Mystery Quilt Update

We are up to week 7 of my Mystery Quilt evening course tonight so I thought it was a good time to share the quilt's progress so far.

I shared the first couple of blocks in posts earlier this year and explained how offering this class back in December (when we launched the term) had given me a couple of extra months to plan a new intermediate patchwork course. This was of course completely dependent on my students having faith in my design abilities as they had nothing to go on when they booked this (luckily they trust me!)!

Here is a re-cap of the first 'snail's trail' block and the first block I made, top right. This ended up as block 4 as I thought students needed a bit of a 'run at it'!

So the bottom left 'shooting star' block became week 2.

And this 'sawtooth checkerboard' was number 3. Yes I have to keep coming up with names for the blocks too - not my strong point!

The idea is that we make a block in class and then at home students 're-mix' the block any way they like for their second block (giving us 16 blocks at the end). Here is my re-mix of number 3. So far the students have all amazed and impressed me with their imaginative re-mixes!

Here is my re-mix of number 4, except this is actually the original block 'storm at sea' and the first version was my remix (keep up at the back!). I have been using EQ7 for some of these blocks (the ones with FPP templates) and am finding this software really useful as I get better at it.

I have also become increasingly fascinated by this block and the way the diamond shapes give the optical illusion of curves. I have just finished a whole quilt with some of these same elements for a magazine. I can't wait to share it here but publication isn't until the end of May!

Block 5 was a mini Lone Star. Each week the blocks are getting more challenging for my class. But they are totally up for it and are rising to the challenge with no complaints!

I thought this block had limited options for re-mixing so didn't really try anything for my second one (except switching the background from light to dark). But then one of my students astounded me by rotating each of the corners 180 degrees (and making each corner have a different background) to make a totally different block!

This same student, Mags, is actually making 4 different blocks each week (for a giant quilt!) and is really shining with her different re-mixes, as are all my students. One of the most wonderful (and surprising) things about teaching is how much you constantly learn from your students!

This is block 6 and another from EQ7. They call this 'morning star' and it is all FPP and therefore quite time consuming. But I love it!

I wasn't sure how the mixed light and dark background was really going to work for the re-mixed block but actually it is my favourite block so far.

It's quite hard coming up with ideas for new blocks each week so I have talked the students into designing their own blocks for the last class.
I thought a really fun last class would be to let the students design their own blocks! I think they have acquired enough confidence and knowledge of techniques through this quite rigorous course to give it a go under my tutelage.

But that still leaves week 7 tonight. Carrying forward my 'each week more challenging than the last' mantra we are really going for it this week with a double New York Beauty type block which I adapted from an EQ7 block (there was actually even more detail in the original!) called 'Rolling Wheel'.

It is ridiculously laborious! I managed to make a quarter of the block last week to show them and I feel like it has taken me all week to finish it! And it is very far from perfect!

Poor Mags, can she really make 4 of these??!! So I am thinking I will offer an easier alternative as well. I have a block up my sleeve that I was going to use for my 'design your own block' week (yes, of course I forgot that I will need a block anyway to finish the quilt myself *sigh*).

I may also manage another easier 'curved piecing' block before the class tonight - I have a few hours to spare! Maybe this Mystery Quilt wasn't such a great idea after all...

Hopefully I will be back relatively soon with a whole finished quilt to share!

New Bedford Disappearing Nine Patch

I have a bit of a backlog of stuff to share over here which hasn't been helped by the longest period of dark, miserable winter days I can remember which makes decent photography very difficult!

Finally we had a bit of frosty brightness and I managed to get a few shots of this Disappearing Nine Patch quilt I made for a new evening course at myBearpaw Studio.

I finished this just in time for our open weekend at the beginning of December. Then I went on my hols toTenerife (seems SO long ago now!) and then it was Christmas and so I am only just getting round to telling you about this new class now (it starts a week on Wednesday!).

No sales pitch here as the class filled up in that first weekend (though there are places left on another class... read on!).

I used the gorgeous new Denyse Schmidt collection New Bedford, which I think is one of the best she has ever produced (and that's saying something!). I love the bright happy colours.

The background is good old Kona Snow. It's not a big quilt at 51 x 61 inches, though students will be able to make it larger if they like. The background is an extra wide fabric by Swaffing, which you will probably see quite a bit of over here as I have it in three colourways!

