ZOOM Workshops

  

Moving forward from Fall 2023, my preference will be to book in-person workshops only.  Please do get in touch if Zoom is the only option and we can certainly discuss! I do offer a wider selection of workshops in person. The list below only includes my Zoom-adapted sessions.

For rates, availability and to book a workshop, please contact me directly via email (address in top left sidebar).

THREADPLAY POUCH

The Threadplay Pouch workshop is offered as a follow up addition to the Aurifilosophy Lecture described on the Zoom Lectures post, however I'm happy to teach this as a stand-alone workshop.

This half-day (3 .5 hour) workshop typically follows on the Aurifilosophy presentation so students may put into practice the technical information shared in the lecture. Students will make a Quilt-as-you-go zipper pouch along with Krista as they learn about managing machine tension, proper needle selection, stitch length, free motion or walking foot stitching strategies, hand appliqué, appropriate thread for decorative stitches and a lot more! The pouch is designed to show off stitch patterns in multiple weights of Aurifil thread. Participants may purchase custom Poppyprint Aurifil sample thread packs in advance that include 5 small spools of thread in weights 12, 28, 40, 50,  & 80 wt. A minimum of one month lead time is required to order and ship sample packs to the guild representative for local distribution to participants.

Pouch size: approximately 6˝ x 9˝

Class Time: 3.5 hours

Class Size: 20 students

SPEED DATE WITH IMPROV

#speeddatewithimprov

Think of this class as speed dating with improvisational piecing techniques that include curves and free-cutting.  It will be fast-paced and a lot of fun:  several techniques are introduced and demonstrated one after the other with very little time to second guess, stress or obsess over perfection. Every student will end up with a unique, original improv sampler quilt!  The focus here is to explore line, shape and happenstance in abstract design, so keep things simply graphic by using solid-coloured fabrics in black, white and one pop of colour.  In the afternoon, Krista will share design wall tips to jigsaw the improv elements together, seeking balance and creative design opportunities.  Some pre-cutting is required.

This Zoom class combines pre-recorded technique videos with live instruction/support from Krista throughout the class.

Quilt Size: without borders, approximately 20" x 20". Fabric required: 1/2 yard black, 1/2 yard white, FQ colour (all solids or reads-as-solids).

Class time: 6.5 hours with 30 minute offline break. 

2-day option: 6.5 hours on day one with 30 minute offline break, 3-hour day two for more support on puzzling together the improv elements into the sampler collage.

Class size: 20 students

COURTHOUSE COLOURPLAY

#courthousecolourplay

Explore the possibilities of colour expression and free-cutting while you create this wonky, nested Courthouse Step quilt (reminiscent of paper lanterns) in your own personal colour story. We’ll work intuitively from the centre out, creating a dynamic quilt with loads of personality. There will be no squaring up with this one -- instead Krista will show you how to “build out”, finding the fit between adjacent blocks and using up all of our scraps in the process. As in all of her workshops, Krista will share loads of tips while encouraging all students to find confidence in new techniques that will inform their pursuit of designing original quilts. Put your traditional quilting skills to work and explore improvisational design and piecing in a fun, supportive environment.

Quilt size: wall hanging to lap size depending on the amount of fabric you start with. A collection of 18-25 F8's for wall hanging or 18-25 FQ's for large lap to single size (solids or reads-as-solids) plus 1 FQ contrast colour for block centres is recommended.

Class time: 4 hours 

Class size: 20 students

What students are saying about these classes:

"For those of you who know me well, improv has not been one of my go to techniques. The fabric consumption was way too much for me. But Speed Date with Improv eliminates that concern with fabric waste" 

-Susan, @modernblendedquilts

"Speed Date is my number one technique class"

-Gillian, @sewgolly

"Thank you so much Krista for taking the fear out of improv cutting and piecing!"

-Linda, @myquilts

"hands down the best patchwork course I've ever been on. Krista is so organized and patient. I can't believe how much I learned in one day"

-Rachel, LondonMQG (UK)

"..this class was SO good!! it was awesome to learn these techniques and add some new things to my arsenal, such as the grading technique. I think the combination of videos and live feed is excellent. Krista is a gifted teacher.

