June Meeting and Workshop with Carolyn Friedlander

We had a wonderful meeting in June with Carolyn Friedlander as our special guest. She brought many of her quilts and talked about her planning process, color, and her passion for slow stitching.

Carolyn talked us through her new Block of the Month quilt. Slow stitching greatness

The Aerial Grove quilt is on my personal bucket list

Focal is a study in color and bringing the focus to the border

Alturas used a large scale panel across multiple appliqued pieces

 We saw some awesome quilts during Show and Share:

Partner information for the FWMQG Rainbow Mini Quilt Swap has been passed out. Quilts are due at the September meeting. If you have any questions, get with Jenn or Ann.

June BOM blocks are: 6, 10, 25, 35, and 48

Don't forget that the deadline to enter the Trinity Valley Quilt Guild Quilt Show is July 17. Click here for more information.
 
On Friday we met at Trinity United Methodist Church in Arlington for the Facing East workshop with Carolyn. We worked from her first book: Savor Each Stitch

Carolyn reviewed color theory and gave lessons in foundation paper piecing and hand applique techniques. She talked about the inspiration behind her designs and gave us insight into her process. We had some technical difficulties in the beginning. Too many irons = blown circuits :) We relocated the ironing stations down the hall and started creating. We had friends join us from Dallas and San Antonio. It was a day full of fun, laughter, and lots of sewing!!

A trail of threads leads to the ironing station

Facing East blocks completed

FWMQG and Carolyn Friedlander

Natalia Bonner Workshop Recap

 A little over a week ago we gathered at West Freeway Church of Christ in Fort Worth to workshop with Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt. Her new book Cabin Fever: 20 Modern Log Cabin Blocks was released in May. All of the quilts in the book are modern intrepretations of the log cabin block and have instructions for making quilts in three different sizes. There'a a bonus section with matching throw pillows and shams in the back!

Available on Amazon

We spent our morning session working on our choice of three quilts, all built from the same block: Math Class, Stacked Up, and Incline.

This table was having too much fun

Raeann's Texas Tech themed Math Class quilt

Ann's Alison Glass Incline quilt

Kristi's Rainbow baby Math Class quilt

 After a lunch break we all started work on the Typhoon quilt.

Working hard or hardly working?

 

Just a few more seams to go

Rhonda's pretty purple Tyhoon baby quilt

Christmas themed baby size Typhoon quilt

Kristi's baby Tyhpoon

Natalia is incrediby personable and a great teacher. We had a workshop participant who is very new to quilting and Natalia spent a good deal of one-on-one time with her helping her understand how to read her pattern and cut her fabric. If she found herself without something to do, Natalia frequently offered to press seams and help lay out blocks for us. She came prepared with goody bags that included a whistle, which we were to blow to celebrate successes and mistakes. Each blow of the whistle was rewerded with a FQ prize.

We enjoyed our time with Natalia and benefited greatly from her expertise. Follow her on Instagram @nataliabonner and on Twitter @PieceNQuilt.

FWMQG and Natalia Bonner