workshop

Jessica Darling Color Party Workshop Recap

Our first ever PMQG workshop, held last month, was a smashing success! It was so much fun to sew with fellow PMQG members in a classroom setting! The room above the gym where we hold our meetings at St. Andrew is a perfect size for about 14-16 attendees and worked out well for our needs. It's bright and airy, with a nice little nook with a mini fridge, sink, and room for us to make coffee and tea!

Improv quilt by teacher Jessica Darling

So what did we do at the workshop? Each attendee brought a couple yards of a "party host" fabric (aka, a focus fabric). Then we added in a few various party guests and thought a little about what direction we wanted our quilt to go in. Or some of us may have just started gleefully sewing away! Everyone also brought a gallon sized ziplock bag full of scraps, which were spread out on a communal table. It was very fun to keep examining the scraps on the table and pulling out new pieces that could fit into our quilts!

Michelle M. with some of her blocks, the giant scale stars are so fun!

Meredith's blocks, love the bright colors!

Heather and some of her colorful progress

 
Mary Ann's Improv blocks

 
Lara's work, the butterflies are a great Party Host!


Anne M. with her beautiful bird blocks


Suzanne's blocks with AMH party host

Kazumi also went with some beautiful AMH fabric!


Lorraine's work, she made a mini quilt and sewed her first curves!
 
Blocks from Michelle F...she brought the fun feather blocks with her,
she's speedy but not quite that speedy!
 

Elsa used super cute teacup fabric for her Party Host!


Colleen mixed funky birds in with her warm palette

Thanks to Suzanne for taking pictures!  To see more pictures, please check out #pmqgworkshop on Instagram.


Our next workshop is Friday, March 20th and there are still spaces available. Scott Hansen will be teaching his Painted Forest pattern. The workshop is only open to PMQG members until March 1st, and if we have any spaces left at that point it will be open to the public.

Painted Forest by Scott Hansen


Scott Hansen Painted Forest Workshop Sign-ups--Now Open

Are you looking forward to March? Dreary March in Portland can be a drag, but I've got a way to lighten it up! Scott Hansen is coming to town and teaching PMQG members an awesome, colorful workshop! I've been intrigued by his Painted Forest pattern since I first saw it a year ago, and now we can all learn from the designer himself! As a fun bonus Scott will be selling patterns and other items at the meeting AND giving PMQG members a 15% discount to his online store through the end of March. The discount will be sent to guild members via email. 

Read on for more details about Scott, his patterns, and details for his March 20th workshop with sign-ups opening this Monday, January 19th.




Have you met Scott? When I met him, he handed me a nickel that was painted blue (his company is named Blue Nickel Studios). You never forget a person that pulls a genius move like that! I know you'll have a blast with him when he comes to lecture and teach a workshop in March.

Here is a bit about Scott in his own words:

Scott is the Mad Color Scientist at Blue Nickel Studios which he runs from his rural home in the Pacific Northwest, sort of smack in between the Cascade Mountains and the suburbs of Seattle. 
He has been quilting for more than half of his life now, and doesn’t see fit to change that any time soon. He has designed and created quilts for many fabric manufacturing companies and has had other quilt designs featured in many leading quilt magazines. He speaks and teaches locally and regionally, sharing his work and quilts. Scott is thrilled to be preparing to spend his third week teaching at the Quilters’ Affair program that is part of the world famous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon this July. He is Community editor for Generation Q Magazine on the side, as well as working full-time at Costco to keep a bit of steady cash flow.
He still maintains a blog at www.bluenickelstudios.com even if he’s not sure anyone really reads them anymore and sells his patterns in his Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/BlueNickelStudios. You can follow him on IG at http://instagram.com/bluenickelstudios He’s there the most often.

In his spare time, he tries to maintain his sanity along with the house he built and acreage he thinks can still be the park he envisioned 20+ years ago. He is married to his wife of 25+ years, Linda, a talented mixed-media/doll-loving artist herself, and they have three young adult children, who give them all sorts of joy and challenges as they are stretching their wings to leave the nest. He loves God, his family, trees, architecture, gardens, color, cats, vintage and modern textiles, art, pattern, meeting new people, design, Christmas, fashion, his curly mustache, and a great many other marvelous people, ideas, and things.

