When i arrived back from our trip to the seaside i got on with hand quilting this scrappy summer quilt, and after just a few evenings it was done :) ...i quilted it round the edge of each square and then diagonally across the middle of the squares..........i chose a red and white striped binding for it, inspired by the striped awnings of the flower market in nice........ ..............i love the prints in this quilt, as well as the floral feel and the bright fruit appliques and i liked how the red and white striped binding brought it all together............. .................the backing is a gorgeous pam kitty picnic fabric with cherries and roses on yellow...... .............i love all kinds of quilts and a huge variety of patterns, but i know i will always want to make ones with simple squares (and maybe a bit of embellishment) every now and then...... ..............i enjoy using text prints as a decorative feature too, and love how they look with a colourful image appliqued on top, like the cherries below which are sewn onto a patch of sew mama sew fabric......... ............i took pictures of this quilt all around the house, as usual following the best light, as well as avoiding bright sunlight..........here it is on an old chair in front of a book case on the top floor of our old house............ ...........sometimes i like to add buttons to my quilts, and i had a little look at these fruit buttons from just another button company to see if any would look nice on my new quilt............. ...........i decided just to add the lemon slice to the patch which had lemons appliqued on it....... ...............here is daisy whirling and twirling with the new quilt.........the children use the quilts and the crochet blankets to make houses and tents and to wrap up their toys and each other :)............. ...............we thought the chicken might look pretty with the quilt too...........it is a money box and full of loose change at the moment so is very heavy............ .............just as my summer quilt is finished we are feeling autumn in the air............the weekend was a mix of autumn coolness, strong winds, grey days and some sunshine..........we had a special outing to a lovely garden where i took this photo of the golden dahlias............ ..............and i will leave you with this photo of the gorgeous zinnias which have been brightening up the cutting garden recently...........though a snail or two have been secretly munching on them over the weekend and the effect was not a good one.............. ..............thank you for visiting me today, lovely readers, it is so good to see you...........and thank you too for taking the time to leave a comment, it is always a treat to hear from you too :).............i hope you have a wonderful week ahead, wherever in the world you may be..............back soon xxxxxxxxx

During my lectures and workshops, I've had several people ask me how I accomplished curved crosshatching. You can't imagine how very simple it really is. Get ya an arched template and curve away. Right? Right! So, to show you how easy peasy it is, I'm posting pictures of Linda's gorgeous Borders quilt where I did a curved crosshatch in the cream border, and showing you step-by-step how I did this. Linda LaBrot's beautiful Borders Quilt. Pattern is from Winnie Fleming's Borders Class I first wanted to create arches throughout the cream border. Using my favorite purple disappearing ink marker, I used an arch template to mark the double lines to create even arches through the border. I sewed these lines creating the arches. You could easily make this step straight lines as well. I like using double lines because it defines the arches. Now it was time to mark the curved crosshatched lines. Using that fabulous disappearing marker again and the same arch template, I marked the lines following the curve across the arch. Then turned the arch template over and marked the other way. Since the arched template I was using does not have any marked lines, I used a piece of painters tape on the template to mark the width of the crosshatches. Time to sew...Using the same arch template, I quilted the lines. I retraced the original arches and the stitch in the ditch at the bottom so I would not have so many starts and stops within such a small space. And so I put the curve into crosshatching. It really is Easy Peasy! And for your enjoyment, the rest of Linda's stunning Border Quilt. I had a hard time letting this one go back to her. I wanted to keep it.

I was so determined to finish the Lancaster quilt last week and I wasn't sure that I was going to make it. Sooo, what does one do? I got up at 4.30 yesterday morning (Sunday) and put the last stitces...

The quilt show side of the International Quilt Festival is amazing. So many quilts to see! And I only had 1 hour to see them! I didn’t take many photos but if you search social media I suspec…

English Paper Piecing by: Vicki Bellino

Explore Your Crochet's free patterns blog and discover inspiring ideas to ignite your creativity. Read our post, 'Crochet Blanket Edgings'.

a gallery curated by ChrisB0164

My sister and I have combined to make this piano key border such as the one she put on her music quilt.

