More Trees

This past weekend I took my bag of scraps and various other supplies to Augusta for the bi-monthly Art Quilts Maine meeting. I had been asked to teach my Tree Bits technique to the group. With only a couple of hours, we had time to get the trees from conception to adding tulle. Once the tulle was in place, people could carry their trees home without fear of losing all those tiny scraps! Photos of trees in progress have begun showing up on our Facebook page and in my email. I wanted to share a few here--isn't it wonderful how diverse they are!

Celeste's tree with thread painted branches

Jane made two trees! And created a lakeside scene

Laura's tree casts a lovely shadow on the snow covered ground

Such a fun group to work with--I hope to see many more completed trees soon! 

Stacked Coins Class

Stacked Coins is the name of the quilt pattern we worked on in this one-day beginner's class. A day of rotary cutting, chain piecing, pressing and sewing rows to strips resulted in completed baby sized quilt tops. Everyone went home with instructions on finishing the quilts. A follow up email included links to videos and tutorials on finishing techniques, from basting to binding. I hope everyone remembers to add a label! Joyce sent me a great photo, titled: My First Quilt. She even pieced her binding out of leftover fabrics. Love it!

 

Student Work

Lisa's Tree 2017

Lisa sent me a picture of her tree, begun in the "Tree Bits and Thread Paint" workshop recently! She added a bush to one side, and quilted the background with small circles, which was a great choice from my perspective, as my favorite part of her tree is the red fabric with colorful circles that appears in three or four locations.

Class trees ranged from the more realistic to fantasy, with curls and curves a la Dr Seuss. Placing tree bits took much of the day, but as the trees took shape class participants began to see the possibilities. It's fun and relaxing, playing with fabric in such a low-stress way. Watch for the class to be scheduled again later this year!

Fall in Maine

I have been absent, not posting for a while. I wish I could say I was busy finishing quilts, but not so. Although I did deliver over 35 quilts to Kimball St Studios in Lewiston for Art Quilts Maine's second annual show! It is beautifully hung and it is not too late to view it. We have just decided to keep the quilts on display until October 29, so if you are in the area, stop by. Click the link for information on the gallery. Included in the show is this year's Travelling Challenge Quilt Show, the theme of which is fabric manipulation. The Travelling Challenge will be at Portland Public Library next, during December and January. Some truly creative pieces in that group!

We also traveled to Florida and Honu found a home, hanging on a wall at Jerry's Mom and PaPa Joe's home. It really is the perfect spot for this wall hanging, since we went with them to Hawaii, on the trip that inspired Honu.

I teach a full class tomorrow at Sew Portland on Free Motion Quilting. If you didn't get into this session, I'll be scheduling another one--maybe after the holidays. Meanwhile, work is progressing on the wedding quilt commission and a new round robin series.

I recently made up a new batch of Quiltini Pins and will be looking for opportunities to put them out for sale. Once I get started they are addicting to make--each a tiny, embellished quilt with glitz and glitter!

Friendship Maine

4 days, 5 quilts and more. A fitting end of summer retreat. I am teaching a techniques class at Sew Portland this weekend and next on creating quilts from photos (like these!) Call the store to see if there is space available at 797-6700.

Morning Walk

Fairies live here

Done

Friendship Ahead

Student work, 'Picture This!'

Summer flew by in a flurry of visitors and travel. We got the dining room/studio window replaced and repainted the room, finally! Although the design wall went up last weekend, my sewing machine is waiting for clear space on the table. I plan to kick start sewing again with a long Labor Day weekend retreat in Friendship, Maine. 4 days and 7 projects--maybe more!

I've also scheduled fall classes at Sew Portland. 'Picture This!' an all techniques class, spans two full Saturdays. Starting with a photo (or two) I describe how to turn photos into patterns and patterns into quilt tops. In class we'll be using a photo of mine taken in Friendship, but the techniques will translate to your own photos. My favorite part of this class is creating the tree!

The class was popular enough when I taught it last year in Trenton, that I created a pattern, 'Safe Harbor' which is available for sale at Sew Portland. No need to purchase my pattern for class though--I will provide what you need and teach you to make your own patterns. 'Picture This!' is scheduled for September 12 and 19.

I teach Free Motion Quilting on October 17. If you've been waiting for that one to come around, it isn't posted yet but they will take your name at the store or over the phone.

Taking a few months off of quilting wasn't easy, but I did take lots of photos to inspire new pieces this fall.

One Done!

One more student quilt from the Voila class! Lisa completed her quilt with binding to match the brown and green polka-dot flower centers and first time free-motion quilting throughout the green background. Although she nearly changed her mind on the orange petals, they make a bright, sunny quilt. Way to go! She sent along this photo with her comment, which says it all--"love it, love it, love it!!!" 

