NEW!! COLLAGE TREE (1 or 2 day class)

Is there anyone who doesn't love a gnarled mature tree with all that textured bark? Learn how I create my collage trees, while using one of my patterns and a photo as your reference (pattern & photo $8.00). Learn to see value and represent depth.

In the one day class you will learn how to collage a tree using one of my patterns and a photo as your reference. In the two-day class please bring a photo of your favourite tree, and you will learn how to create your own basic pattern and then fill in your tree with collage.

Please visit the Tree Gallery of my website. Pattern choices are Standing Still, Branching Out, or Vagabond Song

lNEW!! iLIBERATED STRIP PIECING (one day class)

Liberate yourself from the shackles of precision piecing and fly by the seat of your pants! Cut this quilt entirely free-hand without a ruler and learn to piece it together without squaring your blocks. Then we'll talk about designing with these wonky blocks. Enjoy a day of free expression. Please visit my Liberated Strip Piecing Gallery for more ideas.

NEW!! LIBERATED RADIAL PIECING (one-day class)

Make a statement with this radial design that mimics a burst of light. A liberating method that lets you fly by the seat of your pants, liberated radial piecing allows you to cut and piece this work entirely free-hand without a ruler. You will be guided on how to form your strips into a radial design and appliqué it to your background to create an eye-catching composition.

IN FULL BLOOM (one or two day class)

Instructor will explain and demonstrate how she turns her close-up floral photographs into a pattern suitable for creating a fused wall quilt. In the two day class students can either use one of their own photographs to design their own quilt, or they may use a pattern that the instructor has developed from her photos. Students will learn how to construct a stunning quilt with depth and dimension. In the one-day class, students will work from instructor's patterns. Four different patterns will be available for sale at a cost of $10 each: wild rose, lily, tulip, or poppy. Visit the floral gallery of instructor's website to see samples of the flowers. At the end of the description of each quilt you can click on a link to view the photo that inspired the quilt. This will give you an idea of the quality of photo required if you are going to design your own quilt. No sewing machine required for this class.

REFLECTIONS (full day)

This quilt is all about gorgeous, luscious colour and cutting free-hand! The only measuring you will need to do is to cut your original squares of fabric and to square up your blocks at the end. You will learn how to cut blocks free-hand and mix them up. Love serendipity? Then this is the quilt for you. Just begin with a feeling of the colours you want and prepare to be surprised and delighted. There are many ways you can turn these blocks to produce different looks. The first time I used this technique was for the background blocks on my quilt called Losses (juried into CQA, Sacred Threads, and the Grand National). Later, I learned that by varying the colours and playing with the direction of the blocks, you can produce a stunning design without adding anything else!

SURFACE DESIGN TECHNIQUES FOR QUILTERS AND FIBRE ARTISTS (full day)

Would you like your work to have more depth, dimension and detail? In this class students will learn how to apply various surface design treatments to add shadows, highlights, and detail. The The first half of the class will include a demonstration on how to use a wide variety of products as well as information on where to purchase them. Products covered include: Prismacolour Artist Pencils, Caran D'Ache Neocolour II Water Soluble Wax Pastels, Shiva Paint Sticks, Tsukineko Inks, Textile paints, and Foils. During the second half of the class students will have an opportunity to experiment with these surface design products and will learn how to design and cut their own stencils from freezer paper to use with these products. Supply fee of $10 to use above products. Bring fat quarter pre-washed white cotton and fat quarter pre-washed black cotton (may also be purchased from teacher).

My Most Popular Class (and the one that launched my teaching career)!!

"BEYOND STIPPLING": FREE MOTION MACHINE QUILTING (full day)

PART I

Level: Intermediate

Prerequisite: The ability to free-motion stipple quilt by machine.

Are you in a stippling rut? Expand your repertoire of beautiful free-motion stitches! This course is designed for machine quilters who are familiar with free-motion stipple quilting, but need creative ideas to venture beyond stippling. You will take home samples of at least 20 free-motion designs that you learn in this course, including various meanderings, swirls, nested designs, leaves, flowers, and organic designs. Experiment with cotton, rayon and metallic threads. The best thing about this method of quilting is that there is no need to mark your quilt top, and nothing to wash off after.

"BEYOND STIPPLING": FREE-MOTION MACHINE QUILTING (full day)

PART II

Level: Advanced

Prerequisite: Beyond Stippling, Part I, or extensive experience free-motion quilting a wide variety of motifs.

Are you ready to take your free-motion machine quilting to even greater heights? Expand your repertoire of beautiful free-motion stitches even further! This course is designed for machine quilters who have taken my Beyond Stippling Part I class, and are comfortable moving ahead with more complex designs. You will take home samples of at least 20 more free-motion designs that you learn in this course, and we will study free-motion feathers in depth. Time will also be devoted to learning how to combine motifs.

