Zigzag Pizzazz

I’ve been working on a book featuring the zigzag stitch. I presented the work I had done so far in June to the Tualatin Valley Quilters Guild in Sherwood, Oregon. Their program chair, LoisMarie liked it so much, she asked me to present to another guild she belongs to,  the Westside Quilters of Hillsboro, Oregon. Again, I had a really positive response, which I appreciate. I’m doing a workshop for this guild in December on the techniques I’ve developed. They are based on portfolio samples I did for London City and Guilds back in 1996 during the machine embroidery portion of my coursework. I’ve been working on Zigzag Pizzazz off and on for the past two years. I keep getting derailed by other projects which arise with deadlines. Of course, the book has no deadline other than what I set for myself. Clearly, I need to do something about that.

Here’s the workshop sampler we’re going to do. Participants have the option to create a wall hanging of their own choosing, using whatever selection of hearts, stars, and circles, they like using my Accuquilt dyes. In this way students can concentrate on the machine embroidery techniques rather than spend a lot of time drawing around templates and cutting them out. Students can also do any or all of the techniques in the sampler or they can try some others than aren’t in the sampler. Yes, there are more. It’s students’ choice, and my goal is for them to be successful.

Zigzag Pizzazz Sampler

Here are two finished pieces featuring Satin Stitch Beads with jumps, which are in the middle block in the bottom row of the sampler. One of the things I’ve been doing with zigzag techniques is to show how they can be used in a variety of applications on all kinds of quilts for both genders and a range of ages. These are a couple of space-related wall hangings for kids.

I spoke at the beginning of my presentation about my London City and Guilds coursework. I want to acknowledge and thank my former tutor Gail Harker who generously donated one of her on-line courses. The lucky winner was Clara Mashek.