Slow Stitching 2017 with Chawne Kimber, Heather Jones, & Kim Eichler-Messmer
Sunday afternoon, August 6th through Friday mid-day, August 11th
Medomak Retreat Center, Washington, Maine
$1,500
A small group of just thirty stitchers will spend five days in exploration of line, color, and stitch at a contemplative pace. Surrounded by the woods, on the edge of a lake, with the rustic beauty and charm of Maine as the backdrop. AS OF APRIL 29TH WE ARE SOLD OUT! If you would like to be put on the waiting list send me an email....
Would you like to slow down and spend some quality time with your stitching? Maine is a beautiful place to turn down the volume, shut off the email, leave the phone in your room, and spend some time with a needle and thread. This year three (!) world class sewists and makers: Chawne Kimber, Heather Jones, and Kim Eichler-Messmer will share their time, their stitches, and their spirit with you for five days in Washington, ME, August of 2017.
Join Chawne, Heather, Kim, and I at the Medomak Retreat Center in Washington, ME where you can relax, unwind and dive into your stitching practice. You will sleep in a modern yet rustic cabin, eat three meals a day with the community, and spend as much time as you like with color, needle, and thread. Each day will be spent with Chawne, Heather or Kim, learning their techniques and tips, and practicing new skills-or sharpening old ones.
~Chawne is returning this year to teach hand quilting. "Hand quilting is super, super fun! And the best way to make something more fun is to improvise. So let’s practice the basics of hand quilting (beginners are welcome!) and then consider design and techniques for improv."
~Heather will teach you how to create improvisationally pieced blocks that are a study in linework and the formation of secondary patterns. Using solid fabrics in a range of values and colors, you will create a modern take on traditional string blocks using an intuitive creative process. An added benefit of this technique is that it produces completely unique, one of a kind blocks with a strong graphic quality, and Heather will discuss how fabric placement and color choices affect the design of the block. You will have the opportunity to experiment with scale in this workshop as well, and can choose to make your blocks in a variety of sizes. You'll finish the workshop with a number of completed blocks that can be used in small patchwork projects or as the beginning of a larger quilt. Discussions on color theory, elements of design, and finishing techniques will also be included.
~Kim will lead a workshop on the magic of Blue. Indigo is a rich and beautiful dye that has been used for at least 6,000 years. The only plant dye that produces a blue color, the process of creating an indigo vat is equal parts science and magic. Together you will create an indigo vat, discuss the proper care and maintenance of the vat, and explore a variety of methods for creating gorgeous color and pattern on cloth including ombre and shibori. Each participant will leave with several pieces of their own indigo dyed cloth and a new appreciation for this ancient, magical dye process.
You will spend a day with each teacher, with plenty of time for inspirational wanderings. On the fourth day we will have a small field trip to the coast, and a couple of fabulous local fabric stores. Or if you prefer, you can go for a swim, take a hike, do some stitching, some reading, or whatever your heart desires. The focus will be on slowing down, taking time, connecting to your practice, the community, and your inner voice. Evenings will be open for more stitching, star gazing, cricket concerts, bonfires (s'mores!), chatting and anything else you might like to do in Maine in August....
Chawne Kimber
Chawne is a quilter and embroiderer known for detailed pixelated stitch portraits and for her use of bold colors in her original improvisational quilt designs. She has never shied away from a challenge due to tedium and has never met a color she didn't think had potential. Hand piecing, hand quilting, and very, very, slow machine stitching are just her speed. When not stitching, Chawne can be found knitting, teaching math, or proving theorems. You can see more of her work on her blog, Completely Cauchy.
Heather Jones
Heather Jones is an author, designer and self-taught quilter who lives outside of Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two young children. Her first solo book, Quilt Local: Finding Inspiration in the Everyday was released in October 2015. She is the founder and former president of the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild; three of her original quilts were chosen as winners of “Project Modern,” a year-long national quilting design competition sponsored by the national Modern Quilt Guild; and she is also a two-time finalist for the Martha Stewart American Made Awards. Her work has also been featured in numerous publications, most recently in “Lucky Spool’s Essential Guide to Modern Quilting” (2014), “Quilting the New Classics” by Michele Muska (2014), and magazines including Quilty, Quiltmaker, Modern Patchwork, Generation Q, and Love Patchwork and Quilting. You can see more of her work on her website, Heather Jones Studio.
Kim Eichler-Messmer
Kim Eichler-Messmer learned how to sew in the 5th grade when she made a quilt with her dad out of old shirts. She went on to receive a BFA in Printmaking and an MFA in Textiles and is currently an Associate Professor of Fiber at the Kansas City Art Institute. Kim's work has been shown extensively in national juried and solo shows. Her book "Modern Color: An Illustrated Guide to Dyeing Fabric for Modern Quilts" was published in 2014. She teaches workshops on color theory, dyeing, and quilting around the country and at her studio in Kansas City. You can see more of her work on her website, Kim E-M Quilts.
The process to register is different this year, please read to the bottom of the page. Registration includes lodging in a cabin with one roommate, all meals, and all instruction for five days. The cabins are rustic and spare, but modern and comfortable. You can have a private cabin all to yourself for an extra $200. NOTE: For the moment we are unable to offer any more private cabins. This could change. Contact me for an update. We can accommodate most dietary restrictions, just alert us to your needs in advance.
A supply list will be sent out at least a month in advance of your arrival in Maine.
Otherwise, all you have to do is get yourself here, I'll take care of the rest. Do let me know if you have any food allergies, and if you are a committed snorer....
This year I will be bringing a massage therapist for one or two days. Please let me know if you would be interested in that service?
Medomak Retreat Center is in Washington, Maine, about 80 minutes from the Portland airport, 3 hours drive from Boston, 7 hours drive from NYC. Washington is only 30 minutes inland from Camden. The campus has 250 acres of blueberry fields, forest and lakefront with trails for hiking, tennis courts, canoes and kayaks available. The cabins are clean but spare and you have two choices of arrangements. Share a cabin with one other for the $1,500, or if you'd like a more intimate experience pay another $200 for a private cabin, just let me know your preference in the form and I will adjust your registration fee. NOTE: For the moment we are unable to offer any more private cabins. This could change. Contact me for an update.
In order to give you plenty of time to check, and double check, your schedule, and confer with partners, bosses, children, parents, and pets, to make sure this will work for you, I am delaying the opening of registration until March 3rd. I will announce the opening of registration with an email. So if you are not on the newsletter email list, sign up now! The link is at the bottom of the home page.
Registration is now open! You can click on THIS link to be taken directly to the form.....! WE ARE SOLD OUT, BUT THERE IS A WAITING LIST, EMAIL ME TO BE PUT ON THE LIST.....