Am I addicted to taking quilting classes?

 Many of those who have known me for a while would probably answer yes. Of course even those folks probably have no idea how many classes I've actually taken.

 Ever since I turned 70 back in April I have been contemplating things about my art. These are my latest questions. How many classes have I taken and what did I make? Were they worth taking or does that even really matter?

When I started quilting 35 years ago I learned how to quilt from books taken out of the local library. I only worked on one thing at a time, did not have a bunch of unfinished projects, and did not have a huge book and fabric stash. Boy have times changed! The first class I took was one on making a double wedding ring quilt at a local quilt store. This was made back when I only hand quilted and there was a lot of hand quilting in this queen sized quilt....800 hours worth.

Wedding rings and white roses

Once I found Quilt University I started taking lots of classes online. I estimate that I took at least 12 classes from dying fabric to free motion quilting to painting fabric to making an art quilt. Many of those classes did not result in making anything. I did make some pieces.

Forest Cathedral, dyeing fabric

Crazy About Daisies, learning to FMQ

Orange Sky at Night,  painting fabric

Over the Sea to Skye, first art quilt

Snap, Crackle, Pop, elements in fabric class

Blue Flower, flower power class

So 6 quilts for at least 12 classes. I guess that's not too bad. I have an Hawaiian quilt that is only 1/4 appliqued at this point. I doubt that I'll ever finish it. I hate needle turn applique. I guess I leaned that in that class!

I've taken other online classes from independent teachers. In each of these classes I did make something.

Winter Solstice, Ellen Lindner class

Midwinter Visitor, Ellen Lindner class

Blue Portal, Portal class with Natalya Khorover

Apple, Double reverse applique class

Connected to the Moon, text on textiles class

Beneath a Turquoise Sky, in person class with Gloria Loughman

So I guess not a bad showing from these classes.

Then of course I took Elizabeth Barton's master class twice. These classes lasted an entire year. The first time back in 2014 we made 10 quilts. Those quilts can be seen here.

The second time I took the class as an independent student in 2018. I made 4 quilts that you have seen many times.

Evolution?

 

When the Dark Night Seems Endless

Taking its Toll

Light in Darkness

Then there is Academy of Quilting. I've taken plenty of classes there as well. I did make something in several of the classes.

Midwinter's night, abstract art for quilt makers

We are Broken, abstract art for quilt makers

Sunlight in the Forest, abstract art for quilt makers

Stained Glass quilt with Elizabeth Barton

Then there are all those classes with Natalya Khorover. In each one I made something.

Abandoned Cement Works, plastic class

Boston Collage in progress, Sense of space class

Pittsburgh in the Snow 1: Waiting for the Trolley, Sense of space class

Pittsburgh in the Snow 2: Cathedral

Looking back at this makes me think that I accomplished a lot in all of these classes. They certainly have turned me into the artist that I am today. When I started this blog I was sure I hadn’t made many things from all of those classes. The thing that I am least proud of is all the classes I have taken at Craftsy and made nothing except some great sticky buns and failed attempts at sourdough bread. And there are other classes I have taken to create original fabrics. So if I had to guess how many classes I have taken in total I would have to say maybe about 50. Is that good to take so many classes? 

I'm sure I will take many more classes. Already Natalya has said that she is teaching the Sense of Space class in the fall and it will be different this time around. I was tempted to take it again, but decided that I am crazy. I have enough on my plate with projects.

Do you take classes? Do you always make something? Can we take them for the pure joy of taking them without doing anything?

Thanks for reading.

Linking to Nina-Marie.

Chris

From beginning to end

After nearly 4 months the stained glass scrap quilt it finally finished and hanging in the stairwell. I must say it was a long journey. It's a journey that I'm glad is over.  The photos below will give you some idea of how long and complicated it was.


















Sewing strips....lots of strips. It felt like thousands of strips. 1 3/4 inch strips.

One of the fabrics created from the first sewing of strips.

Cutting these fabrics up again into strips at a 45 degree angle and sewing them back together again.

Cutting these fabrics into diamonds.

Arranging the diamonds and adding  3/4 inch sashing.

Adding borders and quilting and blocking.

Binding and adding sleeves and hanging. Hard getting a good photo in the stairwell.

A finished quilt....never again!!!!!!

Stained glass quilt that still needs a title! 70 inches wide.

Now to figure out a title. I don't know if I am just worn out, but getting a title for this one has proven to be harder than normal.