I'm still here! I'm nearly caught up with my long list of things that needed to get done! I did manage to sneak in some time to finish this quilt started at the workshop. I didn't want to leave it too long to finish so that I would keep the momentum I had from attending the class with Kaffe Fassett. I have to say, that though this quilt looks so deceivingly simple in design, there is actually quite a bit involved. I had it on the design wall for two weeks, cutting and adding to it, rearranging the layout nearly everyday before I was satisfied enough with the layout to sew it up. Perhaps I did get to the stage where I started to over think the process, but I feel like I learned a lot from making this quilt. I may try it again in a different colour combination to see if the process is easier the second time around. I also feel inspired to finish off some old Kaffe Fassett projects started years and years ago and possible start another one!

The calendar says it’s January, but the temperature thinks we’re in the southern hemisphere. It was over 60 F here yesterday and today – not bad for Southern Ontario!! In fact, a couple of crocuses were blooming in our front garden. They are in for a big shock though as the temperatures are supposed to plummet at the beginning of the week. I’ve been working away on my Poinsettias de Noel and this is what it looks like now. That big area in the middle is going to have a pot of poinsettias in it. I cut them all out last night and will start to get them assembled hopefully tomorrow. There will be red sashing between the blocks and a black floral border – at least there will be when I get it done! I took a break from it today to get some charity quilts quilted. I managed to get 3 of them done and the binding sewn on, all ready to be hand stitched on Tuesday at our Cuddle Quilt Day. While I was in my longarm room, I took a look at all my tops waiting to be quilted. I must do something about that. If the backs would magically piece themselves they would get quilted a whole lot faster. Lee and I were talking about making a bucket list of quilts. We all have quilts that we want to make, but somehow something else comes along and some quilts always get put on the back burner. As I was looking through some of my pictures today, I came across this one. It’s called Circle of Hope and I ‘think’ I got the pattern from Keepsake a couple of years ago. It wouldn’t be difficult, so I need to JUST DO IT!! Another quilt on my bucket list is a Hunter’s Star. It’s not like I want to make a New York Beauty (although that would be nice too) so I need to get busy and start crossing things off my Quilting Bucket list – the list that I haven’t made yet The Golden Globes are on tonight and Jon Bon Jovi has been nominated in the Original Song category with “Not Running Anymore”. He’s up against some tough competition with Adele in the category. I like them both, so as long as one of them wins, I’ll be happy! I’m afraid I’ve had to put a verification code on my comments as I have been getting so much spam and it’s really annoying. It makes you wonder – do they really get any business from all those spam comment links?

... come to those who wait! I finally received some copies of the Moda Bake Shop book, Fresh Fabric Treats. And I can at last reveal my con...

VVCAL Free pattern – 33 different granny squares and various joining methods and a wide lace border with unique corners. This blanket was a joy and also a labor of love! I used KnitPicks Pale…

Made with charms from a couple 3 Sister's lines, and Panier de Fleurs by French General. Border is from Antique Fair. Pieced and quilted on my machine with Aurifil 50 wt in 2325 and 2021. Dimensions: 46" by 55". Completed April 2014.

Di Ford était l'une des invitées du week end à Wilwerwitz, et elle est venue avec une sélection de sa collection de patchworks, installée dans une salle un peu sombre, difficile de prendre les patchworks en entier... alors j'ai pioché quelques détails...

Jacksonville Quilt Fest, scrap quilt, scrap quilts, show quilts, Florida quilt show, crazy quilt, reproduction quilt, applique quilt, traditional quilt, Civil War Bride quilt, bowtie quilt, Jacqueline De Jonge, embroidered quilt

Our Amish made Nine Patch Calico Quilt is full of surprising color, offset by spaces of heavily hand quilted neutral white squares. Gorgeous border, too!

This post may contain affiliate links. The pattern is quite straightforward once you get into it. Gypsy Rose Blanket by Adaliza is incredibly gorgeous. This blanket sure does look comfy and cozy for winter but with some nice summery colors to remind you of warmer times. The border is incredibly attractive and simple and made … [Free Pattern] Gypsy Rose Blanket Is Amazing! Read More »

art quilt using only prints with flowers and leaves

I count this as one of my best vintage purchases. It came with a $10 lot of quilting ephemera and was a complete surprise. Here is the introduction to the catalog.PATCHWORK DESIGNS

