2027 Session 2
Instructors
Friday, March 5 – Wednesday, March 10, 2027
Cindy Grisdela
Artful Improv Medallion
Learn to create your own original quilts with no pattern using improvisational piecing techniques. Students will learn to let go of the “rules” and piece blocks in an intuitive, free-form fashion, and may wish to begin with blocks or other elements left over from previous projects. We will explore contemporary Improv log cabin style blocks, Improv Curves, and Angled Stripes, as well as insets and Curved Strips. Use the elements you create to design an Improv Medallion quilt if you prefer more structure, or use your imagination to assemble the pieces in your own way. We will discuss color choices and use simple design principles to create an original, dynamic composition.
Level: All Levels
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cindygrisdela.com
Daisy Aschehoug
Quilt Alchemy with Giant Nested Curves
The Giant Nested Curves quilt-making approach grew from a desire to use what I had on hand. The first quilt used only scraps, leftover batting, random binding tailings, and assorted thread colors from previous projects. Though made from many different sources, the result felt completely new. The secret was the strength of the overlying design: large curves nested inside one another. The Quilt Alchemy workshop outlines this strategy using readily available materials—unfinished tops, cherished scraps, orphan blocks, or even long-loved (or long-avoided) fabric. We’ll assess strengths and weaknesses, then transform materials into new compositions using quarter-circle seams with 6, 9, and 12-inch radii, resulting in projects defined by each quilter’s aesthetic.
Level: All Levels
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David Owen Hastings
UFO Flying Disks Quilt
Give new life to an unfinished quilt or workshop sample by transforming it into a dimensional wall piece! In this fun, adventurous workshop, we’ll cut, quilt, and reshape your UFO into playful disks. First, we will stitch layers of machine quilting using a walking foot or free-motion foot, explore two simple finishing methods, and then add optional Sashiko-inspired hand stitching for extra texture. Finally, we’ll arrange your disks into an overlapping composition to create a unique 3D wall quilt. Come ready to experiment—remember, it’s only fabric, you can always get more!
Level: All Levels
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Denise Labadie
Art Quilts Design Intensive
Denise is known for her contemporary art quilt portraits of Celtic megalithic stones, monoliths, and historic monastic ruins. Her work features one-of-a-kind hand-painted fabric and a bold use of texture, perspective, and dimensionality. These techniques are the focus of her Art Quilt Design Intensive workshop, which draws on Denise’s deep and wide-ranging experience in both art quilting and traditional patchwork. The hands-on workshop explores quilt design and finishing, fabric painting, working with photos, and foundational construction techniques, including appliqué methods, free-form strip piecing, and couching. Emphasis is placed on understanding the “what, when, why, and how” of each technique while building confidence through reusable, creative skills applicable to any quilt style.
Level: Confident Beginner
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Heidi Parkes
Improv: by Hand and Machine
Intuition and convenience will lead the way as we create improvisational quilt tops together! Receive video instruction from Heidi before class, to learn the basic techniques of visible hand piecing and her unique approach to machine piecing. Then, we’ll explore shape, color, and visual movement as we hone our compositions in class. Work with a wholecloth base or piece your top. You decide how much hand and/or machine is right for you in class. Heidi will guide you in prioritizing a timeline and making strategic choices to balance speed and joyfulness in the sewing process.
Level: All Levels
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Jane Sassaman
Layered & Stitched
In this class, you’ll be making personalized fabrics by cutting and fusing simple shapes onto background fabrics. These fused fabrics will be mixed with graphic commercial prints, sliced into sections and then arranged and stitched into several modern fabric collaged compositions. The final icing on the cake will be sandwiching the quilt layers and adding the quilted details. This course strives to stimulate new ways to add energy and excitement to your fiber work through shapes, patterns, and color. It will also supply you with a collection of unique motifs to apply later to your surface design or fiber art. Students should have a desire to develop their own design language and unique visual symbols, plus an interest in the history of decorative design.
