3 ZINNIA Quilt-Class #2

The video is at the bottom of this blog.

It is so exciting to get this NEW 3 Zinnia quilt done. I hope this class will help you through the process of making this spectacular flower quilt.

I give a lot of tips and tricks to handling 3 flowers at once that will help even if you are only making one flower.  I have put some chapter time stamps on this video so you can easily find something you want to review again or if you want to skip ahead.  

9:08  Numbering Your Petals

10:40  Layering the Centers

13:48  Arranging the Centers

20:53  Changing My Mind

24:09  Adding Layer #2

30:45  The Shadow Layer – Color D, E, F, G and H

34:00  Let's Press

36:03  Auditioning Background Fabrics

39:11  Free-Cutting Leaves

45:35  Arranging the Leaves

For the Thread Play on your Zinnia, you can watch my Zinnia Thread Play video here on this blog. You may also want to watch the Dogwood Finishing Class #5, where I show how to do the leaves and there are A LOT of leaves. These are all free.  I love to use variegated green thread on my leaves and I have some of that thread in my shop.

If you feel timid about free-motion quilting through fusible web you may want to take my online class through the American Quilt Society at iquilt.com.  My class is called Renegade Thread Play and you can watch it repeatedly. There is also a DVD by the same name at AQS.

Click Arrow in the box below to view Video

3 Zinnia: Class #1

Video Class is at the bottom of this blog.

The history of making the 3 Zinnia quilt starts several years ago with me dying fabrics for my upcoming classes at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I had seen past students having trouble with color and values and I thought that if I could make kits, they would all be successful and that is all a good instructor wants -  for their students to be successful.  So I became a dyeing machine. Morning, noon, and night, I was in the dying studio (the garage) working on perfecting my colors.  It was a lot of hard work but it paid off.  Then, fear set in and I panicked - what if these colors suck together. I decided I'd better make some flowers and be sure the colors worked together. 100 of yards of fabric were already dyed, so I spent the remaining days before I left to teach this class making the 3 Zinnia quilt. Thank God it all worked out. That was back in 2005 and I kept it up for a few years but I had to stop dying because I couldn't keep up with the demand and still have a life. Luckily, I found that Hoffman of California has a Watercolor collection that looks just like my hand-dye fabrics.  Okay, maybe better.

Now, everyone wants to make the 3 Zinnia and asks me when will I have a pattern for that? Good news, I already have the pattern for it. It's all the same flower - I just changed their colors and laid them facing different ways on the background fabric. One pattern, 3 colors, and one big 44” x 44” piece of background fabric.

This class is about how to make the 3 Zinnia using one pattern in 3 different colorways. I’m not showing you how to fuse - you can go to  (How I use Steam A Seam 2) or how to quilt - you can go to (Dogwood finishing class #5, Renegade Thread Play or iQuilt.com ) for all that. I will be showing  you how to make 3 zinnias at once using one pattern. 

If you have taken this class with me in the past and can find your pattern (and maybe an unfinished flower),  this video will help you complete that project and make even more flowers, if you want. If you need more fabrics in other colorways to turn that single flower into a 3 Zinnia, I have fabric packs on my Etsy shop - look for Just Zinnia Fabric Packs - there are 4 colorways available.

If you want to take the 3 Zinnia class and don’t have the pattern, go to Etsy - the link is up above on the bar.  You can purchase the Zinnia Kit in the color of flower you like, then go to Just Zinnia Fabric Packs and pick 2 more colorways.  Now you will have a custom quilt with your favorite zinnia colors made from beautiful Hoffman batik fabrics, selected for these flowers based on my hand-dyed fabrics. 

Below are the colors I am using in the video - orange, berry and yellow.

Click on the arrow below to start the class.

Enjoy!

Zinnias on Parade

What is a Saturday without a new video post from me?  I made a new video called Zinnias on Parade - these are pictures from classes I've taught all over the country and at big shows. I thought you might like to see students' progress in a one day, 6-hour class.  These beauties are in different stages of development and some of the fabrics used for these flowers were made from my hand-dyed fabrics (made in my garage) from back in the day.  Some are the student’s own fabrics, too, and they are all beautiful no matter what fabric they used.  One of my favorite zinnias in the video is the green one made by my friend, Pam Hough.  I hadn't met her until this class and when she walked in with these green fabrics, I squealed with joy.  I think I scared her at first but that's how I roll.

Now here is the reason for this blog. There are a lot of these zinnia flowers out there in the world and some of you have not finished yours.  Don't worry, I'm not going to name names. I would just like to help you finish them since we are still in lock-down.  OK, is it just me that’s still in lock-down?  You never know these days.  Anyways, lets finishes these zinnia quilts. 

Click the arrow to watch the video.

Now here is the surprise. I am making a new video class about how to make a 3 Zinnia Quilt out of one pattern in 3 different colorways.

 I will show you how to free-cut the leaves, what size fabric to use, and how to not get confused while making 3 flowers at once.  I have a few tricks for making these flowers quicker and easier than you think.  Plus, we will talk about quilting your flower.  So, check out the video here on this blog to get you excited.  If you subscribe to my YouTube channel you will get a notification each time I post a new how-to video.  Oh, and did I say this is free?