Quilt U Road Map

Learning to quilt is not like taking a superhighway.  You do not get on at one end and drive straight through to the destination.  Many paths branch off along the way.  Our road map will help you navigate as you take the side roads.  Classes are grouped in general categories, but there is a lot of crossover from one group to the other.

Classes that can be taken without reference to other classes are not listed.

Piecing

• Starting from Scratch - If you are brand new and want to learn to piece traditional blocks with a rotary cutter, this class will ground you in all the basic skills, giving you instruction in rotary cutting, accurate seams, block assembly, basic color and all the aspects of assembling a quilt.
• Hand Piecing - a starter class for piecing by hand with several small projects

These classes will continue the exploration of block construction, some using traditional methods, others employing shortcuts

• Combing Through Your Scraps
• Geese in the Sky
• Sewfasst

We have two classes that deal with piecing, but the main emphasis is on learning to press all types of blocks correctly.  One class builds on the next.

• Pressing Basics
• The Secret of Circles

Bind it, Sign it! shows a variety of ways to finish the edges of your quilt, create labels and make a hanging sleeve.

You can practice your basic skills with a number of project classes. These also contain hints and tips for improving.  There are many ways to do patchwork and each teacher will share her own approach.  If you are already a proficient quilter, you may just enjoy creating these projects for yourself.

• Chinese Lattice
• Fast, Fun, Fabulous
• Stack & Whack Hexagon Star
• Tessellating Stars
• Tessellating Rainbow Trout

For slightly more advanced patchwork projects:

• 3-D Patchwork
• Border Workshop - techniques and design
• Broken Star
• Buttons and Bows
• Feathered Star
• Jane Was Nuts
• Pieced Celtic Magic - includes designing, color
• Storm at Sea (hand, machine, paper pieced)
• Treasure Boxes

Some classes are an in-depth look at a particular quilt style.  They often involve learning to design or draft your own pattern or quilt layout.  Some of these are not patchwork.  Always read the descriptions.

• Attic Windows
• Bargello Seasons
• Bargello Blues (advanced) - includes designing
• Bargello Twist - (advanced)
• Crazy Quilt Piecing
  • Crazy and Sane
• Exploring Log Cabin
• Mariner’s Compass - includes designing
• Seminole Piecing
• Traditional Double Wedding Ring
• Watercolor Wizardry - includes designing, color

Variety

Many classes cover more than one technique, combining patchwork with appliqué or foundation piecing.  Always read the description of the class.

• Day in the Country
• Fabric Pages
• Pacific Aquarium

Paper or Foundation Piecing

• Paper Pieced Paradise (beginner level)
• Double Wedding Ring Table Runner
• Elegant Angel
• Mountains in Autumn (pp plus fused appliqué)
• Ozark Garden
• Pineapples Plus
• Royal Palm - includes designing
• Strip Mine! - on cloth foundations

Appliqué

Beginners who wish to learn the basics by hand will enjoy

• Hand Appliqué Basics
• Hawaiian Quilting 101
• Hand Quilting

To learn to appliqué by machine

• Triple Treat Tulips
• Drunkard's Flowers (three machine methods & two hand methods)

These classes will please those who have learned the basics.  Some are by hand, others by machine.  Generally, you can choose to use the method you prefer, even if the instructor has chosen to teach the other method.

• Baltimore Basics
• Celtic Tablerunner
• Fun Fish
• Intro to Celtic Appliqué
• Make Your Own Hawaiian Quilt - includes designing
• Miniature Landscapes (machine only)
• No-Bias Celtic Sweatshirts
• River Walk (machine only)
• Stack & Whack Fan
• Stained Glass Bouquet

For more adventurous or complex appliqué classes

• Arabesque
• Layered Machine Appliqué
• Poppin’ Poppies
• Upside Down Appliqué
• Waterlilies

These classes may include design work or more complex appliqué or surface techniques

• Artists Revisited
• Elements in Fabric - non-traditional materials
• Filament Fantasy
• Fireworks!
• Flower Power
• Home Building
• Machine Embellished Surfaces
• More Patchwork Illusions
• On Land and Sea - includes designing
• Painted Landscapes
• Patchwork Illusions
• People in Places - includes designing
• Playing with Paint
• Realistic Fabric Portraits
• Silk Ribbon Reticule
• To Bead or Not to Bead

Classes with Curves

• Curved Piecing
• Drunkard’s Flowers (appliqué and piecing)
• Points and Curves - foundation piecing
• Wheel of Mystery

Machine Quilting

Learn machine quilting on your home machine.  We have no classes at this time for hand quilting, long arm or home quilting systems.

• Machine Quilting (home machine - no frame)
• Quilting Designs (no sewing)

Color

Color and color theory is the focus for these classes. 

• Color Companions - sewing
• Creative Color - no sewing
• Gradations and Transparencies - sewing

Design

Simple fusing is used with surface stitching for small format expressive works:

• Journal Quilts
• Self Expressions
• Self Expressions Studio (seminar for those who took Self Expressions)
• Using Fusing to Express Yourself (good starter class in this category)

Simple Sewing

• Darned Quilts - design and color
• Multiple Magic - extensive designing
• Structured Fabrics - creating fabric, designing

Drawing, some with sewing

• Art for Quilters (sewing exercises)
• Designer Pinwheels
• Fractal Fragments
• Ladders and Crystals
• Playing with Lines and Shapes (beginner)
• 15 Lines and a Squiggle (intermediate)
• Reflections
• Symmetry Play
• Viewpoints

Computer Aided Quilt Design

Designing Quilts with CorelDraw - requires basic familiarity with software

Electric Quilt classes.  Beginners should start with classes by Fran Gonzalez. 

• EQ6 Sampler - getting started with the program
  EQ6 Building Blocks - learning to design and color blocks in both PatchDraw and EasyDraw

Patti Anderson's classes begin on a more advanced level.  You should be comfortable with the material in EQ6 Sampler, including familiarity with the PatchDraw drawing table before taking any of her classes.

• EQ6 Appliqué Design - Further exploration of PatchDraw

Dyeing - all taught by Marjie McWilliams

• Tea Stain Dyeing - no experience, no real dyes
• Cotton Dyeing Basics - starter class
• Quilter's Palette - more advanced cotton dyeing
• Fabric Painting
• Silk Dyeing
• Gutta Resist
• Batik it
• Shibori
• Shibori II - advanced - requires Shibori
• Three Ways to Dye - requires at least one of Marjie's classes

Garments

• Creative Wearables
• Investigations - techniques and design
• Mermaid Lagoon Jacket - specific pattern

Using Embroidery Machines

• Beginning Machine Embroidery - the very basics
• Embroidery on Patchwork - for those with some experience
• Digitized Quilting - need experience with module