Fresh Quilting: Season 2

Class Preview

Learn how to give a fresh twist to traditional designs and create memorable, high-impact quilts with avant-garde color palettes and negative space.

More Than Piecing

Expand basic piecing techniques. Author and designer Anna Maria Horner shares ideas for combining piecing with applique techniques. Free-motion quilting artist Christina Cameli stitches Lazy Eights. Textile artist Sarah Sharp adds interest and color to solid blocks with pieced strips.

Designing Fabric

Create your own fabric with today’s technology. Quilt artist and blogger Leslie Tucker Jenison uses her computer to draw and print custom fabric. Designer Karen Womack share ideas for group quilting projects in your community. Sewing educator and quilter Miriam Coffey uses machine embroidery to design and embellish her own fabric.

Mix It Up

Mix things up with new shapes, colors and stitches. Modern quilter Riane Menardi modifies traditional blocks by changing colors and placement. Free-motion quilt artist Christina Cameli uses the walking foot to create spirals. Using her engineering background, quilt designer Yvonne Fuchs creates beautiful quilts with quarter square triangles.

Design As You Go

Seize creative opportunities that pop up along the way. Color enthusiast Anne Sullivan shares design principles that inspire her improv quilts. Get ideas for hosting a hand-sewing happy hour. Quilt artist Samarrah Khaja adds a whimsical touch to a fun family game using thread sketching.

Finding Precision

Precision is key to creating stunning quilts. Violet Craft puts her technology experience to work as she builds quilts using foundation piecing. Marine scientist and quilter Sylvia Schaefer finishes off her quilts with multicolored binding that perfectly matches the piecing in the quilt.

Transparency and Big Stitch

For special effects, look through the design or use big stitches. Aviator and quilt maker Yvonne Fuchs uses transparency as a design element. Learn to work with a virtual quilt group to create a quilt for charity. Modern quilter Riane Menardi combines hand quilting with machine quilting to create high-contrast designs with depth, texture and movement.

Pacific Inspiration

Look across the Pacific Ocean for inspiration. Artist and world traveler Luana Rubin shares quilts from the Tokyo Quilt Festival and discusses global fabric and color trends. Free motion quilt artist Christina Cameli uses a walking foot and free motion stitches to make grid-based designs. Graphic artist and quilter Sheri Cifaldi-Morill appliqués traditional Hawaiian motifs with a modern twist.

Sewing Creatures

Celebrate the creatures of the land and sea. Whimsical quilt artist Samarra Khaja combines colorful shapes to create cute fish faces. Karen Womack shares tips on leading a local quilt guild. Blogger and designer Violet Craft sews a regal lion using English paper piecing.

Surface Design

Design on the surface with textures and colors. Sewing educator and modern quilter Miriam Coffey pieces embroidered fabric along with solids to create new looks for accessories and home dec. Free-motion quilt artist Christina Cameli stitches topographical spirals. Blogger and quilter Krista Fleckenstein carves custom blocks and prints customs fabric.

Impeccable Piecing

Make compelling modern quilts with impeccable piecing. Textile artist Sarah Sharp accentuates design elements by fussy cutting paper piecing motifs. Christina Cameli stitches free-motion motifs using rulers. Color expert Nicole Neblett expands foundation piecing to a new level as she makes large scale designs.

Using Mixed Media

Mix fabrics, colors and prints to make modern statement. Krista Fleckenstein makes mixed media appliqué with die-cut shapes of wool, leather, felt and linen. Modern quilter Riane Menardi shares ideas for promoting your guild through local media. Christina Cameli mixes rulers with free motion stitches to accurately stitch a variety of motifs.

Minimalism & Improv

Less is often so much more. Minimalist quilt designer Nicole Neblett designs with negative space to achieve the modern aesthetic. Designer Luana Rubin shares inspirations from her world travels and lasting connections with quilters around the globe. Improv quilt artist Leslie Tucker Jenison cuts, pieces and sews curves without a ruler to create dynamic designs.

Go Free Form

Be daring and explore free form quilting. Contemporary quilt artist Sylvia Schaefer desconstructs traditional designs and makes them explode into new motifs. Designer Anna Maria Horner throws the rules out the window with free-form appliqué techniques to make bouquet quilts.