Saturday, September 25, 2010

Wool gatherings, Eureka MO

Last weekend I travelled to Missouri to teach at the Wool Gathering in Eureka. It is a wonderful little store filled to the brim with wool and knitting yarn. Jerri and Laura manage the store for Amy. The students were enthusiastic and worked on embellishing leaves for their appliqued tree project.
It was fun to see the variation in color choices as well as the many interpretations of the four seasons.
We worked with fun threads, beads, buttons and ribbons to achieve dimension and texture. It is so inspiring to see how a plain element comes to life.
It has been a very busy month. I am now in Calgary at 'Out of Hand' teaching for 5 days for my wonderful friend Deirdre and in between classes I am stitching a little on the applique of the borders of this years Christmas BOM. I am also putting the finishing touches to the drawing of the new 2011 Block of the Month which will be posted in early October. If you are wanting to sign up for the new BOM keep you eye out for the October newsletter as this sells out quickly.
Take care
Sue

Friday, September 17, 2010

Quilting Adventures - Boerne, TX

I have just finished teaching a three day workshop for Quilting Adventures organized by Alice Kolb and Barbara Quinby in Boerne, TX. It was held at the lovely Ye Kendall Inn in town. I stayed in fabulous little log cabin called the Waco House.
I had 20 very creative ladies in class. They worked very hard designing a quilt which had special meaning to each of them. We are hoping to organize a follow up class in January. They are planning to work on appliqueing them in the next few months and then come back and spend 2 full days embellishing.
As you can see each participant has a great start. I am so looking forward to seeing the finished pieces. When I returned home I was missing a couple of photos. I would be very grateful if anyone in the class could email me a picture of Alice and Ann's pieces as well as a clearer picture of Susan's.
Have fun creating over the next few months and many thanks to all of you for making my stay such fun.
Today Marina and Daryl from Quilt Inspirations has featured my Magnolia Quilt on their blog. quiltinspiration.blogspot.com Take a look they have featured many interesting quilts.
I am leaving today to teach at Wool Gatherings in Eureka, MO. I am looking forward to another creative group.
Keep Stitching
Sue

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Cousins Quilt Shop, Bellaire, MI

Cathy (in the middle) and I have just returned from a great weekend teaching at Cousins Quilt Shop in Bellaire, MI. The owner Carmen (right) and Annie organized a wonderful 4 days of classes with great creative students. It is a lovely area of Michigan and we were very fortunate to stay with Barb at her lovely home on Torch Lake.
I taught a two day class from a block from my Magnolia quilt as well as a 'Altered Texture' class and a class working on the Sew Your Seeds Needle Keeper and the Tulip Bag. With each class we worked with textural fabrics and mastered many wonderful embroidery stitches.
Many of the students are planning to complete the Magnolia quilt while others are going to make the bird block into a pillow or table rug.
We also played with the silk velvet embossing them with images to give more texture.
I love the way our pom pom ribbon is being used here as well as the way the double sided velvet ribbon was applied.
It is fabulous how these images come to life with a little stitchery. It all depends on the fibers used.
Great velvet circles! We all love the 48 colors of velvet Wendy my sister dyes for us. It gives such texture on the wool.
Thanks Carmen and Annie for a wonderful weekend. Cathy and I arrived home late on Monday ready for a week of catch up as I have been out of town for the last 6 weeks. The weather is cooling down and I just love these cool nights.
Great stitching weather
Sue