Tyvek Explorations class

Starting Oct. 1, I'll be teaching my Tyvek Explorations class on Joggles. com. In four lessons, I will cover working safely with Tyvek; painting Tyvek; melting it with an iron and/or heat gun; manipulating Tyvek before heating to change the effects; making beads; and embossing Tyvek with rubber stamps.

The focus is on exploring the many ways this versatile material can be manipulated to create beautiful textural embellishments. You will be encouraged to experiment and share your work with fellow students in the class. You will need to be a confident free-motion quilter to complete the maple leaf quilt; the other projects involve only simple embroidery and beading.

After you learn the techniques in the first two lessons, I’ll provide detailed instructions for making this small art quilt with Tyvek maple leaves:

… as well as a bracelet, pins, and small Tyvek embellishments for art quilts, artists trading cards and postcards. 

If you have never taken an online class, you can read more about it on Joggles by clicking here. Basically, here’s how it works: You sign up and pay online, and about a week before class starts, you receive the supply list via e-mail. When the class starts, Joggles e-mails you information about how to get into the class forum, an online place where you can post photos, ask questions, share your work and get feedback from the instructor. Each week of the class, you receive a link where you can download a PDF of that week’s lesson. 

Tyvek Explorations is a four-week class; the cost is $40.

Lake Norman Quilters needleturn appliqué class

Today I taught needleturn appliqué to my hometown guild, Lake Norman Quilters. I had wonderful, hardworking students. Here are a few of them, busy tracing preparing their pieces and placing them under the vinyl positioning overlay:

I have taught needleturn appliqué for years, and am now teaching the methods I use; they have to be fast and easy to fit into my schedule, and with my personality! Because I believe that no one method works for everyone, I encourage my students to try different techniques, and then find those that work best for them. Several of my students today were accomplished appliquérs who simply came to learn a different way of doing things, to see if it made sense for them.

We covered how to make sharp inner and outer points, smooth curves, small circles and bias vines, and how to trace pieces on a light board and use a positioning overlay. Then the students started working on this block, which is one of my new designs (available soon):

Many thanks to Susan D-L, Deanna, and Joyce for helping with set-up and clean-up. Good program chairs and guild helpers make a teacher’s work so much easier!

Dye Day 2010

It’s our annual Pandora’s Dye Day! My local fiber arts group has been setting aside one day each summer for the past few years to get together and dye fabric in Grace’s garage. Grace dyes a lot of fabric and has a great setup. She buys a bolt of PFD (prepared for dyeing) Pimatex cotton fabric and cuts it into one-yard and half-yard pieces for us. We bring along other fabrics (I had some wonderful silk-cotton blend), yarn, embroidery floss, shirts, and other assorted items to dye.

After mixing up lots of colors, we get to work!

DeLane dyeing in small plastic containers.

Michele was dyeing some silk cocoons.

They were bigger cocoons than most I’ve seen before, and took the Procion dyes beautifully.

P.J. checks on one of her pieces.

Grace was keeping watch over all of us. She doesn’t usually look this serious!

I dyed some cheesecloth orange, and some white tank tops blue/green and pink/purple. 

These are Shibori pieces created by wrapping fabric around PVC piping, tying with string, and then scrunching pleats in the fabric before applying the dye. I always love how these come out.

Completed pieces drying in the sun. What a fun day. Thanks, Grace!

Asheville Quilt Show 2010

Here are a few of the wonderful quilts at the Asheville Quilt Show, “Stars Over the Mountains,” held this weekend at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, NC:

Quilt (untitled, detail) by Margory Eberle of Weaverville, NC. Quilted by Joyce Fong.

Hummingbirds 2 by Penelope Wortman of Candler, NC, with Ellen Perkins.

Neighbor Ladies by Margaret Hunt of Clarks Hill, SC.

Go With the Flow: Water, Wind and Music by Patty Ashworth of Oak Ridge, TN.

Round Midnight by Caroline Manheimer of Asheville, NC. Quilted by Rachel Reese.

View of the mountains from the North Carolina Arboretum. 

Summer Beauties by Judy Heyward of Mt. Pleasant, SC. This quilt won a ribbon for Outstanding Machine Workmanship.

Vintage Button Bouquet by Linda Roy of Knoxville, TN, won a ribbon for Outstanding Hand Workmanship.

 

Ring Around the Posey by Elizabeth Miller of Charlotte, NC.

Under the Watchful Eye of Queen Charlotte II by Deborah Langsam of Charlotte, NC.

Arabian Mystery by Judy Heyward of Mt. Pleasant, SC.

Birder’s Fantasy by Mary Field of Asheville, NC.

Seasons III by Beverly Hertler of Red Bank, NJ.

Mini Madness (miniature quilt) by Kristin Kipper of Greer, SC.

Celebrating 75 Years of the Blue Ridge Parkway by members of the Asheville Quilt Guild: Julie Bagamary, Georgia Bonesteel, Ann Bordeau, Robin Brooks, Connie Brown, Laura Casey, Donna Faber, Norene Goard, Amy Harry, Yolanda Hall, Judy Heyward, Ira Inman, Maureen Kampen, Lynda Kepler, Ellen Levine, Janice Maddox, Nancy Matthewson, Linda Nichols, Diana Ramsay, Sharon Smaldone and Rita Williams. Quilted by Norene Goard.

Quilting the Garden by Renate Jaeger of Jonesborough, TN. (The design is from the book of the same name by Alma Allen and Barb Adams.) 

Capriccio by Norene Goard of Hendersonville, NC.

I was charmed to see this kind gentleman patiently escorting a woman in a wheelchair (perhaps his wife?) who was dressed entirely in pink. I snapped this photo of them in front of my quilt, Pink Petal Party.

Friendly Gathering by Gail Sexton of Sunset, SC.

Flip-Flop Paper Piecing by Mary Kay Mouton of Milledgeville, GA. This tiny miniature quilt won Best of Show. Mouton is the author of a book (also called Flip-Flop Paper Piecing) about this technique.

Faces from the Past by Judy Simmons of Fletcher, NC.