quiltology...

Once upon a time, on an island way up in Door County, a now famous quilter taught me how to use a rotary cutter and piece patchwork.  She instilled in me the importance of sewing accurate quarter inch seams (yes, she actually measured my sad little blocks to show me what she meant) and she stressed the importance of pressing!  For someone with a wide toed presser foot and an allergy to ironing, this was quite enlightening.  

Did I mention that I also had really bad fabrics?  Yah, some of those nasty old polyester calicos from the 80s!  I was a mess.  But that teacher was Marianne Fons—yes, that Marianne from Fons & Porter—and she set me straight in a very diplomatic nurturing way (which of course is Marianne’s style.)  For this I am extremely grateful.  

Recently Marianne sent me a copy of a new DVD that she and her daughter Mary just released—Learn to Quilt with Marianne Fons and Mary Fons.  I watched it last night (seam ripper in hand—nothing like multitasking!) I just want to say to all you beginners—go buy this now!  

Classes are good because they give you the hands on instruction you need while learning new techniques—but reference guides and DVDs are also valuable because they reinforce the things we sometimes forget from class.  In this new video Marianne and Mary demonstrate it all from rotary cutting, to piecing (triangles no less!), setting your blocks in different designs, machine quilting and yes—finishing up with binding and quilt labels.  And they provide a nice little booklet with step-by-step photos as a quick reference guide as a bonus.  This is a good thing.   

Happy sewing everybody!

ccc

PS--we've still got two spaces left in our February class!