Lovely Botanicals—The Academy of Appliqué 2019 Class Offerings

Some of us are fortunate enough to live near friends who share our stitching passion, and we can regularly gather to stitch and share needle stories. Others of us have to work a bit harder to create those opportunities. One perfect place to gather with others who love to appliqué is the annually held Academy of Appliqué, in Williamsburg, Virginia. We are honored to be on the teaching faculty at the Academy; March of 2019 will be our third year as teachers, and we are bubbling with excitement about our classes this year. We hope you will be, too!

The class catalog is now posted, so you can study the class offerings and select your spots. Here are a few photos of what we will be teaching.

Botanical Beauties
Monday–Wednesday, March 4–6, 2019

In our first class, we will stitch zinnias, a lily, sweet peas, and tulips. If you look closely, you can see that the flowers are joined by a butterfly and ladybug. These four blocks were inspired by vintage botanical prints and were created using a variety of materials—wired ribbon, sari silk, bias silk ribbon, ultrasuede and more.  The blocks could be put together in a small quilt or each block could be given to friend who loves that particular flower. Or maybe you add these blocks to an album quilt. There are so many options for these four floral beauties!

Zinnias

  

Details of block: zinnia and lady bug

Lily

Detail: lily bloom

Sweet peas

Detail: Sweet pea blooms

Tulips

Detail of tulip

Lovely Vase

Thursday–Saturday, March 7–9, 2019

Our second class is inspired by a block in an antique Baltimore Album Quilt in the Lovely Lane Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. 

When we first saw this block, we both knew that someday we would re-create it. There was something about it that tugged on both of our hearts. We also knew, however, that it would have our own stamp on it. So we set out to explore different techniques and textures to replicate this lovely vase from Lovely Lane. To read more about the antique quilt, click here to read Lovely Lane.)

Textures include cotton, silk dupioni, wired ribbon, silk ribbon, velvet ribbon, ultrasuede, pearl cotton, wool, floss, gimp, metallic thread, and silk threads, as well as some padded elements.

Detail of rosebuds and aster

Detail of violet and aster

Detail of sunflower

Detail of stumpwork bee

Detail of white rosebuds

Detail of honeysuckle

Detail of vase

We stitched our vase on point, and appliquéd a frame around it. The vase became the center medallion of a quilt, and we used the four small blocks from our first class as corner blocks for the quilt. Appliquéd vines and flowers added the finishing touches to our quilt top, and it is ready to be quilted!

There are so many options here for how you could put your blocks together. It is always fun for us to see how our students finish their blocks. One of our greatest joys is to receive pictures of projects from one of our classes!

Let us show you how much fun we can have manipulating ribbon into beautiful blooms. You, too, can create such lifelike blossoms—and insects, too! While we will teach you a lot of skills, we strive to provide a stress-free and enjoyable learning environment. Our classes have been known to be heard laughing by passers-by down the halls, wondering what fun we are having! 

Registration for the 2019 Academy of Appliqué opens on Labor Day. You won't want to wait—classes fill fast! Last year, our class filled in an hour. So check out the class catalog, choose the perfect class(es) for you, and be poised at your computer at noon on Labor Day, September 3, 2018. And get ready for one of the best weeks of your life—well, one of the best stitching weeks, for sure!

See you next March!

Lovely Botanicals 

©2018 Through the Needle's Eye

A Few Teasers—Birds and Bees, Flowers and...

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you figured that instead of stitching, you would rather sit at the computer and fight the cyber world gremlins? Me neither, but that's what I (Teri) did for most of the week. Still, I'm happy to say that our website, which was abysmally out-of-date, is now pretty current. Web design is really NOT my thing, but I try to approach it with the mindset of "I'm designing a quilt." Sometimes that works, but not always... I applaud those who choose to do this for a job—it is an integral part of our world today—but I would much prefer to work with people. Or needles and thread.

We would love for you to take a minute or two to check out our humble little site  (www.needleseyestories.com) and see what is going on in our needle-world. Our list of class offerings in now updated, with lots of additional options for workshops. But enough about websites. On to some more fun news!

Over in our Facebook world, we celebrated reaching 2000 likes on our page with a little giveaway of some of our favorite things. It was such fun to read about everyone's favorite stitching spots. It appears that many of us stitch better with a little birdsong as background music. It sure works for me! Our Facebook page is a good way to follow our antics, and sometimes get a tip or two. To see what is going on there, you can click here.

My passport's packed and I'm ready to go...well, I guess I should wait until I have my bags packed. Where, you ask? I'm off to meet my partner in crime stitching! First, we will meet in Birmingham, England, to attend the Festival of Quilts Exhibition 2018. We may do a bit of English countryside exploring when we are not eyeing the quilts or visiting the vendors. Then we will have about a week, during which my tour guide, Kara, will take these tired bones everywhere we can pack into one week. Of course, we will be "working" the entire time—everything we see will be a source of inspiration, or at least an opportunity to talk about inspiration for new projects!

Fall is looking busy, with several local workshops and a trip to Long Island, NY. There is little better than meeting new people and sharing our stitching passion. To find out more detail about these classes, you can check our website!

 

The third block in the series I am teaching for the Baltimore Appliqué Society, based on Mildred Tahara's quilt, In Praise of Jane Austen, is Lyre Wreath in Bloom. Mildred's block is on the left, and my rendering is on the right. There will lots of options for embellishment in stitching this lovely block. (Pattern by Elly Sienkiewicz from Baltimore Elegance.)

