Classes

Beyond Meander - Free Motion Background Fillers

Description

Level: Experience Beginner Onward who know the basics of free-motion machine quilting. Basic instruction is not given in this workshop.
1 day class
Are you getting a little tired of stippling or meander? Do you want to move on and use exciting new free motion filler patterns? Come and learn how to fill that background space creatively, using a variety of negative space designs.
This is a day of exploration and play, and a good way to improve your free-motion machine quilting and build up your skills. You will quilt many different background filling designs with free-motion machine quilting, and others based on a grid, to build up a reference sample library for future quilts. You will also learn how to customize your own designs. We will also discuss stopping and starting, needles and different threads for your machine quilting.

Needs List

Four 50cm x 50cm plain fabric squares
Two 50cm x 50cm pieces of thin cotton or dacron batting
Safety pins, rotary cutter, matt and ruler
Sewing machine and sewing supplies, including spare needles
Darning foot/free motion foot and all normal machine feet
Marking pen or pencil
Thread that is slightly darker or lighter than your fabric.

Free Motion Quilting on a Grid

Description

Level: Experienced Beginner Onward, who is familiar with the basics of free-motion machine quilting. Basic instruction on free motion quilting is not given in this workshop.
1 day class
Take your machine quilting to the next level! The backgrounds of many classic and antique quilts, as well as contemporary quilts, are based on simple yet elegant grid quilting. Come and learn how to fill background spaces with gorgeous free motion quilting using a variety of grids as your background points of reference. We also use a variety of floral and feather templates in this class.
This is a fun day designed to explore new background fillers and is an excellent way to improve your free-motion machine quilting skills. You will learn how to safely mark grid patterns on your quilt sample. You will then learn to free motion quilt a variety of designs such as a circular feather, echo quilting, shells/fans, ribbons, half circles, checkerboards and cathedral windows. We will also discuss stopping and starting neatly and thread and needle choices for your machine quilting.

Needs List

Four 50cm x 50cm plain fabric squares
Two 50cm x 50cm pieces of thin batting, cotton or wool work best
Safety pins, rotary cutter, matt
Ruler at least 12 inches long
Sewing machine and sewing supplies, including spare needles
Darning foot/free motion foot and all normal machine feet
Blue marking pen
Thread that is slightly darker or lighter than your fabric.

Fabulous Free Motion Fillers

(Combines Beyond Meander and Free Motion on a Grid Classes)
Day One - Beyond Meander Class

Day Two - Free Motion on a Grid Class

Description

Level: Experienced Beginner Onward, who are familiar with the basics of free-motion machine quilting. Basic instruction on free motion quilting is not given in this workshop.
2 day class
This two day class combines the free motion classes of Beyond Meander and Free Motion on a Grid. See these classes for a full description.

Needs List (for the two days)

Six 50cm x 50cm plain fabric squares
Three 50cm x 50cm pieces of thin cotton or dacron batting
Safety pins, rotary cutter, matt, ruler (at least 12 inches long)
Sewing machine and sewing supplies, including spare needles
Darning foot/free motion foot and all normal machine feet
Blue marking pen
Thread that is slightly darker or lighter than your fabric

Wholecloth Mosaic

Description

Level: Experience Beginner Onward
2 day class
Learn techniques to make a wholecloth mosaic quilt, using your own freestyle design. No two quilts will be exactly alike as you learn how to take a simple shape like a spiral, circles, or waves and build up a mosaic pattern using any smaller shapes that appeal to you.
This is two days of exploration and fun, experimenting with colour and movement on a one meter by one meter piece of background fabric. As the shapes are ironed on to the background using vlisofix applique, gratification is practically instant! The class will also cover various techniques to sew down the shapes and how to quilt your finished project.

