I am over the moon excited to announce that the rambler and the redneck are teaming up to teach this fall at Studio 180 Academy!
What is Studio 180 Academy?
Imagine three days of quilting bliss with Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design Certified Instructors in a luxurious setting in Zion, Illinois. You can read more about it in my recent post when I shared that Brian and I had submitted a proposal to teach – and guess what! Just this week we were accepted as faculty!
Things are moving right along towards this September adventure with the class descriptions being made public on the official Studio 180 Academy website in the next few weeks. Here’s the interesting thing – class size is limited and it fills up fast so I’m letting you, dear reader, know ahead of time to bookmark said website and be ready to push that button to sign up March 1st. If I were you, I’d already be settin’ my alarm!
Who Are You Guys and What Are You Teaching?
Introductions:
Glad you asked! First of all, we are both from the “Class of 2017” Certified Instructors with Studio 180 Design. Ours is the “freshman” class as Deb has offered certified instructor training annually the past 4 years. We met at our training this past summer and just sort of connected. We began collaborating on our class proposal then meet up at Fall Quilt Market to finalize the pattern and fabrics in person. Indeed, it was fun keeping our secret as we shopped for fabrics!
Brian McCoy calls himself The Redneck Quilter. I think he’s kin to the Energizer Bunny! Brian’s the owner of a very successful quilt shop in South Parkersburg WV called Bolts and Quarters Quilt Shop. He does have an abundance of energy, in a good way, not hyper or anything (grin) just very efficient and productive with his time. Brian has a “day job” in addition to teaching and running a quilt shop. I love that his shop keeps evening hours and offers several hundred classes a year. If I lived in the area I would certainly be hanging out! Talk about inspiration!
Me? For those reading my blog for the first time, I’m Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler. As my logo suggests, I love to talk quilts. But I do more than just talk! I’ve been a longarm quilter since 2003 and have been teaching and sharing my passion for quilting well before the “turn of the century“. I have taught in numerous locations including two quilting cruises with a third one booked for 2019. I love love love Studio 180 Design tools and teaching others how to use them -so it’s truly an honor to be among this year’s staff at Academy.
The Quilts
Yes, I said quilts, plural! Before I explain and share the prototypes, let me whet your whistle with our class description:
Using the Corner Beam, V-block and Square Squared tools, students will make twinkling blocks that shimmer like crown jewels in the night sky. With varied layout and color palette options, personalize your quilt into a Twilight or Midnight rendition of the heavenly stars we call Celestial Borealis.
Choices, there should always be choices, right? So, choices there are! Using the same tools making the same units we are offering two different block constructions, two different layouts, and two different color pallets.
Brian’s quilt is entitled Celestial Borealis at Midnight and will be made with the hand dyed fabrics from Kathleen Starr. Here is the EQ8 version of his design. This version offers three different block sizes to complete the quilt.
Karen’s quilt is entitled Celestial Borealis at Twilight and will be made using fabrics from Island Batik. Here is the EQ8 version of her design.
Won’t You Join Us At Studio 180 Academy?
There will be multiple classes to choose from amongst the Certified Instructor faculty. While we’d like for everyone to take our class, we really just like for everyone to join us at Academy! All of the classes will focus on teaching you to be proficient with the Studio 180 Design tools and techniques. There will be open sewing time, time to just relax, time to shop (who doesn’t love that!), time to get to know other quilters, and of course time to ask away about all the wonderful patterns, tools and technique sheets offered by Studio 180 Design. It’s a guaranteed good time! Take it from the rambler and the redneck – we can’t wait to be there!
This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, excited to be teaming up to teach with The Redneck Quilter. Hurry and visit the Studio 180 Academy website and get all the details!
Beautiful quilts! I, too, love the Studio 180 rulers (don’t even try to take them away from me!!!)
They are the best aren’t they!