My afternoon at the NC Quilt Symposium

I enjoyed the lecture by Frieda Anderson called Friedas Fast, Fun Fusing. (Please check out her website for photos of her amazing work:   http://www.friestyle.com/)  She had beautiful samples of her work to examine along with fabric she had dyed. Her books were on display and look to be filled with clear directions and colorful photos.

I learned some great tips about fusing that I can't wait to try:

• Cut stems and thin pieces on bias to prevent fraying and allow nicer curves
• Use 18 mm rotary cutter for small shapes - works better then scissors
• Recommends Pellon Wonder Under as the fusible
• After fuse, remove paper before cutting. She had a great trick about marking this removed paper - called the 'release paper' with ones pattern.  Onto the release paper, trace the pattern with a sharpie or pencil and use your iron to transfer it back on the fuse side of the fabric. Cool idea that will try. (Edited for clarity - I'll post pictures of my attempt at this in an upcoming blog post.)
• After fusing she will stitch in the ditch first to outline her pieces and get started with any quilting
• Suggests fun cutters for linked or curve edges that you can get from the scrapbook supply section
• Also showed some tee shirt quilts she had made by quilting each 15 inch square and then serving the squares together to make the quilt

My favorite quote from the lecture "quilts have a tendency to evolve on their own.".

I enjoyed the quilt show - here were some of my favroites

Top Left: Thursday at 6:45 by Carol Robinson and Brian Fackler
Top Right:  Mon Chien et Moi by Jane Hamrock
Bottom Left: Five Thirty AM by Amy Stewart Winsor  (This quilt was one of my favorites)
Bottom Right:Wild One by Linda James

Top Left:Four Cards Around by Diana Ramsay

Top Right:  Block from quilt Fort Sumter Stars by Mary Abbott Willaims

Bottom Left: Nice touch on the border by applique of triangles (didn't capture quilt name)

Bottom Right: Block from a quilt called "From a Tiny Scrap to a Mighty Quilt" 

Top Left: Portion of a quilt called Christmas Pickle by Karel Johnson

Top Right:Fred's House by Friends of Fred

Bottom Left:  Pelican block from quilt With a Little Help from my Friends by Phyllis Tarrant and her guild

Bottom Right:  Dinosaurs on Parade by Joan bryan

This was the quilt I picked as my viewers choice quilt   It is called "It's about Time" and was made by Kim Frisk.  It won first place in the Studio Art category.

Finally, did just a little shopping while I was there.  I got some batik charms and a Dresden Plate ruler.

Happy Stitching!