Online quilting classes

My Christmas online quilt class now has a sign up button right here on my blog. In this online class you will learn several different methods of applique, both hand and machine applique. I am also giving several options to quilt the wreath and the best part is, we will be done in plenty of time for Christmas. Hope you will join me at The Academy of Quilting.

Free Poppy pattern

I'm sitting here wondering how many of my readers realize that when you sign up for Arbee Designs free newsletter, they also get a free poppy pattern worth US$8.00 (hardcopy). It's a fun block to make and you can download it free as soon as you join our quilt group.

For current news, free quilting tips & quilt articles, discounts & specials plus much more, join our quilting club for free


enter email address & click submit
click here for more info

But you know what, I think it would really look good on my quilter's tote so I think I will go make a new one right now. I'll just add a border to bring it up to the right size for the tote. For those who have not seen my quilter's tote, you can see it here: Quilter's Tote I made this when I was attending quilt classes, it was great to have all my quilting tools in one place.

Ok, off to find some fabrics and begin quilting.

The Academy of Quilting - online quilt classes

The Academy of Quilting is here. I've been working on this one for much of the year and now we are open. This is my 11th online class, so looking forward to the new school surroundings. I hope you will all join me as we make this delightful Christmas Wreath ready for our festive celebrations.

We learn several styles of applique in this class, you can even stitch it by hand if you like, and I have various styles of quilting to choose from. The class starts 18th October, 2008 and has 3 lessons which takes you from beginning to end of the project. Come and share some fun with me and other quilters in the class.

For more information about The Academy of Quilting and The Holly Wreath class you can follow these links...

The Academy of Quilting - online classes for quilters - open now

The Holly Wreath - online class - starts October 18th

Quilt art

I had a lot of fun making this quilt. It began with my daughters visit (to California) a few weeks back and since she and her boyfriend love animals so much, we took them to the San Diego Zoo. What a glorious day. We took lots of photos and I decided to use one in this small quilt I made for my quilt art class. This is just one idea we use for making several small quilts in the class. Great news is, I have a new session of this class starting at the end of the month. The classes are held in Anaheim, California. If you'd like to find out more click here: More about my quilt art class. For those not in the area, I'll soon have this available as an online class as well, please let me know your interest: Register your interest for the online quilt art class here

We had a great time during my daughter's visit. Not only did we go south, but we also went to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. The houses were amazing and the stars in the sidewalk were something I've always wanted to see. Now she has gone back to New Zealand, we miss her, but we do have wonderful memories in the quilt that will last forever.

Ruth... PS check out my other classes. I have them listed on my schedule which is now online at: Class Schedule I hope you will join me. Happy Quilting!

Free motion quilt - how to quilt video

I've just uploaded a video on how to quilt free motion style. I am sure it will help you get started. I love this style of quilting as you can do so much with it. I even use it for applique now. I will be adding this sort of thing to my classes and so would really like to get some feed back on it.

Happy Quilting!
Ruth

Quilter's Run

For the past month or so I've been busy using Hoffman's fabric special Southern CA quilt run fabric to make a new design especially for the quilt run starting this weekend. I have my quilt hanging in Timeless Quilts, Anaheim so hope those doing the run stop by and check it out.

The fabric is beautiful with all its bright colors which I have incorporated into the quilt. You can check out a clip of this on my website Scenic Paradise with Hoffman fabric The fabric will be on sale in shops participating in the run and I will be in Timeless doing demos and signing patterns. Hope to meet you there.

More about Bargello Twist

As I mentioned in my last post, Bargello Twist is open for its second session on May 31st. This class was a great hit the first time around and some truly beautiful quilts were made. I would like to share one of these with you. This very striking gray, black and yellow bargello was made by Helen. You can certainly see how much fun she had with her fabrics.

This design can easily be twisted to create a new look, not shown here, but imagine each quarter twisted. Some students made amazing cushions with the leftover scraps too. Instructions for both these are included in the lessons. The class was surely inspiring and I took great pleasure in guiding the students to finish some gorgeous quilts. You won't want to miss out, that's for sure. I'm expecting another great turn out. Register for Bargello Twist by clicking here

Quilting news

Well it has been way too long since I posted here on my blog and a lot has happened in this time. The most exciting news of all is, my visa has been accepted so I may live and work my quilting business in California, USA. I am now overwhelmed with the possibilities and opportunities this will give me, of course, this won't come without a lot of hard work in creating new designs and classes for quilting. I have already started this year off with a bang, two new online classes and six new quilt patterns, and the exciting news is, there are more to come.

