Hexatopia at Drop Forge & Tool

Hello! 

My big news today, is that I am once again going to be teaching Hexatopia, this time at a very cool artplace in Hudson NY called Drop Forge & Tool!

Founded and run by two of my favorite people ever, Katherine Daugherty and Michael Hoch, Drop Forge & Tool is all about maker workshops and creative residencies.

I was lucky enough to be there for their first big event - an open house with performances by The Bengsons. (If you don't know their music, drop everything and listen right now. Here, just watch this video of their song 'Bells'. You'll thank me.)

Here's me and Tahli hanging signs just before the party got started.  (We made the signs. Very proud. They're still hanging in the entrance of the residency apartment.)

Me and Tahli hanging signs for the DF&T open house - still under construction

 It's a really big place. There's room for something like 80 artists to stay in residence (hyperbole), and a workshop space in the attic where all sorts of art-magic is just bound to happen (understatement).

Here's the attic workspace still under construction:

DF&T workspace (under construction)

And here's a view from the street. You can tell from the snow that these pictures were taken a while ago. The place was still very much in-the-works at the time, and I think there are still bits and pieces getting worked on still, but it is up and running!

DF&T (under construction)

Apparently it's going to be a different color next time I visit.

Last time I went to visit, it was as an actor / theatre artist type person with a company called Agnes Table. Here's us at Drop Forge. We got the wheels rolling on a few different vague projects. (The best ones start vague.)

Agnes Table at DF&T: Reyna de Courcy, Sarah Wiggin, Michael Hoch, & Jason Lambert

So, now I'm going back to teach some workshops!

First, I'm teaching a beginning English Paper Piecing class. (Tues 5/5 - 6-9pm).
We're going to learn the basic technique, talk about different styles of working, and tools - then we're going to go over Grandmother's Flower Garden, Patchwork of the Crosses, & how to make a (3D) soccer ball.

And then I'll be diving into teaching Hexatopia (3 sessions Wednesdays 5/6, 5/20, & 6/3 - 6-9pm).

If you happen to be in the Hudson, NY area, and you're interested in taking the class, there are more details here, AND other cool workshops coming up!

When last I taught this class, I made a blog entry with lots of details about what the Hexatopia class is all about. Obviously, allllll the logistical details are all different, but if you're considering taking the class, you might find it informative.

In the meantime, here are some of the blocks I've been making!

This one I finished just moments ago.

Rotational symmetry w this great Japanese fabric I found at Cool Cottons in Portland OR.

Rotational symmetry might, in fact, be the theme of the rest of this post:

Lost of green with fussy blackbirds

Classic Whirlagig with white birds. (You don't think the colors look too much like traffic-type things, do you?)

This next one I've been calling 'Live Long & Prosper' because I was working on it when I heard the news that Leonard Nimoy had passed away. One day I would like to design a block specifically with him in mind, but for now, this will have to do. I used surface-of-the-moon fabric for the outside, and bright stars for the inside.

Live Long & Prosper

Thank you so much for reading!

All the best, 

Reyna

Los Angeles Adventures

I'm extremely pleased to announce that the play I worked on at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago last winter, 'Luna Gale' is going up at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles! If you happen to be in town, tix are on sale, and previews start tonight!

It's an absolutely amazing script by Rebecca Gilman, directed by the totally tubular Bob Falls, and I'm thrilled to be reunited with the entire original Chicago cast.

People ask me what it's about, and I'm terrible at summaries, but this video they put together really gets at the heart of it:

I'm going to be walking out the door to go do our first preview in less than an hour - what a strange feeling! We did the play for over a month when it was at the Goodman last winter, and we've had three weeks (2 in Chicago, and 1 here in LA) to get it back on it's feet, so I think it is definitely ready for this first preview audience. I'm so proud of the play, and I'm so proud to be working with all these brilliant people, I really am having a wonderful time, but it's a demanding and complicated play - these last few hours before curtain are like looking down at whitewater rapids just before pushing your raft into the water.

But, backing up a little....

FIRST, before I left NY, I had to pack up a bunch of blocks for me to sew while I'm away! I brought my entire thread collection... I'm picky about colors. :)

packing blocks for LA

I won't be back in NYC (where all my supplies and stash is) until the beginning of January - I designed, cut, and packed up 18 blocks - all ready for piecing - I think that will be plenty! So many sandwich bags!

THEN, I got on a plane and flew away from NYC...

TTFN NYC!

Next stop was Chicago, where we rehearsed for 2 weeks.

