All Coiled up!

On Tuesday August 16, our own, Diane Johnson will be leading you through the coiling technique from Its a Wrap, and It's a Wrap 2. This fun technique uses the zig zag stitch on your machine to connect coils of fabric wrapped cording (or cotton clothesline ) in a modern adaptation of an ancient basket making technique. We will create a bowl or purse in this workshop but the applications are limited only by your imagination. You could make something for everyone on your holiday list - if you start now, you could totally avoid the holiday rush the week after Thanksgiving.

If, like me, you get inspired by our beautiful Hudson Valley, one of our landscape workshops would be right up your alley. On August 10, get out your smocks and come paint landscape fabrics with us. This is so much easier than you would think and you will never again have to search out just the right "sky" or Rocks fabric. Hand painted fabrics are also great to use for shaded floral appliques. The paint helps the turned edge to hold its crease and not fray, and careful cutting of flower petals can give you amazing results obtainable no other way. Later this month we will also be running "Local Landscapes", a workshop on translating your photographs to quilt patterns using your favorite techniques. It is so satisfying to work from a significant photo and get the results you envision. We will help you get there, but more on that workshop next week.

We have a meeting for the Red Hook Bicentennial 2012 quilt on Thursday the 11th, at 12:30. Please bring your blocks, even if they are not finished yet. We will be choosing some fabrics for their settings and hopefully distributing the last few blocks yet to be worked on. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to get involved with this project.

Lastly for now I want to share some photos of our last day of Art Camp for Grownups, this year we made altered books. As you can see from the shot of the table, we used all sorts of fun techniques and materials that normally don't show up in a quilt project, paper punches, rubber stamps, paper cutters, embossing powders, what else can you spot on our table? Whatever fun tools we used, the books are beautiful aren't they? Watch for a new session of altered books this winter. It was too much fun not to do it again.