What: Painted Forest Workshop (see description and supply list below)
Who: Scott Hansen of Blue Nickel Studios
When: Friday, March 20th from 9-5
Where: St. Andrew Church, 806 NE Alberta St., in the Oscar Romero room, which is up a wheelchair accessible ramp to the right side of the gym where we hold our meetings.
Price: $72 plus you will need to purchase and print PDF pattern with discount code before workshop

Class description:
Painted Forest   59 ½” x 60”
Intermediate

Have a blast making your own little forest in whatever colors you chose. Scott helps you make your own unique trees using a variety of blocks already mapped out and then you can arrange and rearrange the parts to “plant” them anywhere you want in your quilt. Autumn? Get your fall colored scraps together. A black and white forest on a backdrop of a variety of reds? Super Dramatic! A Winter forest with not a leaf to be seen? You can do that too! The sky’s the limit on these fun blocks.

Supply List:
Sewing machine with ¼ inch foot or at least your ability to make accurate ¼ inch seams, rotary cutter, cutting mat, and 18” or longer straight ruler (a shorter one would be handy too, but not necessary),thread, and other basic sewing supplies: seam ripper, pins, etc.
Highly recommended:
Finger presser for “in between” pressing (there is a lot of pressing needed in this project)
Small rotating cutting mat (there is a lot of trimming in this project)

Fabric list:
2 yards or more -- Assorted print fabrics for the “leafy” bits
1 yard -- Assorted solids or “near” solids for the branches and trunks
(each tree needs 2” x WOF, and there are 14 trees in the pattern)
3 yards -- Assorted background prints or solids (each tree takes less than a fat quarter)

Optional: Digital device to save your layout options

The workshop is now on saIe. Please fill out the sign-up form below. Workshop is open to PMQG members only until March 1st, then it will be open to the public if there are still unsold spaces. When we receive your sign-up form we will email a confirmation. If you for some reason do not receive an email confirmation within 24 hours, please send an email to PMQGevents@gmail.com

Price of workshop is $72, via Square only plus workshop attendees will need to purchase the pdf pattern before the workshop. Pattern originally $10 but will b $8.50 with the 15% discount Scott is generously giving guild members through the end of March. No refunds are given for cancellation unless your spot can be re-sold.


Jessica Darling Color Party Improv Workshop--Signup

PMQG is thrilled to welcome Jessica Darling to speak at the guild at our January meeting! The next day she will teach an Improv Workshop all about color and mixing fabrics. See sign-up form at the end of this post to register for the workshop.



I had the pleasure of meeting Jessica at last year's Quilt Knit Stitch when PMQG member Violet Craft introduced us. She is bubbly and fun and vibrant and just kind of oozes cool, ya know? I'm very excited to kick off 2015 with Jessica as our first speaker AND the first teacher for our new workshop program!



 Here's a little about Jessica in her own words:


Before she knew how to drive, Jessica Darling knew how to operate a longarm
machine. As a teen, she was greatly influenced by colorful graffiti/street art and album covers from her favorite musicians. She had dreams of owning a trend-conscious, funky quilting boutique that catered to her esoteric taste. She started remnants:fiber[culture] in 2012 and offered the Austin, Texas sewing community a unique alternative. The store has since closed, but it inspired Jessica to pursue teaching and pattern design. She started Homegrown- a division of Villa Rosa Designs, the pretty little postcard patterns. 
When sheʼs not designing card patterns, she lectures and teaches about color and composition with a modern, edgy twist.

You can keep up with her rock-and-roll lifestyle and peep her constant works in progress

on her instagram- @jessicakdarling
thru her website- jessicakdarling.com
OR you can be friends and keep in touch
thru her Facebook page- facebook.com/jessicadarlingquilts
Check her patterns out at Villa Rose Designs

Still want more? How about some gorgeous pics of her colorful work?


And the description for the Color Party Improv Workshop:
Does color selection confuse and infuriate you? Are you unsure of your color combinations and intuitional color sense? Explore the art of intuitional and individual color stories by personifying your fabric. Everyone loves a party.

For this workshop, besides sewing machines and basic sewing tools, attendees bring 2 yards of a "Party Host" fabric that will be the overall theme for their quilt, as well as 3-5 yards of scraps that will be shared among all the workshop attendees (you may or may not get your scraps back). How much fabric is 3-5 yards of scraps? A gallon ziplock bag stuffed to the brim will work!




What: Color Party Improv Workshop with Jessica Darling

When: January 16th, 9 am to 5 pm
Where: St Andrew Catholic Church, 806 NE Alberta St., Oscar Romero Room (above the gym, to the right up the wheelchair accessible ramp)
Price: $72, Online Square payment only. No additional fees or pattern needed for this workshop

Refunds only given for cancellations if spot is able to be re-sold or if workshop is cancelled due to low attendance. 

This workshop is open only to 2015 PMQG members through January 1st, 2015. After that date it will be open to non-members as well if we haven't filled the class.