March Doings

I finished two trades the beginning of this month. One was an abstract 5" quilt and the other was an 8 x 10 inch quilt on the Wives of Henry VIII. Each was different and challenging in its own way.

I wanted to tell you a little more about the class with Katie PM that I took. One of the techniques we learned was to take shapes and super impose them in a pleasing arrangement, erase some lines, crop the piece and then color in the cropped picture with watercolors. What fun I had with that exercise. This picture is the result of that exercise.

When I got home I had the 5" quilt to make for my trade so I used this picture as a starting place. I made a copy of the portion that I wanted be my 5" quilt on tracing paper and then colored it in with colored pencils, you can see that picture below.  I didn't 

use the water colored copy to make the tracing , but I used the tracing I made the water color from (I hope that makes sense).

I made another copy of this colored tracing to use as a pattern that I cut out of freezer paper and then  position it  on the fabric I had chosen. After I had cut out the pieces and laid it out on a piece of muslin, I made some changes in the fabric I used until I liked the way the colors and values worked with each other.

I sewed, quilted and beaded the piece and I've posted a picture of it below.

I thought it turned out pretty well and it is on its way to England to its final home.

We had many more exercises, but this was the first and the longest and for me, one of the most enjoyable. 

I've got some more pictures and at least one more quilt coming out of the exercises from this class, but you will have to wait for the next post on this subject.

February Doings

This has been a very busy month for me, I finished taking Dena Crains Darned Quilt Class, I haven't quite finished the project but here is picture of it with all the circles cut out and darned in. I need to do the decorative stitching and also the quilting , but I enjoyed doing this so much that I know I will finish it. I've also put a close picture of one of the circle area's so you can get a closer look. Great technique and I think that there are many variations of this technique in my future!

As soon as I finished this class, I had another class the I took up in Santa Fe through the local quilt shop up there. It is a beautiful shop and if you like fabric batiks, hand dyed, everything you will love this store. If you are more into the folkart, homespun, reproduction, Aunt Grace look, you won't find much, but if you want the good variety, interesting techniques, art quilt supplies you will find a little of everything there, even a couch and reading area for the non-fabricholics that might be with you. I have no affiliation with them just a happy customer, glad I don't live next door or I would be a bankrupt customer.

Anyway I took a two day class on design with Katie Pasquini Masopust and it was wonderful. The class was very intense and full of exercises and art and design. We got to see many of her quilts first hand. She is so precise in everything that she does, and she shares so much in her classes. The class is based on her book Design Explorations for the Creative Quilter and if you ever get a chance to take a class from her, get to the head of the line.