-Cindy, @liveacolorfullife 

Varietals - A Monochromatic Improv Study

Here's a recent finish, the second in what I hope will be a series of three quilts all based on improvisational (free cut) hourglass units. This mini-obsession started with the
"Try a Triad" design challenge (still open!) issued by the Canadian Quilter's Association to make a modern mini quilt using only red, blue and yellow fabric. I really loved the resulting design and composition of my challenge quilt but the colours are not at all 'me'.   I decided to hit my Oakshott fabric stash and try a monochromatic version.

Varietals 25" x 25"

Oakshott fabrics are shot cottons, which means they are woven with two different colours of thread. One colour for warp, the other for weft. In the photo above, it may appear that there are more than 3 colours of fabric used. Had I been incredibly diligent about piecing the fabric with the threads always in the same vertical and horizontal orientation, the quilt would appear more uniform, but it wouldn't be as interesting, in my opinion. That is just one more delightful aspect of Oakshott fabric; it gives quilts added visual interest and depth because as you change your viewing angle on the flat, two dimensional artwork, the colours subtly change as the different threads some into view and the fabrics absolutely glow. 

These are the 3 colours I used to make Varietals. Iris is black + purple thread, Grape is red + navy thread and Mallow is red + purple thread.

The tricky aspect to all of this fabric awesomeness is photography. Everyone who loves working with Oakshott will tell you the same thing: it is really difficult to adequately capture the depth in photos. Every time I share one of my quilts in a show or lecture, I hear the same thing, "wow, that quilt is even more incredible in real life!". The best way to describe the sheen and depth is to compare it to Dupioni silk, another fabric you may be familiar with. In the case of Varietals, I could have made this quilt with regular quilting cottons, but with only 3 shades of one colour and no real value difference, the quilt would probably have a flat, less interesting appearance. 

In terms of construction, I first cut sets of squares in a few different sizes from each fabric. The squares were stacked and then free-cut on both diagonals using a rotary cutter but no ruler. Swapping triangles out, I then pieced a lot of improv hourglass units. For me, the challenge of quilts like this is the puzzle-piecing of all the units into a pleasing composition. These are techniques I teach in my Speed Date with Improv workshop. Here, my desire was to portion the quilt into three colour sections that blend toward the center. Keeping like-sized units in groups prevents the quilt from having a completely chaotic appearance. 

As an Aurifil Artisan, I am very lucky to have access to the 270 colours available for my projects. To add more dimension to the piece, I purposely didn't try to exactly match the fabrics, but chose thread colours that I thought would shine on the fabric. I've been using Aurifil thread for about 17 years now and have settled on 40 wt as my go-to quilting weight. I used to stick with 30 wt for quilting (and still do sometimes when I'm not quilting so densely), but I've come to love the look of 40 wt on closely-spaced straight line walking foot quilting. These lines are eyeballed using the edge of my walking foot as a rough guide, about 1/4" to 3/8" apart. I don't try to keep the lines perfectly straight, or perfectly spaced. After all, this is an improv quilt! The lines run at different angles for each colour section. My stitch length is set around 3.0 on my Juki. I've had quilt judges say that my stitch length is too long, but for a wallhanging that isn't going to get any wear and tear, I think this looks much prettier than tiny stitches where I really notice the holes more than the thread.

Aurifil colours from L-R: 2581 Dark Dusty Grape (on Grape), 1100 Red Plum (on Mallow)

 and 2745 Midnight (on Iris)

I used almost every scrap of the supersized Oakshott FQ's that I had for each colour (Oakshott is milled at 55" wide and cut by the meter, so you actually get a luscious piece of shot cotton that is 19.5" x 27"!). That meant a binding was out of the question, so this quilt is faced using most elements of this great tutorial on my friend Terry's blog.

I got the name from my visit to Naramata, B.C. at harvest time last fall. I'd never been when the vines were laden with grapes and it was a gorgeous sight to see!

