Jen Kingwell class

Back in March I had the opportunity to do a class with Jen Kingwell (of Amitie Textiles in Melbourne) which was hosted by Cotton Factory in Ballarat.  Alison from Cotton Factory had hired a local hall for the class so that we would have plenty of space to spread ourselves out as there were about 20 students enrolled (people had travelled from New South Wales, Tasmania and various parts of Victoria to participate).

 

The class was based on Jen's quilt pattern "The Circle Game". In the class we covered several techniques including; hand piecing, machine piecing, English paper Piecing (EPP), foundation piecing, and applique.  Jen also demonstrated her hand quilting techniques.

 

Jen Kingwell & myself.  Jen autographed a copy of her new book "Quilt Lovely" for me.  Squeeeeee!!!  #FanGirlMoment



Squeeeeeee!  Jen autographed a copy of her book for me. #FanGirlMoment



 

Hand piecing in class.

A view of our class room

Another view of our class room

Me with the gorgeous Jodie Carleton from Ric Rac

Jodie & Jen

Isabella Golightly - the Bilby Lady - flew down from Sydney to join our class.  I took Greeny the bilby along to catch up with his "birth" mother.

Greeny wasn't on his own, Katharine had her bilby in class as well so they got to hang out & do "Secret Bilby Business" whilst we sewed.

Sue Clark, Carlie Lincoln & Kendra Watson - friends of mine from Melbourne

 

Me & Carlie.  Carlie was my first quilting friend and kindly took me under her wing when I started out.  This is the lovely lady who encouraged me to start foundation paper piecing!

I finally got to meet my dear friend Alison White in person!

Jodie from Ric Rac brought some of her selvage art for us to admire.  This is her selvage chair & her selvage dress.  Also on display was a selvage parasol which I forgot to photograph.  Jodie has kindly talked me through the process so I am hoping to do some work with selvages later this year.

English Paper Piecing in class.

Alison from Cotton Factory caught in the act of photographing Jen Kingwell's "Midnight at the Oasis"

Jen Kingwell's "Midnight at the Oasis"

Alison from Cotton Factory holding up Jen Kingwell's original copy of the quilt "The Circle Game"

The Circle Game pattern by Jen Kingwell & her new book "Quilt Lovely"

We worked on a number of blocks during class which I will feature in upcoming blog posts.

 

Rather than drive all the way back to Bendigo after such a long day, I stayed overnight in Ballarat and spent some quality time with some of the other out-of-towners who chose to stay over.  My next blog post will be the "After Party" - I mean the after class photos...