Needs List: Fabric

• 1 meter x 1 meter piece of background fabric, any colour.
• 12 or more scraps of fabric (at least fat eighths size) in a range of colours. You could choose fabric colours as follows:
• Select one basic colour like the sample above eg 12 different reds from dark maroon through bright reds, red browns and red oranges and onto pinks.
• Select three colours eg 4 purples from light to dark, 4 blues from light to dark, four greens from light to dark.
• Multi colours – as long as there are a variety of light and dark colours.

Other Needs

• Chalk marker tool or something similar that will mark a line but not require washing or water to remove.
• 2 meters Vlisofix.
• 1 sheet of template plastic.
• 1 meter x 1 meter heat insulation fabric ( Spotlight have a product called Insulbright, which is similar to the fabric you cover ironing boards with.)
• Matching thread for blanket stitching down the shapes (or you can use a monofilament or clear thread instead.)
• Pins pencil, scissors, rotary cutting tool, ruler, cutting mat.
• Sewing machine and sewing supplies, including spare needles.
• Shape templates eg circles, leaves, diamonds (optional, as you can draw your own.)
• Digital camera(optional)

Sea, Hills and Sky Landscape

Description

Level: Intermediate Onwards
2 day class
New Zealand is an over-achiever in producing beautiful natural landscapes. Learn a range of techniques over two days to capture that beauty in a quilt.
You will start out by being guided through a simple design process which will cover how to incorporate important concepts of composition, creating perspective, focal points, colour and tonal value into your landscape quilt. We will then move on to learn a range of techniques to assemble an A3 sized landscape quilt. The techniques include using “tear-away” foundation, freezer paper appliqué, strip layered piecing, and invisible machine appliqué. Once your top is assembled you will learn machine quilting techniques to quilt your landscape. The class will then cover how to add additional natural features such as trees, grasses, rocks etc to give more detail to your quilt.

Needs List - Fabrics

Think landscape colours! These can be sunrise/sunset colours as well. I tend to use fabrics with little or no strong patterns on them, but feel free to bring whatever you feel reflects the landscapes around you. As a minimum, for a landscape roughly A3 size, you will need:

• One 40cm strip for sky (sample uses pale blue)
• Five 15cm strips for hills (sample used mid to dark greens)
• Six to ten 15cm strips for sea (sample uses 10 blues, graduating from very light to very dark blue)
• ½ meter thin cotton or dacron batting
• ½ meter backing fabric

Thread

• Grey sewing thread
• Matching threads to your sky, hills and sea for quilting. Can be cottons, polyesters or decorative rayons
• Monofilament thread, either dark or clear depending on your fabric choices for hills and sea

Sewing Machine

• For the machine appliqué we will be doing, I recommend using a ‘blind hemming’ stitch, so it’s good if your machine can do this. If not we can usually find an appropriate alternative.
• Sewing machine in good working order with instruction book, presser feet, foot control, power cords and accessories
• Walking foot for quilting (not everyone will get this far, however)

Accessories

• Rotary cutter with sharp blade, quilting ruler, cutting mat, pins
• 1 meter freezer paper
• 1 meter “tearaway” (medium or heavy weight, NOT the iron on one)
• 1 or 2 pieces of A3 drawing paper
• Pencil, rubber, paper and fabric scissors
• Camera (optional)

Mariner’s Compass

Mariner’s Compass blocks are much admired and very beautiful. They look complicated, and always cause people to wonder how they are made. Come along to this class and learn for yourself!

In this class you will make the Mariner’s Compass block above, using foundation piecing and curved piecing techniques. On the first day we will start straight into the project by making the outside points using the foundation piecing on freezer paper technique. On the second day we will spend an hour or so learning drafting techniques for this and other Mariners Compasses. We will then move on to constructing the centre star, and the outside ring that circles the compass. Get great tips for accomplishing sharp, accurate points and smooth curved piecing.

Needs List - Fabrics

This sampler uses 4 aquas from light to dark and three reds from light to dark.

• one ½ metre for the background, (Sample uses dark aqua)
• one ½ metre for the spikes background, (Sample uses aqua)
• five fat quarters (or a variety of scraps making up this amount) in a range from light to medium colours for the ring, points and centre star.

