The reason I haven't blogged very well for the past couple of weeks is all this woman's fault!
Two weeks ago I went to a quilting class taught by this woman, Karen Stone. I have admired her quilts for years and when I got the chance to actually take a class from her, I was thrilled! And she didn't disappoint!
She is known in the quilting world for her New York Beauty quilts; specifically the one in the photo with her. New York Beauty quilt blocks consist of all those spiky points and lots of contrasting patterns and colors in the fabrics. The technique for accomplishing straight, non-chopped-of points is paper foundation piecing. That is where the pattern is drawn on a piece of paper and then you actually sew the fabric right on the paper following the printed lines. It is such a fun technique. Karen brought along with her probably 20 of her most well known quilts and they are even more stunning in real life. I was totally blown away. She has such an artistic take and a creative eye for color and design. She is extremely inspiring yet her class was about the most non-stressful quilting class I have ever taken.
The quilt that she taught is called "The Happy Rick Rack Quilt". Here is a small portion of her quilt. She has done her quilt in kind of retro, vintage, 50's & 60's fabrics. She has embellished each block with rick rack, hence the title. These fabrics are not my favorite but I love the contrast and the combinations and the movement and interest it provides in the overall affect.
So here is what I have put together so far. Each block seems to be taking me about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to put together. I initially had a really hard time deciding what colors I wanted to go with. After visiting MANY quilt shops, I came across that background fabric that has been my "inspiration piece" -- specifically, what I have used to pick all my colors and fabrics to match (or contrast with). If you click on the photo you will get a better look at all the patterns that I have going on. The white circles pinned to many of the blocks are the centers that I am going to wait until I get all the blocks done to choose those fabrics. The original quilt has 32 blocks in it and is a bed size but I think I want to do a wallhanging size so I'm only going to have 18 blocks in my version.
So there you go... that is my excuse for getting nothing none but boy, I'm having a good time!
3 comments:
Beautiful! Paper piecing is addicting. I especially love the very small intricate pieces you can do with it. I fell in love with Carol Doak's paper piecing pattern books several years ago and ended up teaching classes at my church using her patterns. I converted quite a few people to paper piecing!
On another note - have you heard if Heidi's paper pack is going nationwide at Costco?
Sounds like this is your introduction to paper piecing. You'll be hooked. I think it is magical once you figure which side of the fabric faces up. The pattern reminds me of how cartoons used to portray how one feels when one crashes the ceiling while bouncing down low ceilinged stairways. It will be an action quilt. You've had a great couple of sewing weeks, well deserved.
Your Quilt looks Amazing in the close up shot...Gorgeous B/G..Love the blocks...Great Job!!
saw your link on Heidi's blog then realized you are also a Patchworker..Great!!
cheers
maree
(down under)
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