cool things I learned

At a sewing or quilting expo, there are usually 3 parts: the exhibits, the vendor booths, and the classrooms. This was the first time I had ever shelled out money for the classes, and I was VERY pleased with the results. Every class was very practical and informative, and only one did I feel like I was in the wrong place (the teacher was a clothes designer who has tailored garments for many many years and she was a tad over my head) but even there I did learn quite a few practical things. So here's a few of my favorite classroom (both formal and from the free expo stage lectures) lessons:

 The longarm quilting teacher showed us how she took the feather pattern she was teaching us and used it in different directions to create the above chicken. How cool is that? Of course, she used different colored threads and fabric painting to create the accents, but it was still neat to see how one basic pattern turned in different directions and different sizes could create something so detailed.

 Above on the right is one of the employees for McCalls. (The lady in blue helping hold the quilt is a McCalls editor.) Here she's demonstrating one of her quilts she made totally from scraps. She saves EVERY piece of fabric that's at least 1" wide when she sews. Periodically she takes her scrap bin and sews them in horizontal lines. When that pile reaches a fairly large amount she cuts the strips in various shapes and makes a quilt top. I was expecting to see a modern style quilt (like the one below) and was a little surprised to see something this creative. Most of her quilts were browns,beiges and greens (what she said her daughter calls "icky green") so the colors weren't always my favorite, but I loved seeing her many patterns. It made me realize how much planning goes into great quilts as opposed to my "jump in, feet first" approach.

 Wish Upon A Quilt store in north Raleigh present a free lecture on modern quilts. The one above is one of the few they showed that I really liked. They were laughing about how elderly women inform them there's nothing modern about these quilts. Evidently in small towns throughout the US, especially in African-American towns, quilts in this style and other similar veins were quite common.

And back to the McCall's lecture...Of all her MANY quilts, this was my favorite. The 9 patch squares were part of a quilt project at the McCalls' company (9 patch squares are the chuckwagon squares). Instead of buying fabric, she decided she was going to use up her green fabric stash. It doesn't show very well here, but the right side of the quilt is light green with slightly darker squares. The left side is a shade darker. (She kept running out of her stash and had to keep moving to a darker shade of green.) The bottom halves are both varying degrees of green. It gave it a color wheel effect and looked totally planned. Her point was that we can use what we have and play around with it long enough to make it work instead of always having to buy more fabric to complete a project. She was one of my favorite free lecturers.

I didn't take pictures of the lace shapping class or altering pant size patterns. I hope to try the lace shopping project very soon. The teacher sent us all home with a DVD of her lecture notes, plus she's one of the co-owners of Elegant Stitches in Cary (where I rent the Bernina to quilt). It's nice to know if I get stuck I can go in for advice at the store. And that was one of the nice things about this show - almost half of the vendors were within driving distance. So many quilt shops don't have up-to-date websites, so if you see something at a show and don't get it you're often unable to purchase it later. It's nice when you know they are close by and can always find an item when funds aren't quite so tight.

You're probably getting tired of quilts, but I think you'll find tomorrow's post very heartwarming.