I will be teaching this Flower Basket workshop again this fall, this time at Patches Quilting and Sewing, in Mt. Airy, Maryland. (Pattern by Elly Sienkiewicz from Spoken Without a Word.)

I am thrilled to be able to teach this block again. This elegant block is based on one from a quilt in the Lovely Lane Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. (Pattern by Elly Sienkiewicz from Spoken Without a Word.) The workshop will be held on Long Island, New York, with the Evening Star Quilters. I've met several of the guild members in classes at the Academy of Appliqué, and I'm looking forward to what I know will be a fun weekend.

The original block—you can read more about this quilt in our blogpost, Lovely Lane. 

Now, that brings us to our really exciting news—something we have been working on tirelessly for months. A new quilt! But what is most thrilling about this quilt is that we will be teaching it next March at the Academy of Appliqué in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is always such an honor to be invited to teach in this special venue, surrounded by people who love what we love—appliqué and all things needle. The class catalog comes out on August 3: that is next Friday! Be sure to check it out. Registration opens on Labor Day, and classes can sell out pretty quickly, so you'll want to be ready.

We cannot divulge the whole scope of the wonders we will have in store for our students this coming year, but here are a couple of teasers to get you pondering. It would be our honor to meet you in class and stitch with you! 

      

If you know anything about the work we design, you can probably imagine what some of the other elements of our blocks will be. 😊

Be sure to check out the class catalog for the Academy of Appliqué next Friday,  August 3, to see the entire projects. We are planning a lot of fun!

Well, that's about all for now. The Flora and Fauna block for July may show up the first of August, but it is coming soon—promise. I am ready to close my computer and pick up a needle. Won't you join me?

Museum Inspiration

Museums have always been a source of inspiration for Teri and me. We have been to many together; like our trip to the Lovely Lane Museum and the road trip we took to the Virginia Quilt Museum. Other times we have gone to them separately, such as the time Teri attended the crazy quilt exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art, or when I visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum just outside of Denver. Together or separately, both of us seek out inspiration in any museum we visit. Here in Europe, there are so many museums to choose from, and I know it will be hard to fit them all in; however, in the past two months, I have been able to visit two of the biggies: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris. 

For this week's post, I thought I would share a photo log of the inspirational things in both museums that captured my attention. Hopefully you will find some inspiration as well!

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The detail of the flowers is stunning!

I fell in love with this coat!

Cotton or wool appliqué? Either would be beautiful.

Put a bird on it!

This cotton coverlet had so much in the way of
botanical inspiration.

This twill-weave bedcover in cotton and linen was made in India
for the European market, circa 1725-1750.

The vase was based on European engravings from the early 18th century.

The colors are still so vivid!

I can almost guarantee you will see this flower
in one of our future designs.

These chintz bonnets were so charming!

This Mughal rug from the mid 17th century has an inspiring floral design.

This Indian floorspread from the 1700s was made of cotton and was embroidered
with silk and metal-wrapped threads. I see some lovely appliqué flowers in this one.

Wouldn't this tile make a lovely medallion center?

English paper piecing anyone?

The vine is a lovely, curved, complement to the angles in the flowers.

Can you believe this gorgeous, appliqué wall hanging dates from the 1500s?
It is made of felted wool with silk appliqué.

I would have dearly loved to have seen a quilt exhibit at the Victoria and Albert museum, but alas, there was none. While we were not able to see the entire museum, my husband and I searched for at least one quilt. Can you guess who finally found it? My husband—the force is strong in this one! I was thrilled to say the least that he found the mother of all whole cloth quilts!

It was hard to get a good picture because, as you can see, the quilt is huge!
The quilt was made in Florence, Italy, between 1360 and 1400.

This quilt tells the story of King Tristan—a popular story in medieval, romance, literature.

In the quilt, there are 14 different stories of King Tristan's adventures.

I love this floral detail!

Such tiny stitching!

As we wrapped up our tour of the museum, we came across this appliquéd wall hanging.
Once again, Tristan makes an appearance with the story of his ill-fated love for Isolde.

The happy—or not so happy—couple

While this hanging looks to be quite worn, consider that it was likely created in the late 1300s.

The Louvre

Our trip to Paris and the Louvre was timed well, because if we had gone a week later, we would not have been able to visit the museum, due to widespread flooding in downtown Paris. This museum, by far, is my absolute favorite. Half a day was not nearly enough time to see everything, but that just means we will have to go again. We didn't see much in the way of textiles, but what we did see was inspirational nonetheless.

This Roman mosaic border would certainly make a lovely quilt border.

It boggles the mind that a sculptor could so stunningly create the look
of draped fabric out of stone.

I can already imagine recreating this ancient owl in wool and stitches.

Mere words can't describe the beauty of this ceiling!

The Winged Victory of Samothrace or the Winged Nike was one of my favorite sculptures.
It was amazing how the sculptor captured the look of a sheer garment out of stone. 

The artist captured a sweetness in the woman and
a slightly mischievous look in the child. 

The colors in this painting are still so vibrant, which is why it caught my eye.

What would this post be without pictures of two of the most famous, ladies in the Louvre—Venus and Mona. Many people said to lower our expectations in anticipation of seeing the Mona Lisa, so we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed viewing this painting.

The Venus de Milo

This lady needs no introduction.

I hope you have enjoyed this very small tour of two of the most famous museums in the world and the inspiration I found in each.  Whether it is a painting, sculpture, or ancient textile, all can inspire our stitching. Have you been to a museum that inspires you? We would love to hear about it!