Sunflowers Abound

Hey there, welcome back. It’s all about sunflowers today. Last winter I taught a couple of Mini Bargello Sunflower virtual quilt workshops and I wanted share some of my students’ work with all of you.

The mini sunflower is a great class to take to learn my Bargello flower technique and then move onto my larger designs which are all patterns that can be purchased in my shop.

We had a wonderful time exploring this bargello technique and the finsihed results of my students are faboulous, exciting and very creative.

We had a lot of discusion during the workshop about fabric and colour selection and how the choices made for backgrounds and the bargello colour runs can have profound impacts on the finished results.

The virtual quilt workshop was presented over 3 sessions.

The first session focused on the supply list and how to pick fabrics for the sunflower and create a fabric run with light to dark fabrics. This session provided lots of time for questions as we all know that receiving a supply and fabric list for a class can be daunting and often we wonder where to begin.

The second session focused on creating the simple Bargello as well as discussing many options for the flower centre, background, quilting and border. There was plenty of time allowed for the participants to create and work between theory and discussion sessions and receive feedback on their fabric selections and progress.

The final session focused on creating the sunflower and the free-motion zigzag appliqué technique to finishing off the petal edges. Once again there was plenty of time alloted to create between discussions and step-by-step live demonstrations.

While sunflowers are usually yellow or gold, not everyone chose a traditional colour or a wall-hanging in my class and some even created their own border. I love getting photos of the work my students have finished and I love seeing the personal design touches they have added.

Here’s a few more images for you to enjoy.