Any day now, I'm going to find the focus required to start my third version, which I plan to make a bit larger and using 3 different Oakshott reds. I hope it will turn out as beautifully as this one!

Thank you to my friends at Oakshott Fabrics and Aurifil for the fine materials they share with me so that my projects can look their absolute best.

Local Courthouse Colourplay Workshop

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild invites non-members to join us for my Courthouse Colourplay class on Sunday, April 28th at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver from 10 am to 5 pm. All of the info is here. The price for non-members is $80.

Explore the possibilities of colour expression and free-cutting without rulers while you create this wonky, nested Courthouse Step quilt (reminiscent of paper lanterns) in your own personal colour story.

I made this wallhanging for the MQG miniquilt swap at QuiltCon2018

We’ll work intuitively from the center out, creating a dynamic quilt with loads of personality. There will be no squaring up with this one — instead I'll show you how to “build out”, finding the fit between adjacent blocks and using up all of your scraps in the process.

This one is a baby or small lap quilt with 25 blocks.

As in all of my workshops, I'll share loads of tips while encouraging all students to find confidence in new techniques.  Put your patchwork and rotary cutting skills to work and explore improvisational design and piecing in a fun, supportive environment!  The supply list includes ideas, resources and tips for selecting your colours. Make a wall-hanging with F8's or a lap quilt with FQ's or 12" WOF cuts.  A layer cake of solids or tone on tones like grunge could even work with some prudent cutting ; ) 

This one, Emerald Court, has 16 blocks with slightly wider strips. It's about 40" square. It's made entirely of Northcott solids that I loved working with! No fraying and a lovely hand.  I'm currently hand-quilting it with Aurifil 12 wt and Aurifloss. 

To register, please email workshops@vancouvermodernquiltguild.ca 

Courthouse Colourplay - LOCAL WORKSHOP

Hi all!

I'm back to tell you about an upcoming local workshop here in North Vancouver that has a few spaces open. Hot on the heels of a super fun debut class last weekend at the Dinkydoo warehouse, the Seymour Quilter's Guild is offering up some space in their class to non-members.

The workshop will take place in North Vancouver on Wednesday May 8, 2019 from 9:30 - 3:30 at a cost of only $55! Please email me directly for the guild contact information (my email address is just up there on the left side under my photo, use actual dots and the @ symbol when writing out the email address. I have it written funny that way on this page to automated avoid spam).

Although it is a bit of a mash up, I wanted to show you some of the student work from last weekend's class. There were several very experienced quilters who had never tried free-cutting without rulers or done any improv piecing before and they had such fun creating their quilt tops and playing with solid coloured fabrics. Two people attending were brand new quilters and this was only their second or third quilt project!

You'll learn how to freely cut your fabric with confidence, how to manage wonky strips and blocks in construction, how to puzzle a collection of oddly shaped blocks together using my building-out technique (instead of 'squaring up'), the secret of hiding the block boundaries in your final layout and how to let go and allow your fabrics to guide your progress throughout block construction.

I hope that you'll join us!  If North Vancouver is too far away for you, I'll also be teaching this class (along with 3 others) at QuiltCanada in Ottawa this June. Registration for members and non-members is currently open HERE.

CQA Workshops now open for registration

Hi all! I know things are quiet around here now as most of my interaction with friends is on Instagram, but just in case a few of you are still lingering in this space, I wanted to let you know I'll be teaching at QuiltCanada in Ottawa, Ontario, June 12-15, 2019.

To see full descriptions of my workshops and to register, click here . You could try out my brand new Courthouse Colourplay workshop, or perhaps if a funky take on log cabins and accurate piecing is your jam you'd like Round Peg Square Hole? If you've always wanted to try sewing a 3-D object but zippers are a terrifying prospect, then come make a Level Two Tote with me (you'll get to meet my adorable mini-anvil, hammer rivets yourself and leave with a stylish, completed tote bag!). Finally, if you want to challenge yourself with some new techniques and gain confidence with free-cutting and improv, I invite you to come on a Speed Date with Improv with me as your guide.

