Wow…. four of my six classes in Paducah are FULL! I’m astonished and elated! Two classes still have spaces, so if you are in Paducah and want to come play, the descriptions are below–the evening class is total PLAY and the Saturday “drawing” class is art for the intimidated… you really CAN do it! I’d totally love to have more students in the Chunk and Jigsaw fusible class… the more the merrier for all, and it really will be a good class for the evening time…almost no brain power needed. And think I’ll bring chocolate!

Also, I’ve added a few classes in Maine. I’ll be teaching a machine quilting class on Thursday, May 8th (tentative but likely date) in Belfast–if you want more info, write me a comment and I’ll give you more details. As well, the Frayed Edges and I (well some of us but alas not ALL of us) will be at a book signing at Quilt Divas in Rockland, Maine, on June 14th. We contributed 8 of the 24 projects in Lark’s new Creative Quilting with Beads, and I am delirious that my pomegranate notebook is the cover image!

This project will also be covered in a 3-Sunday series of classes at Quilt Divas ( 3 hours each) on June 22 and July 13 and 20. The first session will be to make the notebook cover and begin quilting it. The second class will have you learning to ruche (scrunch) the fabric for the insides of the pomegranates, make the pomegranate appliqués and begin beading. The final class is to finish the cover. There is enough time between the classes to do the quilting and beading without killing yourself to get it all done. I have finally tracked down the beads I used (the store where I bought mine is going out of business) so students can buy these exact drop beads from me or Quilt Divas.

PADUCAH CLASSES

Chunk and Jigsaw Fusible Applique: Weds., April 23rd, 5:30-8:30 PM. This is a fabric postcard class in disguise! Learn my easy-peasy way to use up scraps and chunks of fabric, then we play and make fabric postcards, either from my patterns or your ideas. Kit fee includes parchment paper, 2 yards of Misty Fuse adhesive web, and two pieces of peltex (stiff interfacing, 4×6 inches). Additional pieces of peltex available at modest cost. When I first saw the time, I saw the 8, and thought it was a late evening class…eeek! But it is a perfect class for this time slot since it requires not very much brain power, and lots of play!

If You Can Write Your ABCs, You Can Draw Your Own Designs: Friday, April 25th, 1-4 pm. Most of us fear drawing, and think we just can’t do it! Well, I have a secret I’ll share: if you can write the alphabet in block letters, you can draw, and I’ll show you how. Once you’ve learned my way of using the alphabet to look at the world, translating shapes into appliqué or quilting designs is easy! Bring several pictures as starting points for you to create your own design with help from Sarah. The pictures can be of any subject matter that appeals to you: people, places, things, if you like it, bring it!

I’m thrilled to report that my art quilt Koi has been juried into Paducah and, provided the USPS has gotten it there, is already in that city waiting to be hung for the show! Long-time readers will remember this quilt, which is actually two-sided. I used quite a lot of my own hand-dyed fabric for this quilt, as well as commercial batiks. This is the front (looking down on the pond):

Here is the back (from the bottom of the pond, looking up at the fish bellies and overhanging branches):

And here is a close-up of the front:

and the back:

I am especially thrilled, since Koi didn’t get juried into Houston (will try again this year, since that is permitted), and since I’ll be teaching in Paducah this year… always good when the teacher has a quilt in the show, eh?

Lest any of you think your quilt teachers are getting rich on the teaching circuit…NOT!  I just got back from Staples, where (or is it an Office Depot? whatevah… a big box office store in Rockland) B&W copies are 8 cents each.   I made 920 copies which, including tax, comes to almost $80.  That is for six classes I’ll be teaching in Paducah.  Then I get to pay to SHIP that heavy box of stuff to Kentucky….. ahem….  Not to mention the time, gasoline, etc.  And the time to order the stuff for the kits, cutting the materials, doing the paperwork and accounting for the orders of materials, etc.  Oh well!

Real quilt content still coming, I promise…. just not today.  Gotta get this stuff packaged, boxed, and shipped first!  Box needs to be IN Kentucky by April 7th for teaching on the 23rd…..   a couple handouts just aren’t ready, so they will go in the suitcase with the quilts.  The teaching binders and master copies and laptop are going in the roll-aboard suitcase with ME! More anon my good friends…..

So what do you do? If you are me, you quilt. If you are a cat or honorary cat (the pug), you sleep by the woodstove! Hmmm… wonder if they’d make ME and honorary cat and let me join them?

