What is a 'play studio'? It's a half day workshop for our guild members and by our guild members where we'll be 'playing' with an aspect of quilting. Why? Because we have so much talent among our members! It's a working and learning environment with a social component! On Thursday, June 12th, we will feature free motion quilting.
We will have 4 stations around the room each featuring a different guild leader and a different aspect of FMQ. Participants will divide into 4 groups. Each group will visit all 4 stations separately and have ample time to watch, learn, ask questions and then practice on your own machine.
Timing:
8:00 the doors will open - please arrive by 8:30 to set up
9:00 - 9:45 your group will walk to a station, watch a demonstration, ask questions and then return to your sewing machine to practice
9:45 - 10:30 your group will rotate to a different station
10:30 - 11:15 your group will rotate to another station
11:15 - 12:00 your group will rotate to the final station
12:00 - 1:00 continue practicing and socializing
1:00 pack up and clean up
Where:
7810 SE 15th Ave, Sellwood
What to prepare in advance:
6-8 quilt 'sandwiches', each approximately the size of a fat quarter, using inexpensive fabric or muslin, in plain colors, with a thin batting
What to bring:
* Your sewing machine ready for FMQ and normal notions including 12-18" ruler including scissors for cutting paper
* Your practice quilt sandwiches
* Contrasting colored thread (so your stitches will be seen clearly)
* Fabric marking pen plus a pencil plus an eraser (suggest hi polymer such as Pentel or Staedtler)
* Your guild name tag
* Quilt gloves (optional - to help lesson hand fatigue)
* Scratch paper or notebook (optional - to use for muscle memory practice)
* A snack to share on the community snack table (also optional :)
Guild volunteers and descriptions of their stations:
Mary Fitzgibbons:
In Christina Cameli’s book “Free Motion Combinations,” she talks about ways to combine motifs for smoothly making your own patterns. We’ll practice three simple motifs and then learn to combine them with a “recipe” so that we always know what comes next.
Tam Gardner:
My focus will be on writing on the quilt using FMQ. I also use this technique to make quilt labels. After a brief discussion of FMQ disasters that I’ve experienced, with the hope this will help you avoid them, we’ll move on to a writing demonstration. Some tools to be discussed will be hera markers and other marking tools to draft the writing. I encourage participants to bring some heavy interfacing and fabric that you’d like to use for a label.
Helene Knott:
There are several ways to design and quilt mandalas (designs that reach back into antiquity), ranging from precise cut paper templates, guided stitching utilizing reference points (sort of like a Spirograph), to completely off the cuff improvisational doodle designs that you make up as you go. In my lesson, I will be showing you a precise method utilizing cut-work medallions made from freezer paper. On their own, they are lovely, add some decorative textures to define the shapes and they become exquisite wonders.
Denise Gies:
Do you fear all that open space on your quilt top? I'll demonstrate how to use a grid system to guide you in a variety of fillers ranging from traditional to modern. We will also cover various ways to achieve the grid using Pounce Chalk, marking pens, tissue paper and the actual block design. You will practice curves and straight lines plus combinations of the two. If you can write a "c", "s", "l", and a parenthesis, you will have an entire toolbox of fillers to use.