• Upcoming Machine Quilting 101 Booster Class

    Machine Quilting 101 Booster class. This class is in response to the requests I sometimes get for a class where previous Machine Quilting students can come and get some more focused practice on the techniques they wished we could spend more time on than was done in the original class. It is also an opportunity for those attending to bring un-quilted tops for advice and mentoring on how they might quilt their projects . If the quilt is layered and ready to stitch, they can begin working on it in the class, otherwise they will work on the designs and/or templates in the appropriate methods to apply to their quilt later. Regardless of your quilting skills, this class would be a great opportunity to get a little more focused and guided time behind the wheel of your sewing machine.

    If you don’t have a quilt top ready do design stitching on, you may bring layered squares (or the sampler from the original class) to practice various techniques on, I will have a variety of different design opportunities for you to explore. I am posting a few photos of some of my more creative quilting approaches to show you the possibilities and whet your appetite.

    The class costs $30 and will run from 11:30 am to 4 pm on Sunday May 7th, contact A Common Thread at 503 624-7440 to enroll.


  • Show & Crow April 20, 2017

    Good readers, it’s time for a Show and Crow. Not of my work but that of a couple of my students. I just wrapped up a landscape quilt design class today at Pioneer Quilts; this was a two part class I called ‘From Photo to Fabric’. Students brought a landscape photo and from it created a pattern for a quilt. The class was small – three students – but that did give them room to spread out plus more one-on-one time with me.

    Two of the students got about halfway done with their quilts and kudos to them, the quilts are looking FANTASTIC!. I just had to share these with you. I took photos of their quilts in progress with their original source photos included so you can see what they have achieved so far and also the final goal.

    Jill’s quilt features a lake (or river?) in New Zealand in a technique I call ‘Striplique’, a blending of strip piecing and applique. The strip piecing is ideal for water features and meadows. She still has to add the tree silhouetted on the right and plans to use a confetti technique to render the lacy details on the tree. She may add some stones fussy cut from a landscape fabric on the shoreline.

    Jill's New Zealand lake.
    Jill’s New Zealand lake.

    Charlotte chose a rural landscape with a rusty farm gate on a gravel road with a meadow and trees against a backdrop of hills. She also plans to render the tree that will be positioned on the right hand side of her picture in fabric confetti and used the strip piecing to create the layers of meadow grasses in the middle ground; she also was intrigued by a technique I showed of insetting strips of fringed raw edged fabric between the strip pieced seams to make three dimensional rafts of grasses for an ethereal, airy look and texture. She plans to add the rustic gate with stuffed bias bars applied after the rest of the landscape is completed. I have included a closer view highlighting the frayed fabric grasses on her quilt.

    Charlotte's rural meadow scene.
    Charlotte’s rural meadow scene.
    Charlotte's landscape close-up to show the frayed three dimensional grasses.
    Charlotte’s landscape close-up to show the frayed three dimensional grasses.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The third student is making a view of the Columbia River gorge with the Vista House on a nearby hill and Beacon Rock off in the distance; the foreground will be a riot of foliage and flowers. She was newer to quilt making and got most of her background pieces prepared with adhesive and ready to fuse but did not get far enough along for a meaningful photograph.

    All three have promised me photos of their finished projects and I hope to show those in a future post.


  • Exploring The Wonderful World of Color

    Have you ever paused to consider color? Not just see and accept its presence but really contemplate what color is and how and why we can see it.

    Color is a science – color is light and light is energy; color is what is known as the ‘visible part of the spectrum that includes microwaves, radio and television broadcast waves and at the other end of the scale X-rays and gamma rays… it’s all energy. Being a science, color has predictable behavior and once you understand it, you can harness it and make it do your bidding.

    If you have ever bought fabrics in colors you loved but then were disappointed in the quilt you made, if you are fine when selecting colors that match those in a pattern but cringe at the thought of changing the color scheme; if you have ever dismissed a pattern you had no interest in making only to love it when you saw it made by someone else or if you just

    feel overwhelmed when you walk into a quilt shop… Boy have I got a class for you!

    In my Color Theory class I will offer a series of exercises that will demonstrate attributes of color such as value, proportion saturation and simultaneous/successive contrast. With a good understanding of how color works, you can use color to create wonderful effects in your quilts. Let’s face it, fabric is just too expensive these days to make a quilt and then be disappointed in it.

    The assignments in this class are carried out by cutting and pasting fabric onto paper, there is no sewing required and no need to drag a heavy machine to class. You will start by building a color wheel out of pre-selected fabrics to serve as a reference tool then carry out a series of assignments, each created to illustrate a particular aspect of working with color. By the end of the class you will have a collection of worksheets that can be assembled in a binder to use as a reference for future projects. In addition to the assignments to illustrate the behavioral properties of color, you will also learn a variety of methods to compose fabulous color schemes and how you can manipulate color and value shifts to create quilts that glow.Come and spend a day getting to know color better so you can tame it and work on your projects with confidence.

    Where: Sharon’s Attic Quilt Shop, 2950 SW Cornelius Pass Rd #100, Hillsboro, OR 97123, (503) 259-3475

    When: Saturday April 22, 2017 10am – 4pm

    Cost: $40 for the class and an additional $35 for the kit and assignment packet.

    This is an extended color wheel made from fabric, the one made in class will be simpler
    This is an extended color wheel made from fabric, the one made in class will be simpler
    Developing a color scheme from a favorite artist. This is one of several ways to pick a palette for your projects covered in the class
    Developing a color scheme from a favorite artist. This is one of several ways to pick a palette for your projects covered in the class
    Palettes App - Koshka
    ‘Palettes’ a color tool App that is marvelous for picking and playing with color schemes from photographs