Well, Vicky, I'd agree...you have your hands full!!

I wouldn't ask that second friend to join the neighbor. I'd use the neighbor as a 'tester' and learn through those lessons on how to teach others. Besides, one on one instruction is so much easier for both teacher & student.

As for the kids, great project!! I'm already teaching my DD (age 5) to piece on the machine & by hand. So many great homeschooling possibilities here!

With the kids, a few suggestions I have if you can do it. If your machine has a speed control, knock it way down to start. If not, put a sponge or padding inside the foot pedal so that it doesn't so easily sink to the floor when they press on it. (The neighbor will do better with this since she presumably drives a car.)

Also, in our area there is a 'guild' type group for youngsters to learn to quilt. For the most part the adults use the rotary cutter & iron for the kids. Most burn injuries result from touching the hot fabric or ironing board...no the iron itself! Great opportunity to teach the saftey side of things!! You might also think about lowering the ironing board if the kids are going to do that.

Another thing I do with my DD is tape a stack of post-it notes along that 1/4" mark...then she attempts to keep the rough edges of fabric along that raised edge...easier for her than a 'line'.

A rail fence pattern is a great way to start for kids. Simple strip piecing, minimal cutting, and they can play around for a huge variety of design layouts all with the same basic blocks.

I'd love to hear how progress is made with them!

Before you get into the real quilt, I suggest you gather up lots of your scraps and teach your friend how to cut the strips. Then practice joning those strips with that scant quarter inch and how to press them. Maybe you could put them together into a doll quilt or dog blanket or something like that. This way your friend will be armed with the basics. Like Jennifer says , I'd stick with just one student, with perhaps a promise to friend #2 to work with her later. Best of luck.

Ditto one student. Nothing worse that having two students, Lickety-split & Molasses, who learn at a different speed. You'll be pulling your hair out.

I would have to agree with the one student at a time. Love the Lickety-split & Molasses, great way to put it. The split rail is a great way to start. Look at Geezerfolks' Salad Bar Basket Weave quilt. She used 4x6 strips of food fabric with 1x6 black strips on each side. Then just alternate the blocks so they look woven. It has a nice look and could also be used as an I-spy quilt for the kids to make. Bless you for spreading the quilting bug and I can't wait to hear how it goes.

beverly

Here is a link that might be useful: Salad Bar Basket Weave.

I wholeheartedly agree with Chickadee regarding practicing cutting strips and a practice quilt. I started basic with lots of rotary cutting followed by piecing it together into a square table topper.

I am teaching a class this September for ladies at my church; my aunt decided she wanted to participate (oh no ~ she has very limited knowledge of sewing) I have attempted to discourage her but she will not give up her slot (only 10 in the class). Rather than practice on good fabric, I pulled out scraps from my binds for her to practice on.

The first project was to be a square scrappy table topper with sashing, borders and binding to give her the all the stages of completing a quilt; it was rough going and very rustic uneven seams etc...it's now being used under the food and water bowl for her puppy. However ~ the practice was very valuable, we are now in the process of piecing together a scrappy lap quilt and she is doing awesome ~ which I never expected. So Vicky don't underestimate your neighbor I definitely expected less from my aunt but she has been an enjoyable surprise.

Good luck with your neighbor and in meeting the challenge. Personally it was not as bad as I expected.

Marty (Missouri)

You have taken on a real challenge. You are probably going to enjoy teaching these two people. Teaching can be rewarding, or it can be ... something else. Sometimes things go wrong and it can become really draining. I think it depends on the diligence of the student. When they are motivated, it doesn't seem like a chore at all. I am not a professional educator. I have simply taught many different people many different things that I know how to do.

Another topic: My friend said she wanted to learn how to hand quilt. She has knitted and crocheted while I have sat next to her and hand quilted and hand appliqued. Many times. She was on vacation recently, so she was able to come to the LQS for the sit and stitch group. I thought we'd finally sit still and get down to business. I had everything ready to show her how to hand quilt. But instead, she got totally overwhelmed. She had to look at everything in the store. Then, she fell in love with a few of the samples, and said she wanted to make those. Small projects, but using completely different skills from hand quilting. She took the free instructions for these small projects. OK, she can tackle those projects AFTER she learns to hand quilt, I figured. Then she asked about classes. She bought a rotary cutter and a mat. Bottom line: We never got around to the hand quilting demo. She couldn't focus on one thing at a time. I'm not saying anyone else is necessarily going to be that way. But I did learn that sometimes, it is the teacher's job to chop off just a little piece of information, just ONE skill, and tell the student that s/he is going to learn just that one little bit before they try to learn anything else. So you might want to figure out what is the most basic skill. Start with that. Make it into a completed project. The smaller the better. Design something that doesn't take much time to make, but will teach all the necessary skills. Then proceed to something that uses those skills, plus new ones that the student can learn, a little at a time. Just an idea.

Be sure to make whatever quilt you are teaching ahead of time, then you'll have a sample to show and it will help refresh your memory as far as what might be tricky. Also, it really helps to have pieces made, step by step, like they do in "Simply Quilts" And as mentioned, stress the importance of cutting, but also the importance of a good 1/4" seam. Personally, I don't think 2 students is such a bad deal. I've done it and they seem to learn from each other. The first class I taught was in my church and I had about 8--More than I expected, so I got my sister in-law to help. It was fun and some nice quilts were made. Space--that's another thing, if you belong to a church, you may be able to use space there. My house is way to small to teach in. Well, have fun with it--it's a great hobby to pass on!

If she's just buying a sewing machine, and has never sewn before or hasn't done so in years, you'll have to teach her some basics about using the machine.

Here's a handy PDF from Threads Magazine called "Driver's Ed for Sewing Machines" that covers basic "how to sew" details that I learned (mumble-mumblety) years ago, and are second nature to me now.

Sewing a straight line, if you've never done it before, is not as easy as it looks.

CMC

Here is a link that might be useful: Driver's Ed for Sewing Machines

Four years ago I taught this class, same pattern because I think it's about the easiest thing to make there is! I did a mother/daughter class and had 10 students, two of which were my girls. I used my youngest daughters project as the "guinea pig." There has been a LOT of water under the bridge since then and I've forgotten a lot of stuff. I only just got back into sewing this January after taking a 3 year break.
Thank you ladies for all the ideas. I have decided I'm only going to have my neighbor for now.
The grandkids will have their mother(my oldest daughter) here to help out and she can decide if she wants them to rotary cut or not, as for my son yes he can do that. I taught him to iron his own shirts so I think he can iron too. We will be tyeing these quilts and doing a little stitch in the ditch on the borders. I will have them miter the binding and hand sewing it down to the back.
I called my neighbor back tonight and set the times for the first "class" which will be an informal time of talking about the sewing machine and the tools we will be using, the how to's and don't do's. Then we are going shopping to buy her a rotary cutter, mat and ruler, and the material. That's the FUN part!
It has really given me something to think about besides my problems and I'm thankful for the diversion.

Vicky

CMC: Thanks. I've been sewing most of my life and that Driver's Ed thing taught me a thing or two. I especially like the part about how trying to sew a perfect point on a pointed piece leaves you with a blunted point in the end, while stopping a bit short of the point and taking a few stitches *across* it makes a nice sharp point when turned right side out. Whoda thunkit?

I agree with all the others that you should just concentrate on the one student. Once I gave in and taught English in one "class" to two women who were friends with each other. Well, one was much farther advanced than the other, so not only were they like Licketty-split and Molasses, but the advanced one did a lot more talking and asking questions and made the other one lose confidence in her own ability. Not a good situation.