More Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Here are a few more photos Elizabeth took of Victoria's show and tell in her 15 Minutes of Play class.

This is an example of her stretched hex and tumbler class.

Another version.

Playing with these shapes for a pictorial quilt.

Gorgeous!

Find out more about Victoria's class offerings and where she will be teaching on her website.  If you're on the east coast, she will be teaching at QuiltCon East in Savannah next February.

Tip For Miniature Quilt Blocks

Realizing that many people take classes where they want to remember everything and replicate a project just like the teacher’s project, Elizabeth has a different perspective on taking classes.  Her one goal is to take home one tip that stays with her and can be used in future projects.  The tip doesn’t even have to pertain to the project of the day as often teachers give small bits of advice or guidance on everything from choosing a color to a new trick for sewing something together.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe is no exception, she is an excellent teacher who combines show-and-tell style group instruction with personalized attention to each student as they sew.    These scrap blocks in Victoria’s quilt are only one-inch square. 

The tip that spoke to Elizabeth during her recent class was one for miniature piecing.

How does she manage such tiny pieces?  With big seam allowances!  It was an a-ha moment where many in the class said “Why hadn’t I ever thought of that?"  Her scraps are small without being tiny and her seam allowances are half-inch and trimmed after sewing.  When enough pieced fabric is made to place a one-inch acrylic template over it and cut around, then the block is done.  Try it, you will be amazed.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe

At the VCQ Celebration weekend, Elizabeth took a class from Victoria Findlay Wolfe called ”15 Minutes 

of Play”.  Victoria also has a book by the same title.

Motivation to take the class came from the realization that for the past few years this method of creating scrap yardage had been embraced by her mother, Barbara, who was determined to use up her fabric stash without buying more.  Hoping to pass on her knowledge from the class this summer in New Hampshire, Elizabeth was planning to gain a few new tips and techniques for this method.  Since Barbara had died a short few days before the class, Elizabeth decided to use Barbara’s scraps to create a project. 

She ended up making some 9 patch blocks from squares Barbara had already put together and now has four large 9 patches which she can use to make a bed sized quilt.  No photos of those blocks yet but hopefully she can work on adding to them this summer to make a completed quilt.  Sue will have to be 

the enforcer - I mean encourager!  Victoria was generous with her ideas for setting the blocks into a plan for this quilt.

Victoria often uses a template to cut large blocks after making her pieced yardage.  Another tool she uses is the folded mirror so she can visualize what a completed design would look like and decide if she wants to make changes before stitching instead of after.  Also creative and interesting is her use of adding a unifying fabric to all of the scrappy template cut pieces such as the addition here of the white points.  

Victoria is an excellent teacher who uses her scrap method to create quilts that are extremely varied in appearance and block design yet united by the use of created yardage from scraps.  An added bonus is 

that Victoria’s scrap quilt blocks come together fast creating an entire quilt top quickly.  If you are ever near a venue where Victoria is teaching, you should seriously consider taking a class from this expert. Here are a few more pictures from class.