Lisa's finished quilt

Voila!

Voila!

I am teaching a two-day class at Sew Portland (part 2 is this Saturday.) We are working on raw-edge fusible applique. I designed an easy baby size quilt to learn on.

Last Saturday we spent time choosing fabrics--each student had her own unique vision. Fabric shopping is so much fun! We could have spent the whole day playing with fabrics but eventually we got to work cutting and stitching the backgrounds and learning to use fusible web. The product we used in class is Steam-a-Seam II Lite. My personal favorite is an oldie but goodie, Wonder Under. I love that stuff. But Steam-a-Seam has the advantage of acting like a Post-It note until you are ready to hit it with the iron, so the applique pieces go on the design wall, get moved around until you love it, then set with the iron, no pinning involved! A huge advantage in a classroom situation or for working on the large-sized petals in this pattern.

With tops done, students headed home to spray-baste the quilts in preparation for this week's completion session. If all goes according to plan, they will secure the fused applique with a variety of stitches, add some quilting in the background (free motion here we come!) and finally, apply the binding entirely by machine.

I couldn't resist showing off Victoria's completed top--she chose prints for her flower petals and added a border to make the quilt a little bigger. Flower Power!

Victoria's top

Class with Marilyn Belford

Rectangle Abstracted

I am taking a class series called "Art for Quilters" with Marilyn Belford. You may recognize her portrait quilts or her mythology series. I have been a fan for a long time. When I heard from a friend that she was teaching an online class, I couldn't sign up fast enough. Lesson one started out with a still life and abstracting geometric forms. Lesson two is a discussion of composition. Returning to the basics of art is so valuable for a quilter--after all, we work with color, value and composition no matter what style of quilting we may be doing. Here are a couple of examples from the first lesson. I love being a student. Probably the most fun part of the class so far is the one-on-one interaction with someone I admire--the somewhat scary opportunity to share my experiments with Marilyn Belford and hear her feedback and critique!

Shapes and Arrows

Stacked Coins

Cindy's Stacked Coins baby quilt

Beginning quilter classes are such fun to teach! Linda and I just finished teaching a two-day class using the Stacked Coins pattern, which we modified from a Moda pattern that is available several places online. It is a great beginner pattern, as it starts with a charm pack and has no matching seams, thus reducing concern about accurately cut patches. We finally have the lesson plan tweaked so the quilts were very nearly complete at the end of class. Most students just had to finish quilting and add binding, and many had the binding cut and ready to go.

One of our students, Cindy, sent these photos of her completed baby quilt! Quilted with straight-line stitching and beautifully bound with the same fabric as her backing. Well done! We love seeing our students' work. Send more pictures!

Next up is a Free Motion Quilting class, on Saturday, February 21, 10:00 to 3:00. Lots of hands on practice there, learning to 'draw' with the sewing machine needle. I encourage students to bring in unfinished quilt tops so we can brainstorm various ways to quilt and complete them. Want to join the fun? Sign up at Sew Portland--in person at 306 Warren Ave in Portland, or by phone at 797-6700. 

Chairs on Parade!

Class sample Picture This!

We had such a good time in Trenton at Sewing by the Sea! The class was called 'Picture This!' and the goal was to learn how to transform a photograph into a quilted wall hanging. For class, I used two of my photos from Friendship, Maine to create a pattern, and used that pattern to teach various techniques such as creating elements from the photo, working with shadows and reflections, and creating trees.

We created the boat in a traditional raw-edge applique manner; make a pattern, cut it apart and fuse to fabric, then reassemble as a single, portable element. We moved on to chairs which use a layered applique technique suitable to creating shadows and highlights on an object. As the chairs began taking shape we all got pretty excited and started pinning them to the bulletin board. Check out the chair parade! Finally we spent time learning my favorite technique for making trees--creating a negative space pattern, using batik and other bits of fabric, and tulle. So very cool.

March of the Chairs

The photo below shows one student's piece with the various elements fused in place. All that's left is to add some thread paint, layer with batting and backing and quilt. Next up? Peruse vacation photos for images and create their own, personal piece of quilted art. Nothing quite like a couple of days immersed in fabric, thread and fusible web!

Student work in progress

Honu Takes Off

Honu at Maine Quilts
Rana O'Connor 2014

Whirlwind month with lots of quilting activities and opportunities--Yea! Honu debuted at Maine Quilts and earned a ribbon. Judges comments included, "excellent choice of fabrics and placement to create stream of light." "Subtle seaweed design is well placed and well done." There were also some negatives, but we won't dwell on those! Honu is on his way to Manchester for World Quilt Show - New England XII where he will hang alongside quilts from Japan, the UK, Australia, South Africa and more. It is my favorite show, and of course we are going to spend a day lost in wonder.

