Class with Janet Fogg and a Closer Look at Some of Her Quilts!

Janet gave me permission to publish pictures of the quilts that have been out there for awhile. This one as well as the other full sized pictures were taken from the back of the room during the quilt club meeting. I think it gives you a good idea of the sheer size of these beautiful quilts.

This and the next picture are closeups of the kitty above. Double click so you can see the detail of the stitching in these.

Today, during class, I had the opportunity to see her machine quilting closeup. It is nothing short of spectacular.
She uses a long arm machine but does all her stitching freehand. She truly is doing very innovative work with a long arm. It is easy to see why these are prize winning quilts.

This is a Siberian husky that she pictured. Janet uses hand dyed fabrics that she buys from a local Portland Oregon dyer (her blog - http://janetfoggquilts.home.comcast.net/~janetfoggquilts/ can give you the name of the dyer). This woman custom dyes to Janet's specifications.

Janet's specialty is the combining of traditional patterns with pictorals. She machine pieces her pictorals for the most part although occasionally she will do some applique. Her technique is similar to Ruth McDowell's but she has made some enhancements and does some things a little differently. I definitely picked up a couple of hints especially with regard to curved piecing of these complex images.

I was amazed that in two days everyone in the class had their patterns drafted (and some were quite large) and were starting to pick fabrics. Janet was very helpful to everyone in all stages of the work.

I had done some initial drafting of my lions which will be my next piece but decided my time was better spent finishing up the heron. I made significant progress today. You may note that the heron has moved from the middle of the piece to the right hand side. I have decided to incorporate something in the background although I am not quite sure what it will be. I have thought of tesselated fish or the snail's trail block but done very subtly as I don't want the background to overwhelm the bird but it is just too boring the way it is now. I am actually further along than this photo suggests -- he has legs and a bottom now!

Ellen Erne was at the table next to mine and she was working on a very large kitty sitting under her sewing machine. She made a lot of progress and had a lot of her fabrics picked out and ready to go.

Carol was working on a tulip which was shaping up nicely. She had quite a bit of fabric placed by the end of today.