"The Creative Neighborhood"

Supply List & Class Notes.

You will love the darling look of these neighborhood wallhangings done in Mary Lou's "Story Quilt" style. By adding your address, street name, a mailbox, your favorite kitty or dog, this becomes a story quilt to share.

Please bring the following:

Sewing Supplies

• Sewing supplies that you like to sew with- needles, pins, scissors, cotton thread, and etc.
• A corsage pin or doll needle
• Paper for doodling
• pencil and eraser

Fabrics

• 1 yard background fabric (light or dark, not medium value).
• 1 yard border background (light or dark, not medium value).
• A variety of fabrics to make a scrappy and fun border.
• Tip: I use ¼ yard cuts of similar colors, or use fat quarter packets.
• 1 y

Borders For outside borders - I will be showing you a quick and great technique for fun blocks that create great color and drama.

Background The light or dark background is key to a successful story quilt. You may choose to have a horizon line (blue sky/green grass) - try to keep the value the same. I use solid black when doing dark and I like sky blue, soft gold, soft green, anything with a warm cast (goldish yellow/honey) - No grey or softer grayed purple which suck up color.

Houses Next the fun fabrics! Variety is key: anything 12" or larger is perfect. These will be telling your story. Plaids, checks, tone on tones, dots, stripes all work well The more you have the easier it will be to do your neighborhood.

Support Cast Remember that neighborhoods have trees and animals and cars and hillsides as well as houses - whatever your imagination tells you! People who might be in your neighborhood need fabric for skin. Wings for birds, beaks, tree trunks, all kinds of small things need little bits of fabric here and there.

Fabric Questions? "Whimsies and Whynots" tells in detail what works. "Quilted Memories" also has ideas and fabric suggestions.

Embellishing ideas You don't need to bring embellishments with you as you can add them when you get home after the quilt is done. A great start is embroidery floss. My favorite colors for this are black, red, green and gold - It always looks great to add a little extra design to our things using floss. Want an extra special quilt? Use buttons and trims to add finishing touches to your quilt! I like adding crystal beads for extra sparkle.

Inspiration IdeasIn addition, please bring a variety of books, old calendars, magazines, greeting cards or any type of picture that has things in a neighborhood. This is a great place to jump off of and is important for this class. You will use the pictures to guide your ideas. Covered bridges part of your past? Church buildings? Clock towers? You always forget what they look like but if you have images, drawings, or paintings you will be reminded of the shapes of things.

Be Prepared...It helps if you look at my quilts in any of my books before class. This gives you an idea of what you will be doing.