Joan Statz Workshop

Last Friday and Saturday, June 10th and 11th, Sheila and I (cohorts in As the Crow Flies Quilting Workshops) were thrilled to host Joan Statz from Joan's Own Creations.

What an amazingly informative and fun teacher she is!  Everyone was intent on hearing her instructions and busily jotting down notes for future reference.  Joan was so relaxed and nothing, I mean NOTHING fizzed on her - see her arm thrown through the opening in the sewing machine - busy explaining the ins and outs of correct satin stitching.

Joan had everything kitted up and ready for us to start on Friday morning. Many of her patterns come kitted up or she will do them for you if she doesn't have one available. She went home with a list of kits to make up for some of the gals that attended over the two days.

A photo just doesn't do some of these creations justice!  The level of detail on each of these pieces is amazing.  The plants in this quilt are all individual leaves and there are little buttons and bobbles here and there throughout the piece that just keeps your eye moving.

I can't even imagine attempting this vase of flowers!  The details are amazing.

Here is a work in progress . . . pretty darn nice job.

It amazed me that the most appropriate fabrics were used for every part of the quilt . . . everything blended so perfectly.

This pattern was very detailed and you really had to study it to see every part of it.

Here is a close up of the sewing machine . . . amazing stitching goes into these finished quilts.

Here is an example of one her "easier" patterns . . . I also purchased a pattern for a gingerbread table center that I'll have to get a photo of.  Actually there are four different designs in the same pattern pack, but the one I got was a kit to make the gingerbread version.  It is very cute and now on my list of things to get done before Christmas.

The class was limited to 20 people because of the detailed level of instruction.  This class filled up in less than 24 hours when we advertised and only one person had to drop out . . . which still left some disappointed people on the waiting list.

It didn't seem to matter what make or model of sewing machine that she sat down at to demonstrate a technique . . . Joan made the machine do exactly what she wanted and made a few of us stop and think about why we are so timid with our machine settings - just dive in and make it work for yourself - you can't break it!

Thank you Joan for travelling all the way to Manitoba from Alberta - we have you pencilled in for a 2013 workshop and will certainly be back in touch.

Have a great weekend everyone!