Amazingly my husband adores this quilt! You never really know how they will react... And he's been using it for a little extra warmth at night recently (I'm at that stage of life when I seem to be heating up at night!).

Over the (almost) 5 years I have been teaching at myBearpaw the nature of my quilting students has changed from mainly beginners to mainly intermediates, so for the first time this term we have two different intermediate evening courses and no beginner's (though we have beginner day workshops and a new evening course starts after Easter!).

Our second evening course is a Mystery Quilt!! That's right I didn't have enough time to make this before I launched the classes!! And thanks to Sheila for that excellent teacher's cheat ;)

But of course the class starts in a couple of weeks so I need to get planning it now and have produced the first block...

This is a version of Storm at Sea and may not be the first block we actually make (we might need a more gentle intro!). It's made with Denyse Shmidt's up and coming collection Eastham (plus a little New Bedford), which is equally beautiful and very 1930's (would be great for Farmer's Wife). I am very lucky to already have some of this to play with :)

I have some wonderful plans for the rest of the blocks in this course. The idea is to make one in the class and a different version at home, giving you 16 blocks by the end, enough for a full size quilt (perhaps with sashing or borders). We will be playing with colour values at lot and working on many different techniques, and hopefully you trust me to design a lovely finished quilt for you! 

I have just 2 places left - would you like to join me (providing you are local obviously!)??

All the details are here and check out all our classes here - still places left on lots of our day classes!

New Workshops for the Autumn!

We've just launched our Autumn Term prospectus at myBearpaw Craft Studio!

I've been very busy over the last few weeks making some new class samples, and feeling quite festive despite it being July (not that you'd know it as we have had the most atrocious weather this summer in Scotland - it's just starting raining again as I type!!).

The one I struggled most with was this Christmas Tree Skirt. First of all I tried out a patchwork Dresden wedge type idea. This proved way too hard for a class (and too hard for me!), and I have now accidentally made a  Christmas place mat with my failed samples (photo to follow in a future post).

Looking around for inspiration I encountered the pattern that Brioni Jenkins had made for Fat Quarterly a few years back. This had houses around the edge and small stars in the centre and was machine appliqued. I realised this was too much work for a day class, but then I remembered the ticker tape quilts that were all the rage a few years back and this cot quilt I had made to sell in the shop...

And so this Tree Skirt has been made using this quick, easy 'glue and FMQ' method. And it worked really well! But I must say a huge thanks to Brioni for the initial inspiration. I hope my design doesn't look too much like her original!

Next up is a new Crochet Garland, this time for Christmas. I started by crocheting poinsettias...

I had a few goes at this and got it right with my third attempt, that's the flowers on the right hand side, one flower was outright rejected. After the class I plan to post the pattern for this so look out for it sometime in late November!

Next up holly leaves. I found an excellent pattern on Attic 24 which really couldn't be bettered so these were all made with this.

The mistletoe pattern was pretty easy to make up. I added pretty pearly buttons for berries on all the leaves.

And lastly snowflakes. Again I turned to Attic 24 for my first try at these, and then made the rest up. I wanted them to each be different like actual snowflakes.

And here is the finished garland!

Lastly I have designed a new embroidery on felt for a hot water bottle cover.
I wanted to make this quite a simple design so it wasn't too daunting a project for a beginner, or for anyone really.

I like using felt for embroidery as you don't need a hoop and when finished you have a more versatile material than linen.
But it can stretch at openings, so my little tip is to sew ribbon to the raw edges as you can see on the back of the cover below, which reinforces it as well as looking pretty :)

All our workshops old and new are one our website here. 

We even have Karen Lewis coming back up in November to teach two full days of screen printing! Better be quick if you want a place on one of these though!

15% off workshops at Simply Solids!

Including mine!

There are still places left on my Cathedral Window workshop at Simply Solids in Huddersfield on Saturday 13th June, and now you can get 15% off if you book any of their workshops by May 18th! Just use code class15 at checkout!!

The photo above was taken of our current shop window. I love how well this CW cushion goes with my Wool-Eater blanket!

It would be lovely to see some of my bloggy friends at the class and I know there are lots of Modern Quilters in the Leeds area - so what are you waiting for guys?!