This year I've been working mostly in two areas, first my zodiac creations which involve appliqué for every zodiac sign and adding them to different projects. My tote is a great example of this and ideal as an inexpensive gift to make. My zodiac class includes all signs and projects together, Quilting the Zodiac I have all sorts of quilt layouts and include the tote instructions, cushion instructions and also the character ring you see in the photo if you follow the link. This class is starting 17th May so registration is already open.


The second area I have been working with is Bargello quilting. I have four new patterns out and a new bargello class. My class is Bargello Twist which is designed around my Hoffman Challenge quilt in 2003, Cherry Blossoms. This class was a huge success when it opened in January and I look forward to its second run on 31st May. You can find out more here... Bargello Twist

Along with Cherry Blossoms being presented as one of the new bargello pattern, is my classic "Bargello Blues". This design has always been a hit so the pattern is long over due. Both Cherry Blossoms and Bargello Blues are advanced projects so I decided some beginners patterns were also required. That's where my Bargello seasons series come in. First up is "Bargello in Autumn" and "Bargello in Winter". I'm hoping summer and spring will follow shortly.

So that's a brief update of what is going on. I am thoroughly enjoying my time in California and publishing more work here, and just to add to the excitement, great news today is, my son had his visa accepted to join me. I'm over the moon!

Have a wonderful month and year in quilting, I know I'm having a blast.
Ruth
arbeedesigns.com

Quilt pattern: Calla Lily appliqué creation – the idea.

Quilt pattern: Calla Lily appliqué creation – the idea.

I am often asked how I come up with designs for quilt patterns, so I thought I would give you an example how I went about creating my Calla Lily quilt.

My designs usually start out by seeing something or being asked a question, in the case of the Calla Lily, I was asked, have you thought of making a Calla Lily quilt design? Actually, the answer was yes, I have already made a stained glass lily quilt but not as a pattern in my colour wash series. So I decided, why not and set about doing some research, soon to discover reasons for making such a quilt pattern.

I opened the encyclopedia to reveal that its real name is Zantedeschia (it’s a good thing I’m writing this, as there is no way I can say that). Common names include Arum Lily, Calla and Calla Lily (much easier to pronounce). And another useful piece of information I found was that it is erroneously spelled as Cala Lily.

I also know that the Calla Lily is often known as a Christmas Lily and has often been used in many paintings, one in particular being Georgia Okeeffe’s artwork.

So, upon collecting all this data, it now seemed like a great reason to turn the Calla Lily into a quilt. Since so many already enjoy this beautiful flower in many different ways, why not a quilt pattern?

As it happened, last year when I was thinking about all this, I happened to be attending school to which I walked every day and I noticed along the entire length of a church that I passed, a garden of Calla Lilies coming into bloom. As the spring days turned into summer, I watched and observed these flowers opening day by day until decided it was better remembered by capturing a snapshot on my camera (actually, it was more the fact that I kept forgetting to take my camera with me). After several weeks went by, and I realized school was coming to an end so I would no longer be taking this path, I finally snapped these amazing flowers for life time memories to use in my quilt designs.

Here are a couple of my snap shots.





So, with all these points of interest, photos and Christmas time looming, I set to and began drawing the design. The ‘idea’ is only a small part of the creation process, the design itself is a story for another day, but if you would like to see the result you can see it here. My Calla Lily quilt pattern: Light Upon The Earth

Ruth... PS for more applique patterns in this series, see our main applique pages and remember, I'm available with online support if you need help with the pattern. Applique patterns.

Quilting New Zealand

Hi to you all,

I just finished posting a new article on the website, this one is about New Zealand Quilting. I have been crafting all my life, well for as far back as I can remember, and quilting now for 25 years. Things have certainly changed in that time, from using scissor to rotary cutter and ruler, and from dress fabric to good cotton patchwork fabric. You don't notice it at the time, but I assure you, if you go back to how it was, you can certainly appreciate how lucky we are today with the wonderful selection of quilting fabrics and supplies. It certainly makes life a whole lot easier.

For those interested, you may like to read my quilting article of
Quilting - New Zealand style