Snowbound Quilters are Never Bored

The view of my latest quilt project from a vintage Kodak Duaflex camera.




 

With the recent snows in February and March I was able to work on projects that had moved to the top of my "to do" list. Continuing my mantra, "Every baby deserves their own quilt," I completed two projects that have upcoming deadlines. The projects included starting and finishing two baby quilts because the babies are due at the end of  March. I was able to shop my stash and use some of the fabric I already had to complete these projects. I will post those completed projects later because I like the quilts to be a surprise for the new parents.

I also completed a quilt top with liberated stars and log cabin blocks. That quilt is pictured through the viewfinder of the Kodak Duaflex camera. It was my son Sam who came up with the idea of taking photos of the viewfinder of the antique camera by using an iphone. We had a lot of fun taking various photos this way so I wanted to share. The quilt top is now being quilted and I will share when that top is completed.

Although we are in the third month of the year, I have made a vow to use more of my stash for 2015. One of my quilting friends created a challenge. When making a quilt  at least 70 percent of the fabrics should come from your stash. I thought that was great idea because it gives you the opportunity to still shop for new fabrics. Just pair a bit of  the newly purchased fabrics with what is in your stash.  This is a great challenge and a great opportunity to do a bit of destashing. With the 70 percent rule I hope to post photos of some great quilts created in 2015 with this challenge in mind.

Happy Quilting!

Teaching "Liberated Basics"

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Detail of  "Fireworks over Millennium Park."

 "Fireworks over Millennium Park" is the quilt I will be using to teach "Liberated Basics."

In 2015 I will be teaching a series of classes I am calling "Liberated Basics." In this series of three classes I hope to address some of the elements of Liberated quilting. Liberated quilting is very improvisational quilting and a pattern is not needed. The only thing needed is thread, fabric and imagination. I will teach the techniques by  using my quilt, " Fireworks over Millennium Park" as an example for this class. This quilt was a semi-finalist in the 2013 American Quilters Society Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I will address how I created each of the elements of this quilt and will help the students in the class create their own one-of -a kind liberated quilts.  Quilters Square, a quilt shop in Lexington, Ky has graciously allowed me to use their shop to teach this series of classes. The shop will be providing the students with  a fat quarter pack of fabrics that "reads as solids."  I picked these fabrics because I think the end results will be fantastic. Some of  the fabrics in the fat quarter bundle include the line from Moda called Grunge. My goal is to inspire others to give liberated quilting a try. I will provide the students with my list of favorite inspirational quilt books. My favorite being books by Gwen Marston, the mother of Liberated quilting.  I have been quilting using elements of  this method for about five years and love the results.

Oh yes.... The classes are on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. January 10, February 14 and March 21. There is a price break if signing up for all three classes. You can sign up by calling Quilters Square.Call quilter's Square at 859 278-5010 to sign up.