Kaffe Fassett Mediterranean Hexagons Colour Workshop Recap

I took a workshop with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably last week!  The project was the Mediterranean Hexagons quilt from the book Kaffe Fassett's Quilts in Morocco, available on Amazon here (affiliate link).

Brandon Mably and Rebecca the Rebellious Workshop Student

I'm going to start with a quick synopsis so those of you who are crunched for time can just skim through the pictures and be done with it: 

Everyone loved this workshop except me.  

Seriously -- no fault of Kaffe and Brandon whatsoever; they were delightful.  I was miserable.  I couldn't follow directions.  I wasted a lot of money and -- worse! -- I wasted a lot of FABRIC.  But Brandon was nice to me, and I learned to read the workshop description first before stampeding to the front of the line to sign up for a class next time.  By the way, just because I didn't enjoy the class doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend it to others.  If you have a small hoard of fabulous Kaffe Fassett prints in your stash that you just don't know how to use in a quilt, or if you tend to stay in your comfort zone when it comes to color and you want to learn how Kaffe puts his fabulous combinations together, you would LOVE this workshop.  Kaffe and Brandon are delightfully entertaining and I swear I was the only person in the room who was feeling stifled.

Original Mediterranean Hexagons Quilt from the book, made by Judy Baldwin

I shouldn't have signed up for this class in the first place, since it was all about learning how to imitate Kaffe Fassett's color and design style.  I love his fabric designs, but I'm not really interested in making quilts that look like they were designed by someone else.  Also, having worked as an interior designer for 20+ years, I'm used to having to work within a client's parameters as far as how much color and pattern they can live with and which colors they prefer or dislike, but I am NOT used to having anyone walk up while I'm creating a color palette and snatch fabrics right out of my hands or off my design wall...  Honestly, what first attracted me to quilting is that I can put whatever crazy prints and colors together that my little heart desires, without needing anyone else's approval before the project can move forward.  Quilting for me is about total design freedom -- and yet here I was, in a very restrictive class where I had to design a quilt using the same two shapes as everyone else.  Students were instructed to fussy-cut large scale prints from the same color family for their hexagons, and then Kaffe and Brandon helped each student select a wildly different color for their triangle star points that would make their hexagons "glow."  The workshop is ideally suited to anyone who admires the glorious mixes of colors and prints in Kaffe's work, but who doesn't feel confident putting those combinations together on their own.  Although we all brought lots of fabrics to class, the quilt shop sponsoring the event had also stocked the classroom with bolts of fabric from their store that students could shop from to supplement what they'd brought with them, and those were the fabrics available for Kaffe and Brandon to suggest to students whose fabrics from home weren't wowing them once they were cut up and positioned on the design wall.

Kaffe Fassett Explaining to the Class Why He Hates My Project

Okay, so Kaffe didn't REALLY tell the whole class that he hated my project, but he was definitely frustrated with me for Willfully Failing to Follow Directions.  He said my hexagon fabrics were not all the same color family as instructed; rather they were all the same MOOD.  And I knew that; every fiber of my being was resisting the conformity of using the same fabrics/colors/design concept as everyone else in the class.  When I rooted through my stash to decide which fabrics to bring, I was mostly drawn to some Anna Maria Horner prints that meshed with the Melancholy Autumn vibe I was feeling that day.  And whereas most of the students in the Kaffe Fassett workshop were using Kaffe Fassett Collectives fabrics, I deliberately chose different fabrics so my project wouldn't look like everyone else's.  However, the fabrics I'd selected for my star points were all VETOED by Kaffe.  And then I ran into the dilemma of being halfway through an all-day workshop, with no fabrics that I liked for the star points among what I'd brought from home, yet none of the fabrics lined up in bolts in the classroom was doing it for me, either.  

Students Working With Kaffe Fabric Prints Had the Most Options for Coordinating Fabrics

There was nothing in that conference room that looked amazing with my "moody" hexagons -- all of the fabrics that were brought in for the class were too bright and cheerful.  So I ended up settling for these ugly dark teal batiks that you see in the photo above...  And since they are about the same value as my hexagons, those fabrics (which I had to purchase in class in order to avoid sitting there doing nothing all afternoon) just make the whole think look like a muddy mess.  Blech!  I agree, Kaffe; my project is hideous -- and the whole exercise of cutting up my favorite fabrics just so I can put them up and the wall and THEN decide if I like how it looks?  That feels like the DARK AGES to me!!!  Never again!!  You guys, I butchered so many fabrics in this workshop that are not even going into a quilt now.  What a horrendous waste, especially since some of them are treasured discontinued skus!  I wish I'd had a computer in the class loaded with EQ8 quilt design software (affiliate link) so I could audition fabrics like a sensible 21st century quilter, and only start cutting into fabric (or purchasing additional fabric!) once I was 100% certain I was going to love how everything looked together.

