Programs & Workshops

Paula speaking at 2013 Quilt Congress in Russellville, AR

Paula speaking at 2013 Quilt Congress in Russellville, AR

Paula’s workshops and programs are a visual feast. She brings her quilts and vintage props for a unique display. She understands that quilters don’t really want to see slides of quilts or unfinished quilt tops, but real quilted quilts!

Paula is a creative quilter who enjoys making scrapbook quilts, new quilts that look old, as well as contemporary quilts using the newest fabrics. Her focus in all presentations is on the creativity lurking inside each of us. As she talks about her own process in creating, you will see more possibilities for making quilts that reflect your own interests and passions!

Trunk Show Programs

Paula’s passion for playing with fabric and for quiltmaking is obvious in all her programs. Pick one or more of these programs based on the interests of your guild or community group. Each program can be tailored to 1 hour, 1 1/2 hours or even 2 hours and will include many quilts displayed with vintage props.

  • Diagonal Designs Make Dynamic Quilts (Paula’s Newest Program)
    With two decades of quilt making experience, Paula has discovered how often her favorite quilts have strong diagonal elements. Many of her unique quilts feature strong diagonal designs. She suggests that by using diagonal lines in our quilts we keep the eye moving and add visual interest. Log cabin quilts are a good example. Most quilters can visualize the variety of settings available with log cabin blocks divided diagonally between light and dark sides.

    Other blocks and different strategies also allowed us to use strong diagonal lines in our quilts. In one strategy, for example, we can carry the diagonal lines of a pieced block into the border areas. Paula’s trunk show will include scrappy quilts as well as pieced and appliqued examples. Most of the quilts are her original designs. Her explanations about color will help demystify the critical role of light and dark values when choosing colors for your quilts.
    indigo-bird

  • Antique Quilts That Made Me Buy Them! A quilt collection is unique to the collector, reflecting her interests and quirks. Paula is drawn to quilts with “personality” or history sewn into the stitches. Her earliest quilt was made after the civil war and her latest is from the 1970s. Each has a story to tell including this blue wedding ring.                                   blue-ring2375                                                                     
  • Memory and Scrapbook Quilts Each of us carries our own unique set of memories, associations and stories. As we design our quilts, we may seek ideas and opinions from others, but our own sensibilities determine the outcome of our project. Our stories are recorded in fabric scraps, photos and unique mementoes. In viewing the collage of memories found in Paula’s quilt, both large and small, you will be inspired to transform your own memories into quilts.
  • TimeSpan Quilts Save the Day! We quilters are often face with UFOs, that is Unfinished Objects. Sometimes our most favored UFOs are vintage projects from friends, relatives or even a flea market. For fifteen years Paula has been finishing the work of unknown quilters. You will be inspired by all the different options available to transform blocks and tops. Perhaps some of your own UFOs could be finished with some of these ideas.
  • Thrift Store Treasure Hunt Yes, shopping at thrift stores recycles precious resources and saves the shopper money. But, scanning the jumbled offerings challenges our imaginations and creativity! As quilters we know quality fabric and needlework when we see it, so we have an advantage. Silk, linen, unusual embroidery, and other fine fabrics can add unique elements to our quilts. Exercising your own educated eye looking for treasures at thrift stores gets better with time. Forty years of treasure shopping has yielded at least forty quilts with thrift store elements for Paula.
  • Add Black and Every Quilt Shines! The strong contrast offered by accents of black can transform most any color scheme–even pastel quilts from the Depression era. Black can add visual depth and even intrigue to our projects. If you have not discovered the possibilities of using black you will be pleased with adding this option to your fabric choices. When, where and how to add black will be illustrated in Paula’s quilts.  Leonas-quilt-part
  • The Drama of Two Color Quilts Quilters in every decade discovered the amazing possibilities of sewing with just two colors. We are using a broad definition:  two colors plus a neutral. This format is often use to highlight fine hand or machine quilting or an especially interesting block format. Paula will show both antique and contemporary versions with drama to spare.
    pink-basket
  • Dolls Love Quilts, Too Hand sewing was an important survival skill before the invention of the sewing machine in the mid 1850s. Girls and boys learned to sew by six years old or earlier usually beginning with simple projects like a four patch quilt for a doll or, perhaps, for a favorite cat.  Learning to sew was a necessity. Many doll quilts from the 1800s are recycled blocks or “cut-downs” of less worn fragments from larger quilts.  Not all doll quilts are primitive, made with a child’s stitches or from worn quilts. Doll quilts were also made by mothers, grandmothers, aunts and friends to please a favorite child, or were made by these women to please themselves. Small size quilts have become collectable, as the interest in quilting and in folk art has blossomed.

