Meet Me at the Beach — Daytona Beach

I'm excited to announce I'll be teaching and speaking at the February 23-26, 2022, American Quilter's Society QuiltWEEK in Daytona Beach. I'll teach my popular "Demystifying Design for Foundation (Paper) Piecing" class and present two lectures:

• Pagtinabangay: The Quilts and Quiltmakers of Caohagan Island

• Indigo, Taupe and More: Japanese Fabric from Vintage to Contemporary

I'll also be part of the Teacher's All-Star Review during which each teacher will give a 10-minute whirlwind technique demo. I'll show how to Freeform Cut for Appliqué Caohagan Island-style. I'll have fabric and scissors for folks to cut along.

Registration is underway. Register now as classes and the All-Star Review are filling up.

I've been to this show twice before as a vendor, and I can tell you, it's a great show. If you live in a snowy area as I do — Rocky Mountains for me — what better time is there to enjoy some sun and warmer temps?

I hope to meet you at the beach — Daytona Beach.!

Global Quilt Connection, Round 2

I'm so glad to be part of the Global Quilt Connection, an international group of quilt teachers and speakers organized by Lyric Kinard and Sue Bleiweiss in response to the need for quilt guilds to have programs during the pandemic. Mel Beach joined the leadership team to coordinate the website. Through the Global Quilt Connection, I'm having so many opportunities to speak and teach across the United States and Canada. A quilter from the Netherlands recently registered for one of my upcoming class. And I've learned a lot about converting from one time zone to another.

I've learned so much from the other teachers as we all seek to get better and better at presenting and teaching via Zoom. It will be interesting to see where this supportive community goes in the future.

Recently, we were asked to prepare three-minute videos to promote what we have to offer. Here's mine. Enjoy.

In Search of Ugly Fabric

Will It Go Round in Circles,© design and piecing by Dana Jones, quilted by ZJ Humbach

I became a quilter September 12, 2003. I'd signed up for a Martha Pullen quilt weekend in Huntsville, Alabama. My drive there took longer than expected. I arrived part way into a trunk show by Alex Anderson. She was saying, "There's no such thing as an ugly fabric. You just have to find the right spot."

Hmm... I thought.

A few years later, I enrolled in a color class with Davida Hyland at City Quilter in New York City. Class 1 she had us write down the three colors we disliked most. Easy: Avocado green, harvest gold, hot pink. Class 3, she assigned our final project: a quilt in those colors.

Detail of Will It Go Round in Circles© by Dana Jones

As I left class with that unpleasant assignment, I spotted the dotted fabric above on a sale rack, the final resting place of many ugly fabrics. I bought what was left on the bolt. The pattern of the fabric became the inspiration for the design of my quilt. I completed the top in time to share with the class.

Then the quilt top sat unquilted for several years. I'd run out of all the fabrics used in the quilt, and I couldn't find other fabric for the binding. I carried the quilt top from shop to shop until one day a shop owner said, "I have the perfect fabric. Just a minute."

Binding on Will It Go Round in Circles© by Dana Jones

She disappeared into her storage closet emerging minutes later with a bolt of the ugliest green fabric I'd ever seen. It was perfect. Alex was right.

When I said I needed a half yard, the shop owner laughed. She handed me what was close to a full bolt of fabric. There were multiple sale stickers on the end of the bolt.

I could have the fabric, no charge, so long as I took all of it.

My favorite ugly fabric has since found its way into multiple quilts, always the perfect fabric I would never have purchased.

BTW: I love this quilt in my three least favorite colors. Recommendation: Embrace that ugly fabric. It will reward you.