FREE-FORM CURVES (full day or half day)

Cut curves free-hand using a rotary cutter and mat, and see how easy it is to sew them together for a truly original design. No measuring required. Looks a lot more complicated than it is! In the half-day class you will produce a sample (approximately 16" x 20") that can be used as a background for an original small quilt. Suggested companion class is "Liberated Applique" (below). In the full day class, you will produce a more substantial and more complex piece.

LIBERATED APPLIQUE (3 hours)

Liberated appliqué is a convenient technique for "painting" a picture with fabric. This method allows you to focus on creative design without being overly concerned about perfect technique. You will be cutting the pieces of your flower and your leaves free-hand with scissors, laying out the pieces until you are happy with your design, and then glue-basting them lightly into place. You will then sandwich the quilt and free-motion stitch your flowers and leaves in place. I use this technique when I have a lot of pieces to overlap and don't want the stiffness of multiple layers of fusible web. It also allows me the creative freedom to totally focus on "painting" the flower without having to worry about the technical aspect of adhering fusible to whatever part of fabric I want to use. You can create a fantasy flower from your imagination, or use pictures of flowers as inspiration. This class works well with "Free Form Curves" (above).

FLIP AND SEW CURVES (full day or half day)

Full day class: Create a fun and curvaceous quilt, either from your own design or use one of the instructor's patterns (a pair of bold Femmes Fatales OR an abstract Aurora Moon landscape). Instructor will assist students who wish to design their own pattern. While creating this piece, you will learn all about the flip and sew technique for creating curves built on a foundation of muslin. Great for using up those leftover strips and scraps. Patterns available for $8.00 each.

Half day class: Miniature quilts, using the instructor's patterns, will be completed in the half-day class. Choose from two patterns: Femme Fatale or Ocean Waves. (no cost for patterns printed on 8-1/2 x 11" paper)

FAST AND FUN FUSED DESIGNS (full day)

Create a simple and dynamic wall quilt by fusing simple flower and leaf shapes to a background. Instructor will demonstrate foolproof techniques to cut your own shapes free-hand, using scissors, a wave blade, and a regular rotary cutter. Students who prefer can draw their own shapes before cutting. An overview of basic design principles will be covered so that your work has more visual impact. Instructor will provide a demonstration on how to free-motion quilt your design. Whatever your experience or confidence level, you can take home a fast and fun fused flower garden.

INTRODUCTION TO FABRIC DYEING (LOW WATER IMMERSION) (full day)

This course is an introduction to low-water immersion dying using Procion MX fibre reactive dyes for natural fibers. Learn the basics of dyeing and the secret to my saturated colours while dyeing a 12-step colour wheel using only three parent dye colours, and then producing 4 fat quarters of multi-coloured fabric. Students will take home 16 fat quarters (total 4 meters) of dyed fabric. Instructions will be provided on rinsing and washing at home.

Supply List: · Wear or bring old clothes; · a day's worth of newspaper . 2 pails (i.e. empty kitty litter pails) · a kitty litter pan OR busboy pan OR dishpan · an empty jug (i.e. juice or milk jug, or jug from laundry detergent). Please wash residue from jug. · Several old towels or rags and a roll of paper towels All other supplies provided and included in supply fee of $20..

HAND-DYED THREADS (half day)

Take your machine quilting to a new level! Produce beautiful rainbow variegated hand-dyed threads. Many of these threads can be stitched through a Topstitch needle, but some are too thick to pass through a needle and can be used in the bobbin for "bobbin drawing" (stitching is done from the back side) or can be couched to the front of the quilt. Threads will be prepared and dyed in class. A demo and detailed instructions will be provided for rinsing and transferring thread to spools/bobbins at home. Instructor will also demonstrate and provide instructions on how these threads can be used for machine quilting.

Supply List: · Wear or bring old clothes; · a day's worth of newspaper . 2 pails (i.e. empty kitty litter pails) · a kitty litter pan OR busboy pan OR dishpan · an empty jug (i.e. juice or milk jug, or jug from laundry detergent). Please wash residue from jug. · Several old towels or rags and a roll of paper towels. All other supplies provided and included in supply fee.

INTRODUCTION TO MACHINE QUILTING (full day)

Level: Beginner

Learn the basics of machine quilting. During the first half of the course we will cover how to prepare a quilt for machine quilting, basting, battings, needles, and threads, machine tension, etc. We will learn to use the walking foot for stitching in the ditch, channel quilting, curved lines, etc. The second half of the day will be devoted primarily to free motion quilting - stippling and meandering, free motion motifs using a stencil, filling in backgrounds, etc.