This past Saturday, my friend Jean and I took a Free Motion Quilting class with Patsy Thompson.
We seem to always have fun together and when Patsy Thompson is in the room, you are guaranteed to have a great time and learn to expand your free motion quilting skills.
Patsy started by showing us how to practice some designs on paper before we attempted to stitch them. Some us don't draw well on a straight line much less going drawing South, North, East and West without picking up our pens. So I was thinking, "I sure got some learnin' to do."
You can see Patsy is quite proficient at drawing in all directions. It is absolutely fascinating to watch Patsy quilt.
She holds both sides of her fabric sandwich lightly as she glides it under the needle. Patsy uses Silicone Spray on the acrylic sewing surface of her sewing machine. I was surprised to see how well it worked. Patsy knows what she's talking about....the Silicone Spray works very well.
LUNCH BREAK
This is Karen Karr and she was in our class as well. Karen has taken other classes with Patsy and clearly has made some impressive progress.
She brought this quilt to share with Patsy and the class. Karen's quilt took First Place at the Wood County Fair. You can't really see all the quilting that well in this photo...trust me is was beautiful!
LUNCH BREAK IS OVER
Using the Trueflex Ruler, Patsy taught us how she starts with a curved line and then adds leaves and feathers to the lines. What a nice way to get consistent curves.
I just loved watching Patsy draw these designs...she makes it look so easy.
This is Patsy's quilting...clearly not mine :)
I headed back to my sewing station and got to work. Lets just say, I'm making progress....and leave it at that.
I finally got into the swing of things and noticed I was creating my very own designs.
While doing some random practicing I noticed I had made this design below.
It is an original...exclusively mine...and I'm calling it "Echoing Butts"....because that is what it looks like...LOL.
I went back to look at some other designs I had made and I then saw the theme...more butts! Doesn't that echoing stitch look like a rear end? Hmmm...what does this all mean?
As the class was wrapping up Patsy offered the samples she had made during class to the students. (internal thoughts...Feet Don't Fail Me Now!!!)
I asked her to autograph it and I'm going to put it in my sewing area so I can feel the inspirational vibes when I practice.
As the class was wrapping up Patsy offered the samples she had made during class to the students. (internal thoughts...Feet Don't Fail Me Now!!!)
Patsy is an excellent teacher and was very patient with everyone. I can't even begin to tell you about the quilts she brought to show...you'll have to check out her blog to see all those amazing quilts. She told us we were such a quiet class. Well yeah we were quiet....her quilts were breath taking and I dont' talk when I'm admiring such beautiful art. If you want to take a class with Patsy Thompson, she has several excellent DVD's and you can have your own private class with Patsy.
When you visit Patsy's blog, make sure to check out her new passion, Machine Embroidery. She has added some beautiful ME to some of her designs.
Smiles,
Kelly
PS...almost forgot to tell ya, I'm going to be on Sew We Quilt blog tomorrow. AND you know what? The giveaways are now open to everyone, no sponsors needed!!! So get over there get to leavin' comments :)