OMW to rehearsal, back at the Good ol' Goodman

So great to be reunited with the team - these people are amazing! (Yes, I do get paid every time I use the word 'amazing'.)

Lunch with the cast (counter-clockwise from L): Jordan Baker, Colin Sphar, Richard Theiriot, Melissa DuPrey (picture-taker front and center), Erik Hellman, me, and Mary Beth Fisher

THEN, we got on a plane, and flew to ridiculous Southern California

ridiculous LA - Marina del Rey

While everyone I know is freezing their fingers off in NY and Chicago, we're parading around in shorts. (Actually, I failed to pack shorts because the idea of shorts in November... I just didn't believe.)

obligatory selfie at the beach

We're staying at these apartments that are literally 5 minutes (walking) to the beach... and this is what the walk looks like...

going to catch sunset at the pier

Our venue, the Kirk Douglas Theatre, used to be an old movie theatre! Check out how cool it looks!

Kirk Douglas Theatre

Check out the adorable box office out front!

Kirk Douglas old school box office

And it lights up like some sort of magical ice palace at night... I'll get more pictures of it's nighttime look soon.

Kirk Douglas by night - our amazing director, Bob Falls took this picture.

Bringing it all back to quilting..

I've been so busy with all the traveling and rehearsal and whatnot, I've so far only completed 1 of the 18 blocks that I've packed.

New block: Appropriately sunshiny colors for my first week in California!

So, now it's getting to be about time for me to walk out the door and go do this crazy show!

(I always like to be way early.)

Wish me broken legs!

And thanks for reading!

All the best,

Reyna

6 Completed Blocks: Eggs, Moths, Owls etc

Well, the last 2 months have been so busy, I have several post that I've been meaning to make, but just haven't had any spare time. Now that I've got a minute, I can't decide where to start, so I'm going to keep it simple for now and share the 6 blocks that I've completed since my last post - all in the new palette I talked about last time.

I'm especially proud of this first block.

'String of Pearls' - 61 pieces, edges finishing at 3.75",
designed specifically for this egg print with the Reverse Window Shopping technique 

I've been calling it 'String of Pearls' and I think of Marge Simpson every time.

The block design was inspired by this egg print - I used the Reverse Window Shopping technique to single out individual eggs.

Martha Negley Westwood Egg Linen

Ended up being 61 pieces. Yikes! It took forever, but I enjoyed the process!

'String of Pearls' with Eggs, detail

And then after that I needed a break so I went with something nice and simple.

This next one makes me think of the windows at my friend Jim's historic farm house in New Hampshire.

Jim's Windows - setting the table

So I'm nicknaming it 'Jim's Windows'.

'Jim's Windows' in lavender and grey

(I'm currently working on designing a block in honour of his diningroom table - more on that soon.)

This next one I made as part of my 2nd round of the Hexatopia class at the City Quilter (more on THAT soon! so behind on my posts!)

And then this one I made with the Reverse Window Shopping Technique, isolating these Tim Holtz moths.

Moths - designed with the Reverse Window Shopping technique

Last, but not least is one that my sister Tahli nicknamed for me,
it's called 'Ancient Alien Technology'

'Ancient Alien Technology'

It's one that I'm really looking forward to trying with different prints.

That's all for now, but hopefully in the near future I'll be posting with follow-up about Karen Nyberg's Astronomical Quilt, as well as news of my current out-of-town adventures in Chicago and Los Angeles, and a loonnnng overdue post about my 2nd round teaching Hexatopia at the CQ.

Thanks for reading!
All the best,
Reyna

New Project, New Palette, New Scale, New Blocks

Like so many of us, I suffer from a bit of project ADD.

The blocks I've been posting so far are all for a quilt I'm calling "Experiment Year 2014" (more on that quilt later), but I've pretty much completed all the fun parts (designing and piecing the blocks), and now it's a matter of putting it all together so...
naturally I just had to go ahead and start a whole new quilt. :)

Picking out the palette is definitely one of my favorite parts.
I'd been mulling over this idea for some time, so it was really great to finally pull out my stash and put it together.

Basically, the idea I wanted to play with is to take two distinctly different palettes and jam them together into one quilt.

So for the first palette, I wanted to go with something soft, and reserved...

1st Palette: Emphasis Lavender

I dug out all my lavenders, greys and a handful of select creams.
I'm really hoping to emphasize the lavender, but I don't have too many in my stash, and I'm feeling very picky on the hue: on the grey/blue side rather than the pink/plum side.

For my second palette, what I wanted to do was something inspired by the some of the brighter fabrics from Ghana, but then I was also spending a lot of time looking at Guatemalan fabrics...
I'm slightly disappointed that what I came up with looks more like the Skittles palette ... but that's a bit harsh, and actually I really like it.

