Class Announcement: Intro to EPP with 'Lucy Boston' blocks! Gotham Quilts! (9/19)

I am once again teaching

a beginner-level English Paper Piecing class at Gotham Quilts!

We'll again be jumping in with 'Lucy Boston' quilt blocks.

The class is one 3-hour session

on Tuesday, September 19th

Students can sign up for either the afternoon session, 2:00-5:00pm

OR

the evening session, 6:00-9:00pm

This class is an introduction to English Paper Piecing, a traditional technique for hand-piecing quilt tops that dates back as far as the 1770's. This technique is simple to learn, addictive, portable, and can be used to piece an unlimited variety of designs. Students will learn the basic technique, and also experiment with different tricks and styles to find the way of working that is most fun for the individual. We will be learning the famous (and beginner-friendly) Lucy Boston quilt design (sometimes known as Patchwork of the Crosses).

Notes on experience level:

This class is designed for beginners, but any students interested in sharpening their E.P.P. skills, or exploring this fabulous Lucy Boston design are welcome. 

Details:

Again, this is a one-session class

held on Tuesday September 19th

Afternoon option will be 2:00-5:00pm

Evening option will be 6:00-9:00pm

Class will be held at 

Gotham Quilts

40 West 37th Street

(between 5th & 6th avenues)

To sign up

CLICK HERE

for the class page on the Gotham website.

Supplies:

Here's a list of things you'll need for class. 

- Precut paper pieces: 1" Honeycombs, "Small Pack" (not to be confused with regular hexagons OR elongated hexagons)

- Precut paper pieces: 1" Squares, 'Small Pack"

- Straight pins

- Needles for hand sewing (I recommend applique sharps)

- Fabric scissors (small ones are nice for this)

- Non-fancy thread for basting (whatever you've got lying around)

- Thread for piecing (I recommend 50 weight cotton in colors that either match the fabric you'd like to use or slightly duller. Medium greys are especially handy.)

- Fabric: quilting weight cotton - at least 1/8 yard of at least 4 fabrics that look nice together, and then 1/4 yard of one solid that will serve as a background.

- Notes on Fabric and Thread

More details and inspirations for fabric and thread selection will be discussed in class, and there will be time to shop! The selection at Gotham Quilts is great for this project. If you already have a bunch of thread and scraps and fat quarters and random fun fabrics that you'd like to use, go ahead and bring as many as you don't mind carrying! The more the merrier! I especially recommend bringing fabrics with interesting prints that repeat often, and stripes are tons of fun with this design. 

And that's everything I can think of to tell you about this class!

Let me know if you have any questions!

As always, thanks for reading!!!

All the best, 

Reyna

WHY could I not have reached down and removed that stray thread?! :)

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

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!

New Block: Space-Time Continuum

Finished this one!
I call it "Space-Time Continuum".
It's got one "spoke" for the spatial dimensions, one for the temporal, and one for the other 11 mysterious ones (the magical).
Plus there's a frog.

"Space-Time Continuum"

I'm really happy with how this came out! :)
The colors are strange, but I like it. Will be interesting to see how it jives with the other blocks from this series since they're all away from home on the wall at The City Quilter.

Since time is symmetrical, here's a few pictures of the process... going BACKWARDS!

Pieces for the Space-Time-Frog Continuum are all chopped up!

Colors are selected. Dubious, as always!

"Space-Time Continuum" paper pieces all sliced up!

I will definitely use this shape again!
I'm especially happy with the very slight twist of the center hexagon. I think it's a great example of how a tiny little tweak can add movement, and give it a more original/organic feel.

I can't wait to try it in pastels for my other hexagon project! And when I do, those diamond "spokes" might have to glow in the dark fairy frost. :)

Thanks for reading!

Best regards,
Reyna