Monday, September 1, 2014

Learning from Jacquie Gering

 *Are you looking for the Orange Peel QAL Final Linky Party? Link up your quilts, tops, and minis here until Sept. 8!*

Boy, am I excited to share today! Modern quilter and author Jacquie Gering visited the Central Jersey and Philly Modern Quilt Guilds last weekend. I know I speak for several people in my guild when I say that this was something I looked forward to all summer! As both a student and a teacher, I wanted to learn from her. Jacquie was just as engaging, hilarious, down-to-earth, and mind-blowingly talented as you could imagine. It was an amazing weekend!

 Me (left), Jacquie, and Jessica

To start off the weekend, Jacquie gave a lecture and trunk show at Pennington Quilt Works. I was quite a bit tired from working kid's quilt camp all week but it didn't matter at that point! Jacquie discussed the important aspects of her life and how they relate to her quilting. Then we had the pleasure of seeing many of the quilts from her book, Quilting Modern, and others from her blog. I just love Jacquie's clean, angular style.


You know I love purple!! This quilt is one of my favorites of hers - she used the Stitch and Flip technique. This quilt was recently auctioned off in the Action Kivu fundraiser.


Another favorite. I love the quilted words!! Plus, bridge/architecture quilts = LOVE.


The color scheme and quilting on this supernova quilt - just wow!

Then, on Sunday, 20 of us took Jacquie's Slice and Insert workshop! She taught us the technique and demonstrated before we got to work. This was my first sewing class since high school, where I learned how to sew. It's always so funny to me when I watch others sew because there are things that I learned a different way, simply because I'm mostly self-taught. For example, Jacquie demonstrated pinning to match seams and mentioned that "we're taught to pin perpendicular to the seam, but this time we'll pin parallel" but I've always done it parallel because it works for me. She was so full of wit and knowledge - I felt like a sponge trying to suck it all up.


We then had the opportunity to sew for about 4 hours (!!). Jacquie was attentive to each and every student. I really can't say enough about her teaching style and the quality of her advice. Really, I'm not advertising for her or anything, just blathering on. :)

A very happy room!

By the end of the session, myself and Jessica had finished quite a few blocks between us! Jess's are the ones below on the blue background (all the surrounding sewists voted to help her make a decision) and my blocks are the gray background. One of the most exciting parts of the class, besides one-to-one time with Jacquie and catching up with guild friends face-to-face, was the opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other. I hope I can emulate this kind of atmosphere in my Orange Peels and Improv class this October - though I don't think it will be too hard because it's going to be so. much. fun.


I took the blocks home and have already sewn them together into a wall-hanging top - that's how inspired I was coming away from it all! I really thought it was going to become another WIP but Jacquie encouraged me to just go and finish it. :) What can I say - I love being a student!



As you can see, we had such a great weekend! I'm so grateful for the group of 60+ women in our guild and all the fun we have together. Plus, of course, I'm amazed at talented quilters like Jacquie who help us continue our study of and bring out our love of modern quilting! Have you taken a really worthwhile sewing class, whether in-person or online?

For many more pictures of the trunk show and workshop, you can see my posts over at the CJMQG blog!

7 comments:

  1. Looks so awesome! Jacquie was here earlier this year, but I didn't get to take her class. I did see her trunk show and was so inspired! She has so many good stories, and hearing about the quilts is so fascinating.

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  2. I haven't actually attented any. I really like your attitude showing through out. You'll do great with your classes!

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  3. So lucky! What a neat opportunity to do this class...it is so much fun to sew with others, and Jacque is so talented

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  4. I agree with you! It's so fun to be the teacher and the student!! Best of luck with your upcoming class :-)

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  5. Hi Jess, I was at Jacquie's PMQG workshop and lecture on the Saturday - and I agree with everything you said! She was awesome! I learned so much and had so much fun. Seeing her quilts was just so inspiring. She is just an all around fabulous person! I'm so glad I got the opportunity to meet and learn from her! Great post about the workshop/lecture!

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  6. Oh you're a lucky duck! Her work is so amazing!!

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  7. That looks like it was a fabulous experience. I loved seeing both of your works.

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