It's vacation time and Josh, James and I have taken off for a not very distant vacation in Charlotte, NC for the American Quilter's Society show. I'm super excited to be taking classes with three amazing teachers and
learning more about dyeing fabric and quilt design.
It's terrific to be able to take classes like this, but very rare for my area in North Carolina. This is one of the major reasons I don't often go to quilt retreats, but instead usually learn new techniques online on Craftsy.
Craftsy is a terrific craft educational website filled with over 80 awesome quilting classes covering everything from foundation paper piecing to dyeing fabric to free motion quilting.
When you
purchase a Craftsy class, you are purchasing lifetime access to that class so you can watch the lessons today, next week, next year - no matter when you have time you can jump in and start watching and follow the directions at your own pace.
Just this week my friend and fellow free motion quilting teacher Patsy Thompson just launched her first Craftsy class Ultimate Free Motion Quilting.
This class really is an awesome showcase of all the amazing things you can do with thread, batting, and fabric! I loved watching Patsy demonstrate Hyperquilting, which is quilting a design with multiple colors and weights of thread.
In this class you'll also learn two methods for adding trapunto to your quilts, which will make certain areas puffy and stand out better. See the feather
in the photo above - that was enhanced with trapunto! You won't believe how easy this can be and how much drama and puff it can add to your quilts!
So even if the big quilt shows and retreats never come to your town, just remember you always have a huge resource of awesome classes taught by amazing, internationally recognized quilting teachers like Patsy Thompson on Craftsy.
Click
Here to sign up for Ultimate Free Motion Quilting and get 25% off your class!
Building Blocks Quilt Along
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The past few weeks have really flown by and we're already finishing up our last Spinning Square block.
Last week we tackled Circles in the Spinning Square and I joked that many quilters might honestly like to punch me after trying out this design: Thankfully no one actually gave me a knuckle sandwich, but Josh certainly didn't like this block. He struggled with the circles and found it tricky to move through the block smoothly.
Watch Josh's take on this design right here.
So how about you? Have you found circles particularly difficult to free motion quilt?
If so, you might like the last design we learned for our Spinning Square. This Wiggly Spiral in a Spinning Square is much more simple and can be easily quilted from the center of the block without marking: This particular design works a bit differently from most other blocks we've quilted. We're starting in the center and wiggling and spiraling our way outward. This is a fun way to quilt a single block or an entire
quilt, though you will have to rotate quite a bit to keep the spiral spinning evenly outward.Of course starting in the center means you have to deal with two loose threads right in the middle of the block from the beginning. Watch the video to see how I tied and buried the threads with a cheater needle so they wouldn't be in my way while quilting.Have you missed any posts from the Building Blocks Quilt Along? Remember you can find ALL the posts and videos shared about this project right here.Whew! That's all the news for this week! Learn something fun and challenge yourself to try something totally new and out of your comfort zone. What's the worst that can happen? What's the BEST that can happen?
Let's go quilt,Leah Day |
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