There is something very relaxing about the feel of fabric in your hands as it transforms into a pieced block. Geared with the beginner in mind, discover the joy of hand piecing in this basic beginning class.
Learn how to make hand piecing templates, how to mark and cut fabric, and how to work your way through block construction.
Proficiency: This class is for those who want to try their hand at hand piecing. No prior hand sewing experience needed.
One of the things I love about doing scrap quilts is that I learn something new about fabric combinations with each quilt I do, and this quilt is no exception.
Using a wide variety of fabrics, it is the perfect pattern for cleaning out your stash of fabrics. The construction technique for this quilt contains a bit of magic! While it has the look of multiple tiny pieces, construction techniques allow you to employ piecing tricks with larger pieces of fabric that transform into a lovely mosaic look without having to actually cut a multitude of pieces.
Using four patch blocks in the construction of this nine patch variation will really allow you to fine tune your piecing and fabric selection skills.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
This whimsical workshop combines precision piecing with fusible applique. Fine tune your piecing skills as you create the checkerboard center portion of the quilt. Learn fusible applique techniques to turn the checkerboard into a wall hanging that is packed with charm. And to top it off, the quilt is embellished with flower-shaped buttons and rick rack. What could be cuter?
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
This full day workshop starts with the how-to of Fabric Selection, covering concepts on how to combine a wide variety of fabrics to create a cohesive scrap quilt, continuing on with precision machine piecing techniques that result in cutaways that can cleverly be used to make a second quilt out of the leftovers.
That's two quilts in one workshop! What a treat!
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Inspired by reading the Little House series as a child, I searched for years to find the Doves in the Window pattern that Laura Ingalls Wilder told of making for her wedding quilt. Her quilt did not survive the fire that destroyed their home early on in their marriage, and there were several patterns called Doves in the Window. The only clues I had as to which block Laura made were bits of decriptions she mentioned in her stories.
A visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder site in Burr Oak, IA sent me down a path that has lead to what I believe may have been Laura's wedding quilt pattern. This is a full day Skills workshop rather than a Project workshop. You will learn how to draft the pattern, create templates, and use a combination of machine and hand piecing to create this intriguing Doves in the Window block.
The emphasis of this class is to teach drafting and precision piecing skills rather than teaching a project. Students will, however, receive the pattern and directions for making the quilt shown.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Just because this is a scrap quilt, it doesn't mean there isn't a plan! This class makes the most of your scraps while teaching valuable fabric combination skills in the process. A variety of different center blocks gives this Log Cabin quilt a fresh new look. It is machine piecing at its best!
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Cheery colors pop in this fun version of the Mexican Cross block. Not only is it a great pattern for using up lots of different fabrics in one quilt, but the construction technique cleverly creates a bonus quilt out of the cutaways.
This complex looking pattern is a snap when you make it with my shortcut techniques.
Proficiency: All levels. Be comfortable with your sewing machine.
Class Handout Fee
Mystery Quilts are great fun! Students don't know what the finished pattern will be until they have worked their way through the construction process. Class starts out with them receiving directions for Step 1. They don't get Step 2 until Step 1 is completed. Step 3 comes at the completion of Step 2, and so on. I run my Mystery Quilt classes a little differently. Based on my two-for-one idea for scrap quilts, the construction techniques I have you use create cutaways that can be used to make a bonus quilt.
To add to the fun, students are divided into two groups. Everyone starts out with the same Step 1 and Step 2, but by Step 3, they begin doing different things with the units they are making, resulting in each group making a totally different design. Each group has their own bonus quilt with the cutaways they have created. That is a total of 4 quilts in one class!
Students receive instructions for all 4 quilts by the end of the day. There is a real energy created as students work along to get to their next steps. There are seven different Mystery Quilt offerings to choose from.
