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2011 February

    Tutorial: Multi-Coloured Smocking Plates in Illustrator

    Posted by on Feb 25 2011

    This is the second tutorial in my on-going series on how to create smocking plates in Illustrator. You’ll be creating a picture smocking plate with multiple colours, irregular shapes and learn how to create basic embroidered details and save them in the symbols library. It builds on the basic skills from the first two-part tutorial, […]

    Quick Chenille Quilt Completed

    Posted by on Feb 24 2011

    I’ve been feeling a bit bogged down lately. What with the weather (cold, grey and snowy), work, writing commitments and a pile of UFOs that never seems to get any tinier, I needed a project that was easy, quick and cheerful. When a friend posted a link to this nice tutorial on Aesthetic Nest for […]

    A Fun Smocking Podcast

    Posted by on Feb 19 2011

    I love it! A smocking-related podcast? Well, knock me over with a feather! It appears that the craft is being dragged, millimeter by creaking millimeter, into the 21st century. Connie sounds like a hoot – she’s tackling my Illustrator tutorial right now – and the idea of a smocking podcast just strikes me as a […]

    Tutorial: Designing Smocking Plates in Illustrator Pt 2

    Posted by on Feb 18 2011

    This is part 2 of the first tutorial on how to design smocking plates in Adobe Illustrator. For the first half of this tutorial, including the Dropbox links to the tutorial’s files , a printer-friendly pdf of the complete instructions and step by step screen grabs for the first portion of the of the tutorial, click […]

    Valentine’s Heart Quilt Square tutorial

    Posted by on Feb 12 2011

    I recently taught “Introduction to Machine Quilting” at Mohawk College.  It was a fun bunch of women and we had a great time.  The class was designed to give novice quilters a basic handle on terminology, supplies, tools and techniques and give them the confidence to tackle quilting projects on their own.  I think everyone […]