Are you ready for more quilt show eye candy?? My friends Cheryl and Marilyn do such beautiful work! This wall handing is exquisitely pieced by Cheryl and masterfully machine quilted by Marilyn. I wish my close up had not been completely blurry so you could see more closely the 3-D white corner triangles! This quilt won the color use award in addition to an Honorable Mention...my favorite colors! I love "bug jar" quilts...this is the first time I ever saw the jars in a cupboard. I like these buzz saw looking quilts...it's on my scrappy bucket list... Another powerful pattern and quilt I have never heard of..."California Nites." There were two of these at the show, the other one in a more neutral palette, which I forgot to take a picture of (I was in a "quilt show fog") . Cool lilies... This basket quilt had a lot of embroidery and bead embellishment... Around the corner, again...arghh... I like the variety of finished block-of-the-month quilts at this show... I should have gotten a few close-ups of this quilt...it won for best machine quilting... Nice purples... Another from my friend Cheryl, I LOVE the colors and pattern on this one... I love pieced basket blocks... Kim Diehl was the featured teacher during the week...I was hoping to see quilts from her patterns... It's always fun to see a Robert Callahan quilt... "Sweet Sixteen"...Edyta Sitar quilts are EVERYWHERE at this show this year...all so pretty! I have little tubs of 30's prints in the quilt cave that started vibrating (even though I wasn't home to see it) when I saw this quilt. It was so beautiful. A large feathered star quilt block is on my bucket list...perhaps as the center medallion in a larger quilt. A Lori Smith pattern... I love, love, love this quilt...I've got to find this pattern... My friend Norma made this pretty stitched quilt. Buddy Mary made and taught this block-of-the-month quilt, "Vintage Rouge." Mary also made this stitched beauty, "Vintage Tin." I REALLY like this block-of-the-month quilt...even though it has northern motifs, I'd like to make it for a southern relative...maybe I could substitute a possum and Big Foot for blocks in the quilt containing motifs not seen down south... This was such a sweet quilt in person! I really loved all the little touches and the color palette. This quilt satisfied my "Love Jones" for all things log cabin. Very cool dog quilt...the colors reminded me of one of my favorite movies, EVER, "Ghostbusters" (where Rick Moranis' character's head was hooked up to a monitor, showing his inner specter). Somehow I missed getting the picture of the whole quilt on this one...I was so taken with each block. Edyta Sitar was sure a hit at this show! Here's another one... Ole Sue gets a modern fabric make-over... Sorry about my photography from this year's show...it was more blurry, crooked, and incomplete than usual. Happy Mother's Day!

This is Ulrike’s stunning New York Beauty quilt and she said it took her 10 years to complete this top! It is made with all batik fabrics and batik backing. The blocks and border were all paper pieced and I love the blocks put on an angle creating stars in the sashing. The whole quilt is stitched in the ditch which took the most work and then I rolled it back and added the quilting designs. I did the same feather in the outer curve in all the blocks, added pebbles to some of the arcs and loops to others. It took me a while to figure out what to quilt in the sashing but finally came up with the petal curl design the fit in the space nicely. I have lots of pictures to share! The batting is Quilters Dream Blend and the threads are So Fine. When I posted a picture of the quilt top last week I had a lot of questions about stitch in the ditch and what threads so here is what I used. So Fine #456 is the magic gray green that I used on all the blocks, it blended very well with all the colors. I matched thread with the two purples in the sashing for that design element as I wanted the thread to blend in on the sashing. I also used a light beige for SID around the outer border spikes. When I stitch in the ditch I don’t always stitch in the ditch side. Depending on the thread I’m using and the final look I’m going for I sometimes will stitch on the high side of the ditch to keep the thread in the same color fabric as the thread. I did this in the outer border in the light beige fabrics as I wanted the colour spikes to really pop! But in the blocks themselves I just stitched on the low side of the ditch as I was quilting across so many colors it didn’t matter what color of fabric I was stitching in. Here is a better look at the thread I used. There were a few spots on the blocks where I switched to the light beige thread as the blocks had a very light background. And in these blocks I stitch on the high and low side so I stayed in the light fabric like I did in the outer border. So for me there is no hard fast rule about stitching in the ditch, I do what looks right to my eye. Also in this next picture you can see where I strayed from the side I was on and stitched in the darker colour, this happens and I don’t panic about it because when you look at the quilt as a whole you never see that! There were only a few times on this quilt where I was not happy with my stitching and picked out a line or two. So don’t stress too much when your stitching in the ditch, just take your time and don’t be over critical of it.