Courthouse Colourplay - enjoy intuitive colourplay, free-cutting and building your quilt organically from the inside out!

Round Peg, Square Hole

 

Make yourself a stylish tote with a favourite linen/canvas print and easy clean cork, leather, vinyl or waxed canvas bottom! Leather handle and hardware kits available for class...you just bring your fabrics!

Speed Date with Improv: it's a super fun, fast-paced class with lots of support and tips for improv success. Make your own improv sampler to take you on your way to creating original work!

Registration is now open to CQA members and non-members alike! I am very excited to be back in Ottawa in June and hope to see you at the National Juried Show and accompanying conference.

Looking for a Hot Date in 2019?

Hey Locals (and anyone looking for a great reason to visit the Lower Mainland):

On Tuesday, February 19th, I'll be teaching my popular Speed Date with Improv class for the Abbotsford Quilter's Guild. This guild is full of lovely people, many of whom are what I like to refer to as "modern curious" quilters.  I love teaching this class to groups like this because I feel it really is a non-intimidating way for traditional quilters to experience the fun of improvisational quilting, working with solids and making a small, original quilt with about $20 worth of supplies.  I take away many of the stresses commonly felt  by improv newbies: you only have to choose one colour, you'll hardly waste any fabric and you won't have enough time to obsess about perfection!

Just look at these two happy Speed Daters with their classwork in Charlottetown, PEI!

The quilters who have signed up are super keen and they really want this class to run, but we need a few more people to join in to make it viable. It has been offered many times in the area already, so I thought I'd post on the blog to see if there are any folks interested who may not see my Instagram or FB posts. FYI, there are several adorable B&B's as well as reasonable hotels in and around Abbotsford.

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This one is my "Improv Untitled" that hung at QuiltCanada in 2017.

The cost is only $55 for non-members, which quite frankly is a smokin' deal! I promise a super fun day. This democratic class sees students move forward together as everyone learns the piecing techniques at the same time.  I give lots of 1 to 1 support during the day and am confident that you'll leave the class feeling fired up about designing your own original quilts with the skills you've learned.

"What Apple?" This appeared at QuiltCon 2018 in the small quilts category.

If you're interested in joining us, please email me directly at poppyprintcreates@gmail.com. I don't receive comment alerts from the blog anymore, so please email!

If you can't make it this time, don't worry, there will be more chances.....like at a big quilting event happening in Ottawa in June, for instance ; )

Courthouse Colourplay - a new workshop

I'm so pleased to introduce my latest workshop sample, Courthouse Colourplay. Creating this quilt in a completely (somewhat planned) improvisational style was so much fun for me and I hope that my future workshops will have the same effect for students. I love log cabin variations and it is no secret that the Courthouse Step block is one of my favourites.

This quilt is actually deceptively small at just over 40" square. When I showed it at the last Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild meeting, that was the first thing most people said, "It's way smaller than I expected!". Ah, the beauty of social media photography. Wouldn't it be a fun playmat for a baby/toddler? Or a cheerful wallhanging outside your bedroom door to wake you up in the morning? It is made almost entirely of Free Spirit solids, giving the quilt a fun paper lantern look.

This is my first attempt at free-motion ruler work. I still need lots of practice, but I enjoyed it! Lots of colour changes, making my way through my Aurifil 40 wt collection.

I decided to make this second version after creating a mini for my MQG swap partner at QuiltCon last February. I pieced the blocks at a retreat last spring in the company of mostly traditional quilters. They watched with wide eyes as I free cut (rotary cutter, no ruler) all of the strips from fat quarters and started piecing blocks from the middle of the quilt out. Nothing is squared up....rather the blocks are "built out" with filler strips (pictured below) made from trimmings. This is the fun part for me! Bonus: there is very little waste in creating this design.

A little bit of handquilting using Aurifil 12 wt thread in the softest pink.