Meanwhile, Art Quilts Maine had an exhibit at the Center for Maine Craft the month of July. Remember Chairs? They both sold, along with about two dozen Quiltini Pins! Guess I will be making more pins for future exhibits.

Speaking of which, I got a call from Maine Fiber Arts asking if 'Mom and Auntie Jean Play Gin' was available for an exhibit this fall at USM's Glickman Library. Mom will miss it, but she is happy to lend it. The dates are September 2 (my brother's birthday) to December 20 (my birthday.) Must be some symbolism in that! 

Classes are coming up, too. I'm teaching in Trenton August 22 and 23, at Sewing by the Sea. It's a technique class on turning photos into quilted wall hangings. Much like 'Honu' or 'Mom and Auntie Jean' in theory. The class is full and she is starting a wait list! That's exciting. Two classes are scheduled at Sew Portland this fall--the ever popular 'Beginning Free Motion Quilting', and a more advanced 'Thread Play' class. Participants will be given a piece of bold flower print fabric which they can cover with thread, both on the surface and as quilting. Kathy, who owns both stores, posted this video of me volunteering at her booth at Maine Quilts. I'm thread-painting the class sample, see?

A little R&R comes my way after the Trenton class with a long weekend's quilt retreat in Friendship. Ahh. Ocean, morning walks, afternoon kayaking, and all the quilting and sewing we care to do, with no interruptions. Can't wait.

Chairs, Chairs in July

While developing a workshop for an August class at Sewing by the Sea in Trenton, I made several versions of Adirondack chairs. These two proved to be too small to be manageable for students. So fussy! Such tiny pieces! I never throw things away though--even if I never use them again, bits and pieces from old projects are pinned to the design wall as visual reminders, like the trial wine glasses for 'Mom and Aunti Jean Play Gin'. (The ones on the quilt are the second pair, created after the experiments on how to make it look like the glasses had wine in them.) Coincidentally, I had two green squares from an exercise in perspective also pinned to the design wall. Put the two together and 'Voila!' Just loved them! A little thread paint and quilting later, mounted on stretched canvas, and the two are nearly ready to hang at the Center for Maine Craft exhibit that begins July 2, featuring several artists from Art Quilts Maine. Swing by the Center if you are out and about this July--it's in the West Gardiner travel plaza where 295 meets 95, so you pretty much have to go by it if you travel past Augusta. Starbucks, rest rooms and Maine crafts--what a concept!

Finito!

Friendship, Maine

Done, with a week to spare! Well, except for the label. I printed it out, so it is drying. Oh, and dotting the i's on the quilted names of places in Friendship. All that will have to wait til after the weekend. But this quilt is going with me to Amsterdam (upstate New York, that is!)

I've been invited to be part of a day-long quilt workshop at Old Fort Johnson, titled "From Antique to Art Quilts: Quilting as Artistic Expression." The Fort has a new exhibit, "Pieced in Time: Antique Quilts from Montgomery County" that I am really looking forward to seeing--if I bring white gloves do you think they will let me handle the quilts?

On Saturday morning, quilt historian Kris Driessen will present an hour and a half lecture on the influence fabric, economics, politics and other factors had on early quilts. I am on after lunch, with a trunk show of about a dozen art quilts. I'll try to tie my discussion in to Kris' a bit, and talk about the tools, fabrics and techniques that influenced the modern quilt revival, and have made art quilts (and a wide variety of other styles) so popular. Should be fun!

Free Motion Classes

Lynn D's Feather!

Spent another excellent Saturday teaching free motion quilting at Sew Portland. My students in this class are mostly at the beginner stage--if they have completed quilts, they have usually tied them, or maybe stitched in the ditch. With lots of information and encouragement, my goal is to get everyone out of their comfort zone and confident in their ability to go home and quilt as desired! This class has been popular--I think this is the 5th time I have taught this workshop, and it is usually full. The midday break gives us a chance to play with the very cool Pfaff powerquilter. It's great because everyone can quilt on it with no special instruction--it works just like your home sewing machine, but is designed for quilting, with a 30 x 36" table and lots of lighting. Maybe some day.........Back at their own machines, we take time to learn simple feathers. Check out Lynn's first-time feather which she turned into a quick pillow at home! I'll be scheduling another round soon, and am thinking about what else might be fun--another quilt using those adorable charm packs?