Di Ford était l'une des invitées du week end à Wilwerwitz, et elle est venue avec une sélection de sa collection de patchworks, installée dans une salle un peu sombre, difficile de prendre les patchworks en entier... alors j'ai pioché quelques détails...

Hello Everyone, Is it really the 1st of April already? It's time for the Country Charmer Quilt Along update. I'm so pleased to show you Tina's blocks. Tina has been following my blog for several years now and I always love to hear from her. I was so happy that she joined the quilt along. Here's a few snippets from her email: "I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed making the blocks! Love, love, love the layout pattern - it sure helps with all of those little pieces. I can't wait to see everyone else's blocks! I've not used checks/plaids and dots before so it has been challenging to use these fabrics instead of flowers, but I like the way the blocks are turning out." I like the way your blocks are turning out too Tina. Your quilt is going to be beautiful. My quilt is off the long-arm and into my arms while I work on the binding. Those of you that have been following my blog know that this is the third time I've made this quilt. So is the 3rd time a Charmer?? I made the first two quilts in greens and reds. This one is totally out of the scrap basket and was a lot of fun to make. Every color of the rainbow is included in this quilt. I love cross-hatching for an old fashioned look. You can get a sampling of all the different colors I used in this picture. My granddaughter said I "featherized" the borders. I like that word! I "featherize" quite a few of my quilts. I'm off to the shop (In Between Stitches) this morning. Just as soon as I get home, I'll travel around the world via the Internet and look at the progress everyone has made on their Country Charmer over the past month. Many thanks to all of you who are making my pattern. I've had so much fun watching your progress. Also, many thanks to Lesley The Cuddle Quilter for organizing the Quilt Along. Thank you to QuiltSue, from Quilt Times for making the cute little button that I keep seeing around the Internet. Remember, this is a low-key, no stress quilt along. You can jump in anytime and work at your own pace. We only post progress on the 1st of the month. Sometimes I post more often, I just can't help myself! Soon, Lynn

I am a week overdue for posting all the goodies from our September retreat which took place weekend-before-last. As crazy as things get on my home front I always look forward to these retreats. There is something so special about the setting and the building where these are held...everyone that comes, including myself, just takes a deep breath and relaxes. My day starts between 4:30-5:00 am when I get the coffee started, gifts on the tables, tidying up done...the cool part is that it is soooo quiet and I get to watch the sun rise over the mountains. I even wiggle in a little bit of sewing time before the "kids" arrive :) I couldn't run these retreats without lots of help...Beth, who is pictured on the right, comes with me to every single retreat and helps me with anything and everything. These simply wouldn't happen without her! She is pictured with another one of my favorite retreaters, Shirley Hagan :) Barbara Cavanagh is one of my "regulars"...I met her for the first time when she was one of my students at Empty Spools Seminars (Asilomar) and she has been coming to my retreats ever since. She is, of course, a special "Linen Lady" and brought a finished project to share...simply amazing! I love how she covered up a center design she didn't like with a beautiful ruched ribbon flower. I always encourage retreaters to bring guild opportunity quilts so they can sell tickets...this one was over the top! The Yuba City Quilt Guild created a wholecloth linen quilt for their opportunity quilt...breathtaking doesn't justify this quilt. It is trapunto'd, beaded, and quilted to death. The pictures just don't do it justice. ...sometimes there just isn't enuf wall space to lay out a large quilt...I love how this quilt was embellishing the bench by the window :) Beverly Mack was one of my students in Sisters last year and is doing AMAZING work...she came with the small wholecloth practice piece above and then started venturing into a small hankie sized piece to get her feet wet. I loved watching her work...:) I always give away one of my wholecloth framed miniatures at each retreat and this is the one for September. These only measure 5x5"...loved how this turned out :) And last, but not least, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. McCloud! One morning after announcements, one of my retreaters Linda Wilson, approached me with a gift and pulled this pink wool-sculptured head out of a bag...At the time he was "naked" and had about a foot long arm that was attached to the bottom of his head with a hand attached at the end. I couldn't stop laughing...almost had to change my pants. I always say "what happens in McCloud...stays in McCloud" and we had LOADS of fun with him! Later on another retreater presented him with a crocheted hat to keep his head warm...the next day the same retreater fashioned a silk shawl to wrap around his skinny neck/arm...and then Linda made him some ears. He made his way around the retreat room in various poses, performing different tasks and he now resides right here in my sewing room where he is constantly bringing a smile to my face! I will be featuring him from time to time in my travels....THANK YOU LINDA! I will be leaving tomorrow morning to teach my 5-day Designs Workshop in Rancho Cordova (outside of Sacramento) so will have more inspiration coming up for you. Hugs, Cindy :)

