NOthing like doing yoga in the morning on a deck at Kinderhook Retreat overlooking the lush farmland of Illinois. Relaxing and energizing, ready for a day of sewing with friends. People said shen I came down stairs I appeared to be a woman on …
Three years have passed since retirement. I have been enjoying doing what I want pretty much when I want but I am missing one aspect of my professional career. Having been an educator for over 35 years I am itching to get back into the teaching mode. I am available to plan and create the program or workshop that a guild or group desires in an evening, for a day, or at a retreat. I am especially interested in the creative quilting aspects and the intergenerational sharing of our quilting heritage. Below are a few of the programs/workshops that I have prepared and would welcome your invitation to share.
Inspirations, Reflections, and Creations, 1 hour
A trunk show of traditional and non-traditional quilts that will inspire and motivate quilters as they reflect on their personal stories and quilts.
A short make and take can be included to make a quick folded flower as shown in several of the quilts, add 20 minutes.
“Intuition and Improvisation Before Patterns and Precision”, 3 or 6 hour class
In this class you will learn techniques to put together an improvisational quilt project unique to you. Trust yourself to take beloved fabrics and combine with “wonder why on earth I bought that!” fabrics in ways you never dreamed would result in a fabulous piece. Share and swap fabrics with other class members (convince your classmates that your “ugly” is their “beautiful”).
3 hour—demonstration and individual practice to make some blocks.
6 hour—demonstration and individual practice to make blocks and determine some potential arrangements for a finished product.
“Floral Fabric Bouquets Featuring Vintage Linens”, 3 hour workshop
Using vintage linens as the background for framed fabric floral bouquets. Bring your family linens whether handkerchief or pillowcase, dish towel or table linen to repurpose and preserve family memories. If you don’t have any or choose to let them languish in their drawer feel free to take advantage of my Posie Lane hand dyed linens available at Hickory Stick Quilt Shop in Hannibal, Missouri or from me. I will bring others for your selection to class but you may want to have your selection made ahead of time so you can concentrate on the design.
“A Leaf Collection”
Five 2 hour workshops that will result in five small finished projects or designs ready to combine into one.
This is a series of artistic workshops that will focus on creative techniques that can be applied to future creative quilting projects. The subject matter for class will be leaves but the techniques can be applied to any creative project you might choose for the future.
Saturday I had the pleasure of taking daughter and friend to the starting point of RAGBRAI 2015, Sioux City, Iowa. The Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa draws thousands of bike riders from across the nation. I saw license plates from California to …
Anatomy of a Leaf A group of quilters in the Hannibal, Missouri area are exploring artistic techniques using the leaf as subject matter for learning to create different textures in their creative quilting. The first session was thread painting. The second session was using Tyvek …
The quilted project was made by printing the photo on four sheets of prepared fabric. Because I don’t like the seams of piecing together photos I decided to try the technique of framing. I made a grid on the background batik fabric and then cut the photos to fit the grid after having fused a backing on the photo fabric. It was a little scary to begin the quilting through the beauty of the scene but am pleased with the result.
A simple gift bag made from a hand dyed vintage linen napkin. Make this bag and tuck in that special gift, two gifts in one! Especially nice for handing down a family heirloom whether a tea cup or a piece of Grandma’s jewelry. Try a …
Tyvek Play Day After some dutiful sewing on a landscape quilt I needed to play so tried some ideas with Tyvek. In my mind the butterfly was going to be beautifully iridescent with the outline left after pressing/melting away the stitched on Tyvek applique. …
July Block of the Month
Patriot’s Star
The July block is my design and could easily be repeated for a four block quilt for the Honor Flight quilts. With multiple repeats of this 16” block a patriotic throw for 4th of July picnics would be possible. The block goes together quickly with the table mat being made in about four hours, quilting included.
What are your memories of the July holiday celebrating our nation’s birth? Living on a farm I remember that our celebration often included handcranked ice cream made with the cream from our cows. There were sometimes fireworks like sparklers and some kind of black snake thing that curled on the sidewalk. I love to watch fireworks and as an adult I was most awed by the fireworks at the Amelia Earhart celebration in Atchison, Kansas a few years ago. They were computer timed to a wide variety of patriotic music and were spectacular along with the rest of the air show held each year.
Patriot’s Star
Blue (1/3 yd)- cut two 3 ½” x 18 ½” and two 3 ½” x 24 ½” strips for border; cut twelve 2 ½” squares;
Red (1/8 yd)- cut two 1 ½” x 16 ½” and two 1 ½” x 18 ½” strips for inner border;
Asst’d red, white and blue prints (use your scraps)- cut 24 2 ½” squares
Light blue-cut eight 3” x 7” rectangles;
Gold- cut a 4 ½” square and four 5” x 7” rectangles.
Make 4 nine patch blocks with the blue and asst’d rwb squares. Make your own paper foundation pattern by drawing a 4” x 6” rectangle and add ¼” seam allowance on all sides. From the center point at the top of rectangle draw a line to either corner at the bottom of the rectangle. Make 4 copies of this pattern and use foundation piecing techniques to make the star points. Assemble the block in horizontal rows as shown in the photo. Add red inner border strips to sides and then top and bottom. Do the same with the blue outer border strips. Layer backing batting and top and quilt. I quilted fireworks in the star using metallic thread for a fun finish.
Everyone is creative but sometimes we need an igniting of the spirit. Join us July 9 from 6-8 pm at the Inspirations Building in Hannibal, Missouri to explore artistic techniques for quilting. I will share an artistic technique that can be used in our …