Based on the comments of my fellow retreaters (how are you going to put this together?? You haven't drawn it out first?? How do you know what colour to use next?? Will it end up square??) I realized that this could be a wonderful addition to my workshop roster. Yet another class for the Improv Curious quilter.  This is rapidly becoming my specialty and I LOVE THAT. Sharing the freedom of improv quilting with folks ready to move on from the constraints of making other people's patterns is incredibly exciting for me.  

The workshop debut takes place Saturday, February 23, 2019 at a modern "staycation" retreat put on by the super fun team at Dinkydoo . We'll be sewing at their fancy new warehouse location about an hour outside of Vancouver and local accommodation is available about 5 minutes from the venue. For those of us who can't make it to QuiltCon2019, this is a great alternative! I can hardly wait. I know it's going to be a weekend full of laughs and creativity. 

I'm also booked to teach this (and 3 other workshops) at QuiltCanada 2019 in Ottawa from June 12-15. That will be a super exciting weekend with a killer workshop line-up. The classes haven't been announced yet, but the faculty is introduced here.  I'm so happy to have this opportunity and look forward to seeing many friends in Ottawa next spring!  If your guild might be interested in trying this class, feel free to email me for availability - I'm booking into fall of 2019 now, but I still have some spring dates available, too.

To further explore the construction techniques I used for Courthouse Colourplay, I'm recreating the quilt in a queen-sized version using upcycled men's shirts and jeans. I'm going to call this one Casual Fridays. The swishiness (highly technical term) of woven shirts is proving a bit challenging, but I am taking a very liberated approach and not worrying if the final quilt is exactly square or not. Here's a snapshot from the clothesline. I will be adding two more rows to one side of what you see here to bring it up to about 90" square.

What fun new things are you working on lately?

A Chat with Pat (the Where's Poppyprint? edition)

Earlier this week I had another opportunity to chat with the one and only Pat Sloan on her weekly podcast. This is the third time that I've been a guest on Pat's show. She is such a supportive force in the quilting industry, always interested in what everyone is doing and sharing, sharing, sharing. I love that!

 2018 is whizzing by and I've hardly been home to tell you about it. You've likely noticed that I've seriously lost my blogging rhythm. I'm not sure I'll get it back anytime soon as it really takes discipline and hours of time at the computer (which are rare for me these days). If you want to hear a bit about what I've been doing in the first 4 months of the year as well as some upcoming excitement, tune in and listen to the my interview with Pat here.

A quick calculation tells me that I've been out of town 50 days since the first of the year.  This actually suits me just fine because I love to travel, do fun stuff and meet nice people. There was a once in a lifetime back country ski trip in the deep, deep bottomless powder of western Japan followed by a day at the Tokyo International Quilt Festival:

That's me! You can't see it, but there's a massive grin on my face, like this one (below)

If you listen to the podcast, this is what I was talking about! Elbows out!

After Japan, I flew down to Pasadena for QuiltCon, which was busy, fun and exciting. I didn't take any workshops this time as I delayed registration for too long and missed out, but I caught some great lectures, thoroughly enjoyed the show, volunteered 1 day, visited the Getty, the Arboretum and caught up with an old high school friend and many quilting buddies.

Having fun with Lorena Uriarte (as usual)!

All in all, I've taught 14 workshops and delivered 5 trunk shows in various places including Vancouver Island, North Vancouver, Edmonton and 5 locations in Scotland and England.  I feel incredibly fortunate to have these experiences and I don't take any of these opportunities for granted, but I do kind of miss my sewing machine (and my own bed...ok, and my husband) at times.

Somewhere in all of that, I was able to actually TAKE a workshop! I love spending the day with my guild-mates and trying new things. I made this quilt that I call Sakura Towers with teacher Barb Mortell in her "Door Jam" workshop.

