Wednesday, March 16, 2016

What the Hex?

Still chipping my way through my fabric stash - this is the product of another bundle of fat quarters I picked up at the Lethbridge Quilt Canada show.  I wanted to try my new Jaybird Hex N More ruler.  So I cut the max number of 6 inch (finished) hexies from each FQ, then added some other fabric to make up the difference for a 60"*72" quilt.  I left some white space for doing some fun quilting.  Experimenting with technique for wholecloth quilt.  I'm pretty happy with the way it all turned out.












Monday, March 7, 2016

Houndstooth Revisited


This is such a fun quilt!  It's easy to make and looks really funky when it's finished.  There are so many ways that it could be made.  I used up a pack of rainbow fat quarters but all that is needed are two colours - a dark and a light.  Or pull out a bunch of scraps.  As long as they can be separated into dark and light, just scramble the darks together and lights together.  

New sewists often ask me questions, or comment that something looks difficult (but it's really not!).  I thought it would be a good idea to put together a class for new sewists that would answer as many of these questions as possible but also send them home with the start of a really cool quilt.  The Houndstooth quilt fits the bill perfectly!  It's easy, yet "cool"!  


Sew... I'll be teaching the Houndstooth quilt over two nights at the Treaducation Centre in Calgary - April 19 and May 3 - with the ulterior motive of building confidence by providing information and technique that will lead to success.  We will talk about everything - tools needed, fabric and thread choices, fabric characteristics, pattern choices, how to measure and cut the quilt, pressing, how to sew the quilt, how to assemble the quilt top, how to put together the quilt "sandwich" for quilting, we'll discuss how to quilt the quilt, learn how to bind it, and "tips and tricks".  Those are the things that I can think of, but as we go along, I will answer other questions that are bound to come up.  This class will give new sewists the confidence to tackle more complex quilts.

Hands on classes in the classroom are great because they are so highly interactive.  Students get the benefit of  having an instructor right there to help with very specific questions and issues as they arise.  With a number of other enthusiasts in the room, brainstorming brings out so many more options that one person just wouldn't think of.  It's a great way to network with others that have your interests and to learn from each other.