You can swap around the combination of lights, mediums and darks, eg do a light background, and medium and dark compass points. Just make sure there is good contrast between the background and the compass points. The compass star also looks good using a range of colours around the points as well.

Sewing Machine and Thread

• Sewing machine in good working order with instruction book, presser feet, foot control, power cords and accessories
• Sewing thread in a colour to match your fabric, or grey if you can’t decide.

Accessories

• 1.5 m freezer paper
• Quilting ruler, cutting mat, rotary cutter with sharp blade
• Paper and fabric scissors
• Pins
• Pencil and rubber
• Compass
• 1 sheet of graph paper any grid size
• Small set of coloured pencils
• Camera (optional)

New York Beauty

Description

Level: Confident Beginner / Intermediate, Onwards
2 day class

Have you always wanted to do a New York Beauty quilt but been scared off by all those complicated points and curves? In this class you will learn how to make New York Beauty blocks and border blocks using foundation piecing and curved piecing techniques. You will get great tips for accomplishing sharp, accurate points and smooth curved piecing.
You will start off by making multiple patterns on your sewing machine. You will then construct your first block and border using foundation piecing techniques and curved piecing techniques. The class includes a section on how to choose great colour combinations for blocks and borders, and how to go about expanding your colour choices to make a more complex colour scheme. The class will also cover how to draft and resize New York Beauty blocks and the huge variety of ways this block can be arranged and set to make finished quilts.

If you wish to try a more advanced New York Beauty block, patterns and instruction will be given for you to make a block or two from the quilt “Metallica”, as shown below.

Needs List - Fabrics

There are 5 coloured fabrics in each block of “The King and I”. There are 2 coloured fabrics in each border block. For the class, as a minimum you will need:

• One 25cm strip (or fat quarter) in a light shade or colour
• One 25cm strip (or fat quarter) in a medium shade or colour
• Two 25cms strips (or fat quarter) in dark shades or colours
• One 25cm strip (or fat quarters) in a shade or colour in between or contrasting.

This will give you enough fabric for 2 blocks and 2 border blocks. If you wish to make more blocks, or make your blocks scrappy, bring along some further fabrics in your chosen colours. Also bring a little extra if you think you might want to do a “Metallica” block.

Sewing Machine and Thread

• Sewing machine in good working order with instruction book, presser feet, foot control, power cords and accessories
• Sewing thread in a colour to match your fabric, or grey

Accessories

• 2 metres of freezer paper
• Quilting ruler, cutting mat, rotary cutter with sharp blade
• Pins, paper and fabric scissors, pencil, rubber, cello tape
• A4 note paper
• Compass and protractor

Millefiori – The Cobweb Quilt

Description

Level: All
1 day class

Cobweb quilts are fascinating and fun quilts to make. They are great scrap user-uppers.
In this class you will learn how to make this quilt. It has dominant whole cobwebs and smaller secondary cobwebs behind the main cobwebs. This creates an optical illusion of depth and movement. The technique we will use in class is foundation piecing on freezer paper, which creates very accurate cobwebs.

Needs List - Fabrics

• 14 strips 20cm wide. This will do two cobwebs. You will need a large number of scraps and strips to do the whole quilt.
  Sewing Thread
• Grey or taupe thread if you are using multicolours, otherwise match the thread to your fabric colour.

Accessories

• 1.5 m freezer paper (from craft shops)
• Paper and fabric scissors, pins and a pencil
• Quilting ruler, cutting mat, rotary cutter with sharp blade

Sewing Machine

Sewing machine in good working order with instruction book, presser feet, foot control, power cords and accessories, ¼ inch foot.

Colour Your World

Description

Level: All levels
1 day class

Do you want to learn more about colour? Would you like to learn new ways to select colours and fabrics for great new quilts?