Next up, a break from teaching and focus on volunteer activities for my 3 guilds. First, the Canadian Quilters Association is holding the National Juried Show right here in Vancouver (my quilt Pop Stars, pictured above in Pat's advert, is a finalist in the Modern category) on May 31 - June 2 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The following weekend (June 8-9), my  Lions Gate Quilter's Guild will present our bi-annual show at Capilano University Sportsplex. I just love this show because the talent in my guild is off the charts (traditional, contemporary, art and modern quilting style will all be very well-represented!). Plus, I coordinate our member's boutique, which is always beautifully stocked with fabulous handmade quilts and sewn items for sale.  Then finally at the end of summer, I'm coordinating the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's second Modern Quilt Showcase, again featuring modern quilts in an industrial setting of a restored shipbuilding warehouse on the harbour in North Vancouver. Phew!  I'm starting to think it's time to take a little step back from all of this volunteering, but I do really enjoy being involved, especially when it involves sharing quilts with the public.

Click on any of the links in the above paragraph for more show information! I hope to see you at one or all 3 of the shows.

Modern Quilts: THE BOOK!

First things first: Happy New Year!

Although my copy is still in transit and I haven't actually seen the ink on the page, I am very excited to finally share with you that one of my quilts appears in this first (I say first, because I am hopeful that there will be more) hardcover volume documenting some of the best work of over 200 Modern Quilt Guild members.

Longtime modern quilt curator and MQG Director of Marketing & Programming Heather Grant, MQG founder and Executive Director Alissa Haight-Carleton and MQG Communication Manager Riane Menardi co-wrote this volume. I plan to keep it close at hand on my coffee table along with my treasured Gees Bend books so that I'm ready to show interested friends and visitors just what Modern Quilting is, what modern quilts look like and how some of my work fits in and some of it doesn't.

A regrettable lack of confidence kept me from submitting any of my quilts for consideration. Then one day I received an email from the MQG asking if they could include Chess on the Steps and I was absolutely thrilled to be involved. Creating this quilt as one of the first MQG "free pattern of the month" in 2014 really began my continued participation in the guild and the broader community outside of my local Vancouver MQG. The quilt went on to hang as part of an invitational exhibit at QuiltCon2015 and it appeared in that year's QuiltCon and Simply Moderne magazines.  After it was published, I received some wonderful teaching and trunk show invitations both at home and abroad and then the MQG asked me to design a beginner improv pattern for Simply Moderne magazine to accompany their ongoing monthly article on the modern aesthetic (resulting in my Variegated Threads quilt).  This quilt really has brought a lot of joy and excitement to my life!

What makes Chess on the Steps even more special to me, and I think a wonderful inclusion in Modern Quilts, is that it honours the traditions of quilting and a make-do style that I so respect, admire and ultimately, aspire to. The layout of a giant Courthouse Steps block was inspired by a vintage quilt I saw displayed in a museum exhibit  American Quilts: The Democratic Art in the fall of 2012. The original quilt (by an unknown maker) contrasted suiting wools in neutral tones with more colourful shirting and dressmaking fabrics. I thought about this quilt for many months and was delighted when a friend finally located a photo in Roderick Kiracofe's book Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000 shortly after I made my version.

Here they are side by side: contemporary inspiration and modern interpretation.

The more I considered it, the more I wanted to recreate the design using a limited colour palette of solids.  Eventually, I came to develop my Improv Under the Influence piecing technique for this quilt and many others that followed  (it became my most popular workshop over the past 3 years). I was incredibly fortunate that Oakshott Fabrics sponsored this quilt; it is made exclusively with their colourshott shot cottons. These fabrics give the quilt a luminescence that flat cottons just can't replicate. You can still purchase a kit to make your very own Chess on the Steps quilt from Oakshott Fabrics right here or purchase the pattern from my Craftsy shop here.

I cannot wait to savour this book and enjoy the work of many friends, acquaintances and quilters that I admire. There are many talented Canadians included in the book, which makes it extra sweet for me.

Thank you to the authors and the MQG (and of course my local VancouverMQG chapter) for the many opportunities made available to members to share our work with a growing audience through regular magazine articles in international publications, QuiltCon (the annual juried show), the annual QuiltCon traveling exhibit, member webinars and patterns, this gorgeous book and a new venture starting later in 2018: a traveling museum collection of quilts from Modern Quilts. Chess on the Steps will be a part of this traveling exhibit, having already made trips to Inuvik, Sweden, Alaska, Birmingham UK, Austin TX and an appearance in Canada's national juried show. It truly is the quilt that keeps on giving.....and getting around!

