May 12, 2010 - Karen McTavish

8 am - 3 pm - 7 hours with Karen McTavish marking a wholecloth quilt!!  Who knew there was so much to learn about making a wholecloth quilt?  Not me!  I have her book, I have read through it (tho it has been a whlie ago) and now things make more sense.  I'm a visual person.  I can read an instruction book and sort of understand the how-to's, but when I am in a class and am being taught the how-to's, then they make more sense.  :-)  Karen explained the process of choosing your stencils, specifics on the borders, and we were on our way then to go through the stencils spread out on the floor.  (and why didn't I take a picture of them?)  Several of us took our fabrics out to the hallway (again no pics) to lay them out and start marking.  Ok, so I didn't totally understand at the time what to do for the border, and of course, I picked a stencil that wasn't exactly "right".  Karen came out and we talked about it, I realized what was wrong before she came out.  I told her what I was going to do and she told me to keep marking.  At the end I think it is going to work.  I was able to get my outer border, center medallion and center border marked in before the end of class.  We took breaks so Karen could show us different techniques.  Some people took a lunch break but many of us stayed to keep marking our quilts.  Even with a 7 hour class, there wasn't enough time to get it completely marked.  And when you make a wholecloth, you have to have it completely marked, including the crosshatching.  So, a crosshatching stencil is next on my shopping list.  :-)

Karen's website -  http://www.designerquilts.com/

Karen has authored 4 books (of which I own) including her Wholecloth quilt book which  has been put back into publication due to popular demand.  She is an award winning quilter and is the sweetest person.  I have known about her for years (as anyone in the quilting/longarm business does) and I first "met" her on facebook a few months ago.  It was so good to meet her in person and to chat with her. 

My wholecloth is still folded up but I will put it up and get photos taken in the next day or two.  I'll show  you where I made my mistake with the outer border.  When I get back to it, I won't think of it as a mistake, I will think of it as a design challenge.  :-)  Next will be to work in the time to start quilting on it.

From 3-7 it was Shopping Frenzy with the vendors.  Oh my!!  It was the first hours the vendors were open and it definitely was a wild frenzy!  It was so much fun.  LOL  I bought a few things that afternoon and continued shopping on Friday.  Between rulers and backing, that was where I spent most of my money.  A big purchase was a Quiltazoid.  Yes, you read that right.  http://www.quiltazoid.com/  LOL  They are made to order so mine should be here in about 2 weeks.  I can hardly wait to get it and start playing with it!  Imagine a large spirograph mechanism that can make 600+ designs.  PLUS you can get other templates to use.  The ideas are endless.  It just dawned on me that I didn't even test drive it, just ordered it.  LOL  I knew I wanted one and just watched in awe as it was being demonstrated.  Many say that the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.  Well, I think when it comes to quilters, the saying is the same.  :-)

More tomorrow.  Happy Quilting!!