Bisque-Doll

  • featherweight-pic Featherweight: Singer’s Gift to Quilters, 1933-1968   At eleven pounds the Singer Model 221 was a revolutionary machine when introduced at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. At least three million were produced over those decades. Because it is portable, sews a perfect lock stitch and is easy to service, many quilters have bonded with our Featherweights. Paula carried her used Featherweight home on the bus from downtown Kansas City to her apartment on the Country Club Plaza in 1969. Forty-five years later it is still her primary sewing machine. Paula will discuss the most important features, and she will alert the group to a few weakness (mostly in the carrying case). She will demonstrate the “Three-way” card table sold as an accessory to the Featherweight and share her tales of discovery surrounding this amazing machine including her first and only quilt quilted on the Featherweight.
  •  “When This You See, Remember Us” Paula will talk about the history of album quilts of the 1840s and the variations including friendship quilts, memory quilts and signature quilts and even a t-shirt quilt. The earliest examples were quotations inked on fabric, later embroidery and cross stitched names were common. Every quilt she shows has a story—these are the stories from the quiltmakers themselves.                                             

Workshops in Conjunction with the Programs (Full or Half Day)

Paula is an enthusiastic teacher who has taught quilting in the area for over twenty years. Most of the classes are project classes to allow you to learn the skill and to create a small or large quilt top—your choice. Paula will help you choose fabrics that work well with the fabrics you love and to help you create a quilt with your personality. A few of the classes focus on a particular technique or aspect of quiltmaking.

Below is one example of a workshop. Each of the programs listed above can have a 3 hour or three day workshop designed to complement that program! Please contact Paula to discuss your group and what type of workshop will suit your needs. The workshop plan will build on the information presented in the program, provide hands-on experience and build confidence in using new skills.

  • Scrapbook or Memory Quilts

Scrapbook quilts are full of memories and momentoes of our lives. Paula sees herself as an untrained collage artist who brings her sense of humor and sense of wonder at women’s creativity together to create very personal quilts. She has no patterns to offer, but lots of examples to spark your own imagination. Her scrapbook quilts include memory quilts in honor of her mother, timespan quilts using vintage feedsacks and vintage blocks.

For one of her most striking scrapbook quilts, she cut apart the jacket of her 1980s TWA flight attendant uniform, added photos and quilt blocks to create a scrapbook without pages. Another quilt features palm trees reminiscent of her childhood in Miami Springs, FL. From doll quilts to full size quilts you will see quilts that will send you home for your own photos and scraps with new ideas on possibilities for how to combine your own collected textile treasures. Scrapbook quilts record our stories using fabric, lace, buttons and other embellishments. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to pull together unused blocks or family blocks to combine with photographs (on fabric) and other treasures to make a scrapbook quilt. If you have a quilt you consider a scrapbook quilt, bring it for show & tell!

Class description

Each of us carries our own unique set of memories, associations and stories. As we design our quilts, we may seek ideas and opinions from others, but our own sensibilities determine the outcome of our project. Our stories are recorded in fabric, photos, scraps of lace, buttons and more. Perhaps you have unused blocks or family blocks that you can combine with photographs on fabric for you scrapbook quilt.

Each participant will bring her own collection of mementoes to organize into a scrapbook quilt relating to a meaningful person or place in her life. Next she scours her fabric stash for related fabrics and brings whatever might work—even if it fills a suitcase. We will work individually and as a group to brainstorm about a variety of settings and visually interesting placement options for your treasures.

In my opinion, a portable design wall is the most important tool for creating a visually interesting project. I strongly encourage everyone to bring a design wall to allow you to visually organize your ideas. Even something as small as an 18” x 24” artist’s canvas with flannel stretched over it will be very useful. Larger is helpful, too, because it gives you more space to work on the design. Bring whatever version of a portable design wall you might have.

Scrapbook Quilts Supply List

Treasured items to be your focal points

Design wall

Sewing machine not required, but helpful

Rotary mat, rulers and cutter

Scissors, pins, pin cushion and all those notions

Fabric to go with your starting point of blocks, photos, theme fabric, etc. Bring lots of fabric! Bring lights, mediums and darks. Pack a suitcase, if necessary!

Embellishments: from buttons to pins to jewelry, lace, tatting and crochet—be creative

Peephole, ruby beholder or other tool to determine color value, if possible

Extension cord?

Glasses?

If you have any questions or concerns, call me or email me: 479-677-2235, paulamariedaughter@windstream.net.

More classes to be added soon….

 

 

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