Chess on the Steps beside an igloo in Canada's arctic, near Inuvik, NWT.

It is my hope that the traveling exhibit will make it to some Canadian locations (I've suggested a few!) and if that happens I will definitely let you know.  Details of the tour locations will be posted at modernquilts.com as they become available, with the first exhibit opening April 1st, 2018 at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Ohio. In the meantime, you can see many of the other quilts included in the book and read about their maker's stories on this extensive bloghop (details at this link).  Would you like to have this beautiful book in your quilting library or know someone who would? Purchase your own copy directly from the registered non-profit MQG right here where 100% of royalties will support guild programming and member services.

What Apple?

Here's my latest Speed Date with Improv class sample. When I teach the workshop (which as been very popular with traditional and modern guilds alike, yay!), I demo each technique for students. When I travel, I use student fabric (no one minds because it gives them a little head start on each "date"), but at local classes I use my own machine and fabrics.  The result is lots of improv units on my home design wall.

I was recently interviewed by CBC radio for a local weekend program called North by Northwest. A producer came to interview me working in my studio, so I decide to piece this together because it was a fairly small, manageable project.  I'll write more about that fun afternoon once I get the word on the day the interview will air (it might be mid-December).

So, here is What Apple?  A fun mini-quilt improv sampler that finished up at 24" x 28".

There are a few more units making up this quilt than in my previous Speed Date samples because I used the same mustard fabric for demos in two workshops, so I had extras to play with. I also had some more chunks of mustard leftover, so decided to insert that strip on the right side and balance it with black on the bottom and white on the top to extend the piece. These chunkier strips coupled with the 1/4 circle curves at each corner give the piece boundaries, but jaggedy, imperfect boundaries where like colours meet. I prefer this on an improv quilt as opposed to a straight and defined traditional border.

I chose to quilt in the "wonky waffle" with my walking foot again. This is random straight-ish vertical and horizontal lines that I really like on top of this busy quilt. I score a few lines with a long ruler and Hera marker, then fill in by eye at random intervals in between.

Like the two that came before, Mojito and Night and Day, this one has faced edges.

This workshop continues to take me places...in the new year, I'll be teaching on Vancouver Island, in Scotland, England, Alberta and for a couple of outlying modern guilds in BC as well. I can't tell you how happy that makes me!!  I've had several students create completely new improv work informed by what they learned in this class; that's incredibly exciting for me because that is the exact intent of teaching these techniques as a sampler. Bring on 2018! 

Notes from the NJS Judges - Part 2

In this post (a continuation from my previous post) I share the comments from three CQA-certified judges on my Improv Untitled quilt. This wallhanging recently hung in the Canadian National Juried Show in Toronto in the Abstract Art category. I could have easily entered it into the Modern category along with Round Peg, Square Hole, but I thought my chances with the jury might improve if I tried two different categories.

I am happy to share these comments/critiques with you as a point of interest. I find them thoughtful, constructive and useful!

Judge 1

The variety and scale of the shapes add visual interest. The shapes shift between being positive shapes to being negative shapes. This is visually unsettling (oh dear). Was this the mood you were intending to portray? Grid quilting pattern is effective.

Judge 2

This well-constructed quilt works with the viewer's mind (thank you, exactly!) as the eye moves around searching for familiar and identifiable images. The bold border plays a secondary role - perhaps it could be slightly integrated into the central area. Take care when piecing dark against light and watch out for shadowing (curses, I tried my best).

Judge 3

Negative space might be emphasized with more or different quilting (hmmm, this is a good suggestion worth considering for the next one). The design draws me in to follow pathways like a game (mission accomplished!). The light-coloured motif floats off the black and is anchored by the black grid quilting lines.

I'd really like to thank the judges (in no particular order, because the comments are not directly attributed to any judge), Margie Davidson, Hilary Rice and Judy Villett. I am actually rather delighted with all of your thoughtful words and will take them into consideration for future work. For the first time (in 6 juried show experiences) I actually feel like I got some great value out of my entry fee with this feedback.  