You will start with the basics of how a colour wheel works and how you can usefully use it. You will look at a number of quilts, fabrics and samples as examples to explain this process. You will then complete a series of interactive, easy to follow, hands-on exercises using this knowledge to build up colour boards you can use in the future as references.

Next, using a set of coloured fabric chips, you will work thru a series of exercises on how to build portfolios of colour to use in possible future quilts. During this process you will learn more about value, contrast, highlights, and colour blending. Lastly, you will have lots of fun developing great potential colour schemes for your own future quilts, using samples of your own fabrics.

Needs List - Fabrics

Bring along 2 or 3 key favourite fabrics you would like to include in future quilts, 3 or 4 coordinating fabrics for each favourite (if you have them, don’t worry if you don’t) and finally a bag of fabric scraps. Be prepared to share and I will have some you can use as well.

Accessories

• Three pictures containing colours you like, eg it could be a photo, or an advertisement from a magazine
• Half a dozen A4 pieces of white light card paper
• Colour wheel
• Pencil, ruler and cellotape
• Paper and fabric scissors
• Glue stick suitable for use on fabrics
• Digital camera (optional)

Scherenschnitte: Paper Cut Appliqué

Description

Level: All
1 day class

Paper cut Appliqués are also known by their German name scherenschnitte which means “scissors-cutting”. These blocks are famously included in many Baltimore Album quilts.

In this class you will learn how to create eye-catching appliqué patterns using the technique of cutting folded freezer paper. You can make one or a number of these patterns to include in a quilt. You will then learn techniques for marking and hand appliquéing your design onto background fabric to make an original paper cut appliqué block. Tips for getting invisible stitches, smooth curves and sharp points will be covered in the class.

Needs List: Fabrics

• Two 15”x 15” squares of fabric, one for the top design and one for the background. .
  Sewing Thread
• Thread to match your top fabric.
• Hand appliqué needles, (the length does not matter but they must be thin.)

Accessories

• 1m freezer paper
• Paper and fabric scissors, pins and a pencil

A Technicolour World of Scraps

Description

Level: Confident Beginner / Intermediate, Onwards
1 day class

Have you got lots of fabric scraps that are desperate to go into a scrap quilt? Do you have some really ugly fabric you want to loose and use up somehow? This quilt is perfect for that.
Any scraps in any size and colour are used to create “new” fabric for this scrappy quilt. The “new” fabric is then cut into triangles and strips which are then machine pieced into an “X Marks the Spot” block. You will also learn how to construct an easy but effective border of multicoloured scraps.

Needs List: Fabrics

Bring along a variety of scraps in different colours, styles and print sizes. I included some bright reds, yellows, lime greens and black and white fabrics to make it zing. Alternatively, you could bring along ten 10cm strips to make 4 blocks.

Accessories

• Rotary cutter with sharp blade, quilting ruler, cutting board
• 1m freezer paper
• Paper and fabric scissors, pins and a pencil

Sewing Machine

• Plus Instruction Manual and 1/4 inch foot

School House

Description

Level: All levels
1 day class

Learn how to accurately piece a School House block

Are you tired of your points not meeting or being cut off? Do you want to try a new technique
that will improve your block making accuracy? Or do you just love School House quilts and
want to learn how to make them? In this class we use freezer paper piecing to make traditional
school house blocks.

Needs List: Fabrics

Bring along a variety of scraps, or you could bring a fat 1/8th of white and a fat 1/8th of either
blue or red if you wish to do a traditional coloured School House block. To make a single
block you will need:

• Five 25 cm x 25 cm squares in bright colours for the house
• One 25 cm x 25 cm square for the sky
• Two 20 cm x 20 cm squares in black and white for the windows and chimneys
  Threads and Sewing Machine
• Sewing thread in a colour to match your fabrics, or choose grey or fawn
• Sewing machine in good working order with instruction book, presser feet, foot control,
  power cords and accessories, spare needle

Accessories

• Rotary cutter with sharp blade, quilting ruler, cutting board
• 1m freezer paper
• Paper and fabric scissors, pins, and a pencil