Time for a Change!

It has been ages since I posted to this blog--shame on me! I have been concentrating on my other blog RabidQuilter3.blogspot.com which I use to post my quilting progress each and every Monday. Why? Because of the entertaining blog www.patchworktimes.com by Judy Laquidara, a wonderful quilter from Missouri (who's moving to Texas as I write). She posts to her blog 2-4 times a day (!) but her Monday blog encourages quilters to post what's on their design walls and boy, do they! At least 65 quilters from around the world post photos and comments about what they're currently working on. It's like going to a quilt show each Monday and is very inspiring. I encourage you to take a look at it.

This brings me to my topic for today: Change. I found a quote last weekend by Martha Stewart on the occasion of her 70th birthday (!) which was August 3rd. 

"When you're through changing, you're through"  

In this world of rapid technological advances, I see the older friends I have being left behind because they won't take the time to learn to use a cell phone, to text, or learn basic computer skills, even email! How will they keep in touch with their friends and family--their grandkids!--who have learned them, and how will they live without the information available from the vast and wondrous gift that is the internet? Oh, sure, there are problems associated with the World Wide Web but the benefits are spectacular! You virtually have libraries, atlases, museums and universities right in your lap! Every question answered in a few minutes, photos and scenes from every inch of this world. 

One of my favorite things to do is scour quilters' blogs. There are so many creative people out there it boggles my mind! And U-Tube videos? You can find a tutorial for every quilt technique you can imagine. 

How would I ever have gotten the inspiration for this challenge quilt I made without the internet? My quilting group played "Three Little Words" and mine turned out to be aqua, the queen of hearts and fireworks. Cruising through Google images helped me come up with my queen and a mention of Swarovski crystals sealed the fireworks plan (though you can't see them very well in the photo. . . ). I plan on trying new things and challenging myself for a long, long time before I'm through!

Classes For You!

After quilting for about 18 years and working in a quilt shop for 5 years, the next obvious step was teaching quilting classes. And you know what? It's my favorite part of quilting! Getting to know other quilters and sharing tricks, tips and, most of all short-cuts with them, is a pure joy.

A great stash-buster class is "What's in the Box?" This is a fun way to use up the novelty fabric in your stash to make a popular "eye-spy" quilt or a theme quilt. You can choose to make it as small or as large as you want too.

"Woven Silhouettes" is a technique class that's mostly 'no sew'. Using Anna Faustino's beautiful book "Simply Stunning Woven Quilts" you'll learn how to weave and fuse a smashing background for any image you'd like to feature. Apply one of the silhouette patterns I'll bring or use one of your own then add borders and you'll have a lovely wall-hanging.

 
Turn the selvages you might ordinarily throw away into a useful charge-cord travel carrier or iPad or e-Reader case with my newest class, "Salvage Your Selvages"



"One-Fabric Kaleidoscope" from Maxine Rosenthal's inspiring book "One Block Wonders" is a class I've taught over 30 times. I've made 6 "Wonders" personally and have a lot of tricks for cutting, chaining the pieces, making them lie flat and designing with those amazing "blossoms" you end up with.

Contact me through this post or by email, steeledome@gmail.com, to arrange a class for your guild or a private class with your quilting buddies!