"Fearless Color"

Rayna Gillman's second class at VCQ Celebration which both Sue and Elizabeth took was called “Fearless Color”. Elizabeth posted this picture of the class on Facebook with the class title, but no one commented on the black & white photo!

We began with a package of six 5 inch squares and were told to pick 2 which were our least favorite colors and then one which we liked.  Elizabeth chose a brown and a green as her least favorites and a pale yellow as one she liked.  After cutting them into different shapes and gluing together a collage we were allowed to add an accent color. Elizabeth picked red.  Our choices were very limited in the packet to get us to stretch ourselves out of any normal comfort zones.

Rayna demonstrated how she uses her iPhone to look at the values of a composition by turning the phone to a black and white camera option.  This is a handy tool to use and could replace all those old color filters we have around our studios that block out reds and greens and helped with seeing value. Our phones are usually close by and not buried under piles of other supplies.  This was one of the take-aways from this class.  Another is that "there is no such thing as doesn't go" - as long as a fabric is repeated in the piece.

In the afternoon we all were given a square of multi-colored fabric with stars and asked to create something that was a pleasing composition to us even if we didn’t like the base fabric.  Here is what each person made both in color and black and white.

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.

Strips and Squares with Rayna Gillman

One of the workshops Sue took at Celebration was on improvisational piecing with Rayna Gillman.  We learned her methods for creating strips and squares to create building blocks for a quilt based on her book, Create Your Own Free Form Quilts.

Strips of varying widths are cut free form (without a ruler) and stitched together. Then sometimes cut crosswise and inserted between other strips.  Or built out as a square in a square.  Solids and prints are needed.  Curvy and uneven are more interesting than straight.  Following your instincts is more important than planning. Repetition is important to unify the whole.

Above are examples of units made by Rayna - strips and squares - that can be the foundation of a quilt.

Below are some of Sue's building blocks.

 Here, everyone is hard at work playing with their fabrics.

Once you've got enough pieces, you can start working with them on your design wall to find a pleasing arrangement, and figure out what else you need to fill in.

Here are Sue's pieces stitched together.

Below are some of the other class participants with their creations.

 Sue says it was a fun, low-stress class and process and looks forward to more improvisational piecing.

Celebration Class Show & Tell

Traditionally, at the end of the retreat weekend we have a show and tell from each of the workshops.  Here are some shots from each one.  Keep in mind that the applique and hand stitching students have less to show for their time than those in machine classes!

Lucille Amos of NC taught Judy Niemeyer paper piecing.  Above is Mini Stars Table Runner.  Below is Indian Summer. The completed top is Lucille's sample.

June Colburn taught a collage class, above, and another called Print and Paint, below.

Augusta Cole's mysteries are always popular.  Below is her Choose Your Own Theme mystery.

 These 2 students were industrious and completed their tops!

Mystery 2 was Ready! Set! Start Your Machines!

Susan Emory of Swirly Girl Designs taught Equal Rights, below.

And Over Under Table Runner (over your table or under your tree).

 And since Susan was behind a quilt in most of the photos, here she is at the podium.

Rayna Gillman's first day class was Strips and Squares - improvisational piecing.

Her second class was called Fearless Color.

Diane Kirkhart taught Beginning and Advanced Applique using the Appliquick Tools.

 The beginning class worked on mini Sunbonnet Sues and Overall Sams for a pouch to hold the tools.

The advanced class made roses for an applique wall hanging.

Cheryl See's classes worked with hexagons and English Paper Piecing to make Jewel Box, above, and start on a Hexie Daisy wall hanging below.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe was the final teacher.  Her first class was 15 Minutes of Play, and the second was Double Wedding Ring, both based on her books.

Above is one of her samples for 15 Minutes of Play (crazy pieced center) - somehow, we didn't snap a show & tell photo for this class.  Below is the Double Wedding Ring class.

Lots of fun, and lots of productive quilters!

VCQ's Celebration 2016

VCQ's biannual retreat concluded a week ago, and we are finally catching up and ready to post some pictures from this event.  If you're not familiar with VCQ, it is the Virginia Consortium of Quilters which is the state quilting guild in Virginia.  We were founded in 1984 to unite quilters all over the state and are still going strong 32 years later.  Every 2 years we have a 4 day retreat we call Celebration with 2 full days of workshops and other fun activities.  Since 2004, we have been gathering at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Center at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia.  Both Elizabeth and Sue are active in this guild; Sue is finishing up her term as president this year, and Elizabeth has just taken on the role of Program Chair for the quarterly meetings.  In addition, Sue served as co-chair for Celebration.  Hence, our lack of time recently to keep up with regular blog posts.

Here is a photo overview of the retreat -  maybe you'd like to join us in 2018, the last weekend of April!

 Above is a view of the lake from the Central Activities Building, below.  This building houses the dining room and auditorium where evening programs are held, as well as the vendors and silent auction.

Check in was held in the Welcome Center, where participants received their name tags and welcome bags, as well as dropped off silent auction contributions, block lotto blocks, and challenge entries.

The auditorium stage featured a "gypsy tent" to go with our theme "It's Crystal Clear We Are Quilters".  Madam Crystal could be found here during evening programs to gaze into her crystal ball and make predictions for the weekend.

National teachers offering workshops included Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Rayna Gillman.

 Rayna Gillman also gave an evening lecture called "What If?"

On Saturday evening we had a few participants try out a new quilters' card game from Purple Moose Designs called Quilter's Block Party - it is modeled after Pictionary but with quilt blocks.

Here's one set of the Block Lotto blocks that were given away.  There were 9 or 10 sets of blocks drawn for; for each block contributed, participants received a chance at winning a set of blocks.

On the final morning we enjoyed class show and tell and gave away some door prizes - Gloria was the lucky winner of this SewEzi portable sewing table.  We had generous donations from a number of businesses and individuals that were given as part of the welcome bags, activity prizes, and door prizes. 

More to come in additional posts about workshops and show and tell of all the classes!

April UFO Busting

As you can tell from the limited number of posts in April, we have been kind of "MIA" - "missing in action" because we were derailed with other things when life got in the way as it so often does.  In early April, Elizabeth's mother (Barbara) passed away after several months of health issues which were further complicated by her diabetes.  We will miss her dearly.  Late April brought VCQ's Celebration retreat which Sue was co-chair of, in addition to being VCQ president.  It was fun and a great success, but involved lots of last minute tasks.  Now we are hoping for things to calm down a little and to get back on track with more frequent posts.

At least Sue is able to report two completions for the month of April.  One is the challenge quilt that was made for our Virginia Consortium of Quilters biannual retreat based on our theme, "It's Crystal Clear We Are Quilters". This is a whole cloth piece that she snow dyed this winter - her first attempt at a mandala style fold.  It is machine quilted with Superior Thread's Glitter metallic thread and has hot fix Swarovski crystals added (which are hard to see in the photo).  She is happy to report it won 1st place in the challenge!

The second finish is a new start as well as finish for April, which was shown in our last blog post on April 13.  It's a Fat-Quarter Pop-Up designed by the Fat Quarter Gypsy and is made with a piece of snow-dyed/thermofax printed fabric.  Sue will be teaching a class in making the pop-ups at Artistic Artifacts in June.

So the stats for April are:
Starting UFO count: 11
New projects started this month: 1
Projects finished this month: 2
UFO count at end of month:10

Go to Vicki Welsh's blog - Colorways by Vicki Welsh (note new website/blog address) - to see what other participants have reported for the month of April.