Saturday Share: Woven together

 I have the pleasure of teaching another online class today with the great folks at The Original Sewing Expo. We are doing weaving of fabrics again, this time in a half circle pattern to create a fun sky and landscape project.  As I'm getting ready to show some work at an exhibit in Polson at the Sandpiper Art Gallery this March, I had an idea of a piece I wanted to create a new circle weave to home a little 3D dragonfly that I've been playing with. I'm happy that it came together before class today as now I can share it with my students who (if they are like me and have fun with this technique) can see different directions it can lead. 

But even if you're not in class today you can still enjoying seeing the piece! Or if you happen to be in Polson during the months of March-May you can see it in person!

Ripples

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans

Saturday Share: Adding that little something extra...

 It had been a pretty mild winter here in Montana...that is until today when we got over 8 inches of snow and are forecast for another round the next few days. I don't mind the snow actually as we are also scheduled to see temps dipping down into the negative numbers so my plants are much happier having a snow blanket on them, plus it's just such a beautiful landscape with the snow draped on the trees and the crisp white covering all the browned grass and bare branches. 

As winter has finally arrived, I DO think it's ironic that tomorrow I'm teaching an embellishments class called Ba Da BLING for Spring! In this class we play with some of my favorite ways to enhance and embellish quilts and other creative projects...adding shine and 3D elements. 

I love sharing the products that work for me as I'm creating and always look forward to new ways that my students come up with as well!

So, regardless if your feeling the lean toward spring, or like us...feeling all the shoveling we did this morning...I hope your creativity is engaged and ready to play no matter what the season may be outside!

Saturday Share: Woven Backgrounds

 I'm teaching again today! (online class hosted by the lovely folks at The Original Sewing Expo!) So I'll make this a short post.

Summer Solstice

Textile Art by Monique Kleinhans 

Today we are exploring creating woven backgrounds to make two fabrics (or more!) into beautiful and creative backgrounds for focus pieces. It's a technique that I was first introduced to by my Mom who had just purchased Anna Faustino's book Simply Stunning Woven Quilts prior to a quilting retreat. As soon as my Mom started playing, almost everyone else at the retreat ran to the store to get the supplies needed to play along and my Mom ended up teaching an impromptu class herself! Since then, I've enjoyed using the different styles of weaving fabrics together to add lots of movement and color into projects. 

Ba Da BLING (for Spring) class coming in February!

Have some fun with Embellishments on your quilted projects and more!