Tag Archives | Classes

Empty Spools: Lucy, Ellindale, and Phyliss

By Ellen Lindner on March 12, 2024 in Uncategorized

Here’s another report on my awesome Design Your Own Nature Quilt students, at Empty Spools.

Lucy was a delight. Like Katie, her only quilting experience was with simple piecing. The design concepts and construction techniques were completely new to her and she was very willing to learn them. Her inspiration photo was one she had taken herself. We talked about simplifying things by omitting a few trees and IMPLYING the distant foliage. Busy prints did the trick.

Since she added a dark border, Lucy added a narrow blue inner border on both the left and right. This kept the border and the left tree from merging together. The photo below shows the colors better. Can you tell that it’s quilted and faced? AND, it has the hanging sleeve already attached.

You can tell from her face that Lucy was very happy with her quilt!

Ellindale sent me a photo of a monarch butterfly, asking if it would work as a good inspiration photo. I said yes, but that I thought she should add one or more additional butterflies. She found a copyright free image of a butterfly with folded wings and added it to her sketch. She constructed the butterflies separately, so she’d be able to audition placement later. That really paid off, because she eventually turned the entire composition 90 degrees and came up with this.

She made a lot of progress in class, completing the quilting on the background (with added stems, butterfly antennae, and legs.)

Late on the 4th day, Ellindale started playing around with a poppy photo and very quickly came up with this. Isn’t it striking? The photo only had 2 flowers, but she wisely added a third. She also enlarged the flowers quite a bit, which filled the space very nicely. Another great example of being INSPIRED by the photo, rather than controlled by it.

Phyliss had a photo that really spoke of a particular place. Where do you find prickly pear cacti and blue doors? That’s right, the American southwest. But, again, Phyliss altered some things from the photo.

She left out some of the cactus paddles and suggested the door with just a colorful shape. Also, Phyliss brought some lacy textured fabrics from home that she used for “flowers” (insects) and other details.

She added some detailed quilting and soon had a completed quilt. Like some of the others, she got hers faced and added a hanging sleeve before the end of class.

I’m so proud of what these ladies accomplished!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’ll be teaching the same class next year at Empty Spools, March 16-21, 2025. I’d love to have you in class!

Empty Spools: Alex, Terry, and Katie

By Ellen Lindner on March 10, 2024 in Uncategorized

My week teaching Design Your Own Nature Quilt at Empty Spools Seminar was excellent and my students were fantastic! They brought their creative courage and tried lots of new things – with amazing results.

This was Alex’s board for the classroom walk-through. She did the little plant on the left first. She played down the contrast in the rocky foreground and increased the contrast with the leaves. Alex also enhanced the plant’s “body language” and removed some distracting details. As you can see, she had it all pinned and ready to quilt.

Next, Alex switched gears to the Joshua Tree photo. I thought it was more complex than she would enjoy, but I was wrong! She enjoyed hunting for the perfect fabrics and cutting all the little “pom-poms.” She has more to add when she gets home, but she quilted the foreground in class. (By the way, I had never seen a Joshua tree before and thought her photo was actually a drawing when I first saw it. My students were very good at educating me about them.)

Alex was also quick to help. She solved my Power Point issue and gave Lucy a great lesson on cleaning her machine. ALL the students had a great sense of camaraderie and cheered each other on. I loved it!

Terry was experienced at creating landscapes and it showed. Her first piece is the large one at the top of her board. She switched gears when she realized she had the perfect fabric at home. (Isn’t that always the way?) Check out her gray/black mountain in the top left of her composition. It’s a perfect example of letting the fabric do the work. Terry needed a black and white striation. She found it on the back of a printed fabric with palm fronds. Good eye!

I forget the name of Terry’s orange flower: some sort of lily. She did a great job of capturing the delicate petals. And just look how much the dark background has improved the composition! The additional contrast it provides really lets the flower SHINE! Terry plans to use a border and let the top part of her flower extend into it. I think that will be very effective. And she has some leaves to add, too.

Katie definitely brought her CAN DO attitude. Her experience was limited to simple piecing, so this was all new territory for her! She trusted the process, though, and forged ahead. There were times when she thought it was terrible, but she trusted my direction and eventually ended up with something she loved. Me too!

Here’s her inspiration photo. We talked about her favorite parts and how she could apply our class motto, “Be inspired by your photo, not controlled by it.” She decided to focus on busy flowers, the strong blue sky, and the arcing stems.

And this is what she got. I’d say she definitely hit the mark. AND this is completely quilted, faced, and has a hanging sleeve attached!!!

As I told my students, “they made me look good.” And we had so much fun, too!

There’s more to come. Keep and eye out.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. See more student work.

Empty Spools: Carol, Larsja, and Barb

By Ellen Lindner on March 7, 2024 in Uncategorized

I’m just back from teaching Design Your Own Nature Quilt at Empty Spools Seminar, in Pacific Grove, CA. It was fabulous!!! The beach side setting was lovely, complete with historical architecture, wind-swept trees, and the sound of the surf.

