Games Quilters Play

I made this quilt as a sampler of some free form piecing techniques. Its a fun quilt to make, and especially good if you are searching for a way to "free up" your creative side. There are; wavey nine patches, x's and o's, string pieces and wonky flying geese. The parts can be put together in many different ways, and each quilt in the workshop is "one of a kind".
I called it Games Quilters Play, because it reminded me of a Parcheesi game board, and its all about play.
The fabric story for this one is stripes and dots, either black on a coloured background or colours on a black background.

Indigo And Iron Feathered Star

I love this traditional pattern, the feathered star. It is so dynamic.
I made this quilt with fabrics that are either naturally dyed, or go with the natural dye colours. The fabrics are a mixture of floral, Japanese, shibori, stripes, toilles, ikat, Dutch Java prints, contemporary prints and Indian handprints, among others. To make this quilt, one needs a good eye for the exact 1/4" seam, as there are many small half square triangles to fit together, some partial seams and an occasion or two for eight seams to converge in the centre of a block.
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Radiant Nine Patch

This is a quilt made from a pattern in the book Tradition With A Twist. I paired unlikely fabrics together for a different effect than the one shown in the book. In this quilt there is a romantic scenic print, some plaids, contemporary dots, a sentimental floral print and an Asian print, with the colours ranging from grey and purple through to pink and gold.
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more log cabin quilts

These are more examples of what you can do with a log cabin block if you choose to push and stretch.
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Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls is a popular class that involves a little fabric and a lot of imagination. Participants use improvisational techniques to make "dollies" from bits and scraps of fabric, each little person arriving in the world different than any other. A row of paper dolls holding hands across a quilt can be evocative of childhood, community, a chorus line or can simply be a fun signature for a child's bed quilt. The simpler the dolls, the faster the quilt top goes. Some folks go all out on personalizing their people, but may end up with only a pillow to show for the day's work.
A row of paper dolls can find a place in a row sampler quilt, or can be the focus of a theme quilt.

Quilt Workshops

My new favourite quilt class to teach is called "Not Just Another Log Cabin". In the class, we spend the early hours experimenting and inventing new ways and new colour arrangements for log cabin blocks. The second part of the workshop is spent "running" with a favourite idea, or result of the experimentation. All quilts made by participants are unique and self designed.
The quilt pictured here is called "Hi!" and was inspired by a beautiful striped ikat textile from Guatemala. The quilt is a sort of ultra-enlarged version of the inspiration fabric, and was constructed in large stripes to emphasize the linear feel of the original. It is made using the basic log cabin form, a central fabric surrounded by strips, or "logs" to make blocks.