Journey to the Center of the Earth

Today I am sharing a new quilt finish along with news of the workshops I will be teaching at QuiltCon Together next year. Yes I am now part of the QuiltCon Faculty!

QuiltCon wisely decided to change their 2021 physical event (planned for Atlanta) to a virtual one, which means everyone can get involved no matter where you are in the world!

I was just delighted to be asked to teach for the Modern Quilt Guild’s annual conference, which I have attended in person 4 times since 2015, and especially as my Thread House partners Karen and Lynne were asked at the same time too!

QuiltCon Together is happening 18-22 February 2021 and you can read all about here.

I am teaching 5 classes, 3 mega (full day) workshops and 2 mini workshops (half day) and 2 of the classes are brand new.

The first of these is this new finished quilt which I am calling ‘Journey to the center of the Earth’.

Recently I have been working on my Tiny Improv World quilt (more on this in a future post when it’s finished!) which is a big circle of my Tiny Improv Streetscape class samples.  I was trying to work out what to do in the ‘centre of the earth’ and started to make a sort of mash up between my Dandelion Clock blocks and my 40 Layers of Quilting Spotlight Quilt. This involves using my freehand foundation piecing technique and needle-turn applique to improv piece bands of detail and then creating quarter circles using wonky curves.

In the class we will hope to create one quarter block, which measures 18″, and I will be sharing and demonstrating lots of ideas for making your 3 other quarters after the class has finished. All the techniques mentioned will be covered in the class.

I quilted this using my walking foot and Aurifil 50wt thread in a pale aqua shade, then I added hand quilting details using Aurifil 12wt cotton in a number of coordinating colours.

I’ve really enjoyed working on this one and am excited to teach the techniques to others. I hope some of you will be able to join me!

The other new class I am teaching called Embellished Folk Embroidery and is a development of my Embellished Patchwork evening course which I was teaching at the end of last year.

Stitching along with the class I made these embellished felt circles that invloved shishs mirrors, beadwork and simple embroidery (using Aurifil 12wt cotton again).

I used them to make this pouch for my daughter-in-law and a lot of people seemed interested in the idea of an individual class and learning how to do shisha mirrors especially.

I made the latest sample into this little round thing, I can’t decide whether it is a very big pincushion (6″ across) or a very small foot stool! I’ll be providing at least one pattern for using the embellished circles along with the class.

So what about the other 3 classes? Well one of the other mega workshops is my Avery Garland! I am so excited to teach this block which combines EPP and needle-turn applique, this is going to be such a lovely slow stitching experience.

Next up is a half day workshop in Modern Crewelwork using a mini version of my Pebbles Sampler. I was due to teach this in an hour long ‘quick and easy’ class at Festival of Quilts this year, but we will have all of 3 hours for the QuiltCon Together class and will be able to cover a larger number of different embroidery stitches.

And lastly I’ll be teaching one of my all time most popular classes Freehand Curves Landscape.  This adventure in improv piecing and wonky curves combined with 3D construction should keep everyone on their toes!

I do hope you will be able to join me on one or more of my classes. Do go and check out the catalogue here, there are so many amazing subjects and tutors to choose from!  Registration opens next week on July 15th so you better get making a list!