But, of course, the real excitement was occurring in the classrooms. I had nine fantastic students who followed the supply list and packed their artistic courage. They worked outside their comfort zones and created very dynamic quilts. Each student brought one or more inspiration photos from which she designed her quilt. We often reminded one another of the class motto, “Be inspired by your photo, not controlled by it.” Wait till you see what they did.

Carol had a dramatic photo of a red flower. Single color flowers are often tricky, but Carol was able to work loosely, which helped immensely.

For her second quilt, (yes, several students made TWO,) Carol chose an image of what we think are box fish. In her inspiration photo the two fish were on a black background. As you can see, she improved upon that quite dramatically, and energized the composition with more fish.

Scaling up from the sketch to the quilt is a little bit of a hurdle at first. Carol spent time making mock up fish shapes to help her get it right.

Students used cardboard L shapes to help them decide on cropping.

One day the students toured around the classrooms to see the various projects. Most of my photos will be the display boards from that event.

Larsja had a great tulip photo to start with. She wisely omitted several flowers and leaves to better show off the remaining ones. And to make the background (negative space) more interesting. And then check out that border! Don’t you love the “drawn” black tulips?

Larsja really wanted to make just one quilt so she could get is mostly done. Sure enough, it’s almost completely quilted.

Like Carol, Larsja did a collage exercise with magazine pages. I’ll show you those images more clearly in a later post.

Barb used a photo of a Bird of Paradise blossom as her starting point. It was actually a double blossom, which made the distinction between petals hard to make out. Like Larsja, she omitted quite a few blossoms and did the same with the leaves. (She just scribbled over them on her photo.) She also cropped her inspiration photo quite a bit. (It’s folded on her board.)

She finished quilting it in class. Isn’t it striking?

It was all very exciting! More photos in the next few posts.

Ellen Lindner

Designing in Maine, Part Two

By Ellen Lindner on August 25, 2023 in Uncategorized

The students in my “Design Your Own Nature Quilt” class did really excellent work. Their task was to be INSPIRED by their photos, but not to actually copy them.

Eldora had a beautiful photo showing a ton of beautiful flowers, so she wisely cropped it way down.

She did a great job depicting the foliage and the flowers loosely. This is going to be great!

Patricia started with a lovely mountain vista.

She kept the composition the same and made great progress. She’ll add lots of orange triangle and V-shapes for the lilies in the foreground. They’ll really pop against the green.

Karyn had a very interesting photo, with wonderful shadows and colors. The things she liked the most were the dark tree trunks creating contrast in the background and the busy, colorful plants in the foreground.

She easily worked loosely and very closely emulated the feel of the photo, capturing her favorite things in the process. Isn’t it great?

Ann’s photo showed two weeping willows. She cropped most of the right one, which greatly improved the composition.

Then, she had a blast creating a “hairy” weeping willow. It really conveys the type of tree well. The dark shape on the right is the place holder for the second tree. This one is fun!

Sue’s photo had wonderful light and dark spots in the water and intriguing reflections. She noticed these areas and brought a very good selection of fabrics.

See what I mean? Her trees and water really came together nicely.

Construction tip: when you need little tiny pieces, like the white part of the water, don’t cut them to size. Instead, cut them larger and then tuck them under a larger piece. Let the shape of the larger piece cover and define the shape of the one below. In this case the dark water fabric has tiny cuts in it with a larger piece of white below showing through.

Wow, these ladies did extraordinary work! In one day they learned some useful design principles, created a sketch for their quilt, and made excellent progress with the collage of their quilts. They really pulled out their artistic courage! And we had fun to boot!

See other student work in the Part One post.

This class can be in person or via Zoom, as a 2 day class. More info.

Ellen Lindner

Designing in Maine, Part One

By Ellen Lindner on August 21, 2023 in Uncategorized

I recently taught two classes. One was “Design Your Own Nature Quilt,” and the ladies did a great job. The supply list includes artistic courage and they did not disappoint.

After a morning learning about design and preparing a sketch, the students start creating their fabric collages in the afternoon. It can be a little intimidating because it requires INTERPRETING their inspiration photos, rather than just COPYING them.

With only a few hours to work with fabric, they still made excellent progress on their quilts. Each student worked from her own inspiration photo, so each quilt was different and each student had her own issues to contend with.

Michelle’s photo was taken while canoeing on a very calm lake. I cautioned her about the subtleties of merging water colors, but she came with the right fabrics and was willing the spend the time needed to create her effects.

And this is where she left off. I think it’s very successful. Can you see all the time she spent shredding fabrics in order to give a feel of the water reflection? She’ll add French knots to emulate rivets on the point on the canoe.

Heather’s photo featured a favorite tree.

She cropped it to improve the composition and made excellent progress on her quilt.

Sharon chose a beautiful sunset.

