Pinata Party with Libby Lehman

I'm fairly certain that it was Libby Lehman who first introduced me to the concept of "free-motion" quilting, sometime in the late 90's, most likely on "Simply Quilts". Sewing mostly garments at the time, where it was absolutely necessary for measurements and seams to be accurate, this "free" concept of sewing was somewhat intimidating. Even so, the idea intrigued me enough at the time to buy Libby's book entitled "Threadplay", published in 1997. Since then, I have been lured away from garment sewing and have been completely seduced by the lure of "quilting". In my current work, I use both very traditional patterns and techniques (either hand or machine quilting), as well as a lot of free-motion machine work. Although many books have been published since that first introduction, I still refer to Libby's book often, and in my mind, she is the "queen of free-motion".

Therefore, when I saw that Libby was teaching her "Pinata Quilt Preview" class at the "Sewing & Stitchery Expo" in Puyallup Washington several weeks ago, I took advantage of the opportunity to take the class with her. The "Pinata Quilt" focuses on sewing decorative patterns in concentric circles, using the circular guide that is available for most sewing machines. The project was fast and fun, and it was a delight to meet Libby and to take a class with her.

When I got home from the Expo, I dusted off my circular attachment, which had been in my drawer for "a while?", and finished off the circles started in class.

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Seams French

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