Stop Press - News Day!

I often have things to say and then the moment's not quite right and then too much time has passed and then I just don't!  So I thought I would try to make a habit of sharing any news on a Tuesday!  You can also stay up to date with any news by getting my Newsletter - usually once a fortnight - delivered straight to your inbox - sign ups are just over there on the left!

My exciting piece of news this week is .....

Oh and I am so excited!!!!!!

I have worked at the Festival of Quilts for the last three years on Pinhole Quilting's stand, both demonstrating the machines and teaching one on one sessions.  Last year I had the opportunity to be a classroom assistant in the Handi Quilter classroom.  This was the first time they had a classroom at Festival and I was lucky enough to assist some lovely international Handi Quilter Educators, Diane Henry and Denise Best from the States and Sue Pattern from Canada.  I had a blast and learnt so much from them.

This year I will be teaching in the classroom along with some other wonderful ladies ..... more on that soon!

I love the poster for this year's event - it's a gorgeous quilt from Sarah Hibbert, @quiltscornerstone, with fantastic quilting by Christine Perrigo, @ccpquilt  Sarah is having a gallery at Festival this year which I can't wait to see.  If you are planning on going this year I would definitely recommend popping by her gallery - not only are her quilts wonderful she is a really lovely lady!

Dream Big Quilting

In my last post I mentioned that I taught a Dream Big Quilting Panel and I thought I would share my samples with you.

I love these panels by Hoffman Fabrics and it felt so good to finally be quilting one.  Why do we buy something and then keep it for best?!  I think cutting the panel into quarters mentally made it easier.  When you look at the full panel there are a LOT of petals to fill, but once you are working on a quarter you can fill them pretty quickly

I did three samples each showing different techniques:   FMQ; grids and fill work; and feathers.

My first one was FMQ.  This was the first time I had done FMQ on my new Amara, which I have had since August.  That Pro-Stitcher has proved a big distraction and I am loving learning something new.  But FMQ really is my first love and after several months away it was wonderful to get back to it ...... and to see that I could still do it - result!

There are eight new to me designs in here and I just loved finally stitching them out after lots of drawing and doodling.  

This one, from Margaret Solomon Gunn's book,  I saw demonstrated by Kelly Ashton in the class I took at Handi Quilter Academy.  It has taken me a while to get it to flow but I love the result.  In the workshop I taught there was a mixed response to this and it was actually named the ugly pumpkin by one student!  But I love the versatility of it - once you have the muscle memory and travel path there a lots of variations you can do which all result in a very different end result.

This pattern also can be done with lots of variations and is a great filler for spaces.

This is a pattern I have seen Sea Sherilyn Sew quilt out on several videos and, whilst I have done it on some scrap pieces, this is the first time I have quilted it out properly - I love it!!!  You get such great texture and it is a very forgiving pattern once you've got it going.

The next sample is for the Grids and Fills section of the workshop:

The grids were made using a blue water soluble pen and Cindy Needham Stencils followed by rulerwork and/or fill.  I love plain grids and have used them on a few of my quilts before but it always amazes me how they change when you add fill.  Some before and afters shots for you:

Square grid plain

Square grid with matchstick fill

Diamond grid plain

Diamond grid with ribbon candy fill

Triangle grid plain

Triangle grid with cathedral window/orange peel fill

What a difference right?!

Then we move onto Feathers.  For those who have been following me a while, either here or on instagram, you will know that I don't quilt feathers that much on my quilts, but I have to say I do love actually quilting them!  I had a great time filling in the petals on my last sample:

I love the challenge of filling uneven spaces and used a variety of feather types and techniques.  This has me thinking that maybe I should do a wholecloth quilt with feathers - what do you think?!  Some microquilting in a couple of petal really shows the lovely 'poof' of using double batting, in this case Warm and Natural and wool.

This year has not seen many finishes, so I am really rather proud of starting and finishing these three samples in just over a week.  I do work well under pressure and due to making these at the last minute everything was still really fresh in my head for the workshop - you see there is a method to madness!

Dream Big Quilting Workshop

Warning:  Photo heavy post - but hey, we all like quilting right so it's not a problem!!

So following on from my last two blog post, here and here, this is the final post about my recent week of teaching.

The picture above is one of Kelly Ashton quilts which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it online .... and even more so when I took a class with her at the Handi Quilter Academy in Salt Lake City in June.

The Dream Big Panels are made by Hoffman Fabrics and you can see the full range of colour ways here.  They are available from several distributors in the UK, although I am not sure you can get all of the colours over here.

I had a wonderful day teaching the 11 ladies who attended the workshop, both on stand up and sit down machines.  We talked about making conscious decisions in your quilting and discussed thread and wadding options so that you have the knowledge to choose the right ones in order to get the results you want to achieve.  We talked marking, FMQ, grids and fill and finally feathers.  It really was a full on day.

There was so much learning going on and it is wonderful to be party to those light bulb moments and see those spontaneous huge smiles when something clicks.

I thought I would share with you my students' work.  The concentration was palpable, confidence was increased and there was some incredible quilting going on!

Yet again I have to say it is such a joy to teach quilting!!

And when you receive feedback from your students it makes it all so much more worthwhile:

Can't wait to get teaching again in 2020!

Upcoming Teaching Schedule

This year has seen me starting to teach and I am delighted to share my upcoming schedule with you.

First up, I will be teaching some sessions for Pinhole Quilting at their Foundation Longarm and Intermediate Longarm Workshops on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 October 2018.  

These courses are aimed at getting new and existing Handi Quilter owners really confident with using their machines and cover the all important TNT - threads, needles and tension, through to design, FMQ, rulerowork, marking a quilt, feathers and a lot more besides.  There are still a couple of places left so head on over to their booking page for more details if you are interested.  Whilst these two courses are aimed at Hand Quilter owners Pinhole Quilting does offer other activities for people who have other makes of longarm machines.

Next up, I will be teaching a Quilt Finishing School at The Quilter's Den in Warwick on Saturday 10 November.  The Quilter's Den is under new ownership and I was delighted to be asked to teach by Karen.  This workshop is for anyone who lovingly finishes their quilt tops but then puts them up on a shelf, under the bed, in a cupboard (delete as applicable!) and who would like to get them finished!  

We will be covering:

• how to prepare your quilt for quilting
• needles, threads and wadding
• marking your quilt
• quilting design
• walking foot quilting 
• free motion quilting.

If you like the sound of this then please do visit the booking page.  

If it sounds interesting, but you are unable to make this date then I am able to run this day course at any venue.  I am happy to talk about running this course in a group setting, at a retreat or even just for a day where you get a group of friends together.  Please do contact me via the contact form on the home page and we can see what we can work out.