Would you like to learn 7 improv piecing techniques and make your own quilt similar to this one in a fast-paced, fun and supportive environment? I teach this unique Speed Date with Improv workshop (as a 1- or 2-day class) and would be happy to visit your guild or shop. Email address at the top left sidebar for enquiries. I have some availability in late fall and am now booking into 2018.  Sadly, due to working visa restrictions, I cannot teach in the US, but all other international and Canadian travel is welcome.

Making it Down Under

If you follow along on Instagram, you know that I was recently in Australia for a vacation with my husband, B. The purpose of the trip was mainly to see our daughter play rugby with her high school team (they toured the north island of New Zealand before heading to Newcastle, NSW to play a 15's game and 7's tournament). We caught up with them in Newcastle to see some great games, but unfortunately their 7's tourney near Sydney was cancelled due to all of the rain and flash-flooding.

I have many photos to edit and cull through before doing any tourist-type posts, but I thought I would start with a few photos of creative stuff I was able to accomplish on this trip (staying with a kind and generous quilty friend certainly helps to get your creative on when vacationing!).

I admired Lorena's linen dresses, of which she has several, made from fun fabrics. She'd used the Eva Dress pattern from Sydney design and fabric store Tessuti.  We made a trip to the shop, where I ogled the Liberty tana lawns on display (but restrained myself from buying). They have sewn samples of all their in-house patterns that you can try on! This is absolutely the best thing ever for someone like me who has major garment-sewing challenges. Most of the patterns are for light, lineny, flowy dresses and tunics. I purchased paper copies of their Eva Dress and Ola Tunic. The size medium Eva dress fits me and the size small (crazy!) Ola Tunic fits me. Here's the Eva dress that I made on Lorena's serger and Bernina, using MakerMaker linen purchased in Berry, NSW at the adorable Berry Quilt & Co.

I'm looking forward to making a second version next week without sleeves! I've got a gorgeous red and black crossweave linen/rayon blend that I think will be super comfy. The linen above needs a few good wearings and washings as I find the linen/cotton is a bit stiff.

While on this trip I did a bit of knitting (both on airplanes and on the couch in the evenings) and was able to finish a smallish Reyna shall that's more of a scarf. It's been blocked but I still need to darn in the ends before sending it to a friend as a thank you gift. I love the colour!

Before leaving, I gave some thought to the Vancouver MQG - Ottawa MQG mini-mini quilt swap that would be due shortly after I got home. I brought along a few EPP papers, thinking that I'd make something hexagon-related, but plans changed! Lorena had just returned home from QuiltCon with some of Victoria Findlay-Wolfe's new "snack sets" which are tiny acrylic templates for small piecing. I hand-pieced this little 8" quilt on the dining table, as well as on trains and planes. I've just got a little bit more hand-quilting to do on it.  

And finally, I had the opportunity to teach a workshop!! It was such a fun day and a total pleasure to see Cath and Danielle (two lovely Aussie quilters I'd met in Austin at Quiltcon2015), both of whom travelled a long way to attend.  Everyone was so kind and I think they really enjoyed their Speed Date with Improv!  Class was held in a renovated WWI hospital that now serves as a seniors activity center (you can see the wrap-around veranda where I'm standing in the dress pic above).

Here I am with Lorena (lorena_in_syd), Cath (cathmosely) and Danielle (petitselefants)

Our beautifully-lit classroom

Here's Monique (sharingthegoodstuff) with her fab improv elements. It was her first time trying improv work!!

All of the gorgeous women who sewed with me! What a fun day (fueled by delicious snacks prepared by Lorena - she really spoiled us on this trip with her generosity).

I am busily preparing for a 3 week teaching tour coming up quickly, so no promises, but I will attempt to get some proper Nikon-taken touristy photos up here for you at some point soon.  Lots of mad sewing going on. If it ever stops raining in Vancouver, I just might be able to take some pictures to share with you!