Craftsy Saleabration

There is never enough time to learn and create all we would like to do, but SewCalGal is confident that Craftsy is an excellent resource that allows us to learn and expand our skills, while having fun creating and learning.  And, they do it while offering great flexibility to our busy lives, as well as helping us manage our budgets!  And, through September 21st they have a sale on all of their courses and supplies.  This includes classes, fabrics and yarn, up to 75% off!





Craftsy Saleabration: Up to 75% Off All Courses, Fabric and Yarn!

Check out the new classes:
Continuous Line Quilting, with Ann Peterson
Simple Fresh Quilts, with Joanna Figueroa
Dot-to-Dot, with Angela Walters

Craftsy offers a wide selection of crafting classes, from world class instructors from around the world.  You can watch the classes anywhere you have an internet connection, anytime you want.  And, you have unlimited access to your Craftsy classes, allowing you to watch them as many times as you would like.

If you are not familiar with Craftsy and are nervous about taking an online class, check out my post about free classes at Craftsy. This is a great opportunity for quilters of all levels and interest and a good way to get some hands on experience with how Craftsy structures their classes.

You may also want to check out reviews by SewCalGal of classes at Craftsy:

Design It, Quilt It, with Cindy Needham

Chain of Stars Mystery Quilt, with Kimberly Einmo

Machine Quilting Negative Spaces, with Angela Walters

"Free-Motion Quilting A Sampler"  

 

"Free-Motion Fillers Volume 1"  


 

Leah Day: Free Motion Fillers, Vol. 2  

SewCalGal recommends Craftsy as an excellent resource for quilting, sewing and embroidery enthusiasts.

RickRack Announces Encore Sewing Class with Jennifer Paganelli & Dolin O'Shea (plus Giveaway)

VirtueRadioNetwork.com hosts Rick Rack Thread Therapy for Sewers, online sewing classes.


And, they have just announced an Encore Presentation of Girl's World's Mary's Fancy Sash Dress Online Sewing Class, Featuring Jennifer Paganelli & Dolin O'Shea.

This class will focus on Mary's Fancy Sash Dress and the program  consists of:

A high quality video tutorial with up-close sewing technique demonstrations (i.e., translating patterns, creating darts, making & attaching bias tape,finishing seams, gathering, working with elastic, etc).

Full color downloadable step-by-step project instruction sheet (PDF format).


Unlimited access to the secured class website containing all course materials thru December 31st, 2012.

Students have two options:

1) purchase the class without the Girl's World book (which contains the pattern) - $15.99; or

2) they can purchase the class ($25.99) with the Girl's World book (which has the Mary's Fancy Sash Dress pattern plus 20 more adorable sewing patterns).  The dress pattern is only sold as part the the Girl's World book. 

The Mary's Fancy Sash Dress pattern was developed for sizes XS-XL (girls).  The video demonstration and project instruction sheet shows how to make adjustments for the L and XL sizes.

Registration for Rick Rack's "Mary's Fancy Sash Dress" online sewing class closes on July 31, 2012. Click here to learn more about this class and to register.

SewCalGal highly recommends RickRack Thread Therapy for Sewers.  Their classes are well organized, offer flexible schedule, and are offered at a very reasonable price.  They provide a lot of sewing tips and projects for busy people who love to sew.  Plus, the teachers respond back to questions in a timely manner, allowing you to make progress on your projects at your pace and working with your schedule.

Did I mention a Giveaway?

One lucky follower of SewCalGal will win a space in this fun class, compliments of VirtueRadioNetwork.com. Simply leave a comment on this post and be sure I have a way to contact you.  A winner will be randomly selected and announced next Friday, July 6th and you'll be able to complete this class anytime in 2012.  Note:  Giveaway does not include a copy of "Girl's World".

I'm also happy to announce the winner of the Fun Friday Giveaway last week, for a copy of the new book "More Take 5 Quilts", by Kathy Brown is:  Marcia W.

Quilting Weekly

I have been researching various ways quilters can learn and/or expand their machine quilting skills.    I've come across a variety of opportunities, but I've not yet had time to really dig in and evaluate these opportunities, enabling me to share insights at this time.  To clarify,  I'm still researching.  I'm hopeful that I can publish my findings in February.  In the meantime, I want to share some insight on one of my findings so far and also seek your inputs, if you wish to share your insights.

Years ago I thought the only way I could learn was to take a class, where I could directly learn from the teacher who was in the classroom with me.  But I've since learned that there are many ways to learn and also to gain inspiration.  While I still love to take classes & workshops where the teacher is physically in the same room with me, I have also come to appreciate learning through a variety of of forums, including the internet.  And I'm excited that there are so many learning opportunities that offer a variety of quality classes in a virtual setting.  

I came across "Quilting Weekly", which offers a variety of classes online, including a class on machine quilting taught by Chris Dahl.  She lives in the Midwest state of Illinois, USA and has years of quilting experience, with various forms of quilting.  While I've not yet been able to take any classes available by Quilting Weekly, I am hoping to take a Machine Quilting class by Chris, offered thru Quilting Weekly, in the near future. 

