Patchwork Doodle with Sherri Lynn Wood

Yes, another class!!

A few weeks ago I attended a class with Sherri Lynn Wood.  You might have heard of her - she's written a book called:
The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters (shown on the flyer on my cutting mat below).

Sherri was in New Zealand for Symposium, but had agreed to stay on and teach a few classes for one of the local guilds.

The class I attended was called Patchwork Doodle.  Sherri explained lots of techniques for using up scraps, and then left us to each work out what we could do with the fabrics we had bought along.  The big challenge for me was that there were no rulers allowed!!

All the cutting was done freehand, which was a bit scary at first, but I soon got into it.

Sherri was clearly more used to working in solids, and was probably horrified at us putting pattern with pattern, but hey, if we're going to go improv we may as well go all out.

I tested my piece against some different fabrics when I got home, but I don't see this getting finished anytime soon.  I've tried, but I don't really think freehand improv is my thing.

There are just so many other things that I enjoy doing more at the moment.

I chose to attend this class because it was close to my house, and Sherri may never come back to New Zealand to teach again.  My motto is - seize the opportunity while you can.  You don't know what you might learn until you take part.

Lectures at Symposium

As though five days of classes from 9am until 4.30pm wasn't enough to fill in your days, Symposium also offered lectures during lunch times and in the evenings.  I attended three lectures and they were all great.

First up was Luke Haynes from USA. He explained how he's made 50 black, white and red log cabin quilts from recycled textiles / clothing! Each one is different, and they form part of a study he's put together. Luke loves using recycled textiles for his quilts.

This is Luke's quilt in the Tutors' Exhibition.

Although Luke didn't bring his Bernie Sanders quilt along, it is probably my favourite quilt of his.  I love the blue background and how it moves before my eyes.  It's interesting to now know that the background is made from recycled fabrics. (I've started saving my husband's old shirts for future quilts.)

Luke's technique of putting images of people on quilts is very clever.  Sometimes he plays with vanishing points and the images of people seem to rise up as you walk in front of the quilt.

I also went to hear my lovely friend Michele Hill speak about how she came to design quilts and write a book about Beatrix Potter. Michele is so humble, and so grateful for all the good things that have come her way in life.  It's such a pity she has to give up teaching for health reasons.

Finally I went to Jacquie Gering's lecture.  I was quite surprised to hear that Jacquie has only been quilting for 10 years.  Although she's been a "maker" all her life, she only started quilting relatively recently.

These photos aren't very good, but they give you an idea of the types of quilts that Jacquie makes.  I did note that she uses black alot - like me!

Jacquie is best know as a modern quilter, and chair of the Modern Quilt Guild.  She has recently written a great book called "Walk - Master machine quilting with your walking foot".

 After seeing the samples my friends made in Jacquie's classes at symposium, and listening to her lecture, I came home and got out Jacquie's book again for another read.  It means so much more once you've met the author and heard them talk about their quilting.

So, three great lectures from inspirational quilters. 

Glitter class with Jen Kingwell at Symposium

On the last day of Symposium I had another class with Jen Kingwell.  This time it was for her Glitter quilt, which is a pattern I've admired for some time.

We had the option of machine piecing or hand piecing our blocks, but I decided to practice the hand piecing that I'd learnt in Jen's earlier Green Tea and Sweet Beans class.
 

I'm so glad I chose hand piecing because it was so relaxing.  I was at a table with three other friends from Capital Quilters guild, and we just chatted as we each slowly made some blocks.  Two of them were using the sewing machines, but hearing their occasional frustrations made me please I'd decided to hand piece.

Here's our table's collective effort for the day:

I only made two blocks during the class, but there was no pressure to go faster.  I'll need 152 blocks if I want a big quilt, so the difference between making 2 or 3 in class is negligible.

I've made a quite a few more blocks since I got home.  I unpacked my bags, and stood back from the table trying to decide which of my new projects I'd pick up first.  It was like trying to decide which of your children to hug first - I loved them all, but could only pick one.  I chose Glitter, partly because I really enjoyed the class, and wanted to continue that calmness that comes with hand piecing. 

Here's what I'm aiming for, but mine will be all grey and green to complement the new wall paper in our bedroom:

Jen's Glitter Quilt
Here are some close up photos I took of Jen Kingwell's Glitter quilt.  It's hand quilted very simply with straight lines down and across in Aurifil 12wt.  Jen said she still intends to add more quilting, but this is enough to hold it all together.  She uses Quilters' Dream Cotton Select batting so can leave up to 8" unquilted.  Jen tends to use very light backings like voile.

