Special Events, Studio

Trends Show Part II: More Classes

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Happy Saturday and here is part two of my two part posts on attending the EE Schenck’s Trends show last weekend in Portland, Oregon.

Alas, in this post there will be no “unexpected roommates” (see Trends Show Part I: The Unexpected Roommate ) like the previous post; but for the rest of the show I continued to take two more great “Take n’ Teach” classes – from Latifah Saafir and Kathy Cardiff.

Latifah Saafir: Fear Curves No More

Latifah Saafir is amazing – she is an engineer turned quilt pattern and quilt tool designer based out of Los Angelas, CA. She is a also a great teacher. Check out her website – Latifah Saafir Studios: One Stitch, One Seam, One quilt at a time.

She demonstrated her brilliant method for piecing curves using pieces cut from The Clammy, her giant clamshell maker template. Below are photos from the class (including some yummy fabric she used for her demo):

2018-03-17_13-38-51_8572018-03-17_14-24-05_3782018-03-17_14-13-51_8442018-03-17_13-28-43_0312018-03-17_13-32-20_170

Later that day I was fortunate enough to share a shuttle bus ride (EE Schencks provided a free shuttle to and from the hotel to the Trends show) with Latifah and hear more about her transition from scientist to quilting guru!

Kathy Cardiff: Wool Appliqué

Kathy Cardiff is a Washington state based designer, author and teacher who specializes in wool appliqué. Check out her website – The Cottage at Cardiff Farms.

She taught a hands on wool appliqué class in which she prepped our little wool appliqué pieces with fusible backed paper, we just needed to cut the little pieces out to make this (her sample):

2018-03-17_14-44-17_911.jpeg

She also prepared templates for us to use to press the pieces together onto freezer paper before peeling them off to place the fabric for the little pillow:

2018-03-17_14-40-34_306.jpeg

Her work is amazing, here are so additional photos from the class and her booth:

2018-03-17_14-29-59_9092018-03-17_14-30-03_4292018-03-17_14-37-57_584

She definitely took the fear out of wool appliqué for me like Latifah Saafir took the fear out of curved piecing for me!

Here is my wool appliqué piece currently in progress from the class:

2018-03-19_10-41-06_470.jpeg

The funny thing is I’ve had a The Cottage at Cardiff Farms sunflower wool appliqué pillow pattern and supplies for many years but I was too intimidated to get started on it. It no longer seems scary – especially now that I have learned a quick way to put the appliqué pieces together and fuse them!

I told Kathy about the pattern I’ve had for years (purchased at the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, OR); she knew which one I referenced and gave me tips after class on how to complete it!

There’s No Place Like Home

We had fun in Portland but I was also happy to return home again. My heart always soars when we drive from the Mount Hood pass area into Central Oregon. It is so interesting how the climate and the landscapes change from Portland to Mount Hood to Central Oregon.

The moment I saw my beloved “high desert” landscape, blue skies and Cascade Mountains everywhere – I knew I was home!

2018-03-18_11-51-37_729.jpeg
View from inside the car window before Madras Oregon (still too cold to roll the window down!)

Postscript

Recently I read an article online (oops I do not remember the website) that strongly recommended you do not store your thread out in the open because of dust, etc. In a previous post, Aurifilia, I discussed my beloved collection of AURIfil thread (actually obsession).

Well I decided to take down my mounted thread racks and store my thread collection instead in bins to protect the thread.

So I went from this:

2018-02-07_08-34-17_706

To this:

2018-03-23_09-02-10_993.jpeg

Note the AURIfil is neatly stored in the top 4 containers and the “non-AURIfil” thread is casually strew about in the bottom container – ha!

I also decided to put up more quilted art/gifts from my Quilting Sisters in my Studio.

Here is a quilt made for me a couple years ago by my Quilting Sister Kathy when our group did a quilt exchange:

2018-03-23_07-56-37_249.jpeg

 

I look around my studio and I feel very loved.

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

31 thoughts on “Trends Show Part II: More Classes”

    1. Well then you might have been cringing at my rack! It looked nice but when I took the thread down I had to dust off some of the spools! That dust probably would not be good for my machine. Great point I never even thought about the impact of sunlight!

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Awesome weekend Tierney! I really enjoyed reading about it. Latifah‘s Clammy quilt is beautiful, that looks like a fun class, very Glam Clam! I love that 😄
    Glad you got started on the wool appliqué you had too. Your brain must be happy after all that stimulation and inspiration from the show!
    PS your studio looks beautiful

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks so much Abbie – of course now I need to try sewing some curves on my own as the class was more a demonstration and discussion of techniques on sewing curves. Yes my brain is happy but I did enjoy just relaxing at home this weekend sewing 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Lots of beautiful photos here, Tierney. 🙂 I love the clamshell tool and quilt – like multi-coloured dragon scales, that looks so nice! And nice to see your work in wool appliqué. I can see how the adhesive backing makes arrangements easier. May I ask what the freezer paper does?
    Glad to hear your thread is newly organized and safely stored! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks so much for your kind words! So the backing on the wool pieces was fusible and what you do is cut out the freezer paper and put it over the design and anchor it down. The you press your appliqué flowers onto the freezer paper overlapping and then you can just peel the whole flower off the freezer paper and place it onto the fabric you will appliqué to! I am tell you this from memory and when I try one of my own I will do a blog post on it (to see if I can recreate what I did in class) 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Nothing like a good workshop to make one face one fears. (BTW I have ordered a copy of Art and Fear. Can’t wait to reread it. Thanks for reminding me about it.)

    I do wonder about the wisdom of storing threads and fabrics in plastic containers — those natural fibres surely can’t breath inside sealed plastic boxes?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hope you enjoy Art and Fear, I got a lot out of it. Good point about the thread – hmmm – either the dust gets them or I smother them in containers lol. I’ve seen the thread stored in plastic containers by the thread manufacturer so I am hoping it is okay 🙂

      Like

  11. Oh WOW! I am totally in love with that multicoloured quilt of Latifah’s… What a stunning design and colour combination! 😍 How cool that you finally got some tips to help out with your wool appliqué too… And your studio is looking great! If it helps with your thread storage dilemma at all, I keep all mine in decorated cardboard gift boxes – they look pretty, keep the dust at bay and (presumably) allow the fibres to breathe. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Decorated boxes sound lovely! I will not tell my thread as they will become envious as they were carelessly strewn into plastic boxes 🙂
      I have the pattern for the multicolored clamshell quilt and hope to make it someday. I had a lovely time at the event and had much inspiration 🙂

      Like

  13. I can totally relate to your joy at finally heading home. It is always fun to go away and experience new things, places, and activities. But…..there is no place like home. Home even seems more inviting when you have been away for a spell. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Pingback: Sisters Outdoor Show Part II: Visiting Crafters – tierneycreates

Comments are closed.