Pat Delaney class at Quiltfest

I didn't want to leave out the final class I took at Quiltfest, but I was tempted. It was a finishing class taught by Pat Delaney. I was so disappointed. Basically all we covered was mitered corners and binding. I wanted to learn to do piping and prairie points and other finishing techniques. In fact, we spent so much time just sitting around, I ended up leaving early. She was a nice person, but that was a big waste of money and time.

Cynthia England class at Quiltfest

My first class at Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge was on Tuesday, March 21. My friend Kathy Dittmaier took it with me. It was called Picture Piecing. Cynthia was a wonderful teacher, but as a paper piecing fanatic, this process was challenging for me. I think once I get the opportunity to work on it away from the classroom setting, I will get it and I can see the advantages over traditional paper piecing, but boy was I exhausted when I left that class. The pictures below are of the pattern we used. I only got the bottom fourth of the quilt done. One day I will finish it.

Quiltfest class with Kaye England

On March 22, I took a class at Quiltfest, the annual quilt show held in Pigeon Forge. My friend, Nancy and I took the class together. It was so much fun. Kaye was a hoot. She is in her 70s, but you would never know it. She began the class by teaching us to sew an accurate 1/4 inch seam. She could not understand why you couldn't obtain an accurate 1/4 inch seam. Which is so true. So many quilters use a scant 1/4 inch, but why? Make it accurate. She helped us figures out where on our machine we needed to sew to get one. Then we began making squares. We used 2 1/2 inch strips and were being completely scrappy. These are the blocks I got finished in class. I cannot wait to make some more. It was one of the best classes I have ever taken and I know I will use what I learned in this class forever.
If you ever get a chance to take a class from Kaye, do it. You won't regret it.

Board and Brush

I spent the weekend of the 17-18th with two of my favorite woman - my daughter Taylor and her best friend, Jessica. I always have so much fun with these two. This time we started the day with breakfast with Jessica sweet little boy, Mason. After some shopping we headed to a place called Board and Brush. We don't have any of them around here, but I wish we did. They give you your boards, which you sand and then screw together. You bang them up some and then the magic happens. You have several stains to pick from; I picked gray. Taylor and Jessica picked two different shades of brown. The ladies in the shop made us stencils and we stencil on our designs. I picked the world, Taylor the US and Jessica did words with a place to hang pictures. Jess added some glitter to hers. I must confess, I thought it would look tacky, but it was adorable. Added just the right touch. Once you have stencils on your design, you wax your board to protect it. We had so much fun and we all loved our finished products. I really want to make some more. I'm thinking I will have to go buy some boards and make my own stencils and do some more. After Board and Brush, we grabbed some dinner and then it was off to see "Beauty and the Beast". What a great day!!!!

Class with Tone Haugen-Cogburn

My quilt guild - the Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee finally offered a workshop. It was taught by my friend and fellow guild member, Tone Haugen-Cogburn. They held it at Jerry's Artarama. I love that store! An artist dream shop. It was the perfect place. They have a large area in the back with a concrete floor and since we were working with dyes, it was okay if we made a mess. I have taken several classes from Tone. A couple of quilting, but most wet felting. She is a marvelous teacher. In this class, we mixed up dyes and used the dye to paint plain 8 1/2 x 11 inch white paper. (like the paper you run through your printer.) Then we would press the paper on our fabric. The fabric had to be part polyester. The biggest the percentage of polyester, the better the dye adhered to the fabric. We used leaves as resists. The leaves would pick up some of the dye as we pressed it with our irons which made the leaf transfer that color to our fabric. My favorite pieces I did occurred on ribbon. It really captured the color. It was a great two day class. So much fun. One woman brought in her press, like the one you use to press things at the dry cleaners. It really transferred the paint. It is always fun to learn new things.