When I saw the Bordered Diamonds quilt in Kaffe Fassett's book, Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts, I knew immediately that it would be a perfect quilt for a thank you gift for my aunt. Never mind that my stash did not contain many large floral prints. My first thought was that I would just buy a kit, and Glorious Color has fabric kits to make two different versions of the quilt. This is their version from the book. And this is their version from the June/July 2010 Quilt Magazine. I carefully analyzed each kit trying to decide which would be best. Then I started thinking about how I liked each version--except for this or that fabric, and how I wanted to use some of my own fabrics, and how I am pretty persnickety about fabric choices, and I finally just gave up and started collecting florals...surely that wouldn't add too much to my stash? Here's a view of the cut diamonds and border strips and of my lovely white board which has been replaced: And since the directions call for dark diamonds to have light strips, and light diamonds to have dark strips, and the rows to alternate, I photographed them, then changed them to black and white to determine the values, as shown here by the strips (although these are the mediums to darks primarily): But after trying to lay them out as directed, I decided to do my own thing when the light/dark thing didn't work, and just evenly separated the colors. And now, a couple of months later, the blocks of the quilt are all sewn together. Hooray! I needed the quilt to be larger than designed, so it's now waiting for the border fabric to be added. This is what I am planning on using: And, having easily spent twice as much as I would have on a kit (what's an extra 1/2 yard here or there?), I now have a very large bin of floral fabrics. My stash, like my waistline, only seems to grow in one direction....

Panneau de 23 cm en laine et fibres de soie travaillées à l'embellisher.

A Phildelphia Eagle Sampler by Matilda Filbert 1830 Madame Grelaud had the honor of owning the most fashionable girl's school in Philadelphia from about 1800 into the 1850s. In 1810 Mme. Grelaud's Seminary was on the north side of Arch Street above 3rd, with the Second Presbyterian church on the corner. Like many of the foreign women who relied upon a school for income, Mme. Deborah Grelaud's past was a bit mysterious. She was French, probably a refugee from the colony of Sante Domingue, modern Haiti, one of the white aristocrats who fled during the revolution there in 1790s. Her husband's end is also mysterious. He may have been killed in that slave rebellion or died after escaping to the United States. Madame Grelaud advertised an embroidery curriculum in this ad from the Pennsylvania Gazette in the fall of 1801. The widowed Deborah with three boys and a girl to support started her successful school, known for its French curriculum, lessons in art and music and public musicales that entertained Philadelphia society in the evenings. During the War of 1812 the three Grelaud sons, Titon, John and Arthur sailed with naval officer Stephen Girard from Valparaiso to Canton. Her daughter Aurora taught with her. Both women lived into their late eighties, so the school had a long infuence. Mme Grelaud's Female Seminary was expensive and exclusive. Among Amelia Russell's classmates in the teens were daughters of many of the society women we've discussed over the past year. Martha Washington's granddaughter Eliza Law was sent there after her parent's separation. Martha Custis Peter's daughters Columbia and America were among the many Southern girls who boarded as were Nelly Custis Lewis's girls Parke and Agnes. Rosalie Calvert's daughters Caroline and Eugenia went when the Calverts had the cash to spare. Diplomat's daughters like Amelia Russell and Maria Hester Monroe boarded and Philadelphia's upper class girls attended the day school. Later students included Varina Howell Davis and Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut. Betty Ring, the authority on embroidered samplers, identified various sampler styles, using details such as eagles in Philadelphia samplers to link samplers visually to schools and teachers in England and the United States. She found none attributable to Madame Grelaud's. Ring's collection was sold at a Sotheby's auction earlier this year. Another Philadelphia Eagle sampler, this one from the Sotheby's sale. The eagle samplers date from 1820-1840. See the catalog of Betty Ring's sampler collection here: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/important-american-schoolgirl-embroideries-the-landmark-collection-of-betty-ring-n08832/lots.list.1.html And read Ring's research here: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2012/important-american-schoolgirl-embroideries-the-landmark-collection-of-betty-ring-n08832/overview.html Click on the three files of her work American Embroidery and 2 volumes of Girlhood Embroidery, a great online resource. Margaret Moss sampler 1825 Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Once you read Ring's work it becomes quite obvious that sampler patterns were passed on by professional teachers to their students.We can use a parallel logic to connect quilts from the early 19th century and wonder where these two quiltmakers got the pattern for their swag borders. Ann Daggs, Dagg or Dagge Dated 1818 Collection of the Smithsonian Institution Louisa Brigham Dated 1817 Connecticut Quilt Project These two medallion quilts dated right after the War of 1812 have a lot more in common than their swag borders with triple leaf details. Both are unusual for the time in their reliance on conventional applique of small-scale calico prints rather than on Broderie Perse or cut-out chintz applique. Maria Monroe stitched a sampler in 1814. You can buy a kit for the copy above here: http://www.posycollection.com/AshLawn/ASHLAWNMariaMonroeSampler5.html

