This past weekend my local quilt was fortunate enough to have one of our own guild members,
Mary Ann Ciccotelli, host a folded fabric 3D workshop. Most of those in attendance chose to work on the gorgeous Mariner's Compass that Mary Anne made as the class sample.
But one adventurous quilter decided she wanted to use the technique to make a sunflower. So the usual suspects gathered for a fun filled day of fabric folding and friendship.
Lorraine, our guild President, was the adventurous one in the bunch. Here is a picture of Lorraine working away. Tell me she isn't having a great time!
Here is Lorraine with half of her sunflower completed. While in Lancaster last month, she brought a fuzzy piece of brown wool to use as the sunflower center. Can't wait to see the finished result. Knowing Lorraine, I won't have too wait long!
Donna and Paula, two of our newest guild members, worked really quietly on their pieces. I had to sneak over and try to catch Paula at work. She was a busy beaver...
I can tell you she is working in blue... but unfortunately she left too early for me to get another picture. :-(.
Donna, always has such wonderful fabrics in her stash. Makes you wonder where she get's them all from.
She is sooo busy at work here, she didn't even bother to look up, when I came by. I can see the blues and reds, with a hint of something dark... hmmpphhh....
I see light and dark blue with gold, in this stage it looks almost like an oriental fan.... especially with the way she is peeking over the top :-).
(Pop on over to
Donna's website. She is one gifted jewelry designer.)
Blue must have been a popular color, because Millie also worked in blues. The background to her compass points was blue as well. Here you see Millie preparing her background pieces before sewing the compass points into the background.
Here is Millie with a quarter of her compass sewn together. She used rust and bieges as her compass points.
Jean and her mother, Evelyn, worked side by side all day. Jean choose black, white and red as her colors. They really looked sharp together, even though Jean doesn't like to be photgraphed, so I don't have great pictures....
You can see her here pressing one of her seams. Don't you love her fabrics! Those points are going to look sharp on the black.
Evelyn was just getting started when I took this picture, so my apologies.. but here is Evelyn sitting calmly working on her first wedge.....
Evelyn took the time to fussy cut her print fabric, so that all four of her front compass points will have the same design positioned in the center of the point.
Here is a picture of my day's work..... of course, no picture of me. As you can tell my compass is on much more complex than the class sample. I wish I could say it was by design, but it is called a slip in directions.
So you will have to stay tuned for a finished picture of mine. You see, my background wedges are cut too small, so my circle is actually a half circle :-)....
Either way... we had a ball. Mary Anne is a fantastic quilter, who enjoys finding new, easier ways of tackling complex patterns. She has many quilts using this basic technique... the mariners compass, the sunflower, a color wheel and even a highly decorated turkey! Take a look at her website or her
blog to see some of her work, and of course if you or your guild are looking for a fourth generation quilter to teach you a new technique, give Mary Anne a call!
