Changing Platforms

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Lisa's Mug Rug

Lisa took my free motion quilting class at The Sewing Machine Exchange earlier this month. I love seeing student projects--and this one is terrific--love the design and the fabric with the bird is so great. Look it up! A small project like this is a perfect opportunity to practice new skills. Go quilt!

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!

Tree Bits and Thread Paint

Teaching a new class in a couple of weeks! Titled "Tree Bits and Thread Paint" it will be at The Sewing Machine Exchange in Falmouth. I am encouraged by the interest in this class--we had to schedule a second session to accommodate participants! I know several people signed up with a friend, which is such a great way to go--the class is more fun when you have someone to share the experience.

The idea for this class grew out of a technique in my pattern, "Safe Harbor."

Safe Harbor © Pattern available at The Sewing Machine Exchange

When I taught the all-techniques class based on this pattern, several people wished we could have spent more time on the tree, so I designed this 5-hour session. I developed the tree bits and thread paint technique and have used it for several different applications including water and hair. We'll take a look at various applications during class.

Missed out on this round? Send Tyler a note and we will put you on the list to be emailed when we schedule the next one. Here's a sneak peak at the class project for "Tree Bits and Thread Paint".

Tree Two 2017 ©

Baker's Dozen

Just finished quilting a small quilt top I made last summer. Time can get away from me! In a departure from my usually more scripted work, this top was pieced improvisationally from strips and squares. I don't have solids in my stash, but I had a bag of solid scraps (and added one fabric to make 13 colors, but used the back side to hide the print!) With a few parameters in place, the blocks came together quickly and went up on the design wall. Pieced sashing helped blur the block edges and brought the composition together.

I enjoyed the improv piecing so much I started on another one right away! I made the second one from shirting fabrics and quilted it in Friendship last summer, in an all-over clothes hanger pattern. A friend snapped it up, but here's a photo.

Recently I pulled out the solid pieced top and decided it was time to quilt it. In keeping with the improvisational spirit, I  chose to let the quilting develop organically as well. The first decision I made was to overlay the quilting, rather than follow any of the lines in the quilt, but I wanted something more than an all-over pattern. I grabbed a dinner plate and a salad plate and a piece of chalk and drew large, concentric circles. Stitched those. Filled the space between the circles with smaller circles and curlicues. Added straight lines, like ladders. Decision by decision, the quilting filled the top.

Now that it's done, I want to share the fun of making these quick, no stress pieces. My friend Linda and I will be teaching a beginner friendly class, Baker's Dozen Improvisational Piecing on May 14 at the new class space at The Sewing Machine Exchange in Falmouth, Come if you can!