Learning through quilts

  Recession.  It is a word on everyone's lips these days.  However, there are really creative ways to get around it.  Take Wendy Wilson's Liberated Quilts Class.  These gals are working their stashes! 

They are working the ideas and concepts of Freddy and Qwen and have been having a great time doing it.  Now, after a "few" sessions the efforts of their labor is starting to show.  A few of the quilts are nearly finished and I got lucky enough to walk in on Tuesday and see this!  These quilts are vibrant and fun and just say happy times!

They seem to have a lot of fun trying different blocks and getting inspired by each other.  It might be you see someone do something and decide that it is a good option...or not...learning from others is what it is all about. 

This string quilt looks terrific with the stripe border. 

I love seeing people make do with their fabric in tougher times. I can relate because even if I do work in a patchwork shop I don't have a big budget for personal spending.  Times are tough all over so we are always looking for ways to help our quilting customers.  I can understand the need for people to save money and if that includes shopping on line that is certainly an option to consider.  Fair enough.  However, recently we noticed a customer jottting down fabric codes to go and buy them on line.  It was embarrassing for us.  I would have thought that she understood that a local patchwork shop provides staff to service her needs, classes to teach and entertain, design examples, tools and how to use them...that the shop was a generous place to gather and share ideas.  We are a service business which incurrs many expenses and even the coffee comes at a price. If choosing to shop on line that is obviously a choice but the risks taken should not be at the expense of already heavily burdened shops.  Having said that, we have only experienced this once but it did upset my staff and I did take it a bit personally.  Every story has two sides and I choose to tell my side so please don't be offended if I am not talking about you.

 

Anyway, on a lighter note, has anyone been looking for something to do with the laminated fabrics?  How about a gorgeous, styling shower cap?  Lynn made this and came in full of giggles.  Even just hanging in the shower it looks fabulous!

 

A while back Wendy designed a quilt for our beginners.  It is a traditional sampler with lots of easy blocks and made up entirely of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  Wendy has an extensive background in traditional quilts and is a hand quilter of distinction.  She has taught me many tricks about hand quilting and has actually opened my eyes to new directions for my hand work.  It has slowed me down but I am enjoying it more. 

So, now we offer the Kaffe Sampler as a block of the month.  When we do these programs we make up the blocks in the new fabrics available at the time.  Beginner sampler I say, I'll make those it will only take me a minute.  However, each month so far I have been reminded of things that trip up beginners.  For example, on the first month it was seam allowance.  I was using a different machine to my own and didn't bother to check the seam allowance.  They all laughed as I couldn't figure out why my rail fence wasn't working.  Then of course we went back to the basics and measured up the seams, noted they were too big and then remarked the machine to be accurate.   Result:

The point of this block as a teaching tool is obviously value.  Working from dark to light in colourful fabrics is not always easy as different aspects of the fabric distract our eye so we experimented a lot before we got it right.  The next month we had another block that is based on value so we played around with a variety of ideas and then realised that the best learning tool is showing the wrong block.

The block on the left shows how not considering value can make the lines of a block disappear.  The block on the right clearly shows how the Churn Dash block should work.  It has made me think a lot about how much there is to learn when making quilts.  There are so many variations on each technique, so many blocks and so many options with fabric that it just seems like one life is not enough.  There are many times in the past when I have been excited by an idea and anxious to bring it to life. There were things in quilts or blocks that I thought might be too hard to achieve.  However, I am still learning and even better, teaching others from my experiences.  Working out these "beginner" sampler blocks has been really interesting as I review techniques.

One of the other things that has come from this experience is the value of a half square triangle ruler.  There are of course many methods to make half square and quarter squares so we made up a sheet of options for this program to include with the block.  My preferred method is a half square ruler and particularly the ones that have the blunt tips.  Using the ruler means you get a dependable cutting shape and accurate seam allowance for perfect points every time.  We used to say it wasn't all about the perfect points in quilting but if you can get them with no sweat...WHY NOT?   Unless of course you are going for that liberated look!

In another block for this month (each month has two blocks) we examine an alternate way to work contrast, the one I am always harping on about which is using the colour to create the shapes.  Here we have the hot red and the cool green bringing this block to life. 

The other bom blocks this month have been equally fascinating on different levels.  My Fly Away With Me is coming along beautifully... 

There was a day when a shape like this would have scared me off trying to make the block.  So many in and out curves seemed too hard.  However, applique, if not anything else is simply down to practice.  I have taken a few tips from the experts.  Last year I did a class with Becky Goldsmith, half of the Piece O'Cake team.  She gave us a few tips that stuck.  For one thing, that yellow line outside that template shape.  I use a chalk pencil which means I get a thick line that is easy to see and rubs off in case somewhere along the line I get lost.  They come in lots of colours so they are easy to see on any background fabric.  

In the Twist Again block we are looking at fussy cutting.
This is a DYNAMIC fabric that fussy cuts beautifully to create really interesting patterns.  Using the templates we provide helps to capture just the right spot in the fabric.  We had Liesel make this one up and I'll show you the finished block later but take my word, she did a beautiful job of putting this block together.

It is always satisfying when we get the bom's out the door and in the post.  I love thinking about all the women all over the world that open their mailbox to one of our seven block programs.  They are like little seeds of creativity floating in the air....oh come on...I do get carried away.