The quilts done in my first two Mystery workshops are found in my book Scrap Bonanza 2. and are therefore no longer offered as classes. The Mystery Quilt options offered here are unpublished and can only be found in my classes. A 'frequently asked questions' sheet on Mystery Quilts can be found here.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
I love patterns that allow me to use lots of different fabrics, and this one is no exception. It is one of the speediest blocks to put together I have ever done, making it ideal for a 3 hour class. You will precut some of your fabrics prior to class in preparation of exchanging fabric with other students to help supplement your fabric selection. While deceptively simple, there are tricks you will want to know that help make this block so much fun to piece. In addition to clever construction tips, you will also learn the handy formula for how to set blocks on point, a skill you will use over and over again in future quiltmaking.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Narrow strips of fabric combine to create a tapestry with richness and depth. While it has the look of a paper pieced quilt, the construction process has none of the fussiness of paper piecing. I find the clever techniques that transform fabric strips and squares into this pattern are much easier to accomplish than paper piecing, and still give you the desired accuracy to create a captivating design.
Be careful! Once you start, you won't want to stop!
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Applique combines with piecing in this one day workshop. Joyous colors combine to create Prairie Lilies, constructed in my two-for-one technique. Piecing in this method creates cutaways that are ready to go into a bonus quilt, so you are actually making two quilts at the same time. Make use of every bit of fabric. It is such fun! Students start with how to choose and combine fabrics, giving valuable fabric selection skills that can apply to your future quiltmaking. This is followed with my two-for-one piecing method, then adorn with applique, utilizing a very nifty stem technique. In addition to the Prairie Lilies quilt, students will also be making a bonus quilt out of the cutaways.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Let Laura Ingalls Wilder be your inspiration in this extended class where we will adapt the patterns found in my book Quilting with Laura: Patterns Inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilders' Little House on the Prairie Series to machine piecing techniques, and arrange them in a sampler. While the book focuses on hand piecing as Laura did, this workshop translates the patterns into machine techniques for today's quilters. It is more than a matter of just adding seam allowances to the templates. I used this as an opportunity to round up a wide range of machine piecing techniques that are much speedier than cutting individual pieces. This class covers how to choose and put fabrics together for a sampler quilt, machine piecing techniques for nine different patterns, and how to join together blocks that are different sizes when making a sampler quilt. This is two full days of instruction.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Sometimes it is nice to have a small project to work on, rather than a large quilt. This table runner whips up quickly, and is such fun to do!
This is one of my favorite Star blocks, and is deceptively simple to create.
The construction includes slick tricks that allow you to create an intricate looking block without ever having to actually work with tiny pieces.
Transform three sizes of squares into the Rolling Star block, without ever having to cut a tiny triangle.
Cutting the required squares prior to class will allow you to complete the individual blocks during the three hour class session.
Proficiency: All levels.
Be familiar with your sewing machine.
Class Handout Fee
Curves, ever so enticing, can be tricky to piece. Welcome to Spot On, where curves are created in a whole new way!
There is not one single curved pieced seam in this quilt. Try my revolutionary way to create curves that can be done in half the time of traditional piecing and is much more accurate!
Give it a try. I think you will love my new method for doing curves as much as I do!
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
How would you answer these questions:
New to strip piecing?
Want to know the right way to use your rotary cutting tools?
Need a quick quilt that has style?
Need a great pattern for a group project?
Want to use your scraps without it looking like leftovers?
If you said yes to any of these questions, this class is perfect for you.
Stacked Bricks was such a popular class that it led to the publication of my
first Scrap Bonanza book,
appearing on the cover. While the book is now out of print, the class is back
by popular demand, complete with the bonus quilt made from the
leftover pieces of the first quilt. This is a pattern you will make over
and over again.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
Creating a scrap quilt is tons of fun. Tinker Toys is just one of the many possibilities of what can come out of strips of fabric. Class starts with how to choose and combine fabrics, giving valuable fabric selection skills that can apply to your future quiltmaking projects. If choosing fabrics has always been difficult for you, this class will show you how to decide just what fabric goes where to create a quilt that really glows.
Proficiency: All levels
Class Handout Fee
To receive information on fees, travel arrangements, and scheduling, e-mail me at wihalpin@mwt.net, or write to me at:
708 Viking View Drive
Reedsburg, WI 53959