I think we can all agree that Covid has taught us things about ourselves. Some of those things we never really wanted to learn.
For example, I see now that no matter what is happening in the world, I will find a way to over-extend myself. The first six months of Covid, I was unemployed, and I must say that it was lovely. I caught up on tasks. Life slowed down and balance became a thing. It was good.
And then, I was asked to teach online. The switch flipped, and my life was back on. So, while I never leave my house, I am busier than ever before. TOO busy.
Is it right to ask these people to be quiet for hours on end while I teach, teach, teach? No, it is not.
I have become fascinated with what happens if I am a good teacher. It is awesome to see my students produce incredible work. I have become addicted to that.
So, I am taking a break.
I have three more independent workshops lined up. All of these workshops are conducted LIVE via ZOOM. I record these sessions and make them available to registered students for approximately 30-45 days. While each workshop is structured, I do craft the lessons to meet the individual needs of my students.
ON THE GRID—Structure as Visual Aesthetic ($165)
Advanced workshop for students who have taken at least one other workshop with me. The grid can be an aesthetic used for creating visually compelling quilts. In this workshop students will explore manipulating the grid through color, pattern, repetition, cutting & piecing and proportion & scale. It is going to be good!
Lecture—Thursday, March 11, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Open Studio—Sunday, March 14, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Lecture—Thursday, March 18, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Open Studio—Sunday, March 21, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Circle & Curve Sampler ($165)
A complete discussion of all the ways you can improvisation-ally PIECE circles and curves. While learning these new techniques, students will also be given information about improvisational piecing techniques, and ideas for taking these techniques and creating original quilts. During the class, students create a collection of circle and curve quilt blocks–great for a sampler. Follow this link to sign up. This workshop is held in partnership with Quilt Strait.
Lecture—Tuesday, March 16, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Open Studio—Saturday, March 20, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Lecture—Tuesday, March 23, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Open Studio—Saturday, March 27, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Linear Blocks—Line into Shape ($165)
Students will use the traditional log cabin quilt block as well as other linear quilt block shapes as the starting point for creating original compositions. Improvisational piecing, contemporary quilt design, and using lines to make shapes are all discussed in this class.
Lecture—Thursday, March 25, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Open Studio—Sunday, March 28, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Lecture—Thursday, April 1, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
Open Studio—Tuesday, April 6, 2021 2PM—5PM AKST
I am teaching for several guilds and festivals in the upcoming months, but I won’t be offering an independent workshop for a while. I will share more about the guild and festival events in a future blog post.
If you would like to know when, where, and what I am teaching, I encourage you to sign up to receive my e-newsletter. Yes, this is a new thing. I am hoping to send out my very first e-newsletter next week. Just follow this link, scroll down, and click on the JOIN MY EMAIL LIST BUTTON.
If you have taken a virtual workshop with me, I would love for you to take a moment to share what you liked about the workshop. If you have not taken a workshop with me, I would love to know which classes you are interested in taking. You can find a complete list here.
Thank you folks!
PS- All of the quilts featured in this blog post are Color Grids and feature elements and components we will be studying in the workshop ON THE GRID.
Maria,
I am looking at your workshop and wondering about On the Grid and whether this would be a class that would be teaching me new, different information.
I have taken: Making Prints out of Solds Big Botany Asymmetrical Symmetrical Linear Grid (through Quiltcon)
and I’m signed up for the next: Circles & Curves through Quilted Strait
The other one that I would really like is Riffing on Tradition. Is that being taught anywhere?
Let me know your thoughts. I have way too much FOMO!!
Rose Pelfrey
Rose-
That is a good question. So, On the Grid will be more like Big Botany and Assymetrical Symmetry in that is strictly a design class. Techniques will be covered tangentially. On the GRID came out of my workshop for QuiltCon called the Plaid Experiment, so there is a bit of overlap in how the workshops start, but I think I have expanded significantly on what we will be doing. Rose, please email me if you have more questions. It is always great to have you in class!
Hi Maria! A break-totally. You must get balance back in your life or you will burn out. Question can’t the Grid Workshop. So, even though I live in New Zealand I could still enrol? And view the lectures and studio stuff at a time suitable to me? I am working my way through the quilt con workshop and your book and will post or send you my creations when I have them ready🙋♀️ Was watching a video on Nancy Crow this morning as I wanted to know more about your roots!
Kind regards Janet Crouch
Dear Janet- Yes. you could sign up for the workshop and participate by only watching the recorded sessions. I have had many students from down under. Most of them try to call in for most of the sessions as you will get the most out of the workshop if you can participate live. Alaska Standard time is early the next morning in Australia so if you are an early bird it just might work. Feel free to email me any additional questions at mariashell4@gmail.com Thank you for asking!
Thanks Maria! I think I’m going to join you 🤗 nothing like jumping in the deep end. N Z is 19 hours ahead currently, we are in daylight saving time, so it’s not too early in the morning. Thursday becomes Friday and Sunday, Monday! I will be at work though… you will probably laugh but I’m currently stitching simple mat stripes -and as I freehand cut I wondered do you aim to cut straight or crooked? I think the more cutting and stitching the less straight things look. So I’ll pretend to cut straight with a little swing here and there!
Sounds great Janet! Looking forward to having you in class!
Hello,
I’ve attended during QuiltCon the course of yours on Linear Shapes, and, being from Italy, I would be interested in the following courses of yours, if held at European times (i.e. mid morning for you) or in the pre-registered format (your QuiltCon workshop was super clear, so, I did not miss too much the fact of it being not live):
– ABSTRACTION THROUGH COLOR, PATTERN, AND REPETITION
– ASYMMETRICAL SYMMETRY
– lecture BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH QUILTS.
I’ve enrolled for your newsletter, so, in case some of the above pops up in the next months, I’ll keep track!
Thanks (and congratulations for the prizes of this year at QuiltCon!)
Paola
Dear Paola- Thank you for writing this. I do hope to offer workshops in the near future that work for different time zones–Europe and Central America in particular. I really want to do that. Look for details in a newsletter later this year! Thank you!
Hi Maria, I have taken kitchen sink, prints out of solids and am signed up for the next curves workshop. I really like the zoom meetings being spread out over 2 weeks. Your color class was very helpful also. I have gone a bit crazy with online workshops. (yours and other quilt artists). I haven’t stopped taking them long enough to finish anything. I am glad you are taking some time off so I can get caught up and that you can get a break. This post was helpful in that you explained which class these quilts demonstrated. I find the names of your workshops a little confusing. I would have thought some of these could have been line into shape? Maybe there is some overlap? In the future I would be interested in the grid, line into shape and definitely big botany. Have to work my way up to that one. Thank you for the wonderful classes.
Dear Gale–Good point about pairing the quilts with the workshops. It is a bit arbitrary as I don’t teach my quilts as if they were patterns. So none of my quilts match the workshop descriptions exactly unless I use student work which I am starting to do. The quilts in the post could also be used as visuals for Linear Blocks, Making Prints, and even Riffing on Tradition. That said, the quilts are all on a grid and that is what we will be exploring in the On the GRID. It is always good to have you class. Good luck with finishing those quilts!