Quilt Teacher Resources

Teaching From Debbie Caffrey's Books

Noodle Soup

Teaching Outline

Noodle Soup works well as a “quilt of the month” just like Open a Can of Worms. There are twelve quilts in this book, but you could combine the two Album quilts into the same month to reserve the twelfth month for the reunion.

See the outline below for teaching the book in a series of three or four classes.

Class 1

Demonstrate strip cutting.

Discuss the basic strip-pieced patterns Basket Weave, Noodle Soup, Pajama Party, and Doll Houses.

Demonstrate and have quilters construct a Twice Broken Dishes block.

Demonstrate and have the quilters construct a Lost Ships block.

Show models and samples to encourage them to cut many more “noodles” and bring them to the next class.

Class 2

Discuss fabric selection for different effects in the quilts. Just because they are multiple fabric quilts, every quilt doesn’t need to be a “tossed salad” of your fabric stash. Let each quilter pull together an imaginary quilt of twelve to twenty strips from her stash. Discuss and evaluate intensity, value and contrast, scale, visual texture, etc.

Discuss the construction of March Winds and the two Album quilts.

Demonstrate the Kaleidoscope and Florida quilts.

Encourage the quilters to construct a sample of the Kaleidoscope and Florida blocks.

Discuss the use of the remaining class session(s).

Class 3 (& 4)

Use the last class session(s) to have quilters make sample blocks and pieces for the remaining patterns in the book, or allow the quilters to choose a project (This should be suggested at the end of Class 2.) and proceed to construct the quilt with your guidance.

Discuss how to convert patterns from other books and magazines so that they can be cut from the “noodles” with the techniques and tools they have learned about. Contact me if you need some assistance in understanding the tools. I have information or sources that I can provide to you.