I love this quilt that Ann made for her son - her piecing is wonderful and I love the Japanese taupe-y fabrics. She likes me to use wool ...

Lace-edged border from a cover, of linen with cutwork, Italy, second half of 16th century.

Explore by Penov's 3213 photos on Flickr!

found this pic of Olivia's doll quilt that i forgot to post. love the colors

Hygge Burst Blanket Pattern **This Listing is for a PATTERN ONLY** -no physical item will be shipped. *****THIS PATTERN IS AVAILABLE FOR FREE ON MY WEBSITE AT: https://www.nautikrallcrochet.com/blog-freepatterns/blog-post-title-one-b6xdw (This listing is for those who wish to have an advertisement free pattern or printable copy). Hygge (pronouced “Hue-guh”) is a Scandinavian word meaning everything that is cozy, happy, special, warm and nice. It’s used as a noun, a verb and an adjective! I fell in love with the idea of hygge after reading The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking. For me, this blanket encompasses all the warmth, coziness and happiness that you can get from a blanket. I hope you all feel the same too. This pattern is worked up using the classic sunburst granny square. The pattern uses WeCrochet Wool of the Andes Tweed (worsted weight) yarn and a 5mm hook. Pattern includes all colours used and the yarn quantities as well as exact positioning. My gift to you is taking the work out of colourwork! The final blanket size was: Approximately 45 x 56 inches. Pattern will include: - yarn amounts/quantities. - yarn colours. - stitch glossary. - printable pdf of blanket graph. - full colour chart of all squares and their positioning so you can make this EXACT colour copy! - full written instruction for the granny square used (classic sunburst granny square). - written and video tutorial for border. - video tutorials for the granny square as well as the continuous join as you go method. Happy Crocheting Everyone! L, M***THIS PATTERN IS WRITTEN IN ENGLISH ONLY***

Casual, asymmetrical poncho is knit in the round, top down using stockinette and reverse stockinette stitches. After blocking, neck edge gently curls, flowing beautifully into body section and the deep bottom border which is knit in reverse stockinette. Instructions are also included for a cowl neck Calla poncho. Pattern includes sizes S - XXL. A sizing guide based on neck/cowl neck opening and bust is also included. Blocking is required. Blue poncho is knit with cowl neck and brown poncho is knit without cowl neck. Both ponchos are size L and shown on US size 12 dressform. Enjoy! Yarn quantities are for poncho without cowl - add another skein for the cowl.

