Dogwood Finishing School - Class #5

Well, here's the last class in the Dogwood series.  I've has much fun teaching you this pattern and I hope you are having fun, too, making a beautiful Dogwood quilt.

It's hard to write a post and watch a very smart and active granddaughter but I am trying.

 Pool time!  It's 100 degrees and the air conditioning went out...

First,grandpa has to get her out of the sink...

...then grandpa gave her a cream cheese bagel in the living room.

I will be introducing new patterns and kits in the future but the Dogwood classes will have the most detailed instructions.  You can come back and refer to these as you work on other patterns. I will keep these available to you on YouTube and my blog. You may want to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you will not miss any upcoming classes or tips on future patterns.  I have a lot more to share in the future! 

Click on the arrow above to watch class #5.

This video is not as long as the first four but is very informative - it's 30 minutes and chock full of information.

Renegade Thread Play on the back of the Dogwood quilt.

My wish is for those of you that watched the classes to feel more confident in trying something outside your safety zone.  Remember, you can always fix a mistake or start over. It's only fabric.

So, if you are ready to take the next step, which is working from your own photo, come join me in Pacific Grove (on the beach in central California) next year for the Empty Spools Seminars, February 21-26, 2021.

At Empty Spools, I will walk you through the steps of making a pattern from your own photo, how to enlarge it, and create a palette of fabrics.  I show you how to pull out your creativity and create that next masterpiece.  This is a place where you can truly focus on your project  and I am there to hold your hand if you need it.  I've been teaching there since 2005 and it is so exciting for me to see students arrive somewhat timid with this process and leave with the confidence to succeed.

Thank you and I hope this series has increased your confidence in tackling that next project! 

Dogwood class #4 “Renegade Thread Play “

I have been excited to make this video and show you how to finish your Dogwood quilt or any other patterns you may have started in one of my classes and longed to finish.  I have taught a lot of classes over the years and I know there are a lot of you wanting to finish your quilts. That is why I am doing these videos. I know some have criticized, "she is giving these away for free".  I have had a great career and taught all over the country and internationally. 

I've met a lot of wonderful people and they have bought my patterns and want to finish their flower quilts. Now is the perfect time to finish that quilt since we are stuck at home. So why not do a tutorial to help students finish their quilts.  It’s sad we can’t get together, take a class or go to a quilt show. But we can still learn and finish those UFO's.

The Dogwood videos has a lot of techniques that will be use in most, if not all my patterns. I can’t make you a pro over night, but I can push you a little and give you some tricks to make you successful. Just remember, this is just fabric, we can always get more. No one is critical of your efforts, but you.  So, stop it.  Life is too short.

Click on this box below to view Video

Supply I use for this Renegade Thread Play class.

Sulky 40-weight Rayon thread in an assortment of colors. Look at the fabric colors you use for your flower. The lightest values and the darkest values.

Sewers Aid-important

Thread snip- I like Karen Kay Buckley’s snip 

Lots of bobbins- if we use 15 threads you need 15 bobbins      

Quilters Dream Batting 100% cotton- Request        

Medium safety pins       

Top Stitch or Jeans Denim needles size, 80/12 or 90/14 - important     

 Supreme Slider

Some of these supplies you can find on my Esty Shop. The link is on the gray bar above.

 

Summer Dogwood

Its been a crazy spring at my house. We are getting ready to sell our house which means packing up your item to stage your house like you don't really live there. I understand the process but when you work and run a business out of that house it get real tricky.  When I need to find all the things I just hid from the people who are on there way over to look at your home, I get a little crazy.
If we sell this house I will be surprised for sure. But we are trying.

In all the commotion I have not been blogging, so sorry for that.  I do have some new videos to show you.   The first is a video that I created is of the building process of my Dogwood flower pattern. My patterns are different than other designers.  So I like to give you more visuals to help you create or just purely entertain you for a moment.
The song is by Darius Ranker and its called Wagon Wheel. I made this video back in December. Enjoy!

Today someone emailed me that forgot to write in the pattern how to do the seeds in the center of the flower.  So here it is. I put the seeds on the flowers, last. So here is the video and the instruction for the flower seeds below.

1.  Fuse your U fabric. 
2. Trace 3-4 seed shape from the large lay out guide.
3. Fold you U fabric in half and pin the traced seed pattern onto the fabric and cut out the 4 shapes out. because the fabric is folded you will have 8 seed shapes. do this again until you have the desired amount.
4.  Now arrange like the photo shows.  
5. Press in place.