Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild Workshops

I had the pleasure to spent the last three days with the Quilt Guild from Ann Arbor.

It is always fun to find quilters that are willing to think outside the box and explore different materials to be included in their art  other than fabric.

They chose two workshops: Instant Paper-Cloth and Applique with Paper and Fabric. Also my Lecture *The Odd Couple-Paper and Fabric in Quilts*

Even though this was a virtual event we felt the good energy, working all together from the comfort of our own home.

I am grateful  for this experience.

CRISS CROSS PAINT & CLOTH

 2 THREE-HOUR CLASSES OR 1 SIX HOUR CLASS

$ 700 (group or guild price) 

VIA ZOOM OR IN PERSON

Come and play with artists’ crayons (wax pastels), squares and hand embroidery to create an irregular cross-pattern quilt block.

We will learn how to use artists’ crayons on cloth and how to choose different color combinations. Then we will fuse the squares in place and twist the block to create unmatching embroidery stitches.

This workshop is for all levels. Please contact Margarita via email (margascrafts@gmail.com) for details

*NEW* Workshop Mixed Media Graffiti

I will be teaching two *NEW* ONLINE workshops at Spring Quilt Festival on April 30th and May 1st.

You can learn more about *Criss Cross Paint and Cloth* workshop HERE . International students are welcome since there is not kit for this class!

I hope you can join me and share your day doing art with me :)

*NEW* Workshop *Criss, Cross, Paint and Cloth*

 I am offering a *NEW* Workshop *Criss, Cloth, Paint and Cloth*

Come and play with artists" crayons (wax pastels), squares and hand embroidery to create an irregular cross-pattern quilt block.

We will learn how to use artists" crayons on cloth and how to choose different color combinations. Then we will fuse the squares in place and twist the block to create unmatching embroidery stitches.

Temperature Quilt with *Paper + Paint and Cloth*

After 365 blocks each sized 2 1/2 inches, my temperature quilt is finally done!  Finished size 33" by 62". 

Here are the details.

When I read about the call from Modern Guild to create an exhibit of temperature quilts for QuiltCon 2022 I started to investigate. After reading and seeing beautiful quilts I decided to make one. Of course I had to put a twist on it. I challenged myself on doing a pieced quilt with paper + paint and cloth.

I found this chart and began mixing my paints to match the colors. I didn't use all and modify some.

After the paint was ready I cut out the little squares of white fabric and INC (infused newsprint cloth). I purposefully omitted newspapers from the year 2020. Needless to say we've all had a rough past year and I simply did not want to include negative news.

I then drew the screens to complete each block. It took me about a week to come up with the final designs. 

I worked with 14 blocks at a time to be organized and not get confused.

The blocks were trimmed and sewn together. Because the blocks were painted I couldn't put pins to aid me in my task. Pins would have left a nice hole mark on the fabric. Instead I used clips shown below - they worked wonderful.

After sewing 14 blocks I started to assemble the quilt by putting the rows together until the quilt top was done.

 

For the backing fabric I wanted to record the city and the year of this temperature quilt. Tiles were painted with the letters of my city which is Collierville and the year 2020.

The three layers were put together and quilted in my home sewing machine. I had to be careful and go very, very slow since the quilt had been painted and infused with newspaper. Mistakes couldn't be made. Talk about pressure!!

After the three layers were sewn together it was time to finish with a binding. I love stripes so I painted stripes using the same paint colors I used on the blocks.

Here is a close-up of the binding in place.

A few other close-ups...

We are at the end of January, it's winter time where I live. Because the paper-cloth is washable and pliable I can use my new quilt to keep me warm! 

I am glad I challenged myself to create something outside of my comfort zone. And do you want to know something I discovered along the way? I love piecing!!! :)

I am linked to      http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com and  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Craft Napa 2021

I taught at Craft Napa three workshops: Surprise Printing on the Go, Instant Paper-Cloth and Hand appliqué with Paper and Fabric. It was fun to meet people from all over. Hard work but lots of fun. My heart is full. I am delighted that I could find kindred spirits who are willing to experiment with paper and cloth or unusual painting techniques. Thank you for letting me share my art with all of you!

*New* Year, *New* challenges

It's a New Year! This time of the year always makes me reflect and think where I am in my life and how this influences my art.

It is always part of a story in progress. I try to use materials in a different way, a way that stretches me in different directions.

I love to challenge myself. And this year will be no different. With all that is happening in the world my need for art has substantially increased.

Currently I am working on a *pieced* quilt, yes it is my first time working with little pieces of fabric. The next picture  shows one third of the quilt. It still is a work in progress. It is composed of 365 little squares. If you do a search online about *Temperature quilts* you will see hundreds of beautiful designs; mine is made from paper, paint and cloth!

The picture above shows a finished pillow based on my workshop *Surprise Printing on the Go* -a portable painting technique.

Do you feel the need to do more art as well?

*Sheer Paper-Cloth* Ornaments

*Bell Tents*

On the 15th year of the ANNIVERSARY issue of quilting Arts Magazine , under my article entitled *Sheer Paper-Cloth*, I demonstrate how to make a pliable and soft material that is easy to sew by hand or by machine. It was also demonstrated on Quilting Arts TV - episode 2106.

 

This technique is good not only for making art quilts, but also to make ornaments to decorate the house, especially now that we are in the Holiday season.

 

Once you have your paper-cloth ready, follow the next instructions to make a "bell tent":
 

1) Cut one piece from Sheer Paper-Cloth and iron interfacing in the back.







2) Draw and cut the pattern below from copy paper.

3) Trace the pattern on the right side of the Sheer Paper-Cloth (I usually use a mechanical pencil for this task but for this demonstration I used a black marker). Make sure you leave 1/2 inch of bottom border.



4) Cut circles from the contrast color areas of the Sheer Paper-Cloth and paste them with glue as shown

 

5) Select a dark color of 28w Aurifil cotton thread and load your sewing machine. Choose a free motion foot and drop the feed dogs.

 

6) Sew on the 1/2 inch space you left at the bottom of your traced shapes as shown in the picture below to go from shape to shape.

 

7) Select Aurifil Lana 12w thread for your hand embroidery. I love the bold marks these threads leave with simple stitches.

 

8) Once finished, cut around each shape.

 

9) Sew from the top dot to the straight edge. When you are ready to sew the third piece fold the opposite side as shown below (side view).

 

10) (Top view) You can see below the left side already sewn on both sides. It is folded to make room for sewing the right and third side.

 

11) After having finished sewing with your machine, each top side should look like this. Starting and/or stopping at the dots. Leave a small opening.

 

12) Cut a 14 inch long piece of thread. Tie up a jingle bell with a knot in the middle.

 

13) With the help of a tweezer pass both threads from the inside through the middle hole. It helps to rest the jingle bell at the edge, as shown in the picture, to have the right length of the thread.

 

14) Insert a little button on the top. Make a doble knot and apply a drop of rubber cement to the back.

 

15) Now that you know how to make one *Bell Tent*, why not make more and share them with your family and friends to spread some cheer throughout the season?

 

I am linked to: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com