Superior Quilt Show

I'm not sure how many people go to Thunder Bay and say they had an awesome time (unless you are from a town in Northern Ontario and Thunder Bay counts as the big city) but I am officially one of them.

Last weekend I spent three days in Thunder Bay. Three very intense and fun days. I met some wonderful people who were incredibly generous of their time and spirit. I taught such an eager group of students that I was jazzed at the end of each day when they were tuckered out. And they all learned to embrace their scraps. I laughed in front of a crowd of over 100 as I told my stories and shared my quilts. I eagerly walked the show floor (and spent money) to take in the full range of quilts from thread painting to modern and everything in between.

(Made and quilted by Wendy Currie)

I walked on the waterfront of a still iced over Lake Superior (at least by the shore) and took pictures of the most awesome public sculptures ever. I drank beer with an air traffic controller/quilter. And all while keeping company with a carousel horse.

Thank-you very much to the Thunder Bay Quilt Guild for bringing me to your city, your show. it was wonderful.

Announcing My Craftsy Class - Inset and Applique Circles by Machine

Do you remember my necklace inspired quilt? It is now finished and I can share it with you. I can also share with you the rather exciting reason I was making the quilt. 

I am thrilled to announce that I am now a Craftsy instructor! Have you heard about Craftsy? The fastest growing craft community on-line is full of courses from top instructors on everything from cake decorating to knitting, from costumes to quilting. My class - Inset and Applique Circles by Machine - is now available. Sign up now with a 25% discount!

The Craftsy platform is quite cool. Once you purchase the class it is available to you at any time forever. The HD video quality is great. They've filmed so many close-ups so you don't miss a thing. And you can take the classes from the comfort of your home - no lugging a machine across town or missing out because you can't find a local store or babysitter.

One of the best parts about a Craftsy class is the interactive forum. You can ask instructors questions, participate in class discussions with other students, and share your projects. I will be there the whole time, encouraging and helping you along the way. Stuck on a particular technique? You can ask for help and share the problem and we'll make sure you get it sorted.

And that necklace inspired quilt? It is a free pattern that comes with the class! Incorporating all the techniques learned in the class you can make this bold sampler. I've made it here with prints in colours pulled from the necklace itself and a mix of text prints for the background.

I do hope you'll join me over at Craftsy!

Austin Circle Sampler

76' by 96''

Quilted by Andrea Harris from Urban Quiltworks

I've got more that I want to share about my Craftsy experience. Look for that in the coming weeks. It has been an incredible experience so far. Now that the class  - Inset and Applique Circles by Machine - is available I'm looking forward to seeing circles pop up everywhere!

Improv and Intentions

One of the workshops at QuiltCon I was lucky to get into was Denyse Schmidt's Improv workshop. It was a hot commodity and I had just the right timing when doing my registration. To be honest, I took it out of curiosity more than anything. I'm quite comfortable with improv work, even teaching it myself! But I wanted to see how Denyse taught it and see how people responded.

Frankly, I really enjoyed the class. It may have been the opportunity of just free sewing/playtime after weeks of prep for my own classes at QuiltCon. But it was also a great environment. The other students ranged from improv virgins to the old hats at the technique like me. Denyse is a good teacher, clear on the approach, and extremely encouraging. For the students who'd never done improv it was a challenge at the beginning but they all seemed to really embrace things at the end.

Denyse's technique involves true randomness. Three bags of fabric bits in different sizes. Close your eyes and reach in! At home I do almost the same thing, but I keep my eyes open. Denyse's goal is to get the students to see the beauty in the randomness; beauty in seemingly clashing bits of fabric and blocks that don't lay flat. And it is most definitely there.

After each exercise we reviewed all the blocks and discussed our responses. I loved this part as too often in classes we don't get see what other people make or hear about what people experienced as they worked. The last part was a big eyeopener as a teacher. Well worth the class for me.

In the morning we worked solely with Denyse's scraps. In the afternoon we got to add our own fabric and a randomly chosen solid (Confession: my solid may have been placed in my hand by my very awesome Aussie volunteer and friend). Having seen reports of this class before I chose my fabric to bring with great intention. The blocks from one of these classes can start to all look the same so I chose my fabric to stand out a bit. Plus, it is one of my all-time favourite fabrics.

I didn't expect to care much for my blocks, I prefer a bit more control in my colour schemes. But I LOVE my blocks. So much so that I've got plans for a lot more and a finished quilt. I think I lucked out  with the fabric I picked out of the bags and the colours that came up.  Or it was just all serendipity... In the end I took a handful of orphan blocks from the morning exercises and I have another plan for them too.

Again, I was totally reminded that we need to remain open to experiences. I went into the class all cocky about my improv ability and thinking I wouldn't learn anything. And I came out with a bit of a gut check, new ideas, and an appreciation for the approach of others. Plus some rather cool quilt blocks.

It's Good Here

My ladies (and one guy - hi David!) rocked it in the two Perfect Circles classes at QuiltCon. Such committed participation, consumption of chocolate, choruses of 80s ballads, and a collection of circles. I had a great time teaching, a seriously great time. I hope all my students felt the same. And my volunteers were incredible.

QuiltCon was a fantastic event. The Modern Quilt Guild, especially Heather, did a wonderful job putting on a big show. A quilt show, merchant mall, classes, lectures, and more don't come together without a heck of a lot of work - hard work - and loads of dedication. It was a committed team that pulled it together and an amazing group of volunteers that delivered.

One of my favourite moments of the entire event was listening to a lady scream on the phone to a friend about this amazing show she was at. The lady had merely wandered in from the RV Show going on in the next exhibition hall, but she was staying and exclaiming her delight at the quilts. She said she wanted to go home and learn how to quilt RIGHT NOW after seeing that quilts could be so much more than what she thought they had to be.

Indeed.

It was a busy weekend between teaching, taking classes, and yes, drinking beer. I never got to a single lecture, missed an entire aisle of the merchant mall, and only saw the show in it's entirety the last half hour it was open. There was a book signing and quite a few gentle hugs. And a lot of neon one night. There was the chance for longer conversations with friends, old and new, yet some missed ones as well. For those of us working in this industry it was nice to be here, in a much more relaxed environment, compared to Market. Spending time at meetings talking about real life instead of contracts and pitching ideas. It's still work, but we had the chance to breathe a bit more. 

Of course, that may have had something to do with being in Austin.