Before filling out your registration form, please read the class descriptions and the daily itinerary so you can best determine how you would like to spend your cruise time. You will be assured of being placed in three full day class sections. Class assignments and supply lists will be mailed to you along with your notice for final payment 90 days prior to departure. Classes are open to all levels of ability (unless otherwise stated in the class description).
Opulent Ornaments Workshop
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 • 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Join Paula in this fabulous class! Using a simple no-sewing technique you will embellish your way to a beautiful object brimmimg with sparkle and ready to display. It's stress free, it's satisfying, it's creative, it's fun! And the results are magpuzzlnificent! What more can you ask?
Skill level: All levels
Puzzle Quilts – Simple Blocks, Complex Fabrics
Sunday, August 5, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
Paula has instilled twenty years of complex quilt making into simple theories that explain her idiosyncratic patchwork sensibility and define her way of thinking about fabric. A Puzzle Quilt is a clever vehicle for combining these elements into a sampler with a secret: each block design is used twice. By using totally different fabric combinations, an illusion is created: each block appears unique. The "puzzle" is to pick out which two are the same. Paula promises: You will see possibilities in fabric in a whole new way!
Skill level: All Levels
Simple Symmetry
Thursday, August 9, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
The distinctive charm of Simple Symmetry is based on a simple fact: one single fabric is responsible for all of the elaborate patterns in one quilt. Learn how to use one single template and one symmetrical, intricately patterned fabric to achieve a complex quilt filled with dramatic impact. This class explores and exploits the virtues of bilaterally symmetrical fabric. You'll feel like you're making magic with fabric when motifs connect to their mirror images, creating effects more wonderful than you imagined!
Skill level: Advanced beginner to Intermediate
Handwork on Holiday! Workshop
Wednesday, August 1, 2012 • 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
A relaxing class that takes you back to quilt making basics, introducing a little hand appliqué in a fun and easy design created just for cruising. A small stylized center appliqué motif will build your confidence as you learn straight forward techniques for needleturn hand appliqué. Celebrate the vibrancy and excitement of our European destinations with this sunny little appliqué motif that will be a wonderful remembrance of a memorable cruise. You will also receive options for surrounding the appliqué block with a foundation pieced Feathered Star, for a great little wall quilt!
Skill level: All levels
Feathered Friends in Hand Appliqué
Sunday, August 5, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
The techniques you master as you stitch this charming Northern Cardinal will take all the mystery out of achieving great looking hand appliqué. This is the perfect class for appliqué enthusiasts who want to improve their technique, and for the beginning student who enjoys hand work. Stitch a variety of needle turn techniques including thin stems, sharp points and perfect circles. Of course you won't complete the design in class, but imagine sitting in your deck chair, finishing this project with confidence!
Skill level: All levels
Needleturn With a Twist
Thursday, August 9, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
This great little pattern is the perfect take-along project for cruising. Build your hand appliqué confidence as you learn a simplified method to stitch gracefully twisting ribbons, and more straightforward techniques for needleturn appliqué, including thin stems and sharp points. Every hand appliqué devotee needs this elegant but easy technique! This motif can be stitched as you cruise, and could be the start of a small wall quilt, or really great appliquéd cover for your iPad!
Skill level: Confident Beginner to Intermediate/Advanced
Snippet Flower Bouquet Workshop
Saturday, August 4, 2012 • 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
This workshop is for the "Snippet" beginner. You will learn how to make your own easy, beautiful flower bouquet using the free-form fusible snippet method. This is a great way to use up your fabric scraps. This is a fun class for everyone; you do not need to be creative to be successful. Optional reading: Snippet Flower Bouquet booklet by Cindy Walter, Krause Publications.
Skill level: All levels
Fabric Painting the Easy Way
Sunday, August 5, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
Enjoy learning from the author of the new C&T book, Fabric Painting with Cindy Walter. Class will start by experimenting using fabric paints. You'll learn the common techniques of colorwash, salting, scrunching and heliography. Painting fabric is truly easy, with no mess or stress. The second half of class will teach you direct painting, where you'll learn to paint your own miniature quilt. Painting a tiny quilt is much easier than piecing and as easy as painting by numbers! This is a really fun technique and perfect to do on a cruise ship; but be careful, painting on fabric is addictive!
Skill level: All levels
Memory Mystery Project!
Thursday, August 9, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
You'll start the morning with clues to hand-piece a small easy mystery block using fabrics Cindy will provide. Have fun while learning the time honored technique of hand piecing-a perfect technique for traveling. Then we will embellish the center of the block with TAP, a photo transferring product to place a memory photo of our cruise in the center of the block. The second half of class we will master the art of hand quilting. Whether you are a beginner or you want to perfect your stitch, this relaxing class is for you. Cindy has taught both of these techniques for 25 years and will help each person master them. The hand quilted piece will merge with the hand pieced block to create a memory of your trip to the Baltic.
Skill level: All levels
Tiny Homes and Gardens Workshop
Saturday, August 4, 2012 • 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Create a little house quilt and receive a degree in Architecture from Laura's Chicago School of Fusing at the same time! In this workshop you will explore the many techniques of fusing: free cutting, layering, collage building, improvisational design and more! The result is a whimsical neighborhood placed in a colorful landscape setting and made from beautifully hand-dyed fabrics!
Skill level: All levels
Fowl Play: Birds With No Egrets
Sunday, August 5, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
Like a bird in flight, this class will lift your spirits and make you sing! You'll create fun little birds dancing, nesting and wading knee deep in personality. Our colorful fowl (indigenous only to the campus of the Chicago School of Fusing) are created with fused fabrics and hand embroidery. Laura's Beautiful hand-dyed fabrics, whimsical style and fun personality are sure to make this class a wonderful experience!
Skill level: All levels
Stitch After Fusing
Thursday, August 9, 2012 • 8:30 am - 4:00 pm (Lunch Break from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm)
In this brand new class, Laura shows you how a well placed embroidery stitch on the surface of fabric brings a quilt to life. It lends the surface additional color, pattern, definition and texture. In this class you will make a small flower quilt from a pre-fused fabric kit. Basic embroidery stitches are reviewed using brilliantly colored pearl cotton threads. Learn to entice the viewer closer to your art with free form, unfettered embroidery.
Skill level: All levels
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