On a completely different note.  I love to read but with my hectic lifestyle my days are very busy.  My opportunity to read is often the last 15 mintutes of the day when I can hardly keep my eyes open.  But then Marie gave me this book to read...a much loved version of The Help.  I sank my mind into this glorious story of women...black and white women in Mississippi.  I know many if not most of you have already read this book.  Why it took me so long to find it I'll never know but it was the kind of book that made me stop and read just for the enjoyment of the story, a human story that was believable and unbelievable at the same time. 

My gym budy Michele and I went to see the movie last week. (again something I rarely make time to do.)     We went on a Friday night and were two of only about six people in the theatre!  When I saw the ads for movie I thought they might have taken away the biting edge with flip humour but I was pleasantly surprised.  I would have loved it just for the styling...the hair, the houses, the clothes but I loved it more for telling the story exactly the way I imagined it.   I finished reading it last night.  One of the boys asked me why I was finishing it if I had seen the movie.  They just don't get it do they?  I was reading it because it made me feel good.  I loved the words in my brain and the pictures that came from the words.  Particularly when Skeeter realizes why she wrote the book..."There is so much you don't know about a person.  I wonder if I could've made her days a little bit easier, if I'd tried.  If I'd treated her a little nicer.  Wasn't that the point of the book?  for women to realize, We are just two people.  Not that much separates us.  Not nearly as much as I'd thought." 

When I finished reading it (and in the theater as the credits rolled) I had to just stop and think.  We do get so caught up in the pace of life and the influence of others.  How do we stay focused on what we really believe?  Where do we get the courage to stand up and say...or more importantly to LISTEN...and understand the truth?  It made me appreciate that I have an interest that brings me closer to women. k

Comments

[Carla]

I love the colors in that first quilt. Bright and colorful. Sorry about the shopper who made it so obvious that she was going to buy on line later. I shop online sometimes but there's too many shops to visit and support. I like to feel what I buying first. ;o)
Loved The Help book and the movie. I may skip on my slice of chocolate pie at Christmas though. LOL Just in case

[Michelle]

I hope that customer reads your post and responds, because I would be really interested to know if anything other than simple cost motivated her. I appreciate this can be an expensive hobby and I also (especially as a beginner) appreciate the service you get in a shop. My local (I just moved to Aus. from west London) had amazing service but a very limited selection. I bought there whenever I could but often had to supplement with on-line shopping to achieve the quilt I wanted. Some websites offer a kind of service of their own in a wide selection and an on-line format that makes visualizing, comparing, and searching much easier than a long trip to a distant shop or a harder-to-navigate website. I think it comes down to understanding and respecting what a shop or site provides, and being responsible enough not to abuse the resource if you don't contribute to its maintenance.

[Claire Griffin]

Just having moved house, I have found my new local quilt shop with a wonderful selection of kaffe fabric which I previously had to buy on-line! I have just noved from Northern Ireland to Belgium and an very excited about all the sewing I could do....

[Amy]

Kathy,

Thank you for the sewing tips, once again it is a good reminder to go back to the basics, and from there we continually improve our colour and technique and continually challenge our skills. I am sorry to hear about rude people that enter your shop, they should probably read The Help, but they are the ones that have serious moral issues and will have to answer for that one day. On a lighter note, I don't think that I will ever use a showering cap but I encourage you and the ladies in the shop to keep the giggles in your lives because that too will keep us going through rude encounters in our life and financial strains of a recession.

[Elizabeth E.]

I love this post!! I've sent it out to some friends, as it exemplifies what MO does so well--bringing interesting ideas and colors choices and patterns and fussy cutting. . . need I go on? Thanks so much for this blog--it's my favorite, I have to admit.

And your thoughts on online vs. local shops inspired me to stop by my local shop and pick up some fabrics. I usually always check there first, using the online to supplement what they don't have. Thanks for reminding us that a local shop is so much more than just a place to buy fabric!

Again--thanks for this post. (I am completely in love with that first quilt.)

[Salley]

Hi Kathy, Introduced my daughter to your shop today...she spent only a little but your staff were so helpful, as always....didnt matter how small the packet was, they treated us with fond attention. Thankyou!

[Laura Burke]

Well, you will be glad to know that I'm sitting here in Texas, I have free time and my eyes are not heavy (2 young ones). I just started "The Help" and I have my and applique sitting and waiting. I CAN'T decide what to do! Usually it's a no-brainer. I sew. Since I couldn't decide, I'm reading blogs!

I only WISH I could shop in your shop. There is something just a tad different about everything you picture here that stirs something in me...I think you have the perfect balance of modern and scrappiness. It's more than that, but that's the easiest way I can describe it for now.

Thank you for all the beautiful pictures you share.

[Cardygirl]

I have The Help sitting next to my bed...I am finishing rereading To Kill a Mockingbird for the zillionth time. Sounds like some of the themes of caring, acceptance and understanding of others may be similar? Tough times make shoppers wary, but there is a code of conduct...I adore fabric shops...nothing beats the smell or touch and that explosion of colour!

[Kathy]

Hi,
I read To Kill A Mockingbird this year as well. Must be something in the air about civil rights.
I am sending off my next book at the end of this week, Noah finishes his formal class schedule and then...my design wall is the focus for life!
Hope you are well. Thanks for the email. Kathy

[griffey shoes]

Thanks for your great post.I gonna be back definitely to check the new.
It is great that something interesting here could be found.Excellent work!