Saturday, February 20, 2021

QuiltCon Together - Virtual Classes

Like all big events right now, QuiltCon has gone virtual this year.  I took the opportunity to sign up for four virtual classes and I also purchased a lecture pass. I cleared my schedule (not that there is much on it these days!) and cleaned up my sewing room so I would be ready!  I gathered all of the supplies I needed for my classes and put them into 4 bins.  One teacher recommended that we cut out most of our pieces before class so I managed to get that done too. I decided from the beginning that I would use fabrics from my stash for my classes which meant I had to be creative with my colour choices.  (I did have to purchase a jelly roll for one class as I did not have one in my stash.)

My first class, "Put a Ring on it", was taught by Latifah Saafir. This quilt uses the Clammy rulers that Latifah invented and she has produced multiple patterns that use them. The classes are available during QuiltCon Together on demand--they were pre-recorded by each teacher and are divided into steps so that you can stop the video to complete that part of the project before proceeding.  I decided to take this class the first day--Thursday.  Since I had most of the cutting done, I could dive right in to making a block. As you can see, this involved lots of curved piecing.  This is my first "Petal".


Soon I had 4 done. 


I started to put the block together. 

TaDa!!  One block (or ring) together.


I have since finished one more ring and will get back to working on the remaining rings and joining them together on Monday. 

My second class was Big Stitch hand quilting with Sarah Fielke. I had prepped my quilt sandwich with some Essex Linen ahead of time. Sarah suggested we do a sampler or practice piece to start.  She demonstrated several stitches that would be interesting to use for quilting and gave lots of tips on ergonomics while hand sewing.  I decided to make some circles to quilt and traced out several circles using dishes from my kitchen.  I had a spool of 12 wt turquoise thread and used it to do a chain stitch around the first circle.  


 My second circle was completed using orange Prevencia 8 wt thread. 


Here are the two circles. 


A third green buttonhole stitch circle was added today.  


I had a live chat with Sarah and 4 other members of the class this afternoon.  Sarah was very helpful in answering all of our questions.  It was Sunday morning in Australia where she lives. This hand quilting project is a work in progress and will take a while to finish. 

My third class, Hand Embroidered Quilt Labels, was with Claudia Martinez.  I have done lots of embroidery before but have never made an embroidered quilt label.  I decided to make a label for my Lupins quilt, which is still not put together but all of the blocks are done.  Maybe making the label will light a fire under me to put the quilt together!  I started with the lupin. I used stem stitch on the stems and small lazy daisy stitches for the flowers.  There are four strands of thread in the flowers in two shades of purple. 


 I have lettering to stitch as well but did not start it yet. 

Tomorrow, I will take my 4th class with Sarah Bond. I will report on it next week. 

While "attending" some of the lectures, I have been working on "Love Birds".  


My daughter is still stitching every day on her coffee stitch along with the Barmy Fox.  There are four more days left in this project. 




I love the blue buttonhole stitch flower, top right.  It's fun to see what gets added to the picture each day. 

Finn went for a walk in the snow tonight and came home with a snow beard. 


Have a great week. I'm having lots of fun taking classes and learning new things at QuiltCon Together.  The organizers have done a fantastic job making this virtual event possible for thousands of quilters all around the world.  I will link up with Kathy and the slow stitchers in the morning. 


15 comments:

  1. You have been having fun! How fabulous you can participate in these classes from home. Love the "Put a Ring On It" block...great fabric choices and your quilting is fabulous...so neat and even. Your daughter's embroidery is stunning as always, and as for Finn, well he is always adorable.

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  2. Those classes look fun and informative. I love the embroidery ones especially the class for making a quilt label. I like the fabrics that you chose for the ring blocks. Love birds is really progressing. Your daughter's embroidery is so beautiful. Love Finn's snowy white beard.

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  3. You stitched Perfect quilting circles and I love the embroidery for the quilt label. Finn is so charming with the snow beard, and your daugther embroidery is a beauty.

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  4. What great classes you have been participating in, such fun! Your choice of fabric colour is gorgeous, the green really pops against the black and white, I look forward to seeing more of these blocks. Lovely embroidery projects too. Im interested to see where the circle one goes. Finn is hilarious with his snow beard!

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  5. Your Ring quilt is fabulous - and your piecing looks great! Neat fabrics.
    What lovely stitchery. I'm enjoying seeing them as I used to do a lot of that before quilting.
    Finn is so so cute.

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  6. Your classes all look fun! Your big stitch quilting looks so perfect. Love Finn’s snow beard!

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  7. What a wonderful event... so glad you could participate and share with us about the classes! I think that is one good thing about covid... the ability to take classes from world renowned teachers.

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  8. nice that you are enjoying the classes - it seems whenever I sit down to watch one I lose interest and can't still sit still to watch the whole things. The ergonomics for handwork sounds interesting though - love the double wedding ring type of block

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  9. Those look like such interesting classes! Embroidered quilt labels are a great idea - a perfect way to personalize the quilt even more.

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  10. Quiltcon sounds great, even if they did have to go digital this year. I really love the lime green with the black.
    As always, I want to steal Finn because he is so gorgeous!!!

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  11. So many lovely projects! I'm partial to the embroidery ones ;-). Your daughter is doing beautifully on her SAL!

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  12. What fun classes you signed up for and beautiful stitching on your project, as well as your daughter's. Finn as usual is his delightful self!

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  13. Glad you were able to take advantage of classes at QuiltCon! Your hand stitching is beautiful. I think I need to do a sampler of some sort! Your circles are fabulous!

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  14. How fun to still take classes during these weird times. I loved seeing what you learned and practiced with...thanks for sharing. I especially enjoy seeing the embroidery and cross stitch. I joined Sarah's group for the Grasshopper project and found her videos excellent.

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  15. So much fun in this post, I don't even know where to start! Love the "petal", the colors are gorgeous! Your Xstitch is really coming along too and your daughter's embroidery is looking good too. I never thought about using embroidery stitches for quilting. That has given me something to think about. What else is there to say about Finn --- Lol!!!

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