If you have taken any classes thru Quilting Weekly and/or machine quilting classes by Chris Dahl, I'd like to hear your thoughts.  Please feel free to post feedback to this post, or email me directly. 

And, I hope to share insights with you soon, as I complete an online machine quilting class with Quilting Weekly soon!

 http://www.quiltingweekly.com/

http://quiltingweekly.blogspot.com/

QuiltingArtsWorkshop.com

Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors offer a collection of DVD based workshops that allows the flexibility of learning at home, at your leisure.  And unlike a regular class, it allows the ease of repeating the workshop (re-watching the DVD) as many times and as often, as you wish.   No more taking a class and months later wondering how did the teacher do that ?

I selected "Making Faces Beginning and Advanced Portraits" with Maria Elkins and found this DVD learning opportunity to be delightful.  Maria does a great job of sharing insights on her technique to make faces, beautiful & artistic faces!  While I've never considered myself artistic, watching this DVD has given me the confidence and skills to make a quilted face.  While I don't have my quilted face ready to share with you, I couldn't wait to tell you about this learning opportunity and how much fun I had with the Quilting ArtsWorkshop's Making Faces DVD.

Here is a quick overview video of this delightful workshop:




For a complete list of DVD & downloadable workshops available at QuiltingArtsWorkshop.com click here.

I hope you will visit check out the complete DVD workshop offering that QuiltingArtsWorkshop.com has.  Again, I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences with their Making Faces workshop.  I'm trying to decide which video workshop I want to pursue next.  Will it be "Painting Fabric For Wholecloth Quilts", by Judy Coates Perez, "Whimsical House Quilt", or "Master Machine Quilting: Free Motion Stitching and Thread Sketching", by Susan Brubaker Knapp.  There are so many wonderful DVD, or downloadable, workshopshops that I may just decide to get them all and not worry about trying to decide which one to get next!

http://www.quiltingartsworkshop.com/

QuiltCampus

Have you ever attended QuiltCampus? 

I was interested in learning about QuiltCampus and how it might help me build on my quilting skills, while providing me flexibility of taking classes and/or workshops at home, and at my leisure.

I’ve learned that QuiltCampus offers a variety of online classes and workshops. Classes are offered online from well known teachers and have detailed instructions, all for a nominal fee. Many workshops are free, with simple instructions on a particular project. Students have the ability to interact with their teachers and other students through an online forum, as well as sharing photos via the gallery. For more insight on how these classes and/or workshops are run click here. 

I am currently taking a workshop with QuiltCampus for their “Star Table Runner".  Paper Piecing designs that QuiltCampus offers, including their “Star Table Runner” and also their “Blooming Lone Star Table Topper”. This workshop is currently at week 7 of a 14 week workshop! But I believe each week’s activities are simple, enabling a pace where most quilters shouldn’t have a problem keeping up. 

{photo shown is of their Star Table Topper Class".

I have found the Star Table Runner online workshop to be well organized and easy to follow. Each week I receive an email message to let me know a new step has been posted online, where it will be accessible for four weeks. This four week window is plenty of time to complete a step, but it is best to keep up with the weekly assignments and complete the project….but if you do fall behind, all instructions remain online for four weeks after the workshop has been completed.

For this workshop, a new step was posted online each week and the instructions would remain online for four weeks. The workshop is still on-going, with four more steps (weeks) to go, before we finish our Blooming Lone Stars Table Runner. But I wanted to share insights with you now about this workshop, QuiltCampus, as well as some upcoming classes at QuiltCampus.

I've found the weekly instructions to be well written and the overall workshop has an easy pace.
I am enjoying this workshop very much. Can't wait to finish my "Blooming Lone Stars Table Runner". But as I was enjoying this workshop so much, I wanted to share insights with you.  I am thinking about taking their machine quilting class, next.  If I do, I'll definitely share my insights with you on how the class vs workshop goes.

Again, I've found QuiltCampus to have a delightful place for on-line learning. I recommend you give them a try soon!
Upcoming classes include:

Freezer Paper Applique class starts October 31st.

Machine Quilting - Mastering the basics starts November 7th.

Folded Fabric Blocks Bag - starts November 7th.

For a complete list of their current workshops click here: 

Be sure to visit the QuiltCampus website and sign up for their newsletter, where you'll also hear insights on new classes as they are added to their class schedule.

http://quiltcampus.net/

Cat Week: Can you find your muse by taking a class ?

I've wondered if I could I find a muse while taking a class?  Could it be the teacher or a fellow student?  Is it the person sitting next to me, or the person that came to class loaded with a great selection of fabrics in colors that I love?

As I've always admired Shelley Swanland, I  must confess I was happy to see that she has a delightful cat that also enjoys quilting!  And Shelly proudly recognizes her cat "Nala", as her official assistant.  One of Nala's responsibilities is to collect photos of cats on quilts made by Shelly's students and post them on Shelly's website. 