2nd Palette: Brights

There's bright reds, burgundies, tangerines, pumpkins, marigolds, limes, kelly greens, dark royal blues, and then I couldn't help but throw in some chartreuse to muck it up a little.

And then I JAMMED them together!

Palette for my new project: jamming together disparate palettes

Another new development: up until now I've been making blocks with sides finishing at 3", but I've decided that one third of the blocks in this quilt will be larger, with sides finishing at 3.75"

So far I've made 4 blocks in this new palette, 3 are in the new size. Bigger = more room for more detail.

Four new blocks!

All sliced up! I kept this design simple, because I want to frame this angel

She's reading '100 Years of Solitude' out loud to a murmuration of starlings as they rest on a telephone wire

I've been calling this block Spinning Bricks

Spinning Bricks with ravens

All sliced up! I've been calling this one Birds Nest

Birds Nest

Swamp Angel, Hexagon Variation (Yep, that's you Melody Miller! Love these Mustangs!)

That's all for now!

Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Reyna

Class Announcement: 'Hexatopia' returning to the CQ in September

I'm happy to announce that I will once again be teaching

the 'Hexatopia' class at The City Quilter in NYC!
We'll be English Paper Piecing Unusual Hexagonal Blocks

The class will be 3 sessions this time: 

Thursday nights, 5pm - 8pm, 

September 4th, 11th, and 25th.

As I say in my official blurb, the class is designed to liberate and empower your English Paper Piecing adventures! We will be leaving basic store-bought shapes in the dust, and instead draw from an infinite vocabulary of polygons to create intricate hexagonal blocks!

Although we will spend time exploring traditional-style hexagonal blocks, the emphasis of the class will be on tweaking those traditional blocks to make them unique to the individual quilter, and most of all, improvising entirely new ones unlike the quiltiverse has ever seen!


Notes on experience level:

Interested students should be already confident with basic English Paper Piecing. 

Luckily, it's a super-simple technique that anyone can pick up quickly. 

Check out this video, and you'll see what I mean. 

Students should also be comfortable working with small pieces, small stitches, and understand that (as with all hand-sewing), best results come with plenty of time and care. 

The good news is that

THERE WILL BE NO MATH INVOLVED. 

You won't even need to use the numbers on your ruler unless you really want to. (I don't.)

Some more specifics about what we will be doing:

On the 1st day we will warm up by drafting simple, traditional-style blocks, get comfortable with this system of working (all the things I learned the hard way), and play with fabric selection and fussycutting.

The 2nd day will be tweaking the shapes and lines of those traditional blocks to make them more unique, and most importantly, improvising entirely new ones!

We will spend most of the 3rd day exploring the Reverse Window Shopping technique that I used to design the Strawberry block from my first post, and the Montpelier Ducks block. We'll also take some time to talk about ideas for projects one might make from the finished blocks.

Deets:

Again, the class will be 3 sessions:

Thursday nights, 5pm - 8pm, 

September 4th, 11th, and 25th.

All sessions will be held at
The City Quilter
133 W 25th Street NYC
(btn 6th and 7th avenues)

To sign up, you can call the CQ at 212-807-0390
Or just stop by. (Hours and directions here.)

Supplies:

In the interest of including absolutely everything there is to know about the class, I thought I'd go ahead and publish the supply list here.

Most items are available at the store and can be picked up before class.
Items that the CQ does NOT carry are marked with an asterisk*

- Precut paper pieces: 3.75" Hexagons, Small Pack of 12 pieces
    (If you already have hexagons in your stash, any hexagons with sides between 3" and 4.5" are great.
- Colored pencils*
- Something to use as a straight-edge - at least 7" long, but try to avoid anything longer than 15"
    (The Creative Grid non-slip acrylic rulers are ideal)
- Regular ol' pencil with a good eraser*
- X-Acto knife*
- Pins
- Needles: applique sharps
- Fabric scissors (small ones are nice for this)
- Paper scissors*
- Non-fancy thread for basting (whatever you've got laying around)
- Cotton thread for piecing (we will discus thread color selection in class, but bring a selection from your stash if you've got 'em)

Fabric:
Quilting weight cotton (avoid batiks to start)

We will be using small pieces in this class, so if you've got a stash of fat quarters and scraps, go ahead and bring a whole bunch! (Look especially for blenders, tone-on-tones, solids, and small-scale prints that you'd be excited to fussy-cut.)

