Home from a creative week in Sisters, Oregon at the oldest (30+ years) and the biggest outdoor quilt festival in the world. The week started with Quilters Affair and 5 days full of classes from 30 teachers from all over the world. Every quilting technique imaginable was represented from the Modern Quilt movement to tradition hand quilting. Truly something for everyone. Below are pictures from my classes. I taught Hibiscus as a 2 day class, Bird of Paradise (1 day) and my new pattern, Hidden Beach (2 days), which was a hit. Look at the beautiful hand-dyed fabrics this student made before she came to class. This is Tim with his beautiful flower. When the class is making a big mess you know they are in the zone. In the Hidden Beach class I tried something new. No paint by numbers this time. It was all improvisational free cutting to make this beachscape. I was a little concerned about changing my teaching style without the students knowing what they were getting into but the students loved it. This technique gave them more creative freedom and they embraced it. We used a lot of free cutting with the rotary cutter which is the technique I used for the water in my Monterey and beach quilts. Monterey We started with the beach, water, and sky for the first layer. Then we made the rolling hill and path. Then they did the tree layer. About half of the class did there own interpretation of there Hidden Beach or lake or river. It was so exciting. Candi finishing her beach. This is one of the hazards of the job: fabric sticking in places you don't want. Isn't this wonderful? She brought a picture for inspiration. She is now adding her trees. This student is making cypress trees at her beach. Here they are. Wonderful interpretation of cypress trees. Best part is that the NEW Steam A Seam 2 arrived in time for me to bring to Sisters for these classes. It is new and improved and I think you are going to like it. I haven't sewn through it yet but I will blog about that in a few weeks. Here she added more rocks and dirt showing on the rolling hill. Love it! Now layer 3, the limbs of the trees. I told them to add a punch of color as you make your trees. All right! Her Hidden Beach is a beautiful lake in Oregon. This was so much fun and I can't wait to teach Hidden Beach again! This is my class sample.