Free Motion Boot Camp at Shiisa Quilts

Eleven quilters joined us today for free motion bootcamp. This is a pretty intense class designed for people who have already done some free motion quilting and want some tips and tricks, as well as machine time, to help them perfect their stitching.



Everybody is really hard at work -- we spent the morning on stencils and the afternoon doing unmarked, or "freehand", quilting.



This is Ellen -- if you notice that her hair is a color that suspiciously resembles the color of her blouse, you're right! She also decided to make a sartorial statement with her tunic made of sackcloth that she just happened to whip out that morning....

On the left, Alice is showing off her dahlia; below, a close-up of her work. Alice lives in Oklahoma and drove to Bloomington for the class -- a true quilting addict!

More of Alice's musings on muslin -- I took a picture of this and then sketched it out to get a feel for the flow of the heart shaped feathers. I also grabbed some muslin and stitched it out; it'll take some practice, but I think it could become a favorite freehand design.

I demonstrated a design spiralling out from the center with aurora-like "flames" coming off of it; at left is Alice's version. Below is a variation that she stitched out that combined the dahlia design with the spiral.

Tomorrow's class is "Positive/Negative" -- check back so you can see what fabric choices people have made for this.....