Back Again!

Hi everyone, sorry for the long MIA.  I have not been blogging, but I have been working on a project that has been taking a lot of my attention and that I am excited about.  I'll tell you about that in a just a minute.  First I want to share a project for this month's Custom Quilling Newsletter, an altered ribbon spool with a quilled fan.   I have seen several of these altered spools and have been collecting them to try my hand at one. 

I used the shades of pink strips and card stock that came in the kit to create the fan and floral punch flowers.  I used a quilling grid with circles and angle lines to lay out the spirals that make up the spokes of the fan, pinning them in place.  I then made the looped portions at the top of the fan, again pinning to hold them in place while drying and keeping the fan shape steady.  The two wing butterflies in the middle give the fan more stability as well as the teardrops between the spokes where they meet. A gold tassel hangs from the bottom of the fan.

It is a delicate design and if I do one again I will have to make adjustments to the double spiral spokes.  You can see that a couple of the spirals are separating.  I think I needed to glue the ends together so that they stay spiraled next too each other and do not separate.  But, that is for next time.  Three teardrops and a flower help stabilize the point where the spokes meet even more.  At this point I could un-pin the fan and it held it's shape well.  A few more tear drops at the tips of the spokes and some bling and it was finished. 

The spool was covered in decorative paper around the center and has scallop circles out of the same paper on the ends.  To cover the bottom end I die cut the center of a scallop circle with a circle die the diameter of the center, cut between two scallops and hid the seam with embellishments. I wound the wide pink ribbon from the kit around the spool and added pearls, buttons and lace at the ends.

Next came the more quilled flowers and butterflies mixed in with the pink lilies.  Aurora crystals, more buttons and pearls make it frilly and feminine. 

Now for the news that I have been waiting to tell you about.  This fall I will be teaching a 6 week quilling class with -

 I had taken two Tombow marker background classes through MCC and loved the format, the classes and the teacher, Kim Teasdale! The class was online and while I was considering taking a class, I wondered if it was going to be worth my time and cost.  It was and I was not disappointed!  There was a lot of content, easy to follow and understand and you feel as if the teacher is right there giving you private lessons even though it is a PowerPoint presentation with added videos.  Kim, as well as all the instructors, were also there to answer questions and give feedback on our projects that were posted to the class gallery.

There are many like me who would like to take a class but have no teacher close by or giving a class when you would like to or able to take one.  I wish there had been a class like this when I first started quilling. One where the basics of quilling, using the tools, through the varied techniques of husking, looping, 3D etc. were taught and demonstrated.   The online format with MCC gives you that opportunity and the freedom to sign in on your schedule and view the weekly lessons when the class semester is open.  And you have the added time of two weeks after the last posted class to go back and review any lesson, post your projects, get questions answered, and download the class PDF lessons.

The class that I will be teaching is 6 weeks and covers quilling basics, using the tools, shaping coils, fringing, domes, bells, folded roses, looping, husking, 3D quilling.  Each week there will be a guided project to showcase your new quilling skills. The last two weeks you will be completing a Keepsake quilled project and I will teach you the quilled jewelry technique that I used to make the necklaces and bracelet posted here, here, and here.  All with class lesson PDF's.

The class will be open for enrollment on August 23rd 2011 and I will have more info later. Until then, if you would like to get a preview of the projects and explore the other classes at My Creative Classroom click here. and see if the classes are a match for you. And anytime you would like to go to MCC to see what great classes are offered, from my blog, just click the MCC blinkie on the right sidebar.  If you have any questions please email me at appelquillinggarden@yahoo.com.

Tomorrow I will post another quilled jewelry project.  Thanks for all the sweet comments while I was MIA.

Shalom,

Sonya
Your comments are read and appreciated!