The current classes I offer are:
- Mock Mola Applique – Raw Edge Reverse Applique by Machine
- Confetti Applique NEW!– a very “painterly” approach to making a quilt with tiny scraps.
- Appli-piecing NEW! – a “game-changer” technique that will take the fear out of virtually any pattern.
- Hexagons: State of the Art (hand class, full day overview of Hexie techniques)
- Notan: Exploding the Square (half day and full day options)
- Fractured Mock Mola (2 day class)
Please scroll down for complete descriptions of these classes. For all classes, please inquire about costs.
“MOCK MOLA” APPLIQUÉ: Raw Edge Reverse Appliqué by Machine
6 hour class. Class limit: 20 students.
This class features Cathy’s fast and easy technique for reverse appliqué. It is a great way to use “holy” fabric, that you can’t bear to cut up, and wonderful for trying new design ideas. Students will learn this technique by working on a small individual project using two layers of fabric, plus batting and backing. With Cathy’s help, each student will design her/his own piece. Machine quilting will attach all the layers together, then the top layer is cut to reveal the design. The pieces will be mostly completed at the end of the class. This is a hugely popular workshop!
Machine appliqué. Some free motion experience is helpful but not required. Cathy can adapt designs to suit all capabilities
Written instructions and design suggestions will be supplied.
Supply List:
- Sewing machine in good working order with walking foot AND free motion foot. If you are unclear on how your machine works, please bring along the instruction book.
- Extension cord.
- Three Fat Quarters of fabric:
– one fat quarter plain black fabric (black on both sides)
(I recommend a black Pimatex by Robert Kaufman, if you can find it – it’s very dense and does not fray much.)
– one fat quarter bright batik or hand-dye or other yummy fabric (something with a high contrast from the black fabric)
– one fat quarter backing fabric
– AND one fat quarter low- to medium-loft black batting (if you can find it, but white will also do)
Feel free to bring more fabric, so you have a choice! - black thread (top and bobbin)
- safety pins (about 30)
- white marking pencil
- small sharp embroidery scissors
- seam ripper
- pen/pencil and paper for sketching design
- fabric grippers (like Machingers gloves) may be helpful for free motion quilting
- (optional) Golden Threads quilting paper – trace design and sew right through this paper – it’s easy to remove.
Students are encouraged to bring design ideas to class. Try Googling images for “black and white art” or “positive/negative art” for inspiration. And don’t forget to bring your camera!
One iron and ironing board should be available at the workshop.
“Love the new technique. Very well taught and organized.
And we even got a song!”
Machine Quilters Showcase, Rapid City Iowa, May 2015
“Lots of fun. Useful technique with many applications.
Almost finished project in class. Wow!”
Houston Quilt Festival November 2011
“I got more done at this workshop than I’ve ever got done
at any workshop before!”
Boise ID, November 2009
Love, love, love this technique!
Minnesota Quilters show, June 2010
Excellent instructions – in steps I could understand
and using words that did not go over my head!
Minnesota Quilters show, June 2010
THANK YOU for “reducing the terror” from the beginning,
to free up our creativity!
Minnesota Quilters show, June 2010
NEW CLASS! CONFETTI APPLIQUE
6 Hour class. Class limit: 20 students, machine free motion quilting (but you don’t have to be good at it!)
Machine appliqued scene using tiny fabric scraps and “scribble” machine stitching.
Using a technique developed by Ruth Bloomfield in Queensland, Australia, this class will produce a small “painterly” landscape. The technique uses no tulle or fusible, just thread to attach the tiny scraps of fabric. The result is a dimensional scene with lots of depth of colour. Useful for any landscape, but especially good for trees and shrubbery. Options include using Cathy’s pattern (above), or bringing a picture of a simple landscape or tree to make your own design. Cathy’s pattern makes a small quilt 18″x14 1/2″
SUPPLY LIST:
Cathy will supply Totally Stable fusible stabiliser for each student. Supplies are based on students using Cathy’s pattern.
- A piece of sky blue fabric, approx. 8 ½” x 11” (You may use an actual print of sky fabric, or approximate the light blue of the sky. This part is not confettied.)
- Fabric Scraps: Small (6”x6” max) scraps of SIX printed fabrics in EACH of dark green, light green, white, and dark brown. Also bring a very small bit of red for the flowers. Fabrics should “read” the colours indicated, but should be various shades with small scale patterns. Batiks are great for this technique.
- Thread to match fabrics (dark green, light green/grey, white, dark brown, red) plus enough bobbins to wind all colours. This technique uses a lot of thread, so please bring full spools of the first four colours.
- Border Fabric:
Narrow inside border, cut four ¾” strips x 13”
Outside border, cut four 3 ½” strips x 15” - Backing, batting and binding fabric (not required in class)
- Medium or large sized sharp fabric scissors
- Sewing machine with free motion quilting foot and ¼” foot
- A pencil
- Extension cord for sewing machine
If students wish to work on their own landscape, they should bring photo of a simple scene, fabric and thread suitable for the colours in their pictures. At least six different fabrics of each colour will create the depth necessary.
| APPLI-PIECING NEW CLASS! All machine work. 6 hour class Class limit: 20 students.
Based on Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry’s favourite piecing technique, this class will lead students through all the stages to create perfect curves. Students will use either Cathy’s pattern (seen above: “Winter Solstice”) or a simple one of the student’s own design. This is a “game-changer” technique that will change the way you look at – and design – your quilts! Final quilt is approximately fat quarter sized. Supply List: Cathy will bring spray starch, stilettos and coverings for each ironing board. One ironing board for every 3-4 students, plus a light box for every 3-4 students is required.
|
HEXAGONS: STATE OF THE ART
Hand work, suitable for all levels – 6 hour class. Class limit: 20 students.
