Threadbear's Applique School

That was last Saturday on my visit to Castlemaine in Victoria. 

Since then it's been a busy week what with work and life...but I've been keen to post about this great workshop. It was a very full day of mastering applique techniques  - half the day with Di Ford and half with Margaret McDonald. 

This is the very generous collection of goodies we each received in a bag on arrival. And there was chocolate and lollies, but that has vanished ...who knows where.

3.3 metres of fabric included

Both Di and Margaret have taken these same fabrics  and used many similar appliqued elements (broderie perse, chain borders, dresden plate, drunkard's path etc). But their quilt tops are distinctly different. Neither tops are completed - due to time constraints - but are wonderful samplers of many applique techniques. And don't they both have a gift for fabric selection!

Di's quilt

Margaret's quilt

There was a lot to cover and it was heads down frantically stitching technique samples. 

A busy class

Here is a compilation of my meagre samples ( finished them in the evening due to being a bit of a slow poke on the day - too much chat).

For me there was a bit of a 'light bulb' moment -  adding a border to a quilt does not need to be just a straight-edged strip of fabric (or even a pieced strip) stitched to another. With the use of fussy cut appliqued borders there are all sorts of interesting new possibilities to add charm and movement to the quilt. 

Looking at the close up of Di's pink border below - it is a  strip of fabric that has been fussy cut in a wave edge and appliqued on to a tiny printed stripe  - magic!   

Appliqued mitre corners

Margaret has similarly fussy cut the light green border (below) and appliqued it onto a mustard print. And what a stunning applique chain border! She devised her own special technique to construct this and it worked a treat.

Broderie perse flowers and leaves, and more fussy cutting.

Di's centre

Margaret's centre

So much inspiration, great teaching, delicious catering, and my 'quilting cred' has just gone way up because I can now say "I've had a class with Di Ford"!

There was a lot of  blogger meet-n-greet going on. I can now put a face to Ruth from Ruby's rhetoric. Do check out her projects - there is even a beautiful Morrell quilt if you look back through the posts.

By the way - I have finished my son's beanie well in time for his birthday. Here it is - nothing bright and beautiful, sigh, but just what he ordered . 

And here is some progress on the EPP pinwheels for my Ann Randoll marathon quilt. See - they do come together quite fast by this method - so portable and easy to do a little at a time. Almost all of this was stitched in my evenings on the 5 day trip to Castlemaine. One or two of the fabrics are new acquisitions from Threadbear.

Happy stitching :)