Last weekend I headed up to Gibsons to give a two day workshop on the Gees Bend style quilt. A year ago I drove up with all my quilts and quilt tops and did a trunk show about my journey from traditional to modern quilting. There was enough interest so I got invited to do a workshop up there for their retreat.
It was so much fun. I had 13 women in my workshop and below is a photo journal of what we accomplished over the 3 days of the 2 day workshop. I don't know where that 3rd day came from!
I'm terrible with names, so I'll try to match up the names of the participants with their quilts. Forgive me, ladies, if I get it wrong or if I really should have remembered your name and didn't.
First, here's me working the room.
This one was all purple and green batiks to make the blocks.
And then with some really wide sashing, became a really Gees Bend looking quilt! Those random pieces scattered in the sashing really give this one such a non-traditional look. Sort of like naive outsider art.
Just one more side to sash and it's done!
Here's the process that we used with the guild president Jeanette's blocks. Make a square bulls eye.
Cut it into quarters and mix up the quarter blocks.
Make more and scatter the quarters around.
Notice the little "inclusions" in some of the strips. The rule was if you have to sew two strips together to make it long enough, you had to cut in in the centre and add a contrasting fabric in the block, not at the end. Of course, one extra bit is never enough, so you can see some strips have several inclusions. Even some of the white background strips have inclusions.
Here's Kim's rust and green blocks. She used the left-overs from another quilt that featured the leaf print that's in the centre of the blocks. The little squares are 1/4 inch checkers she had pieced for the other quilt. They made excellent inclusions scattered throughout the quilt. Kim stayed up all night working on this "exploded block" layout. She pretty much used up every scrap of black that she had. She's actually hiding an area of white where there isn't enough black.
This technique is harder to do with a coloured background for the blocks, but Kim was able to really make her's effective with the colours of the blocks, the black sashing and the layout. I think she's almost exhausted her second wind in this shot.
Holly's blocks used a variegated green fabric. The light end became the background and the dark end became one of the coloured strips. I loved the coral fabric for the background, but I'm not sure what Holly has decided to use. This is just the blocks laying on the yardage she brought. I think she's making another block or two before she decides.
Part two coming up next.
It was so much fun. I had 13 women in my workshop and below is a photo journal of what we accomplished over the 3 days of the 2 day workshop. I don't know where that 3rd day came from!
I'm terrible with names, so I'll try to match up the names of the participants with their quilts. Forgive me, ladies, if I get it wrong or if I really should have remembered your name and didn't.
First, here's me working the room.
This one was all purple and green batiks to make the blocks.
Here's the process that we used with the guild president Jeanette's blocks. Make a square bulls eye.
Notice the little "inclusions" in some of the strips. The rule was if you have to sew two strips together to make it long enough, you had to cut in in the centre and add a contrasting fabric in the block, not at the end. Of course, one extra bit is never enough, so you can see some strips have several inclusions. Even some of the white background strips have inclusions.
Here's Kim's rust and green blocks. She used the left-overs from another quilt that featured the leaf print that's in the centre of the blocks. The little squares are 1/4 inch checkers she had pieced for the other quilt. They made excellent inclusions scattered throughout the quilt. Kim stayed up all night working on this "exploded block" layout. She pretty much used up every scrap of black that she had. She's actually hiding an area of white where there isn't enough black.
Holly's blocks used a variegated green fabric. The light end became the background and the dark end became one of the coloured strips. I loved the coral fabric for the background, but I'm not sure what Holly has decided to use. This is just the blocks laying on the yardage she brought. I think she's making another block or two before she decides.
Part two coming up next.
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