This is what I see as I exit my studio. A bow. Right at eye level. It’s to remind me to turn off my mini-iron, which has no auto shut-off. It’s a very useful tool, though, since it can get into tight spots. Recently I’ve been using it to erase lines I’ve drawn with a…
Do you have a bunch of show ribbons on display? I did, but they all had to come down when I recently painted my studio. I probably had about 25 displayed and another 25 in a box waiting to be added to the wall. One corner My husband asked if I intended to put them…
When making Melting Pot, I was also considering whether I might have time to make a smaller quilt for another challenge. As Melting Pot grew, I decided to make it smaller and to use the remaining parts for this smaller quilt. Diversity is the result. It was made for an exhibit called “1 x 4: Imagination.” As you can…
Have you heard about Road@Home? It this year’s virtual version of the Road to California quilt show, and it will be held January 21-24, 2021. I’ll be teaching three classes. On Wednesday, I’ll kick things off with “Love It and Leaf It.”Find all the Love It and Leaf It details here Thursday’s students will cut…
The San Diego women in my “Love It and Leaf It” class had a great time and did wonderful work! I didn’t save my photos properly, but several of them were kind enough to send me photos after class. The expression on Diane’s face, above, is a good example of the delight each student…
Here’s a little gift for you: a free online class about facing a quilt. It’s self-paced, so you can sign up and watch the videos whenever you’d like. This class is set up just like my other on-demand classes, so you’ll get to see if this form of learning is a good fit for you….
In a recent post I suggested that, when making improvisational quilts, it’s a good idea to get the proportion of colors set before any construction begins. Yet, I ignored my own advice on my latest quilt, Melting Pot. It all began when I fell in love with a painting by Jane Davies. Great colors, right? It’s…
The style of improv (no pattern) piecing I do evolves greatly during the construction of the quilt. Which is one of the things I love about it. I do a lot of slicing, repiecing, slitting, and slanting, all without a construction plan. With such a loose technique the color and value selections become critical. These…
Whenever I show one of my improv quilts, people ask if I’m going to teach the technique. I don’t have any plans to teach it right now, so I thought I’d show a little about it here on my blog. There are LOTS of different ways to make improvisational quilts. You’ll find many tutorials on…
I did a second fun Zoom class with the Ann Arbor gals. This time it was Double Reverse Appliqué. They made great progress. Just look. Jennifer chose muted colors and they worked beautifully. (BTW, the focus on Zoom is great. It’s reduced here because the image has been copied and manipulated so many times.) Colleen finished…