Amy Bradley Class

When I heard Amy Bradley was teaching a class in Holton Kansas at Quilting on the Square, I couldn't sign up fast enough.  I love this woman's patterns.  They are so much fun and so happy.  I love art that makes me smile and humor shines through all her stuff.

Amy specializes in blanket stitch applique which is my favorite form of applique so of course I had to take this class.  There were about 22 women in the class and the lady from Colorado didn't make it so I traveled the farthest.  Cool.  We were supposed to bring our sewing machine so I hauled my big Janome 300 miles and a block down the street just to find out we probably wouldn't need a machine. The only downer all day.  Luckily one of the clerks carried it down stairs for me.  

The facility was roomy and well lit.  It was a very nice huge classroom.  Such a great facility for a quilt shop.

Amy brought 6 or 7 of her quilts including the camper quilt which was the pattern I'd brought with me.  She spent the first hour or so explaining her process and how to use her patterns.  I did pick up a valuable tip in the morning class.  She told us about adding an additional layer of white muslin with fusible to the back of fabric you can see through to the background fabric.  I'd never thought of that before.  I knew I was going to learn some new stuff in this class.

After her lecture, we traced and cut and snipped and ironed items together based on the placement sheet in her pattern.  She also gave us a good tip to do the placement of pieces in sections.  

After a yummy lunch catered by Quilting on the Square we had another lecture.  Amy talked about the way she does blanket stitch.  I learned that when she comes to sharp points she turns off the blanket stitch and straight stitches around the point.  WHAT??????   Brilliant!!!!!!  I also learned that she cheats corners and makes sure her stitch ends right in the corner.  Then when she is in the corner she takes a diagonal stitch into the fabric.  Amazing.  I've been doing blanket stitch applique for about 6 years and I've struggled with corners since I started.  Not any more!!!!!!

I chatted with some of the ladies while we were cutting and tracing and heard that there were two quilt shops in Lawrence KS right across the street from each other.  Sarah's Fabrics is supposed to pretty good sized with lots of fabric and Stitch on Needlework Shop which is smaller but has wool and more needlework projects.  Armed with that information, I decided this would be a stop on the bus trip. 

It was a really fun day.