“Make Your Scraps Work” – This will be a IN PERSON lecture and trunk show on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. It will be hosted at 6:30 PM during the General Guild Meeting held at the Tyvola Senior Center. 

Kelly is a wife, mom, pattern designer, and quilt teacher living in west Tennessee. She embraces a wide variety of quilting styles, but especially loves making scrappy quilts with lots of color. Kelly previously taught elementary school, and uses this experience to introduce quilters to new techniques through her book, blog, and class, all while keeping things lighthearted and fun!

Kelly’s lecture will include all the quilts from her books “Scrappy Improv Quilting” and “Stash Statement.” 

“Structured Improvisation with Scrappy Improv Quilting” – This full day IN PERSON workshop is on Thursday, March 7, 2024. The workshop starts promptly at 9:00 AM and ends at 3:00 PM. It will be held at Charlotte Marriott at South Park. 

During Kelly’s workshop, we will learn how to piece our own scraps using the three methods for improv piecing outlined in her book, Scrappy Improv Quilting. These methods allow us to use plenty of larger pieces (even though all the pieces in the finished quilt appear tiny!) Then, we’ll incorporate those happy, scrappy blocks into a fun quilt pattern from the book – Churn, Churn, Churn! (which is the pattern that was selected for our class).

By using our treasured scraps, we’ll create a mini quilt uniquely ours, and we’re sure to love it! This fun method is versatile, and with step-by-step patterns to follow, it is doable for every single quilter no matter the skill level and even if you have never attempted improv piecing. 

The workshop registration is now open to CQG members for $49, which includes Kelly’s required book for this class (a $20 value). No other patterns are required.

Make sure to register as soon as possible as there are only 24 seats available for Kelly’s workshop. If any seats are left at the beginning of January 2024, it will be open to non-member registration.

Please be mindful when registering for workshops that require payments – Workshop fees are non-refundable unless the instructor cancels. You can find someone to replace you at the workshop or see if someone wishes to take your place if there is a waitlist.

“Building Community Through Quilts” – This will be a ZOOM lecture on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. It will be hosted at 6:30 PM during the General Guild Meeting held at the Tyvola Senior Center.

In 2014, Maria Shell spent two months as an artist-in-residence at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, North Carolina. While there, she worked weekly with a formerly chronically homeless community now living in Moore Place. By teaching basic sewing skills to the residents, she developed a relationship with the residents of Moore Place that eventually led to the making of a community quilt that celebrated the residents and their journey towards finding a home and a community. Since then, Maria has gone on to work with communities and organizations across the US helping them to also build quilts and share their stories.

Maria’s community quilt projects are the inspiration for what CQG’s Community Ed is planning for our Guild to do with the Tyvola Senior Center in May 2024 – be on the look out for more information regarding this project. 

“Exploring Fabric Collage” – This will be a IN PERSON lecture on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. It will be hosted at 6:30 PM during the General Guild Meeting held at the Tyvola Senior Center. 

Sue is a retired Indiana music teacher and choir director who moved to North Carolina in 2005.  

Sue has been an avid quilter for many years, but 5 years ago she transitioned to the art of fabric collage.

She is a member of Matthews Artist Guild, Mint Hill Arts, and Waxhaw Art Council. Over the past year, she has been teaching all levels of collage in Mint Hill, Monroe, and Matthews for the Parks and Rec program. 

“IMPROV FOR EVERYONE!” – This will be a ZOOM lecture on Wednesday, September 4, 2024. It will be hosted at 6:30 PM during the General Guild Meeting held at the Tyvola Senior Center.

Learn the basics of Intentional Improv during this fun lecture. Maria will share her story while also giving tips, tricks, and bits of good information about how to make the leap from traditional patchwork patterns to designing your own freewheeling compositions. This is a hybrid lecture—part personal story and history of improv with a slideshow demo of how to cut and piece improvistationallly.

“Making Prints Out of Solids-Lines, Tracks, & More” – This Zoom workshop takes place in two parts, on Monday, September 9, 2024 from 6-9 PM (EST) and on Monday September 16, 2024 from 6-9 PM (EST). We know it’s late at night for some of us, but that’s unavoidable due to the time difference as Maria lives in Alaska. Participants should count on “homework” in between the two class sessions in order to be prepared to move on to the second part of the class a week later.

Using solid colored quilters cottons, students will learn how to stitch an assortment of pieced prints including stripes, tracks, dots, and grids. While learning these new techniques participants will also be given information about selecting a color palette, improvisational piecing techniques, and ideas for taking these techniques and creating original quilts. 

Maria’s two-part workshop is $40, which is an incredible bargain as this workshop has been offered in the past through her website for $175 per student. There is no pattern required, and participants will have access to a video recording of the class for a full 90 days afterwards. 

There is a 30 student maximum for this workshop, and registration is currently available ONLY to current members of Charlotte Quilters’ Guild.  

Workshop registration will open to non-members on July 1, 2024 if any remaining seats are available.  

Please be mindful when registering for workshops that require payments – Workshop fees are non-refundable unless the instructor cancels. You can find someone to replace you at the workshop or see if someone wishes to take your place if there is a waitlist.

Don’t want to miss out?  Click HERE to see how easy it is to become a member of Charlotte Quilters’ Guild and get priority registration for all of our workshops!