"I believe there is a pattern in everything. Sometimes it is more obvious than others. By adjusting your perspective, new possibilities and ideas appear that never existed before." -- Rita Hutchens

In my life and in my creativeness there is a desire to be distinctive. With that desire comes the willingness to take risks and with that willingness comes the ability to accept mistakes. The best ideas and concepts are often developed through mistakes, which I like to think of as intuitive decisions. It is through quilting that I have been able to let go and truly enjoy the process.

I was drawn to the graphic and visual possibilities of pieced fabric during the making of my first quilt in 1981. With little exposure to contemporary or traditional quilt making, I had no pre-conceived ideas regarding the right or wrong of how to make quilts. I liked the idea of putting little things together to make bigger things and devising new formulas and making up rules for myself as I go. I am constantly playing the what if game and will spend days exploring the many possibilities of one idea or concept, when all of sudden a completely new concept will pop up for me to explore and I will go off on another tangent.

Working intuitively with lots of experimentation and mistakes I discovered a style and process of working that was all of my own and developed a unique method of strip piecing. I have explored this technique in depth designing and producing innovative contemporary quilts and award winning garments. I am enthusiastic about sharing this template and paper free technique.

WORKSHOP:
Totally Tubular: Triangles
January 18, 2006
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: 3235 Pope Avenue, Sac., CA (Map)
Link to:
- Registration
- Supply list
- Rita's Web Site

Learn this fun new strip-piecing technique and get over your fear of the bias.  Sew fabric strips into tubes.  Cut these tubes into more strips and Rita will guide you through her Totally Tubular process for sewing them back together to easily create yards and yards of triangles any size any angle you wish to make, without the use of paper or templates.  Begin by easily piecing Half Square Triangles and Sawtooth Borders.  Then move on to Flying geese and right triangles as well as 30-45-and 60-degree triangles.  Explore unique ways to cut
and use these triangles to create other intricate geometric designs including stars.  Students create pieces of “fabric” that can be turned into a border, block, small quilt, several blocks or put into a garment.  Techniques learned in this class will greatly enhance your vocabulary of quilting of techniques, whether you are a traditional or art quilter.  This is a process oriented class.