Here’s what I was doing while they were sleeping… I added the pillow backing and bound my “quilt.” This is the extra block from my Nourish quilt. You saw this piece a few days ago unquilted…. well, I finally got some studio time (what little there was this week), and got this piece quilted in time to share at my Intro to machine quilting class yesterday at Quilt Divas in Rockland. Although I am probably better known (to the small extent that anyone knows who I am) for art quilts, I totally love, Love, LOVE Hawaiian quilts. I am also not one known for liking symmetry, either, but something about them sings to me.

I designed a large-ish quilt (about 68×68) for my book called Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul, which features Ulu (breadfruit), Taro and Pineapple blocks (the Nourish the Body part), and Bird of Paradise and Plumeria (and I hope heaven smells like that, making the rash assumption I’ll get there)…. I ended up placing the Plumeria block in the center of the big quilt, which meant the other plumeria block was the odd man out. Blocks are 18 inches square, and I added a 3/8″ inner sashing and 3 1/2″ border. If you click on the photo, you’ll get a larger view. Hope you like!

Well folks, it’s that time again… time to share my teaching schedule for art quilting, applique and machine quilting classes! I’m thrilled to be able to travel more this year, and have longer teaching opportunities, including a four-day workshop—wheee!– in West Virginia in August!

Also, I feel awkward mentioning this, but will do it anyway: I would like to apply to teach for International Quilt Festival (Houston, Chicago and Long Beach). To do so, I need letters of recommendation from students and shop owners. If you would be willing to write a “to whom it may concern” letter and send to me to use, I would be most appreciative. Just let me know and I’ll send you my snail mail address. Thanks (she typed, blushing and squirming). Here goes:

2008

January 19 (tomorrow!), Intro to Machine Quilting at Quilt Divas in Rockland, Maine

January 26 (next Saturday), Intro to Machine Quilting at Maine-ly Sewing in Nobleboro, Maine

February 28 (a Thursday), Hawaiian Applique by Machine, Sarah Johnson Quilts in Belfast, Maine

April 23-26 (Wednesday to Saturday), the HUGE AQS Show in Paducah, Kentucky!!! I’ll be teaching: two machine quilting classes (one all day, one three-hour), a couple machine applique, intro drawing (and seeing!) for quilters — the ABC class I recently tested and blogged about, plus doing the All Star Review (demo-ing a technique) on Saturday afternoon… I’m hoping I haven’t lost my voice by then!

May 23-25, Salon 2008, Montreal, Quebec, Canada! I had to apply for a passport!!!! I’ll be teaching Machine Applique and Fabric Postcards; click here for class info; I’ll be teaching in English, but speak some very rusty French so may be able to help in French and “quilters sign language!”

August 7-9, Images Quilt Festival, Lowell, Massachusetts. I’ll be teaching Intro Machine Quilting, Decorative Stitch Applique and Hawaiian Applique by Machine. The class schedule is here.

August 17-22, Cedar Lakes Craft Center, Ripley, West Virginia. This will be my first time teaching a four-day workshop, and I’m so excited at the chance to work with students and really get deep into the subject! The workshop is titled: “The quilt top is done, now what?” It will be a compilation of my design and machine quilting classes. We’ll start with the “If you can write your ABC’s, you can draw,” move to designing your quilting designs (for hand or machine quilting) and how to draft and mark those designs, then machine quilting. I’ll be skipping the lecture portion of the day-long machine quilting class since the students here tend to be more experienced quilters and we’ll concentrate on fun nearly-no-mark quilting designs and using decorative threads. The 2007 catalog is here, and soon the 2008 catalog will be available (at the same web address I think).

November 15, Coastal Quilters Fiber Holiday Bazaar, Camden, Maine. I’ll have more info on location, etc., closer to the date, but I’ll be selling some small pieces of my work, patterns, and probably the Lark Books “Quilting with Beads” which features 8 designs by the Frayed Edges!

November 19th (Wednesday, TENTATIVE), BeadDesigners International, near Boston. I’ll be doing a lecture and possibly a workshop (the latter may be in spring 2009) about beading on fabric, my inspiration sources and trunk show.

2009!

March 18-19 (Wednesday and Thursday), 2009: Farmington Valley Quilters Guild, Connecticut! More details as we get closer. There will be a lecture on Wednesday and workshop Thursday. If you live somewhere within a few hours of here and would like me to teach before or after, let me know!