST SIX ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING THE TWO STARRED. 1. If you don't know them already, read through your sewing machine's instruction manual to find out any applicable safety procedures for the use of your machine. Explain how to thread your needles, how to maintain your sewing machine, and how to use it to get a 1/4" seam allowance. 2. Either in your own fabric stash or at a fabric store, pick out five coordinating cuts of fabric that you love. Folding them in different ways to make them larger or smaller, arrange them on a tabletop to see how they will look in various combinations. Using your downloaded journal or some graph paper and some colored pencils or crayons, come up with five possible pieced blocks you could make with your fabrics. 3. Research and explain the skills you need to be a good quilter. Make a chart that shows what you need to improve and where you have skills already. 4. Not all quilts live on the bed. Design five projects for quilted objects that aren't blankets. Make one of your designs. 5. Look up hand-quilting patterns and techniques, and the types of threads that are used. Make a small, five section quilt sandwich and in each of the blocks of color, practice with a different thread and technique.

6. Most quilters use 100% cotton fabrics from a fabric store. Others have incorporated non-traditional, recycled fabrics to make one of a kind quilts. Go through your closets for some unused clothing or make a trip to a local thrift store to find some unusual fabric, and make a small pieced project with what you find. 7. Applique' has a long history. Research some of the great historical quilts from Baltimore in the early days of America. Find a pattern you particularly like, and make a replica block in your own fabric choices. (Either hand-appliqued or fused.) 8. Modern quilting looks much different from traditional pieced blocks, but draws on some traditional techniques. Find and list examples of some modern quilts that have traditional leanings. Draw your own modern block in your journal. 9. The Quilts of Gee's Bend are about to be pictured on some US Postage Stamps. Look up the quilts and the quiltmakers online (or at the library) and learn the story of these quilts and the impact that quiltmaking has made on the community. How can you impact your own community through quilting? Brainstorm some examples. 10. Almost everywhere in the country, quilt guilds meet to talk about their quilting, play show and tell, and do community service projects together. Find out where your local guilds meet. Attend a meeting. 11. Quilters have gone the extra step in making their fabric creations into Art Quilts. Look up the various types of art quilts and the techniques by which they're made. Find an example of Piecing, Fusing, Embellishing, and Painted designs. Pick your favorite technique, and make a wall-hanging using the technique you chose.

   OR