Level: All Levels
Jennifer Sampou
Elevate Color Harmonies
Are you captivated by the infinite color found in nature—the hundreds of greens in a landscape, the earthy tones of trees, and the shifting blues of the sky and sea? In this workshop, Jennifer teaches you how to truly see color and translate nature’s sparkle, glow, and movement into your quilts. Using your own inspirations—whether the mountains, the ocean, or your own garden—you’ll explore new color combinations, strengthen warm and cool relationships, and sew precise, beautifully refined Log Cabin blocks. Learn techniques for cutting even strips, troubleshooting wonky blocks, and auditioning dynamic layouts. We’ll work with SKY Ombrés (or your own stash) and Jennifer’s SKY Log Cabin pattern (C&T Publishing).
Level: All Levels
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Jenny Haynes
Havsglas
Students will be playing with the traditional Snake Trail block with a twist: a square block with cogs in the corners. This block will be the start of your designs and will work as a puzzle piece that can be flipped and turned to change the composition of your Cogs quilt. The cogs are FPP (Foundation Paper Pieced) using freezer paper. They could be solid, stripy, fuzzy cut, or scrappy. This opens the workshop up to individuality and creativity, and Jenny will show you multiple ways of making the design yours. This class is full of techniques that will elevate your quilting. No previous experience with curve piecing necessary.
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Josephine de la Cruz Keasler
Independent Study
Do you have a Judy Niemeyer or Jacqueline de Jonge quilt that isn’t finished? This is the perfect class for you. Josephine will help you continue on your journey in a beautiful and inspiring surrounding. She is also a certified Fiberworks instructor and will assist you if you have a Laura Heine design that you purchased and haven’t started or finished. Josephine is an experienced teacher and will help you problem-solve your project. This is also the perfect class if you just want to be surrounded by fellow quilters and learn other techniques in this wonderful location.
Level: All Levels
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Katie Pasquini Masopust
Working in a Series
Explore the creative possibilities of working in a series by making one of your own. Participants bring a small piece to the workshop from which to build a series of two or three additional works. We will first evaluate all pieces made in advance and discuss their potential for development into a series. Participants then form a plan of their own, considering color, composition, and elements of design, such as contrasts of size, contrast of temperature, contrast of values, layers, engaging the edge, negative space, etc. Each piece in your series builds on the previous one. (the number of pieces you complete depends on the speed in which you work) finishing just 1 piece or one per day or anywhere in between is fine.
Level: All Levels
Kevin Womack
The Thread’s the Thing: The Impact of Thread Color on Quilted Surfaces
There are countless ways to quilt a contemporary quilt, and the quilting itself can transform your work. While the pattern sets the stage, the color of your thread and the density of your stitching can dramatically change the effect. In this class, you’ll explore essential color concepts through free-motion quilting exercises and experiment with theory-based combinations before learning to expressively “draw” with your sewing machine. Hands-on practice will demonstrate how thread color, stitch, and pattern create dynamic surfaces—revealing thread color as an expressive element of subtle power in your artistic arsenal.
Level: All Levels
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Pattie Klimek
How to Make a Handmade Quilt
This is Slow Stitching that gives you a finished quilt faster than you may think. Make a quilt entirely by hand in five days. Learn to hand piece a variety of blocks, including triangles, improv, templates, and curved piecing. Next, start on hand quilting with both traditional and Big Stitch quilting using the rocking stitch. Learn how to mark quilting designs and finally how to design a quilting pattern to give your handmade quilt an individual touch. Bring UFO projects to class and design a quilting pattern for them. A class full of information for experienced and beginning quilters. Leave your machine at home and bring yourself back to the Joy of Handwork.
Level: All Levels
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Robin Long
Mariner’s Compass Medallions
Explore the rulers and techniques for making STRIP-PIECE mariner’s compass blocks (that’s right, no paper piecing!) and other elements to create your own striking compass medallion quilt. We’ll start by learning how to make the nested compass blocks that form the center of the medallion, then go on to explore other common techniques to build on your medallion, including Dresden bands and faced appliqué. You’ll choose which blocks and which extra elements you will add to make your own unique project. Join Robin in this technique-based class and benefit from her fabulous knowledge of block construction and gorgeous samples. #wherewillyourcompasstakeyou!
Level: Intermediate
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