The Digital Workshop Do-Over in EQ8

So today, with a little help from fabulous Matt at EQ Tech Support (he walked me through setting up the quilt layout for the hexagons with star points, which only took about 5 minutes), I decided to give myself a Digital Do-Over for the workshop.  This is what I came up with:

This is the Vibe I Was Going For in Class

This first version is what I was originally aiming for in class.  Kaffe wanted everyone to pick out fabrics for their star points that would "make their hexagons glow," but I wanted to explore what it would look like for my stars to glow and my hexagons to recede instead.  And of course, unlike designing a quilt by chopping up actual fabric to audition it on a wall, once I've set up the quilt layout in EQ8 software I can recolor it over and over again as many times as I want, without wasting any fabric in the process.  It's a LOT easier to change your mind about a fabric that isn't working with the others when you haven't already chopped your yardage up into Swiss cheese.

So here's my second version, which did use mostly Kaffe Fassett Collective prints:

See, I CAN Follow Directions.  I Just Choose Not To!

By the way, these computer renderings are totally to scale, and the fabrics are all to scale as well.  I can rotate them and slide them around to simulate "fussy cutting" a particular flower so it's right in the center of my hexagon, as well.

Version Three, Also Following Directions

See?  I was able to design two quilts that look like they came right out of a Kaffe Fassett book.  But I still like my version with the gold stars better, even if no one else does!

Still My Favorite

If I was actually going to make any of these quilts, I'd have to jazz up some of those hexagons, maybe with some appliqué in some of them or some pieced hexagons made from stripes.  I can actually plop any pieced block design inside my hexagon with EQ8, so I could put stars within stars...  The possibilities are limitless.

Anyway, I'm done with classes and workshops for awhile.  I've got too much of a backlog of unfinished projects, too many ideas swirling around in my own mind, and too many techniques that need to be practiced until they are developed and solidified into skills. 

I'll probably write up an EQ8 tutorial within the next two days, showing how to draw this quilt layout in the software, just for my own future reference so I don't forget, but I've got some other work to get caught up with first.

Meanwhile, I'm linking up with:

MONDAY

·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

·       Moving it Forward at Em's Scrap Bag

·       BOMs Away Katie Mae Quilts  

TUESDAY

·       Colour and Inspiration Tuesday at Clever Chameleon

WEDNESDAY

·       Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

·       “WOW” WIPs on Wednesday at Esther's Blog

THURSDAY

·       Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

Stepping Off the Roller Coaster, Trying Not to Puke: The Saga of Why Spring Quilt Week in Paducah for 2019 is a No-Go

So I got this email on Tuesday  announcing that class registration for Spring Quilt Week in Paducah was open for AQS members.  I've never attended any of the major quilt shows before, but I'd love to go -- and thought it might be a great opportunity to take some longarm quilting classes, if I could only get into the classes before they were full.  I clicked the link to the class descriptions and was EUPHORIC when I saw that both Judi Madsen and Lisa Calle will be teaching at this year's show!  With butterflies in my stomach, I filled my little shopping cart with every single longarm class offered at the show, 9 blissful hours per day of of quilting tutelage with two of my favorite quilt artists on the planet, expecting at every moment to get an error message telling me that my class selections were not available after all.  It reminded me of standing in line for the Corkscrew roller coaster at Valleyfair soon after the ride opened in 1980, with my dad and my older sister Susan: watching the cars spinning through the inversions, listening to the happy screams of the riders, wondering if I would ever make it to the front of the line before the ride closed for the day, and hoping that if I DID get to ride the roller coaster, I wouldn't puke all over myself.

The Corkscrew at Valleyfair, My First Big Roller Coaster Ride circa 1980

You guys -- I got ALL THE CLASSES!!!  I was dancing and prancing and compiling lists in my head of all of the questions I wanted to be sure to ask over the course of this longarm quilting intensive I'd planned for myself.  I was making an itinerary of when I'd visit the exhibit floor and merchant mall, which day I'd go to the National Quilt Museum...  And then, with these visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, I went to bed because it was midnight and apparently it's difficult for my family members to sleep when I'm dancing and skipping around the house.

