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Monday, April 12, 2010

David Taylor Workshop

Sharon and David

Wow! What a busy week! The time I spent with David at his workshop was just absolutely mind boggling, and so fabulous! If you ever get a chance to hear his lecture, see his trunk show or take a workshop with him - GO. His work is gorgeous, and meticulously done, and he has some great insights on how to make the fabric work for you.

David stayed at my home during the time he was here. He arrived Tuesday afternoon, and our workshop began Wednesday, and he left after lunch with the class on Saturday afternoon. There's an advantage to having the artist stay in your home. Here's David showing and explaining his work to Hubby.

One of the four tree seasons.

My favorite of the tree series.

Close up of Maynard. This quilt is 7' tall! The machine quilting absolutely phenomenal!

Back side of the Maynard

My absolute favorite of all time - Tinker!

Back side of Tinker

More detail of the back side of Tinker. All this is his quilting threads!
Now, on to the class projects. It was intentionally a small class of 8 people. We arrived with our subjects already blown up to the size we wanted to work on. David says that bigger is better, and that a black and white blowup is just fine as long as you have a color copy to work from. Nothing is painted, inked so a large selection of fabrics is a must! Wednesday we talked about fabrics, and our subject matter. Then we got to work and started making our tracings, and freezer paper patterns. Some worked faster than others. Then, before we went home, we went to the quilt store and shopped under David's direction.

I work so doggoned slow that I was still working on my freezer paper patterns long after the rest of the class had already begun cutting and placing their pieces on their backgrounds. Oh well, I will persevere!

Thursday and Friday were spent pursuing the perfect piece of fabric, no matter how small. Not only did we look at the front side (a side) but every bit of back side too (b side). Don't forget you get twice as much fabric for your money when you work this way! Saturday was a wrap up and pack up. Just too soon for my piece. But you'll see more here as the summer progresses.

So without further ado, here are some of the class projects. Aren't they grand?

Nancy's family farm in Michigan


Umm, Lucy....don't giraffes have spots?


Can you see the spots, Lucy?

Nancy's giraffe with spots.

Donna's three grandchildren dressed as Disney princesses.

Laura's barn clapboards.

Can you see the beginning of Mayo? I've used pins to hold it together so I don't lose those tiny pieces traveling back home.

Do you think I have enough Mayo fabric?

There were more projects being worked on, but the angles weren't too good to get pictures that showed anything. So you'll just have to wait for our class reunion with finished projects! Now that I have my two big quilts done, I think I can concentrate on getting this piece going for sure!

Be sure to check out David's website for more information on his quilts and tours.

3 comments:

Loris said...

Well, Tinker is pretty cute but I must say...I love Maynard! What an awesome workshop. Your head must be full! Can't wait to see the finished quilts. They are going to be fascinating.

Unknown said...

Fabulous! What a fun week and project for you to work on. Thanks for sharing pix.

Paula, the quilter said...

I took a workshop last summer with David and absolutely loved it! He is such a hoot. At the time "Maynard" was still a WIP.