FVTC Sewing Expo 2011 Review

Gorgeous Wooden buttons from Garner Creek Workshop. Brian Carney is the wood worker. These are destined as closures on new journals. This is the only thing I purchased at The 10th Fox Valley Technical College's Sewing Expo.


On Friday, March 25, I took an excellent day-long workshop lead by Chris Lynn Kirsch. It was called Beyond Meandering, and offered a number of free-motion filler designs. The picture shows just a small part of the quilt sandwich I filled up at the workshop. I've got some new favorites -- like the waves / punk waves (aka suns) and octopus flowers. Some designs I didn't think I would like, but they turned out to be easy and fun : squares and triangles. Some designs were old favorites of mine (stars, loop-di-loops). These are the ones I can do in my sleep, and needed to bust out of my comfort zone. This class moved me ahead in that respect. Chris Lynn Kirsh's motto is to have fun with it. If you choose a design you like to sew, you'll have fun and it will come out in the finished product. Not everything we make needs to be prize-winning. When I took my first free-motion quilting class a few years ago with Renee Shedivy, I felt like the whole universe opened up to me. I am so glad I took that step forward. It has been a whole new world--and not one that many quilters forge into.

I really appreciated having the time in class 1) to see new free-motion fillers and 2) to have the time to stitch them out and practice them. I love what Leah Day is doing with 365 Days of Free-motion Filler Designs, but I have to admit, I don't take the time to practice them. Maybe I should change that--now that I have a couple of quilt sandwiches ready to go! There's lots of inspiration out there ...

In the afternoon, we could bring quilt-tops and the class brainstormed possibilities for quilting these "blank slates." I brought in Black Jack and Red Spice and got some great ideas for what to do with them. I guess I"ll have to make an appointment for some time on the Tin Lizzie at It's Sew Rite!

Tip of the Year : Chris Lynn Kirsch recommended using Press'n Seal (I think you can find it with the plastic wrap in the grocery store) and kid's washable markers (Crayola) for auditioning quilting designs and marking quilts. She says you can see through it, and you can sew through it, too. It pulls right off like Golden Threads Quilt paper. I'll have to try try that ...

Chris also recommended a classic book on quilting by Lee Cleland, called Quilting Makes the Quilt. In this amazing book packed with pictures, the author makes the same quilt several times, just so we can see the differences in quilting--and what a difference the quilting makes! I borrowed a copy from my local public library, and have been studying it. This book is now on my Wish List to purchase. It's out of print, and available copies are expensive now.

On Saturday at the Sewing Expo, we go to 5 1-hour workshops interspersed with walking the vendor booths, the quilt show, and lunch .... It's a full, exhausting, and inspirational day. I attended 2 lectures by Weeks Ringle (I took a class with her last year and greatly enjoyed what an interesting person she is beyond quilting ...). Her first lecture was about auditioning fabric. Her basic message was not to be afraid to mix and match colors, scales, styles, fabric lines. A second lecture was about "Quilting with Contrast."

The last class of the day was called "Eat, Pray, Love to Sew" about the benefits of having a hobby, and friendships and taking care of ourselves by eating right and exercising. At one point, the speaker (a nurse) asked if anyone had entered the competition, and how different it feels to make a quilt for someone special vs. for a show. I entered 2 quilts into the Quilt Show (Cinnamon & Sugar and Millifiore). I have to admit that this show had grown over the years--and so has the competition. I won first place there in 2006 for The Oliver Quilt. I never enter a show expecting to win--It's always a surprise to be honored and recognized for my work. The pieces I entered in the show this year were made with someone in mind, not the show. Hence, there's a different focus and intensity. I'm happy with my work, even if the judges didn't seem to notice it. You have to put things into perspective --- Only a handful of people win the prizes, and there are a lot of talented people out there! It's such a great opportunity to see some amazing work ... ;-)

Free-Motion Quilting with Joanie Z. Poole

2 days of live classes and demos, vendors, and Quilts, Quilts, Quilts at the Fox Valley Tech's Sewing Expo.

The Friday Class :
Diane Gaudynski (the Free-Motion Goddess) was not able to attend due to a family emergency. (Our thoughts are with you, Diane!) Joanie Zeier Poole filled in. JZP was very knowledgeable and did a nice job with only 48 hours notice. She has 2 books (1 on patterns; 1 on design) out, and a 3rd (on navigation) due out next fall.

She brought some fantastic heirloom quilts!

Joannie Z. Poole has a degree is graphic design. She has discovered that she loves designing and teaching. She gave some really good advice on a number of topics.

On Batting :
The Hobbs people gave her some sample squares of Hobbs Heirloom Wool Batting to share with us. She uses this wool batting and gets a wonderful Trapunto-like puff with the wool batts without adding an additional layer of poly batting.

I realized I could have brought my batting samples to continue work on the many sample squares yet to go ...

She also said we could buy directly from Hobbs for wholesale prices. They require a minimum order of $100--That seems more than reasonable! I used to be able to get Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly batts from JoAnne's, but they don't seem to carry them anymore. I've really been wanting to FEEL the new silk batt from Hobbs before I go ahead and order one. Perhaps in Chicago, I'll be able to touch one ... I'll have to look into the buy direct option.

Joanie spent most of the morning lecturing and showing us beautiful samples of her work. She really is an artist! We really didn't get to much hands-on free-motion quilting until the afternoon. She had a lot to say about grids and how to mark them, and navigate the stitching of the basic grid.


Then the task was to mark every other square and stipple to make a checkered grid. I have discovered that I really don't care to stipple (much less micro-stipple). It takes too long to cover too little space. I get tired physically and bored mentally doing the background stippling. It makes me much more interested in DiJanne Cevaal's 72 Ways Not to Meander or Stipple. Then I started to play with other patterns ...

Here, I used a light green thread on a deep purple. The backing fabric is a light purple. The light green seems to look better on the back (pictured).



When I got to practicing the feather plume, I switched to an olive green Aurafil thread. This looks much better on the deep purple, and not so good on the lilac backing fabric. I guess that was part of the lesson--thread colors and the difference it makes, without matching thread colors too closely to the fabric, or contrasting so much that all my mistakes appear.

Sewing Expo 2008

Fox Valley Technical College announced their program for the 2008 Sewing Expo.
March 14-15, 2008 in Oshkosh, WI.


2 days of wonderful workshops and demonstrations for a very reasonable price!

It's always a hard choice to figure out what classes to attend--because you can't see everything on the schedule. This year, my mom and Aunt Rosita (and a few of their friends) are also planning to attend. So we'll be able to cover more ground and compare notes afterwards.

This year, Diane Gaudynski is on the schedule for a free-motion quilting workshop. I'm hoping I'll be able to take the 1-day class with this Master. I sent in my registration already ... ;-)