For those of you not familiar with Calles' and Madsens' work:

I signed up for Lisa Calle's class "Pebbles, Echoes, Crosshatches, Oh My: Fillers on the Longarm" to learn how Lisa quilts magnificent designs like these:

Lisa Calle's Longarm Fill Quilting

I also signed up for her 6-hour" Meet & Greet the Longarm" class to learn alternative methods of loading and setting up for quilting, and in hopes of building a better foundation of the basics to build upon.  I signed up for her ruler work class, too, as well as her free-motion feather class.  Can you imagine?!!

As for Judi Madsen, well, it's pretty much all her fault that I bought a longarm quilting machine in the first place.  I stumbled across her blog some years ago and her longarm quilting was just the most beautiful, joyful, playful and expressive quilting I'd seen ANYWHERE, including hand quilting as well as machine quilting.  I never had any desire to own a longarm quilting machine until I saw the cool stuff Judi was doing with hers:

Ticky Tack Pattern by Honest Fabric, Pieced and Quilted by Judi Madsen

Judi's style is difficult to classify and she is equally adept at custom quilting modern as well as traditional quilts.  To serious traditional applique, her quilting adds a playful whimsy that feels fresh and current.  To simply pieced modern quilt tops utilizing solids and vast negative spaces, the complexity of her ruler work and free motion fills brings the magnificence of the whole cloth quilting tradition into the 21st century.  

Luscious Quilting by Judi Madsen, See More of This Quilt on Judi's Flickr Page Here

Now, did I expect to emerge after a single week of workshops transformed into a master quilter on par with Lisa Calle and Judi Madsen?  Of course not -- but I was sure I'd come home from Quilt Week a more confident and capable quilter than I am today.

So the first thing I did on Wednesday morning was to sit down at my computer and book my flight to Paducah for the show.  No hiccups there.  And finally, now that my classes and dates and flights were all pinned down for the trip, I went back to that handy-dandy APQS Approved Accommodations list on their web site -- which EVEN TODAY is still showing 20+ well-known commercial hotels in Paducah as having availability -- and started calling them to try to book a room.  And this is the part of the roller coaster ride where they flip you upside down suddenly, the inversion that comes along out of nowhere when you're speeding down the track at over a hundred miles an hour and your entire stomach, along with its contents, is suddenly inside of your mouth instead of in your abdomen where it belongs.  Yes, this is that part -- including all of the screaming, the tears, and the desperate prayers that go along with it!  I literally begged the manager of the Hampton Inn to let me bring a sleeping bag and camp out in their lobby at their regular room rate, but he turned me down.  Someone must have warned him about my singing...

Not Me, But This Is What I FELT LIKE When I Started Calling Hotels in Paducah!

Those of you who have attended any of the major national and international quilt shows probably already knew where this story was headed, but I was completely blindsided to find that every decent hotel in Paducah, Kentucky was already booked solid AND had a WAITING LIST for Quilt Week, even before registration opened up for the event.  Show attendees book their hotel rooms a full year in advance.  I talked with a very kind and helpful woman named Lindsay at AQS who suggested that Airbnb website where you can book your stay in the guest room of someone's private home, kind of like the lodgings version of Uber or Lyft.  I looked into that, but the listings that still had availability were either too far away from the event venue and outside of where the shuttles were running (across the Ohio River in Metropolis!), or they were entire houses suitable for groups to stay in together, or the landlord/host of the property was advertising a "private entrance" and "having the whole place to yourself."  And I was really nervous about returning to a strange house in a strange neighborhood late at night, all by myself, especially having never been to this town before and having no idea where the safe neighborhoods and where the sketchy ones might be, whether the properties were well-lit at night, etc.  I had to face the reality that the stars were just not aligned for me to attend the show this year.  My roller coaster was in flames.

So I called Lindsay back and told her to go ahead and cancel all of my class registrations.  As sad as it is to miss out on riding the roller coaster, it is better to see the flames from a distance, before you're strapped into the ride!

I Don't Know This Girl, But I'm Pretty Sure She's Crying About Quilt Week

So...  Who wants to go to Quilt Week with me in 2020?

Friday, January 11th UPDATE:  OH MY GOSH, y'all -- my husband helped me find a hotel room, my flight was still available, and a computer glitch delayed my registration cancellation so I still have all of my classes!  I'M GOING TO QUILT WEEK IN PADUCAH IN APRIL AFTER ALL!!!  

