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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Edyta Sitar Visits Music City!!!



Yes, that’s right!  Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts!!!   One of the guilds to which I belong is the Music City Quilt Guild in Nashville (MCQG).  Each year, MCQG brings in a nationally known teacher for 3 days of classes and lectures.  This year, we have been anxiously awaiting Edyta's visit, and she is now here!!!  

Yesterday, The Quilter's Path in Mt Juliet hosted a class with Edyta to learn all the techniques for making her wonderful quilt, Spool Quilt.  This has always been one of my favorites of her quilts.
Edyta Sitar's Spool Quilt
I took part in that class and learned SO much!  What was the best thing I learned?  That Edyta is a really warm, natural and funny person!  She had us all charmed within five minutes of opening her mouth :*)

On a more practical level, I also learned a lot about choosing fabrics for a quilt.  Unlike a lot of quilters, I am pretty comfortable with color and have no problem with choosing fabrics to get the colors I want for a quilt.  However, color is not all there is to consider when choosing fabrics.  Edyta stresses the value of also putting a lot of thought and care into your decisions regarding texture and design.  She goes by a Rule of 5 - choose at least 1 large print, 1 medium print, 1 small print, 1 stripe (or plaid), and 1 dot fabric.  This provides a nice range of texture and visual appeal to go along with the colors chosen.  One look at Edyta's quilts makes it clear that she is an expert at choosing fabrics!  Of course, she now designs most of the fabrics she uses.

1" strips shared by doing a strip swap in class
This is the pile of strips we all worked with once we did our strip swaps.  
And these are the two spool blocks I managed to accomplish yesterday from the blue strips.  Aren't they just the cutest things?  =^..^= You can see that our kits contained lots of different textures, designs and colors to work with.  Edyta is also well known for mixing fabric types, such as her use of both batiks and civil war fabrics in the same quilt.

Today, Edyta came to our Guild meeting at MCQG to give an absolutely wonderful talk and trunk show of her quilts!  Talk about eye candy!!!  She had over 80 quilts with her!  We were all drooling so much, the ladies who cleaned up afterward had to use mops!!!  


After the abbreviated morning meeting, she taught a class on her applique techniques.  Since class slots were limited, I didn't sign up for that class, choosing instead to take her Eldon class tomorrow.   I’m looking forward to more great fun with her then!!!

Edyta Sitar's Eldon
Eldon block
Following are some of the pictures of Edyta's quilts shown today.  Not all of them, of course, because you’d never get the blog to upload!  I can’t believe how prolific this girl is!  But these were some of my favorites :*)


















There were many more pictures but I was afraid of overloading the size of this post!


I did take a picture of me with Edyta today, but when I got home and loaded it - got a good look at it - oh my, what a horrible picture!  I'll try to get a better one tomorrow at the Eldon class ;*)

Thursday and Friday, Edyta will be at The Quilter's Attic in Goodlettsville.  She will teach a class on Thursday and then there will be a book signing on Friday morning.  Stop by if you get a chance!  I'm sure Fran and Edyta would be delighted to see you!!!

Gotta go now and get some sleep so I can be fresh and bright-eyed & bushy-tailed for tomorrow's class.  Well, maybe fresh will have to do.... *wink* 

Hugs & Blessings!
Teresa
=^..^=





10 comments:

  1. What GORGEOUS quilts, Teresa. What a treat!!
    I admit that I am not a big fan of spool quilts but when I first saw her version I was impressed. That's a spool quilt I can love! Your spools look wonderful--and what a great class you will be taking (Eldon).
    Wow, you are one lucky girl!
    Thanks for sharing the joy! : )

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  2. My OH MY!! What a great quilt show you gave us. I love her quilts. Your spools are too cute and those blues look wonderful. You are a very lucky lady -- first with classes in Paducah and now followed by Ms. Sitar -- your mind must be on overload. I love the way you write up your experiences. You do indeed have a knack for writing. Ever thought of being an author??? You'd be good at it.
    Thanks for sharing so much of your grand experience with us. Am very impressed with the Eldon quilt. You'll have to let us know how hard it is.

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  3. Wow. Lots of colors going on. Yes, I love the spools quilt!!!! too!

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  4. Lucky you getting to learn from one of the 'masters', I'm sooo jealous, and it looks like you learned quite well with your gorgeous blue spools - how lovely your quilt will be, can hardly wait to see it!

    I just purchased 3 of Edyta's books and they are every bit as yummy as your pics - Thanks so much for sharing!!

    Happy Quilting,
    ~Deb

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  5. Very beautiful quilts! It's always exciting to have a great teacher in town!

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  6. I love your spool quilt, too. It is stunning!

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  7. I found you from "Sew Many Ways Find a Friend Friday."

    Such beautiful quilts. I love the one with the "tie dyed" looking sunburst in the middle.

    I had never considered doing a spool block before, but yours are adorable. I might have to try some after all.

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  8. Wow -- I'd love to hear her speak. I may have to suggest her name to our program's person at the guild! That spool quilt is breathtaking! :)

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  9. How exciting! Edyta has the most gorgeous quilts and the most gorgeous fabrics! How lucky for you to get to meet her in person.

    Thanks for sharing!

    robin :-)

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  10. I am fan of Edyta also! Thank you so much for sharing the pictures! I haven't been so lucky to meet her! I love to se your progress on Eldon!

    Happy sewing!

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