It’s always good to start from the beginning. With the two classes last week, students in one did just that, while the other was geared for beyond beginners. Interestingly, the three instructors for these classes started at the beginning and have gone well beyond here at Sievers.
In the Quilting 101: Boot Camp, co-teachers Ellen Graf and Jackie Barry started students off with the basics of how to choose fabrics, accurately measure and safely cut fabric and sew patchwork blocks while establishing good techniques. Learning four different blocks and combining them, students created a wall hanging or table topper.
Speaking of starting with the basics, Ellen came to Sievers for a Basic Spinning class in 1983, returning later for beginner-level Nine Patch and Hand Quilting with Marianne Fons. She continued in quilting, taking classes with Blanche Young, Doreen Speckmann, Francie Ginocchio and Jeanne Pfister, and in 2000 she won a 1st place award at the AQS show in Paducah, KY. She also has taken many other classes including bookbinding, dyeing, garment construction, Navajo weaving and knitting. Ellen began offering quilting classes at Sievers in 2001 and is especially known for teaching excellent techniques while encouraging individual creativity. She was also instrumental in establishing the Quilts of Valor program on Washington Island.
Co-teaching the Quilting 101:Boot Camp with Ellen was Jackie Barry. Jackie first came to Sievers for a beginning quilting class with Mary Fons in 2012, returning the next (and each year since) as one of Ellen’s quilting students. Jackie’s sense of design and color is inspiring. Both Ellen and Jackie have been featured guests on Mary Fons’ online show, Quilty, as well as in the magazine.
For those weavers well beyond the basics, Judie Yamamoto’s Summer and Winter class featured projects using that particular block weave structure where the cloth is reversible, with a light side and a dark side.
We’re guessing both the summer and the winter sides are the best!
Back to the basics…Judie first came to Sievers as a student in Mary Sue Fenner’s Basic Weaving class in August of 1981. She’s credited Sievers with teaching her the art of weaving and giving her the “knowledge of what I was going to be when I grew up”. In 1982, she began offering classes at Sievers, starting with knitting, then weaving, polymer clay and Japanese Temari. All along, she continued to take classes here including spinning, dyeing, polymer clay, bookbinding, quilting, knitting, garment construction, surface design, painted warp and cartonnage. In addition, Judie has taught nationally and written articles about weaving and related topics. Her instructor biography from the early 1980’s reads, “A modern renaissance woman, her career included time as an assistant curator, jobs in a photography museum, data processing, teaching English in Japan and degrees in Chinese and Library Science.
With their knowledge and talents, Ellen, Jackie and Judie embody the spirit of, and join many other “Sievers Achievers”.
Of course we can’t resist inserting a little bit of what comes between summer and winter, some very early signs of fall!
