Birdie Jacket at Kimberton Craft Market Sept 3rd

One of a several wearable art jackets/coats/tunics that will be available at Kimberton Craft Market on Saturday Sept 3rd. 

 

Lifelong Learning

I love learning new things and for the past few months been taking  classes at Seamless Sewing Arts. The teacher/owner is fabulous and so much has been learned about sewing in general, which is being applied elsewhere. 

Until recently I've avoided activities that require measuring or protective gear. But I took a basic quilt making class which used various styles of rulers and measuring and learned how to do these kinds of designs. This was way out of my comfort zone but moving the mind in new ways is all good. Looking at these pictures right now it is hard to believe that I actually made these.

The next class was learning how to make curves.

The current class is Improvisational Quilting where you don't measure much. Yay! Cut, sew and go.  Homework assignment is to create a bunch of "fabric" with techniques learned in class: joining fabrics together that you will then cut out and resew to make pieces that will eventually be made into a finished wall hanging. 

Stripes are a foundational design element that can be cut and used in all kinds of ways and so working on that now. Just sewing strips of fabric together over and over and over again.

These below were actually made with some cut stripes that were sewn together and then cut and sewn together again to make the checkerboard on the left. Plain strips were added to cut and sewn stripes on the right.

Lately I've been painting a series of birds and thinking that the designs would make wonderful hooked rugs! So I am headed out to Lancaster County PA next weekend to learn how to do that at the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsman.