City Arts Classes!

I am so pleased to announce that I will be teaching at City Arts in my own home town of Wichita, Kansas!  I remember going to City Arts with all of my children on field trips and it is such a fun place to be.  I taught crazy quilting from my home for 17+ years and I have taken break from that the last few years.  I have missed teaching locally and I am ready to get back into it!

I will be teaching two different classes this spring, so I'll list the class descriptions here on my blog with dates and prices.  If you are interested in enrolling either of the classes, you may email at valbothell@gmail.com or you may call me at 316-722-9578.

Crazy Quilt Heart Class

This is a sweet wall hanging that I made for the dedication page of my new book, Joyful Daily Stitching Seam by Seam.  In this class you will learn basic crazy quilt piecing and beginning embroidery stitches as well some silk ribbon embroidery stitches.  This is a great class because you will everything you need to know to start crazy quilting!  The price of the class is $90.00 and there is also a $45.00 kit fee for a total of $135.00.  The class meets on Saturdays from 1-3 pm starting January 20 and running through February 10, for a total 4 two hour classes.  You may have it done just in time for Valentine's day!

Crazy Quilting with Wool

This is a project I made for my first book, Quilting...Just a Little Bit Crazy.  It is a fun wool project where you will learn how to piece thick felted wool pieces into a crazy quilt style.  You will also learn crazy quilt embroidery stitches.  The price for this class is $90.00 and after enrolling you will receive a class supply list so you will know what to bring to class with you.  The class meets on Saturdays from 1-3 pm February 17 through March 10th for a total of 4 two hour classes.  This is one of my favorite classes, wool is so fun to embroider on!

If you are interested in purchasing either of the books I have written, I can sell you an signed copy!  They are listed on the right side bar if you would prefer to buy on on Amazon.

Have a great day!


 

A Crazy Quilt Block for Studio e Fabrics

This summer, Pepper Cory called me and asked me to make a 16 1/2'' block for her.  The only rule was that I had to use the Peppered Cotton Fabrics  she designed for Studio e Fabrics. I l thought its sounded like a fun project and I loved the idea that there was only one rule, so I had the freedom to do what I wanted.

I think Pepper was surprised when I picked out all green fabrics, but it is a current design mode I am in right now.  I use solids for my fabrics and then I use contrasting threads so my stitches really pop.  If I am going to go to all the work of spending hours doing embroidery, I really want to be able to see them!

So here are the colors that I picked:

I was so pleased when they came and I got right to work with them making a fan block.

I chose pink threads so that they would contrast and show up really well on the fabric and it was so easy to embroider on it.

Here is a close up of the fabric.  I just loved the feel of it!

I was honored to be asked to work on this project and here is a list of the other designers that participated in the projects.

They are from:
Sue Pelland Designs; http://suepellanddesigns.com/
Janice Pope of Anything But Boring Designs http://anythingbutboring.com/
Valerie Bothell; www.valeriebothell.com
Robin Koehler; http://nestlingsbyrobin.com
Barbara Black; http://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/
Kelly Ashton; Kellyquilter.com
Susan Marth; http://www.suznquilts.com/
Kathy Delaney Quilter; http://kathydelaney.com/
Bonnie K Hunter; http://quiltville.com
Gyleen X. Fitzgerald; https://www.colourfulstitches.com/
Pepper Cory; http://www.peppercory.com/

Have a great day!

Hello there!

Hi there!

It has been awhile since I have done a blog post, but it doesn't mean I haven't been stitching!  For the past 2 1/2 years, I have been working on a large project that turned into a book!  I began a Face Book group called Joyful Embellishments to encourage everyone to stitch daily.  Sometimes when I am working on a large project, it seems overwhelming, but I found that if you make a daily stitching goal for yourself the project becomes manageable, at least in my experience!

After I started the Face Book group (which you may join at anytime!), I decided that I wanted to start a crazy quilt where every stitch on it was different, not one seam would be the same.  I decided on a goal of 250 different seams but as that goal came to an end, I pieced more blocks and I ended up with over 500 different seam treatments on my crazy quilt.  It was so much fun to challenge myself as I did one or two seams a day.  I am so pleased that what started out as a personal challenge, became a book and I hope that it will encourage you to do some daily stitching also!

Have a great day!