Tag: classes

Scrap resolutions

January 2, 2020

Happy New Year! Are you starting off your new quilting year off with a resolution to use up your scraps? Or maybe just get to some of those lovelies that have been living in your stash and are looking for the perfect project? Great! Because String Theory 2.0 is here!

String Theory 2.0. is the second issue of the Lab Manual series and features projects that are made for 1 1/2″ wide fabric strips, or sometimes called strings. String quilts have been around for a long time and have been a favorite of scrap quilters for ages. I love them and they are one of my favorite standard scrap bucket sizes because you can do so much with them!

2.0 offers six new projects, all based on 1 1/2″ strips, and this time around, some of the projects add in the A-word. Yes, appliqué! Now don’t be afraid! It’s not scary appliqué I promise and all of the projects will burn up a serious amount of scraps! Be brave!

Now, winter weather and my schedule have not been great for getting a lot of outside quilt shots but I did luck out with a recent sunny day and ran out to put up my project “Happy Lattice” out in the garden to catch the sun. Beautiful quilting on this one by Tracey @thequiltingninja .

I had so much fun bringing these projects together and I hope you will find something that tickles your scrap fancy. To help start you off on your scrap resolutions, I’m offering free shipping in the U.S. on all on-line orders of String Theory 2.0 for the month of January! Yeah! No discount code needed, just shop an go!

And of course, your support and purchases are always appreciated at your favorite local quilt shop. String Theory 2.0 as well as all of my other patterns and books are available to shop owners through their distributors.

If you’re in my Pacific Northwest neighborhood there are some upcoming workshops and trunk shows featuring these new projects so check them out!

Are you a member of the Northwest Quilt Connection? I’ll be visiting NQC, Saturday, January 11th and I’ll be sharing a trunk show program. See their site for more details.

Upcoming classes at Two Thimbles Quilts Shop in Bellingham:

Saturday, February 8th I’ll be teaching the Flora runner.

Sunday, March 1st, Walking Foot Quilting.

Sunday, March 29th I’ll be teaching Petal Pusher.

Another great opportunity coming up in January, February and March, will be Scrap Science Club at Quilting Mayhem in Snohomish.

Well, my year is off with a dash and I hope yours is too! More soon!

Happy new year’s quilting,

Tonya

Trying something new – silk!

May 7, 2018

One of the things I love about quilting is the variety and creativity in the medium. While I love my scrap quilts, it’s also fun to try new things, stretch and grow, too. I had the opportunity recently to take a silk fabric painting class with Janet Lehwalder and it was so fun! So different than anything I had tried or imagined either – and sometimes that’s the best part of taking a class!20180428_114537

So, if pressed to describe painting on silk fabric, I’d say it’s kind of like watercolor painting crossed with Easter egg dying. The process is so easy Janet even teaches elementary school students the technique – so I knew there was hope for me!

Janet’s knowledge and experience is so deep. She’s such a great example of someone finding the art form that speaks to them and making it a lifelong passion. Not only was it a class on a new technique and medium but also a great exercise in color mixing and using the true primaries – yellow, magenta, and cyan – to make all the colors we used.20180428_160508 (1)

There’re a lot of steps and I wouldn’t begin to attempt a tutorial here – more like an exploratory look 🙂 so here are some pics of the process…

 

 

Here’re some of my classmates’ works in progress and one of Janet’s completed projects with beautiful bead embellishments.

 

 

I tried a traced design with a resist medium and then adding the paint and then one free-hand all-over design on a silk fat quarter. Supposedly, you can even cut it up and quilt with it when you are done, but I can tell you I love it too much already to ever cut into this baby!

 

 

So, check out Janet’s work, take her classes if you have the opportunity and try something new! You will enjoy the process, add a new skill to your arsenal,  and leave with a beautiful piece of hand-painted silk.20180506_140047

Happy stash quilting,

Tonya

Class Full

April 14, 2018

“Class Full.” Those are delightful words for a teacher offering a class – a bummer if you were trying to get into the class too late! Do you take classes at your local quilt shop, at conferences, or with your guild? Classes can be so much more than learning a specific technique or quilt pattern. As a teacher and as a student myself, here’s what I love about them:

  • shared passion, excitement for our craft and truly the art of quilting
  • support and encouragement from other quilters
  • idea overload – in a good way!
  • a different perspective
  • learning a new project, the actual content of the class itself…

I wanted to share some student projects from some recent Big String Star classes I’ve taught. It’s a class based on this larger project, Rock Star – scaled down to wall-hanging size.

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Rock Star by Tonya Alexander

So much fun…

Aren’t those student projects beautiful?! Creativity has no bounds and I love that and am so inspired by them. The one thing I would add to my list of favorite things about classes is this:

  • There is nothing more satisfying for a teacher than to see their students’ unique and creative projects come to life!

So take a class, meet new friends, learn a technique, and most of all, HAVE FUN!

Happy stash quilting,

Tonya