If you are shopping for the class, go ahead and get:
- 1/4 yrd or more of 1 or more interesting small-scale prints (for fussycutting!)
- 1/16 or more of 3 or more blenders or solids that look nice with the prints


And that's everything I can think of to tell you about the class!
Let me know if you have any questions!

As always, thanks for reading!!!
All the best,
Reyna

Completed Blocks: Montpelier Ducks + Starthistle Fish

Well, I finally finished these two blocks!

The Duck print featured in the first block, I purchased at a totally great little shop called A Quilters Garden a few years ago when I was visiting Montpelier Vermont. That was really an awesome day - there was also ice cream. Fabric AND Ice Cream.

Visiting A Quilter's Garden in Montpelier VT

This block with the Montpelier Ducks has been all basted and waiting to be pieced together for over a month now because I couldn't decide on the fabric for that center triangle. Finally I went ahead and pulled the trigger with this pink flower.... someone please convince me I did the right thing, because I'm not sure! Eep! Perhaps when it's in with the others, the pink will feel more at home. Plus the other ducks will then have company and will therefore also feel more at home. :)

I designed this block specifically for the Duck print with the same Reverse Window Shopping technique I used for the Strawberries in my first post.

This next one with the Fish is a block design I've been calling by the nickname Starthistle, but if you know a traditional nickname for it, please tell me in the comments!

For some reason, I am convinced that these fish are distant cousins of the Montpelier Ducks.

Thanks for reading!

All the best,
Reyna

Teaching 'Hexatopia' at the CQ

Thursday, June 19th was the 2nd and final session of my 'Hexatopia' class at The City Quilter! (I'm teaching folks the method I've been using to improvise blocks for English Paper Piecing - like all of the blocks featured so far on this blog.)

It really was an inspiring adventure for me. I'd never taught anything before in my life, and I was super nervous. Most of the students in the class were advanced quilters, and on the first day it was hard not to notice that between the 9 of them, they probably had probably more than 200 years of years of quilting experience - and I only have 10! Fortunately, they were also totally cool folks - fun, enthusiastic, and supportive!

I will certainly never again try to cover all of this material in just 2 (3 hr) sessions. On the first day I powered through what is probably enough material for 2 or even 3 sessions. As I walked away that evening, I was a little worried that I had overloaded everyone, and rushed through all of the tips and tricks that help make this system manageable. Coming back for the 2nd session (two weeks later), I budgeted a good chunk of time for troubleshooting. But then, as students started arriving, I found that there was actually very little trouble to shoot. Everyone showed up with very cool work (or the beginnings of it), and we had plenty of time to cover everything I had hoped. Never again will I try to squeeze all that material into just a few hours, but I will also never again underestimate all these brilliant quilters!

Big thanks to my students Maureen O'Niel, Maureen Hyslop, Judy Stadler, Sue Dipple, Barbara Peterson, Mimi Sherman, Cassandra Knight, Rene Colwell, Margaret Umansky! <3 <3 <3

Here's some pictures!

Awesome bunch of quilters!

Cassandra Knight with block in progress

Cassandra Knight's block in progress. So cute! 2-axis symmetry w/verticalness! <3

I wish I had a picture of the block Susie was working on - giraffes with sun-like rays! Mimi had some lovely blocks in the works as well - classical geometry with delicate florals.

FOUR completed blocks by Margaret Umansky! I love the geometry of the yellow one, and check out the fussycutting on the green one! Rotational symmetry FTW!

THREE completed blocks by Barbara Peterson! Fireflies and sailboats and kittycats!

Judy Stadler with her rendition of the Oregon Vortex block. Delicate fussycut flowers!

Maureen O'Neil's rendition of the Oregon Vortex block. Love these colors with the slightly-twisted Tula Pink fussycut!

Renee Colwell demonstrates her specialized system for managing millions of tiny pieces. 

Completed block by Renee Colwell - lots of motion!

Block in the works by Maureen Hyslop. Love the twist + fussycut Paula Nadelstern print!

Classic Peppermint Twist block by Maureen Hyslop.

Cassandra slicin' and dicin'

Margaret Umansky with block bags. Zip-locks will save you!

Block in the works by Margaret Umansky - love the twist of the "outside" shape and the slight slant of the stripe through the middle. 

Finished block by Barbara Peterson. Laurel Burch Kittycats!

LOVE this geometry by Judy Stadler. Can't wait to see the finished block! (Those are super skinny/pointy pieces at the edge there, but I believe!)

Block in progress by Renee Colwell. TINY pieces! <3

Gifts from Judy! Classic summery prints, and kittycat scissors! Can't wait to fussycut!