Tricks and Treats: Quilting Arts TV 3100 Series Sneak Peek!

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In the spirit of trick-or-treating, we have a treat for you, and plenty of art quilting tricks! The 3100 series of Quilting Arts TV is set to launch on Quilting Daily TV on October 14! That’s almost a month before it airs on public television. And rather than watching one episode at a time, you can binge it all at once!

Behind the scenes on the set of *Quilting Arts* TV’s 3100 series, Vivika Hansen DeNegre and Brandy Maslowski prepare to film the ‘Finishing Touches’ end segment.

After producing Love of Quilting TV for many years, I’m still relatively new to Quilting Arts TV. As a more traditional quilter, I’m tickled by the art quilting techniques on Quilting Arts. Paint, dye, glue, beads—not what I’m used to finding in the quilting studio!

Here’s a sneak peek of the series, and I’ll share a few of my own personal highlights from the season!

Susan Brubaker Knapp hosts a few segments, Vivika Hansen DeNegre joined us to host a few more, and Brandy Maslowski tried her hand at hosting a few segments, too—it’s quite a party indeed!

3101 – Tradition of Texture

Artisans borrow and trade with each other’s cultural traditions, picking up new techniques and adapting tools for unique results, and the results can be uniquely creative. On this episode, our guests showcase two very different techniques, which interest me with their fascinating creative possibilities.

Cindy Lohbeck joins Vivika Hansen DeNegre on set to showcase the folding-and-clamping technique of sekka shibori. The colorful results are stunning!

The first segment’s guest is Cindy Lohbeck, whose dye work entrances me. If there’s a dyeing tradition she hasn’t studied or tried, I’d be very surprised! Her love of color and pattern is contagious (she let me keep some sample dye and fixatives to keep at home—the perks of the job!). In this episode, she teaches sekka shibori. Shibori is a Japanese dyeing technique that relies on folds to create intricate patterns, and sekka (which means ‘snowflower’) is a style of shibori using clamps and triangular folds to create blooms of color.

Cheryl Whited replaced metal templates with plastic ones to replicate this vintage technique.
She explains her process to Vivika Hansen DeNegre.

The second segment’s guest, Cheryl Whited, showcases a yarn-and-template technique sometimes called Amish stumpwork (I’ve also seen it referred to as plushwork or chenille work or German tufted wool embroidery). She stumbled on this vintage tradition entirely by accident, having found some metal templates and puzzling out what they were for. Watching her snip through yarn to open up the layers of color felt almost like magic to me!

3110 – Construction Contrasts

How can I fall in love with two vastly different approaches? This episode is defined by edges—turned edges and raw edges—but it could almost be described as two different approaches—precise and loose.

Vicki Conley’s turned-edge piecing create extraordinary scenes. She talks Brandy Maslowski through the process

The first segment showcases Vicki Conley’s turned-edge piecing. That’s right—turned-edge piecing, not appliqué. It’s almost like English paper piecing, except that Conley’s templates are all custom shapes, often with curves, that create intricate landscapes or scenes. The thoughtful placement and careful stitches (tight machine zigzag with monofilament, if you were wondering!) are awe-inspiring.

Kimberley Pierce Cartwright’s ‘suga quilts’ incorporate all kinds of tiny scraps—bits of “sugar”–which she stitches down, leaving the edges raw. She joins Vivika Hansen DeNegre to teach her approach.

Contrast that with the second segment, where Kimberley Pierce Cartwright creates what she calls ‘Suga Quilts.’ It’s almost like crazy quilting, except the raw-edged patches are tacked down with simple straight-stitching and placed with inspired intuition. These scraps and findings in Cartwright’s artwork come together to form warm-hearted blessings.

3112 – Free-Motion Couching

I wasn’t sure that a single technique would provide enough content for one segment, let alone a whole episode. Boy, was I wrong! ‘Couching’ involves stitching down yarn, ribbon, or thread. Simple enough to describe, but when you place a technique like that in the hands of an art quilter, the results are fabulously inventive!

Echo quilting foot or darning/free-motion foot—both have a place in couching! Sally Manke shows Vivika Hansen DeNegre how it’s done!

In the first segment, Sally Manke demonstrates this technique on a domestic sewing machine. She uses two different styles of presser foot, one to couch a heavy floss and the other to couch silk ribbon, explaining the different possibilities of each. Her samples at the end are provide just a hint of the endless possibilities.

A sewing technique on a mid-arm quilting machine? Sure, why not? Shannon Conley shows Brandy Maslowski her approach to this technique.

In the second segment, Shannon Conley uses a couching technique on a sit-down, mid-arm quilting machine. (Yep, that’s right!) She talks about her approach to starts-and-stops, marking, the benefits of various types of yarn—very instructional, and her examples are inspiring!

This is just a few treats to let you see some of the tricks—watch for Quilting Arts TV’s 3100 series to go live on October 14! You can purchase the series and there will be a special offer (a one-year subscription to the magazine + the video series added to your Quilting Daily account) or stream it through Quilting Daily TV, or check the listings through your local public television station in November to see when episodes might be airing on your area!

Don’t miss out! Catch all the creative inspiration with the Quilting Arts TV 3100 series and stitch your way into something magical!

Happy Quilting!

Vanessa

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