Taking a workshop

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really been interested in Judy Niermeyers’ paper piecing technique. I was curious about her technique, but not crazy about the results. Most of what I’d seen was her Hostas. Every year at Road to California there are at least 3 hosta quilts on display. Why???

Then my guild offered a workshop for this. It’s not huge, like most of her quilts. But, it didn’t speak to me.

The sample the teacher, Cindy Myers was sharing, did. So I signed up.

We had a ton of homework to do, cutting out all of our fabrics. You know me, I wasn’t going to use batiks and I was going to use more fabrics than called for.

Cindy, explaining what we are going to do.

My featherweight. And my fabric. Turns out that I didn’t cut enough of certain fabrics and I forgot to bring the extra fabric with me. So I couldn’t start with my center, no problem, all the block are the same, so I started with my second border.

You learn something at every workshop. There were some techniques that will help with any kind of paper piecing. Like using a thick piece of template plastic under the paper to butt the add an inch ruler to. She cuts the seams before sewing. I have often cut them after sewing the seam.

Judy also has an interesting way of sewing curves. I like it. I took this picture before I sewed the curves. Then I went around and took pictures of other peoples work.

Most people worked with batiks. Since that is what Judy uses. I was pleased to see that Robin used some prints. Look how neat her curve is! Judy’s technique works well.

Next evening Cindy shared her quilts at the guild. I admit to buying another pattern, because why not, two by the same designer is not a bad thing. Especially since I do enjoy her process. No, it’s not a hosta.

Most of the quilts Cindy shared are Judy quilts with batiks, it became a little too much. I get it, for years she was a certified teacher so she made a lot of these quilts. Some of them reluctantly because a class asked for a certain pattern.

I got home and continued working. Here is the center of my quilt.

I have to say, I don’t like cutting all of the fabrics ahead of time. I am now working on the final border and I’m switching out colors. I need to see how it grows organically.

The instructions say, sew all the blocks then assemble them. No, I need to see what it’s going to look like. Sure, I could just put them up on my design wall. Or, I could start sewing them together, which is what I’m doing.

So far, I like it, the final border has a red print background, so everything will change. Yes, I intend to put this on my dining room table. Maybe even when we eat there. It’s cotton, it can be washed.

Leah

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