Monday, August 1, 2011

Edyta Sitar

This past weekend our local quilting guild, Illini Country Stitchers, was very proud to host Edyta Sitar for a lecture and trunk show, and two days of workshops!  I have been anxious to meet Edyta ever since her appearance on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims.  The experience started on Thursday evening, when Edyta and her hubby Michael ate supper with us at Panera's.  I got to sit next to them and had a lovely conversation with Michael and Edyta.  Michael is a very important part of the team!  I was also privileged to be a quilt holder during the lecture and trunk show!  Her talk "Reasons for Quilting" is a fascinating look at her journey in quilting, and is now available in book form at her website!  I have ordered mine, and Michael told me I will have one of the first copies!  Because I was a holder, I didn't get to take any pictures, but I certainly got an up close and personal look at all her quilts!
As a reward for holding quilts, I received her 2012 calendar!  It will be fun to look at a different quilt each month.  I had her autograph her books for me, also!
Friday's workshop was Dresden Star.  All those points!  How were we going to get them all perfect?  Edyta's technique and excellent teaching helped us all sail through with flying colours! 
She provided each of us with a fabric kit containing enough fabric to make 11 Dresden Star blocks, plus the pattern, plus the template set.  Plus a spool of Aurifil thread!  All for $30! Brilliant!



She did not provide us with the fabric for the center circle.  She did talk to us about using fabrics and colours to pull together scrappy to make it sing!  I had this done by 1, so I was able to go on to starting on the next 10 blocks.  And then, Edyta gave us a bonus!
For us over achievers, she cut and provided fabric for us to put together an 8-point star that lays perfectly flat!  It's all in the ironing, to get those seams to cooperate!  I goofed mine up, despite her excellent instruction.  But Edyta took it and made it perfect in no time!

She saw where I had strayed, and showed me how to correct it!  An absolute "AHA" moment!  Her explanation of handling those pesky y-seams will allow me to approach them in the future without fear!







Day two we worked on "Clematis".  Again, she provided all the fabric, including back and batting, pattern, and fusible to make this lovely table runner!  She talked about fusibles, the differences between the three that she uses (Heat n Bond lite, Steam a Seam 2, WonderUnder).  She also told us that we should ignore the manufacturers' instructions.  She recommends only a second or two with the iron.  And it worked!
At the end of the day we all posed with our projects!  Everyone got their project fused and layered.  This is raw edge applique, so the quilting will hold the fused pieces down.  Some got started on that.  I being the over achiever that I am, got all my quilting done!  Now to trim and bind!  And also to add some beading to the centers of the flowers!
Edyta is a warm, enthusiastic teacher.  Her love of quilting is contagious, and hope you all get a chance to take a class with her!


8 comments:

  1. She is the nicest, most personable lady! A treat to listen to her speak and I enjoyed her so much! Thanks for sharing this Maggie, and I hope you'll share her tips for those of us not able to attend, too!

    LynnEl

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a wonderful time you had with Edyta - I became a fan since the TQS show & subsequent exchange and now have 2 of her books - love her quilts and can't decide which on to use all my HST's in :)) thanks for sharing your experience in her class and the photos - I'm envious of your fun time you had in her fantastic class!

    ReplyDelete
  3. She is so wonderful, isn't she?! I LOVED meeting her in Marshall. Your workshops sound just awesome. I'll have to look for that book, and what a deal on the kit/class!!! It was clear to me that Michael is a big part of the team...helping with e-mails, etc. I'm so jealous of your classes with her! Can't wait for November for her to come here. Hope it doesn't conflict with anything in my schedule! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am jealous! This looks like just the most interesting day for you. I know you learned lots and had twice as much fun. I enjoyed your blog today! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! It looks like you had a great weekend of fun and learning. I particularly liked the clematis. Hopefully, one day she will be teaching in my area.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great experience! I'm glad you had such a great time and accomplished so much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am very envious of you. The table runners are superb and what fantastic tips you must have picked up. She certainly was great on TQS.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I guess I could join a larger quilt guild if I lived closer to San Antonio. I here about all the great things you do with your guild and I so wish there was something like that closer. I have two small groups that I enjoy, just too small to afford a famous teacher.

    ReplyDelete