Complete written instructions, mini kits of Quilt Patis (1″ hexagons) and Paper Pieces (1″ elongated hexagons), all fabric, hexagon design paper and a source list will be supplied.
Kit fee: $25.00
SUPPLY LIST:
Bring embroidery scissors, a few straight pins, a hand-sewing needle (I like #9 Sharps for most fabrics), and light, medium and dark hand piecing thread (white, grey and black on bobbins are perfect).
This full-day class is designed as an overview of all the techniques currently being used in the hexagon world. Not all of them are by hand! We start with very traditional techniques, including English Paper Piecing (EPP) and one that uses a Mason jar lid as the template. We continue to explore plastic and paper templates large and small, including elongated hexies (which are used for the Lucy Boston Quilt of the Crosses). A full discussion of fussy cutting is part of the story. After that, we’ll look at quilt-as-you-go techniques, pieced hexies, and designing with hexies. New techniques which Cathy will demo include machine piecing them using both Inklingo and Marci Baker (no set in seams!) techniques. There will be an extensive class handout, with overview of the techniques and sources for supplies. During the class students will try out 3 and possibly 4 of the techniques themselves.
Cathy will bring some of her own hexagon quilts, and students are encouraged to bring show and tell of their own hexagon quilts.
NOTAN – EXPLODING THE SQUARE
6 hour class (Design and Machine Reverse Applique) and 3 hour (Design Only – No Sew) class available. Class Limit 20 students.
NOTAN is a Japanese term meaning “light/dark”. Artists have been playing with this concept to design exciting positive/negative pieces for years, and now it has been discovered by quilters. The concept is easy: whatever is removed from the centre square gets flipped to the outside of the square. But the possibilities are endless. The class will play with the NOTAN design technique to create a piece which (in the 6-hour class) they will then turn into a fat quarter sized quilt, using Cathy’s Mock Mola™ appliqué technique (see class above). The class is also available as a 3-hour class, which will involve in-depth design exercises using Notan principles, but no sewing.
6 HOUR NOTAN CLASS: Machine reverse appliqué. Some free motion experience is helpful but not required. Cathy can adapt designs to suit all capabilities. (see below for 3 hour class requirements) This class will produce a fat quarter-sized quilt, done using Mock Mola appliqué.
SUPPLY LIST:
- 10-15 pieces of letter-sized paper
- paper scissors
- pencil and eraser
- sewing machine in good working order with walking foot AND free motion foot (If you are unclear on how your machine works, please bring along the instruction book.)
- extension cord
- Three Fat Quarters of Fabric:
– one fat quarter plain black fabric (black on both sides) (I recommend a black Pimatex by Hoffman, if you can find it – it’s very dense and does not fray much.)- one fat quarter bright batik or hand-dye (something with a high contrast from the black fabric) (bring a few possibilities to choose from if you can)- one fat quarter backing fabric - AND one fat quarter low-to-medium loft black batting (if you can find it, but white will also do)
- black thread (top and bobbin)
- safety pins (about 30)
- small sharp embroidery scissors (not appliqué scissors)
- seam ripper
- fabric grippers (like Machingers gloves) may be helpful for free motion quilting
Students are encouraged to bring design ideas to class. Google “Notan images” for more ideas. Bring along a digital camera, if possible, so you can see your design clearly.
One iron and ironing board should be available at the workshop. If Cathy is driving to the class, she may bring along the black batting for everyone – check with her beforehand.
3 HOUR NOTAN CLASS: Design Only: NO SEW
Class Limit: 20 students
Notan is also offered as a 3-hour class. In this shorter version of the class, the design work will be done entirely on paper and each student will produce many possible designs during that time. Instructions will be given for completing the piece using Mock Mola appliqué (reverse appliqué by machine) or as a fused piece. There will be no sewing in this short class.
SUPPLY LIST: 20 pages of various coloured copy paper, paper scissors, a few envelopes or a magazine to keep cut designs separate, a digital camera to view the designs.
FRACTURED MOCK MOLA
2 day class. Class Limit: 20 students. Machine reverse applique.
This class takes Mock Mola (reverse appliqué by machine) a giant step further. Students will make four simple matching fat quarter sized pieces using three layers of fabric. Stitching all layers together first will hold the pieces together. Then the pieces are cut up and resewn so that the designs look refracted through a beveled window. The results are unique and complex. Students will take these pieces home to sandwich and quilt (minimal quilting only). Instructions are included to complete the quilts with a facing binding technique.
Machine appliqué. Some free motion experience is helpful but not required.
Written instructions are provided.
SUPPLY LIST:
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- sewing machine in good working order with walking foot AND (optional) free motion foot. (If you are unclear on how your machine works, please bring along the instruction book.)
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- size 90/14 sewing machine needles
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- 2-3 empty bobbins
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- extension cord
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- Three Full Yards of coordinating fabric:
The top layer is lovely if it is a hand dye or somewhat variegated in the same colour. Patterns are not advised, but tone-on-tones are okay. Try to bring at least one “zinger”.
Feel free to bring more fabric, so you have a choice!
- Three Full Yards of coordinating fabric:
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- cutting mat and rotary cutter with 24″ ruler (second day only)
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- thread to match AND contrast with the layers (especially top two layers). We’ll be stitching the mock mola, then quilting layers together.
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- safety pins (about 100)
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- small sharp embroidery scissors
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- seam ripper
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- pen/pencil and paper for sketching design and white marking pencil for drawing design on fabric.
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- fabric grippers (like Machingers gloves) may be helpful for free motion quilting
-
- (optional) Golden Threads quilting paper – trace design and sew right through this paper – it’s easy to remove.
Students are encouraged to bring design ideas to class, the simpler the better.
One iron and ironing board should be available at the workshop.