Here are few of these very happy cats, which I believe provide more proof that cats can be a muse:

I was lucky to be able to take a workshop today, with Shelley Swanland.  She is truly a talented and creative woman, and an excellent teacher.  Today's workshop focused on learning Shelley's techniques and made beautiful table runners using her pattern for Berries Jubilee or Black Laquer.  Both designs are absolutely beautiful.

Shelley also has an interesting blog, where she shares her many of her creative insights.  It is very easy to find inspiration when reading her blog.   

While I love all of Shelley's designs, her cathedral windows quilt with cats is just delightful.

Shelley also has an collection of beautiful 12x12 quilts that she calls "Twilts".  And she shares a new Twilt every Tuesday.  They are absolutely delightful. 

Shelley's, first book:  "Machine Stitched Cathedral Windows, Updating an Old Favorite", Published by Martingale & Co. ©1999, went to print 5 times (40,000+ copies).    While this book is viewed as sold out, you can contact Shelley directly to purchase a copy of it and/or her book:  "Machine-Stitched Cathedral Stars", Published by Martingale & Co. ©2001

While I've not yet used any of Shelley's books they are on my Christmas Wish List.  I'm sure they are wonderful.

Having taken a class by Shelley, I can truly give her a great recommendation to any guild that is looking for a great speaker and/or workshop instructor.  And I highly recommend anyone having an opportunity to take a class with Shelley to do so.  I'm confident you'll learn far more than you anticipate and have fun doing so.  I know I did. 

Shelley Swanland

P.O. Box 862, Banning, CA 92220
Email: mailto:shelleyswanland@gmail.com

http://www.shelleysstudio.com/
 
Shelley's blogsite:  http://shelleyswanland.com/

Joan McKenna

As it is that time of year to prepare for "Back to School", I want to encourage everyone to consider taking classes and or workshops in their community. These may be offered by local quilt shops, fabric stores, sewing machine stores, and even through your local Adult Ed programs. In San Diego county, we are fortunate to have a an Adult Ed program that offers classes in sewing, quilting and embroidery.

Joan McKenna is one of our talented teachers that teaches various sewing, pattern making, embroidery and serger classes through the San Diego Comunity College District and Continuing Education program. With the current economic situation it is amazing that these classes are actually offered for free, and many are uncertain how long we'll be able to take advantage of this, thus if you are local I highly recommend you sign up for one or more of these fun and creative classes.

We are extremely lucky to have Joan teach these classes. Her background includes over 10 years teaching Continuing Education Programs. Her qualifications include:

1. B.F.A. in Costume Design, Syracuse University;
2. California Designated Subject Vocational Education Teaching Credential, CUDS
3. Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development Certificate
4. M.S. in Post Secondary Educational Administration, National University

Joan also teaches Fashion Entrepreneurship classes empowering students with the sewing and computer related skills necessary in order to be successful in a sewn product business. An innovative fashion educator and industry expert, Joan provides creativity with practicality.

Here is some insight on her upcoming classes, for the September 8th - January 22nd schedule.

CLOTHING: OCCUPATION / TEXTILE: Emphasis: Industrial Machine Techniques
Learn to use the school's industrial sewing machines ergonomically. Practice professional timesaving techniques while making up sewn products of your choice. Build up your repertoire of industry production skills. Both group and individualized instruction.
Course #7220H Fee $0
Mondays: 5:30pm - 9pm WCC-209

SEWING FUNDAMENTALS: Emphasis My First Commercial Pattern II
Choose and construct a sewn product from commercial patterns. Relate commercial pattern to your personal skill level. Receive the help you need to pick your pattern and sew prodct to completion. Gain practice experience in fitting. Build on the basics you learned n previous classes.
Course # 7112K Fee $0
Thursdays 5pm-9pm WCC-209

CLOTHING AND TEXTILES:Emphasis Full Size Hand Drafting Master Patterns
Hand draft a full size bodice, sleeve, and skirt. Master industry pattern making techniques. Cut and sew samples to chck and corect fit. Turn your first patterns into master patterns that can be used over and over again.
Course #6957C Fee $0
Wednesdays 5:30pm - 9pm WCC-209

TEXTILE SURFACE DESIGN: Emphasis EMBIRD Editing
Learn techniques in clothing/textile surface design for the production of embellished wearing apparel and household items. Create original designs.
Learn to download and unzip free embroidery designs from the internet. Catalog your designs in fabulous free organizing system. Master embroidery editing techniques using Embird software. Stitch out samples to check your growing Embird editing skills. Students need to supply their own embroidery machine and user manual. Limited number of embroidery machines available.
course #6954H fee: $0
Fridays 12-2pm WCC-203
" 2-4pm WCC-209


All of the above classes are offered through the Continuing Education Program in San Diego County (http://www.sdce.edu/). And they are held at the West City Campus (WCC), 3249 Fordham Street, San Diego, CA 92110 619-388-1873. Registration happens in the classroom.









Contact info for Joan McKenna:
mckenna@gothere.com
Phone: 619-388-4955

Joan also maintains an interesting blog, which is also used to share insights for her students: http://sewnproductsdiva.blogspot.com/

Joan also has a great helper......