It's been a while since I have posted here mainly due to the fact that I've just barely been able to keep up with life in general due to sicknesses going on here with myself and the kids. Nothing serious, just constant! I'm still sewing though, but possibly not getting done everything that I would like to! Nothing new, right? I have had the opportunity to attend two workshops the last two weekends. Considering that I have only attended four workshops in my quilting career up until now, it felt like a very busy week! Last weekend's workshop was with Chris Jurd, which I will blog about next. This weekend's workshop was with none other than the wonderful Kaffe Fassett! Nearly as long as I have been quilting, I have wanted to attend a Kaffe Fassett workshop. I have spent many many hours over the years pouring over his books and dreaming of quilts to make inspired by him. When I heard that Addicted to Fabric in Canberra was going to host Kaffe Fassett and run a workshop for the Bordered Diamonds quilt from his book, "Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts", I jumped at the chance. And I have no regrets! If anyone is unfamiliar with how Kaffe runs his workshops with his partner Brandon Mably, they are all about the design process and colour placement. There is no sewing involved, but rather a lot of cutting and placing of fabrics on a design board and then moving and arranging the fabrics around. For me, this is the most exciting part of quilting, so a workshop dedicated to this process was extremely interesting to me. The morning started out with a brief introduction and discussion on how it is important that we work quickly and not hesitate or over think what we put up on the design wall. Their mantra is the same as the Nike commercial, "Just Do It". Most important was that we get something up on the design board and then stand back from quite a distance to look at our work. They suggested using a reduction glass to look through so that we could see what was working and what wasn't working easily. For the Bordered Diamonds quilt they suggested that large prints would be most effective and that smaller scale fabrics would be effective to use as the frames for each diamond. We were to cut the large diamonds out first and get them on the board first and then go back and work on filling in the frames for each large diamond later. Neither Kaffe or Brandon teach the workshop in a manner that they spend time babysitting what you are doing, but rather there is the feeling (particularly of Kaffe) of someone standing in the background parenting with a bit of gentle guidance here and there. This method I feel allowed me to be able to work and gain confidence as the day progressed. After I had placed about 15 diamonds up on my board, Kaffe did wander over and was quickly able to see what the color palette was that I was mainly using. He picked out about three or four of the darkest diamonds and said that they created too much contrast--too dark against the lightest of the fabrics that I had already had on the board. It surprised me how simply taking out those diamonds, suddenly made the start of my quilt seem clear and gave me direction as to where I wanted to go with it. I had brought with me a range of blue/purple, red and yellow/gold fabrics with a desire to try to use yellow in my version of his quilt. I told Kaffe that I find it tricky to use yellow in general and wanted to concentrate on this as an exploration on how to use it! Brandon mentioned that next to black and white, yellow is the most difficult color to work with. Kaffe's suggestion was to add in green, which I didn't bring with me, so I did get the opportunity of having him go "shopping" with me to pick out possible fabrics. That too, was an educational experience to see how his mind works. I suggest that if anyone ever gets an opportunity to do a workshop with them to take them up on their suggestions! It's the easiest way to begin to see what they already know. Close to lunch time I had already starting working on my borders for each of the diamonds. The suggestion was not to try and match the border fabric to the large diamond, but rather use instinct and choose the fabric based on what we feel works. Using a single or two color fabric seemed to work better than using detailed fabrics with many colours. Here is where I was up to when we broke for lunch: After lunch we kept working and trying to fill in as much as we could. Kaffe would walk around the room, sit down on a chair looking very relaxed and just look. Then he would walk up and point to an area and say, try this here, or this here. What I got from it was that where there is high contrast next to each other creates a starkness and doesn't let the colours dance together. Neither should the fabrics blend into each other. It was effective to choose a different colour for the border than the centre diamond. There is a subtle play and harmony when it works which allows the integrity of the shape of the diamond to remain clear. Below is a photo of where I was at at the end of the day. He then goes around the room and talks about the process each student went through to create their own palettes. This was an extremely interesting part of the workshop and fun to see how each person came up with really beautiful palettes of colour. This is a quilt I would like to try again to see how I could make it work in a different palette. Maybe next time I will try a darker palette. Here are some photos of what some other ladies in my workshop made during their day at the workshop: All in all, I was very pleased with the entire experience of the workshop. It's an educational experience. Be warned though, Kaffe and Brandon are very disciplined in their approach to teaching and expect you to be on your best behavior! We had a very nice group, so everything went very smoothly. At the end we got a chance to have our own books signed by Kaffe and then we rolled up our flannels with our quilt layout to be sewn up at home. I hope to get mine on my design board in the next week or two so that I can still remember what I learned in the workshop as I finish it! I want to add another row to each side so that it is the same size as the one in the book, which I believe is approximately 55" x 80". If you ever get an opportunity to attend a workshop with Kaffe and Brandon, don't hesitate, just do it!

Un dernier message pour vous faire partager ma visite au salon "Pour l'amour du Fil" de Nantes. Des expositions toutes plus belles les unes que les autres, où je n'ai malheureusement sauvé que quelques photos. Anne Woringer Petra Prins Minick and Simpson...