She had to leave class early, but still made a good start on her piece.

Susan’s photo included two different types of flowers, with a foliage background.

She simplified shapes and made a good start on her quilt.

Jenn used a wonderful photo featuring lupines.

She knew she couldn’t easily replicate the entire image, so she cropped it down and simplified. She’ll be able to cut her flower petal/shapes more irregularly, which will speed things up.

Charlene selected a VERY complex photo of lily pads and flowers. She knew she’d have to simplify and crop, so she got to work.

She still had her work cut out for her, but had no qualms about cutting many lily pads. As you can see, it began to take shape nicely right away.

Won’t these be great? I’ll show you more quilts in-progress in the next post.

Ellen Lindner

Color in Carlisle

By Ellen Lindner on June 11, 2023 in Uncategorized

I had forgotten how much fun it is to cut colored paper and glue it down. But, the ladies in my Adventures in Color class, in Carlisle, PA helped me remember! Gee, did we have fun!

In this class I encourage table mates to share their materials. This adds to the fun, since everyone is immediately sorting through things and helping one another look for the perfect item.

Doesn’t this look enjoyable? Each student made a workbook using the materials you see here. First, they learned about the color wheel. Then, cool and warm colors.

We had a mid-afternoon “field trip” around the room, with each person showing her favorite page. Several people loved the cool colors.

They include every version of yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, and violet/purple.

They can be pastel and muted.

Or bright. Or dark.

Students were encouraged to show a variety of values and brightness on their pages.

Cool colors can be calming. They tend to recede, so they’re especially good for backgrounds.

And then there are the warm colors.

They include every version of yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, and red-violet.

Warm colors are dramatic and they tend to come forward. They’re especially good for foregrounds.

And then, of course, it gets even more exciting when you start mixing warm and cool colors. I’ll show you examples in my next post.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’m so sorry that I didn’t record who made each of these pages! Ladies, if you identify your page, please let me know and I’ll give you credit.

Floral Improv in Portland

By Ellen Lindner on March 7, 2023 in Uncategorized

The ladies of the Columbia River Gorge Quilters, in Portland, OR, really excelled at creating Floral Improv pieces. These are just a few of the results.

Tomme Fent used a vibrant palette that really made her flowers POP!

Ginger Hartnett’s poppies were really enhanced by her contour stitching. Don’t they look 3D?

Ronda Griffin’s piece has a lively, happy vibe. Nice!

Beth Harkenrider’s poppies were so dark that we decided to highlight them with white stitching, rather than black. I think it worked well and her piece has a wonderful sense of mystery.

Daera Dobbs’ flowers have a lot of energy!

She liked the process so much that she made a second piece later. I take that as a compliment!

I had a fantastic time with these ladies!

Can you believe we accomplished all of this via Zoom? It worked great. Maybe your guild would like to give it a try. See more info.

Ellen Lindner

“Floral Improv” in Tavares – Part Two

By Ellen Lindner on February 5, 2023 in Uncategorized

More awesome results from my “Floral Improv” students in Tavares, FL. This is what they accomplished in just 5 hours, all with no patterns!

Karen’s dark background made everything pop.

Dawn was getting close to her final composition.

Gail’s was ready for stitching.

Betty was careful about how she used her printed background fabric and it worked out well.

Anita needed a few more stems and leaves, but she was very close.

Alice arranged her flowers first (as directed.) Next she’ll add stems and leaves.

I always tell my students to arrange their flowers first. Afterwards, it’s easy (and forgiving) to add a variety of stems and leaves.

Jeanette will use stitching to enhance and define both her poppies and daisies.

Didn’t they do excellent work? They were all thrilled and I was too. The excitement was contagious!

And here we all are. These members of the Lake County Quilters Guild proved to be both talented and friendly. I hope to visit them again.

Would your guild enjoy this class? It’s available both in-person and via Zoom. Floral Improv info here.

Ellen Lindner

Love It and Leaf It in Tavares, FL – Part Two

By Ellen Lindner on January 28, 2023 in Uncategorized

More great student results from “Love It and Leaf It,” in Tavares, FL!

Liz with her quilt:

Jeanette’s quilt in-progress:

Betty and her piece:

Laura’s quilt:

Lois didn’t really want to take the class, but she was sharing a ride with one of the students, so she came along and did her own thing. Still, inspired by crotons, as you can see!

This was a great group to work with and they got excellent results.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Maybe your guild would enjoy this class too. (Virtual or in-person)

Love It and Leaf It in Tavares, FL – Part One

By Ellen Lindner on January 26, 2023 in Uncategorized

I sure had fun teaching two classes in Tavares, FL! Although I enjoy teaching via Zoom and feel that it’s very effective, there’s nothing like being in the same room with a group of quilters.

The first class was called “Love It and Leaf It” and it was only 2.5 hours long. Just look what these ladies accomplished in that time!

Here’s Anita with hers.