Pickled Fish with Chris Jurd at Symposium

On the fourth day of Symposium I attend a foundation paper piecing class with Chris Jurd.  The aim was to make one block from her gorgeous Pickled Fish quilt.

Chris Jurd's Pickled Fish quilt

The borders and binding were interesting too

I've done foundation paper piecing before, but Chris had a slightly different method.  Fortunately she was fine with us using which ever method worked for us.

I made the pickles OK, but had trouble attaching the scallops at the edges - see below.  I sewed my scallops on, but I knew they weren't centred properly, so I've just unpicked them this afternoon and will try again in the comfort of my own home.

my block - before I unpicked the scallops and tried again

Here's all of the class blocks together on the whiteboard:

I do want to make this quilt, and have some beautiful fabrics set aside for it, so I will persevere and sort out my issues with sewing curves.

If you'd like to buy the pattern you can get it from Chris Jurd's Etsy shop here.

And finally, here's Chris's Road Trip quilt in the Tutors Exhibition.  It was very original, and clever too.  I loved the strong black lines, but also the colour and patterns in the other fabrics Chris used.

Green Tea and Sweet Beans at Symposium

My first class at Symposium was Green Tea and Sweet Beans with Jen Kingwell. I enrolled in this class because I really wanted to learn Jen's way of hand piecing and hand applique. At the end of the two day class I felt very happy with what I had learnt, and knew I would get faster with more practice.

I don't know if I'll ever make a full Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt, but the techniques I learnt will certainly be put into practice in other quilts.

On the first day I hand pieced two tiny Propeller blocks.  We learnt how to make our own plastic templates, and how to hand piece neatly and accurately.

On the second day I made a quarter of a Halo block.  I consider this a bigger achievement than it really is, because Jen was teaching the Halo quilt the next day, and I had already made a quarter of a block in my Green Tea class. I could go ahead and make a whole Halo quilt if I really wanted to, but I still find curves a little bit tricky.

I also hand appliqued some clam shells.  Again we made plastic templates, but this time we drew the stitching line onto the right side of the fabric.  I've previously English Paper Pieced clam shells, so this was also something new for me.

I loved using the new Aurifil 80wt for the hand applique. 

Jen had a suitcase full of her beautiful quilts to show us. She didn't mind us handling them to get a sense of just how soft they were.  Jen uses Quilters Dream Cotton Request batting in all of her quilts, and hand quilts them with Aurifil 12 wt.

Halo quilt

Queen's Cross

Queen's Cross

Queen's Cross

Glitter on the left

I also took the Glitter class with Jen, so I will write more about that next week.

Free Motion Quilting at Symposium

As most of you know, I don't do Free Motion Quilting (FMQ).  Well, I didn't until I spent a day in Deborah Louie's class at Symposium.

We learnt lots of different patterns, and I now feel ready to start FMQ'ing some of my own quilts.  I won't be pushing huge quilts through my Bernina, but I will certainly feel more confident about tackling some of my smaller quilt tops.

Deborah took us through a class that she has taught many times.  She also covered thread choices and batting.

Batting
Deborah likes Matilda's Own 100% cotton batting because it's cuddly, but has a low loft.  Her second favourite batting is Matilda's Own 60% wool / 40% cotton batting.  It drapes nicely and is great for bed quilts.

Threads
Deborah explained how cotton and polyester threads are constructed differently. Her favrouite for FMQ is Mettler Poly Sheen because it sits flat and won't form a lump if you quilt over the same spot multiple times.

All of the symposium tutors were very giving with their time, and happy to give advice on other aspects of quilting.

Deborah's class is actually available to purchase on her website if you want to watch it at home.  Once you've purchased it you can watch it again and again forever! I might be buying it myself if I forget all she taught us.

Here are a few of my examples, all stitched by me during our six hour class.

Deborah bought along some great quilts to show us examples of the possibilities with different styles of FMQ.  I took lots of photos so I can use some of the patterns for inspiration in the future.

I really enjoyed this class and was pleased that I had chosen something outside of my comfort zone.  It would have been easy to pick comfortable classes, but I think it's good to chose at least one challenging thing when there are so many experts available to learn from.

Many of the tutors bought quilts for the Tutors' Exhibition which was on site at St Andrew's College. This is Deborah Louie's quilt.