Yeah, Baby!!!  This Is What JOY Feels Like!  (Photo Credit: Yuliya Evstratenko/Shutterstock)

I'm DEFINITELY whooping with Joy, so I'm linking up with: 

·       Whoop Whoop Fridays at www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com

Hey, Anyone Ever Taken, Or Taught, a Beginner Quilting Class?

Happy Holiday Weekend to all my American friends, and Miserable Monday to the rest of you!  I need to pick some quilters' brains today.  I'd like to hear from anyone who has either taken or taught a quilting class for beginners.

My local Bernina dealer, (whom I adore because their customer service is awesome and they are always there for me to keep my sewbabies purring smoothly), has approached me about teaching a class at their shop for true beginners who have never quilted before.  I've never taught a sewing or quilting class before and I taught myself to quilt from books, so I'm trying to find out how much can be covered in a single all-day Saturday class.

This is the project I came up with:

Beginner Class Sample Top, 37" x 37"

It's 37" x 37", and my goal was to create a project that was simple enough for beginners to complete fairly quickly, before getting discouraged and giving up.  I also wanted to cover all of the basics:

• Choosing fabrics, thread, and needles; pros and cons of prewashing, benefits of quilt shop cottons vs "bargain" fabric from chain stores
• Basic equipment and supplies
• Rotary cutting: straightening and folding the fabric, cutting strips and squares, using rulers correctly
• 1/4" seam, relationship between cutting habits and seam allowance, why this matters, and different feet and methods for achieving accuracy
• Matching seam intersections
• Sashing that doesn't ripple
• Borders that lay flat and square
• Choosing backing fabric and batting
• Layering and pin basting
• Machine quilting with a walking foot
• straight grain binding with mitered corners, machine stitched to front of quilt and slip stitched to the back
• Basic quilt label

Sewing On Sashing with 97D foot

The 37" x 37" size is perfect for a small stroller or car seat baby blanket, or for a wall hanging using seasonal novelty prints for Halloween, Christmas, etc. 

Cars and Buses Version

Holiday Favorites Version

Tula Pink Tabby Road Version

The large 9" blocks are great for showing off large scale novelty prints.  Once the newbie quilters have completed this project, they will be ready to move on to other projects with confidence -- from other classes, books and magazines, Block of the Month, etc.  And that's what intrigues me about this teaching opportunity -- the chance to share something I love with other people, to equip new quilters with the basic skills they need to be successful.  When someone emails me and comments on my blog that something I wrote about helped them to be successful with their own projects or encouraged them to try something new, that absolutely makes my day.  

SO...  Here's my question for all of you, especially for any of you who have previously taken beginner classes or who have taught beginner students:  Is it unrealistic to try to teach this entire project in a single day?  I was able to put the quilt top together in two evenings, but it's still not quilted and I didn't have to stop and explain anything along the way.  I did have to stop and dance around when my favorite songs came on the radio, though...

But seriously -- after finishing the sample quilt top, I'm thinking the class should end with the addition of the borders and completion of the quilt top.  Newbie students are going to ask questions.  They are going to make mistakes, and that's great -- I want to have time to stop and show them how to FIX those mistakes.  I don't want to overwhelm the students by dumping too much information on them at once and rushing through the class, and if I DO teach the quilting and binding, I want to do it in a follow up class so that anyone who falls behind has a chance to finish their top and participate in the quilting part.  It's really important to me that every student is able to be successful and feel good about their project.

What do you all think?  Does anyone have any tips or suggestions about teaching quilting classes in general?  My dealer suggested a maximum of six students for the beginner class, by the way.  I deliberately avoided triangles because there are so many different ways to cut and sew them, the bias edges can be tricky, and I wanted the students to be able to make an actual quilt (albeit a small one!) rather than just a placemat or something.  Anyway, as always, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great week, everyone, and Happy Stitching!  I'm linking up with:

·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com  

·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/

·       Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/

Alex Anderson Workshop Tomorrow -- Woo Hoo!

Quilt Basket Rendezvous by Alex Anderson

I am SO EXCITED to be attending a quilting workshop with the legendary Alex Anderson tomorrow!  The workshop is hosted by my Bernina dealer, Lee's Creative Sewing and Vacuum of Charlotte, Hickory and Shelby, North Carolina, and we're going to be making a smaller version of Alex's Quilt Basket Rendezvous project.  I really love her version made with Kaffe Fassett prints, shown above, but my Bernina dealer says the kits for tomorrow's workshop are all batik fabrics.  This makes me pout -- I love me some batiks for applique projects, and I like to mix them with other fabrics, but I'm not a huge fan of quilts that are made ONLY using batiks.  I don't even like the idea of making a quilt using fabrics that someone else picked out for me...  But I'm not taking the class for the quilt per se, I'm taking the class so I can meet Alex Anderson!

