I'm unpacking this morning from the NEORQC Getaway Weekend where I taught a tumbling blocks workshop using some of Marti Michell's 60 degree diamond tools and featuring the techniques from my workshop DVD, Set-In Piecing Simplified. The fifteen students cut up lots of diamonds and dove in with enthusiasm!
By the end of Saturday morning, tumbling blocks were beginning to appear on the walls!
Some worked in a large scale (4") diamond and inserted large hexagons of beautiful prints!
These two friends arrived with the same color palette unbeknownst to one another until they pulled their fabric out to cut.
The piece on the left grew into a lap robe and was almost completely set together by Sunday noon. The one on the right began as all purples but gradually expanded to include greens and then yellows.
I love this picture of the darks in different positions -- interesting how that little turn can change the look of this appealing design.
And that group of purple and green blocks on the right in the photo above morphed into this delightful mixture in the photo below. Scrappy quilts have to start somewhere so I push my students to stitch up something and get it on the work wall so they have something visual to engage their brains!
Even a simple assortment of blocks will begin to set one's mind to work imagining the possibilities.
Is there a color that's missing from this assortment of fabric -- I don't think so and yet it looks very cohesive because the style of the prints holds it together.
And doesn't this color combination just make you smile? Such a cheerful quilt based on the colors of a beautiful print that will shine through and lift the heart of the lucky person who gets this quilt.
I'll be teaching the techniques featured in Set-In Piecing Simplified during the annual NQA Quilt Show in Columbus, Ohio (May 23 - 25, 2014). I'll be teaching a Scrappy Tumbling Blocks on Friday evening. On Saturday, I'm offering an all day workshop focused on Six-Pointed Stars. On Sunday morning, the workshop is Scrappy 8-Pointed Stars. Use the links to read the class descriptions and register for one of the three so that you, too can learn to enjoy set-in piecing!!
Get your week off to a good start and do some stitching!!
Mary Huey
I particularly like the purple, green and yellow combination in the fifth picture. Those ladies (or maybe there was some men...?) were hard at work! Were the pieces sewn by hand or with a machine? I'm perplexed as to how those can be sewn with a machine...
ReplyDeleteAll ladies this time. I teach it by machine -- a technique a very clever student taught me -- chain piecing through set-in seams -- my DVD workshop teaches the technique -- click on that photo of the DVD at the upper right corner of the blog!
DeleteLove this block! Is on my list of to dos and this post just moved it up!! Wow, what wonderful starts for them :)
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to what them grow and everyone was excited to learn an easier way to manage set-in seams!!
DeleteThanks for the pictures of your students' work, They are so different but each is wonderful in its own way! I do love tumbling blocks!
ReplyDelete