I have been searching song lyrics trying to find some ideas....

• Daylight or sunlight through a stained glass window.
• On a bright May morning.
• Morning has broken.
• Colorful lights
• Queen of Diamonds
• Diamonds are not a girl’s best friend

Any thoughts???

Thanks for reading. Linking to Nina-Marie.
Chris

It’s blocking

The stained glass scrap quilt is finally blocking on the floor of our utility room. It was a lot of work quilting it due to its size. The quilting is spaced 3/4 inch.  I'm glad that is done. It is still off of square by 3/4 inch which is a 0.73 % error. I'm just going to have to live with that. I refuse to do much more stooping to measure and try to figure out where it is off and pull the quilt to get it to be perfect.  I'm blaming it on too much stretching during the piecing as well as the quilting. It is what it is. No contest entries for this one.  I will just enjoy it's beauty as it hangs in my stairwell. I never should have measured the diagonals to begin with. 

Now to figure out a title. My husband suggested "I hate circles!" He heard me swearing at various points during the making of this quilt. I think I said I hated this quilt several times over the last 4 months! 

I thought about "Learn to be still" from an Eagles song. I thought that might be appropriate for making it during the pandemic and having to stay at home and modify our behavior.

At any rate thanks for reading.

Linking to Nina-Marie. http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Chris

Pinning has begun

I've been really careful trying to make sure the sashing looks straight. I eyeball it, use a long ruler, and the laser level I got for Christmas. The sashing really stands out so I'm trying to make sure it is as straight as possible.

I decided to pin in the sashings first and then add pins to the diamonds. I figured once I got the sashing more or less straight I would want to keep it that way. That's why I have begun anchoring the quilt there. I think if I just pinned in the blocks the sashing should shift a bit while quilting and destroy all my hard work. I will quilt in the ditch next to the sashing first. I think I will quilt in purple thread since it goes with most of the fabrics.

Thanks for reading.

Stay safe. I don't know about you, but my hair is out of control!

Chris

Thank goodness.....

The top is finally sewn for this scrap quilt. It has been nearly a 3 month journey. I will never make a diamond quilt again. Things are not as square as I am used to. Borders do not lay as flat as I would like them to. And yes I measured the center of the quilt and cut the borders that length. Hopefully after quilting and blocking I will be happier. I don't want to make a geometric quilt for a long time!

I’ve been soaking my backing fabric for days and the dyes are still coming out. I made the mistake of buying a batik at Joann’s fabrics. I called them and they basically told me there was nothing they could do about it. So now I have 7 yards of backing fabric that bleeds.

Thanks for reading.

Chris
Linking to Nina-Marie. http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

What happened this week

I managed to get the interior of my stained glass scrap quilt completely pieced. Now I just have to cut off the diamonds at the edges to make it square. That's always a lot of fun! Meanwhile I heard back from Cherrywood fabrics and they are sending me a piece of fabric that matches the sashing in the quilt. It should arrive today. I've been soaking the backing fabric and will have to do that with the Cherrywood fabric as well.

This week I took a live online gelli printing class on Zoom which worked out really well.

Here are my prints. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

The class continues for 2 more weeks and then I will take a second class on creating a journal from the prints.

I keep forgetting to mention the baby ducklings we rescued on Penn State's campus about 2 weeks ago. It's a long story with my husband and some other guy doing the rescue. The mother had nested in a safe spot, but the ducklings couldn't get out of it.

Here are some photos of the ducklings in a box and after they were reunited with their mother in a pond. There were 12 of them!

Linking to Nina-Marie.

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Nearly there and then a problem

I'm almost done sewing the top together. I have 2 more sashing strips to do. I went to soak the last 2 yards of the Cherrywood sashing and border fabric and found that it does not match the first 2 yards. The piece I've been using is darker. Their website says that they dye in 2 yard pieces, but if you order more than 2 yards they will come from the same dye lot. They are not even close. You can see the difference in the photos below.

I called them and I had to send a strip of what I've been using to see if they can match it better. I sure hope so. I have enough of the darker one to finish the sashing, but not enough for the borders. I could kick myself for not looking at the fabrics closely when they arrived. I just assumed that they matched. Should be interesting to see if they are able to resolve this and how long it takes.

The piece I've been using is on the bottom

Sashing strip on top of the lighter fabric

Thanks for reading.

Linking to Nina-Marie.

Chris