Smaller Batik Version of Quilt Basket Rendezvous for Workshop

If it were up to me, I'd probably choose 1930s reproduction prints for this project, but I'm just going to have to make the best of whatever kit I get stuck with.

Alex Anderson

What I love about Alex's quilting books is that she is so encouraging and makes quilting accessible for total beginners.  Whereas some of my other favorite quilting authors like Harriet Hargrave, Diane Gaudynski and Sally Collins go into excruciating, exacting detail to teach mastery, Alex's books give new quilters the essentials they need to get started and achieve results they can be proud of -- without overwhelming and intimidating them with too much information.  I'm looking forward to meeting her and learning as much as I can from her class.

Also, since Bernina is providing machines for us to use in the workshop, I'm curious about which machines we'll be using -- and grateful that I don't have to pack up my beast of a 750 QE sewing machine to take to class.  If any of you in the Charlotte area are going to be in the workshop with me tomorrow, please say hello!

Happy stitching, everyone!

Fabulous Kaye England Class on Accurate Cutting and Patchwork

Kaye England

Happy Monday, friends!  First of all, I want to send a big thank you out to all of you who voted for my Sugar Shack Leaves quilt in Quilting Gallery's "Fall Glory" themed quilt contest over the weekend.  My quilt was selected as one of the winners, and I won copies of two Quilter's Cookbooks.  Thank you!

Moving right along...  I attended a fantastic class taught by Kaye England on Saturday at my local Bernina dealership.  When I signed up for the class, I had no idea who Kaye was or what the class would be about, but it turned out to be time and money well spent.  I've learned most of what I know about patchwork and quilting from books, magazines, and the Internet, so the whole experience of a room full of quilters learning together was a novelty for me.  Although I didn't expect to know anyone else taking the class, I was pleasantly surprised to see the realtor who helped us find our first home in Charlotte in 1999 AND my very first customer, back from when I first started sewing draperies to justify my expensive sewing habit in 2001.  This is a woman who lost my unlisted phone number and actually went knocking on doors in my neighborhood to find me again the next time she wanted to hire me.  It was so nice that she recognized and remembered me after so many years!  I had no idea either one of these ladies was even a quilter.

But, even without the surprise reunions and hugs, this class was more than worthwhile, and here's why:

1. Kaye showed me a little engraved line on my sewing machine's stitch plate, just in front of the needle, that marks a perfect quarter inch seam for patchwork.  I've had this sewing machine since 2005 and I had NO IDEA that little guide line was there.  This is going to make it a lot easier to get a consistent quarter inch patchwork seam so that all of the pieces fit togethe properly and my blocks finish the correct size.
2. I learned that my rotary cutting tool was skipping because it had a dull, nicked blade, and that the blade was screwed in too tight, causing me lots of unecessary aggravation, difficulty, and wasted time when cutting fabric.  I bought a new blade for about ten dollars, and now my rotary cutter is gliding through fabric as effortlessly as a hot knife goes through butter!
3. I learned -- and this is going to sound blasphemous -- that I can get better results by NOT ironing every seam after the entire block is completed!  Hallelujah! 

The focus of the class was on how to use the special Cut for the Cure rulers that Kaye designed for Nifty Notions (and yes, I did buy the whole set of 'em).  A portion of the proceeds from this line benefits breast cancer research.  My old rulers were a motley assortment of Creative Grid and Omnigrid, and I only had a couple of strip cutters that I was using for everything.  My new rulers have sight lines for aligning my fabric edge on every single line, and I love how the special half square and quarter square triangle rulers eliminate the necessity of cutting multiple strip widths for every block.  My next quilt is going to be a Storm at Sea, and I am going to want every little triangle to have a sharp point and every seam intersection to match up perfectly.  These rulers will make that much easier to accomplish, AND I got a DVD with the set that shows exactly how to use each ruler. 

Anyway, I highly recommend that you take a class with Kaye if you ever have the opportunity to do so.

Next on my sewing agenda: I want to finish up an in-progress window treatment for my laundry room in the next few days that my husband has been nagging me to make for over a year, and then I need to complete Paula Reid's September Free-Motion Quilting Challenge, hosted by SewCalGal, before the end of the month.