Lake Metroparks 24th Annual Quilts Workshops

Once again this year, I'll be offering three workshops during the annual quilt show at Lake Metroparks Farmpark in February and March of 2015.  The complete class brochure is available (in color!!) and registration is open!!  You can also find all the information and registration options at http://www.lakemetroparks.com/events/quilts2015.shtml

My first offering is a

Hexie-Lovers Design Workshop! 

It is Saturday, February 14, 2015 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  

The fee is $48 and registration is open!! 

 

Hexagons are such an interesting and timeless shape!!  Somewhere along the way though we've been convinced that they are hard designs.   That hasn't always been the case -- all you have to do is look at all the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts that exist here in the United States.  Everyone recognizes the name of that quilt even if they haven't a clue about quilt making. 

 

So this is your chance to try it out with the benefit of my experience!!

 

This workshop is designed for those who are drawn to the designs but hesitant to try it on their own.  This is a "masterpiece for me" quilt and you might not be ready to start with something this elaborate but the workshop will focus on technique and design skills you need to begin. 

 

This quilt began life as a reproduction of a antique quilt I saw perhaps 20 years ago and have been carrying the pictures around of it ever since, saying "someday" I'll make this.  At this point I'm not sure it will be a literal reproduction as some alterations in the design elements are beginning to creep into my plans. 

I am constructing this quilt by machine (1" hexagons) and one of the workshop options will be to learn how to piece hexagons by machine using the chain-piecing technique featured in my DVD, Set-in Piecing Simplified.  1" seem too small?  Then you can work in a larger size for your first project.  Check out the tablemat in this post as an option.  

 

We'll spend time exploring motif designing using value to create interest.   These are some of my motifs from another project that I'm working on (yep, two at the same time -- I'm thinking like DaVinci!?!).  These are ten of the designs from Karen's Value Proposition Quilt Along. 

This set is EPP (English Paper Pieced) and that will be an option for the workshop.  It's a very soothing option for piecing -- when I need to escape from "life" it's as good, no it's better, than a romance novel or chocolate (which gives me heartburn before any of you start commenting).

And we'll explore the addictive practice of fussy cutting!!  The pictures say it all.

Both of these examples have a traditional look with lots of reproduction prints.  But don't let my fabric selections influence your decision to try this out.    Here's a piece I made with a more contemporary and coordinated assortment of fabrics.

And this little beauty came entirely from all my floral scraps living in the 2 1/2" strip box!

This quilt literally saved my sanity during the last year of my mother's life -- completely out of my stash, stitching like a crazy woman, soothed at the end of every stitching session, ready to go back at "it".

 So get out that calendar, see if you are available on that date -- make it your little Valentine treat for yourself and then offer to take your sweetheart out to dinner that evening!!

You can register on-line by using this link or by phone 800-669-9266. 

Can't get to Northeast Ohio during February?  I could come to you -- share my information with your guild or local quilt shop and have them contact me to organize a workshop that you can get to!!

 

Next week, I'll share an expanded view of my other two workshops!!

But for now, it's back to the quilting machine!!

 

I hope your weekend is productive!!

Mary Huey

www.maryhueyquilts.com