Fiber Art inspired by Coffee Mugs

My fiber arts guild, the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild, is presenting its second annual Guild Challenge this Saturday. The Challenge theme is "Fiber and Caffeine get me going..." and members were to create a tote bag inspired by a favorite coffee mug. We've had 11 months to design and work on our entries... and the big reveal is this Saturday.

Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild Challenge 2011

I've got my entry form filled out with my Artist's Statement (check!). We're required to bring the coffee mug that inspired out piece (go that). And, I'm the team lead for this year's Challenge, so I've been coordinating the day's agenda, preparing the presentation and getting the ballots ready (off to the printer's this afternoon). I'm also teaching Colorwork Knitting this evening and a Free-motion Quilting class tomorrow, so I'm running around like a crazy woman...

Without giving too much away, here is a little preview of my piece. Wish me luck!

 

Colorful Stitches: this week's classes

I'm teaching two classes this week—Color Knitting II (at Chattanooga State) and Free-motion Quilting (at Chattanooga Sewing). Both classes offer unlimited possibilities for adding color to your stitching—whether you're stitching with two needles and yarn or a single needle and your sewing machine. So come and join me and spend some time with like-minded sewing and knitting enthusiasts and learn a new technique!

Left: Free-motion Quilting class      Right: Color Knitting II class—Intarsia method

To Register: Contact Chattanooga Sewing at 899-3664 (for free-motion quilting) and Chattanooga State at 697-3100 (for Color Knitting II) to register for classes. Classes are small and friendly and we always have a good time.

Some of my favorite reference books for free-motion quilting and color knitting include:

Free-motion Quilting, stitching freestyle

Want to learn how to Free-motion Quilt? Come to my Intro to Free-Motion Quilting class and learn how to drop the feed dogs and start "thread drawing" with your sewing machine. It's fun and liberating.

Intro to Free-motion Quilting class

This is a beginner class, so you don't need any prior free-motion quilting experience. In class, we'll cover sewing machine set-up, threads, batting and continuous-line patterns you can use with traditional or contemporary style quilts.

All you need is a sewing machine (yes, you can quilt bigger quilts on your home sewing machine!) with the ability to drop or cover the feed dogs and a machine quilting (or darning) foot for your machine.

Call Chattanooga Sewing today at 899-3664 to register for my November 11 class. This is a 5-hour class. You will learn a lot and we have lots of fun!

Intarsia and Fair Isle knitting class

Want to learn color knitting? I'll be teaching two colorwork techniques—Fair Isle (stranded knitting) and Intarsia—in a class starting Thursday, November 10 for 3 sessions. Contact Chattanooga State at 697-3100 to register.