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It seems a bit incredible, but I am going to Madeline Island, Wisconsin to teach Making Prints from September 27-October 1, 2021. Yes. That is right. In one week, I will be here at the Madeline Island School for the Arts.

Making Prints is my foundation course–all other courses I teach grow from this one. If you have enjoyed studying with me virtually and have been waiting for the right moment to take an in person class. This is that moment.

It is the only week long workshop in person workshop that I will be teaching in 2021. The ...

It seems a bit incredible, but I am going to Madeline Island, Wisconsin to teach Making Prints from September 27-October 1, 2021. Yes. That is right. In one week, I will be here at the Madeline Island School for the Arts.

Making Prints is my foundation course–all other courses I teach grow from this one. If you have enjoyed studying with me virtually and have been waiting for the right moment to take an in person class. This is that moment.

It is the only week long workshop in person workshop that I will be teaching in 2021. The ...

I am super excited to share with you folks my newest workshop. 

Here are the details.

Stitching Towards Discovery—Finding Your Voice ($675)

Join me for a six month long exploration of quilt making as an artform. We will be meeting once a month for an approximately three hour long session. That’s 18 hours of live instruction that will be recorded and made available for your future use.

We will meet on the fourth Tuesday of every month from 2PM – 5PM Alaska Time.

January 25, 2022
February 22, 2022
March 22, 2022
April 26, 2022
May 24, 2022
June ...

On Thursday, July 15, 2021, I will be starting a new virtual workshop called Complex Pattern in Contemporary Patchwork. I am super excited about this. You can sign up here. 

When it comes down to it, pattern is the one of the fundamental aspects of what I do as a quilt maker. There is always color and there is always patterning. Sometimes there are structures related to quilt making, such as traditional blocks, and sometimes I use other sources for the foundational lines of my compositions. Whatever the structure or the inspiration it is always expressed through patterning ...

Hey folks, I am teaching a three day version (nine hours of instruction) of Kitchen Sink Quilting—The Art of Making Do starting tomorrow Wednesday, June 23, 2021.

Here are the details

KITCHEN SINK QUILTING—The ART of Making Do
All leftover fabric, UFO’S, orphan blocks, and random strips of fabric are welcome in this class. We’ll take those pieces of quilt debris and make them into fun improvisational masterpieces. The focus of this workshop is on using up left-overs, bit making (creating small improvisation-ally cut and pieced traditional quilt blocks), and composition.
Wednesday, June 23 ...

Last night, we finished the first ever indie version of Three Points—A Triangle Workshop. It was a virtual roller coaster ride–full of points and degrees

Students came at the triangle from all angles—from avant garde deconstructed triangles to traditional quilt block patterns, to modern and contemporary designs. 

It was very rewarding to see everyone’s ideas.

If seeing all of these cool triangle quilts makes you think want to take a workshop with me—you can!

Under the Influence–How to take Inspiration and Make it Your ...

I am offering a new independent workshop called Three Points. I offered a version of this class at QuiltCon Together called Improv Triangles—Perfectly Pointless.

Some of the material does overlap, but the approach for this new workshop is different and the exploration more comprehensive—we will spend time with some rulers. That said, my approach to the math will continue to be improvisational.

I am not sure why it has taken me so long to offer this workshop. I suppose I was afraid no one would be interested. I used to think that the ...

I think we can all agree that Covid has taught us things about ourselves. Some of those things we never really wanted to learn.

For example, I see now that no matter what is happening in the world, I will find a way to over-extend myself. The first six months of Covid, I was unemployed, and I must say that it was lovely.  I caught up on tasks. Life slowed down and balance became a thing. It was good.

And then, I was asked to teach online. The switch flipped, and my life was ...

We are zooming right into February in more ways than one. 

January went in a flash. I got a year older and hardly noticed. The pattern and repetition of our lives at this juncture is maddening and soothing and like a gosh darn mouse spinner. Okay, I think the proper term is hamster wheel, but you get the idea.

Life is on repeat mode right now. Of course with the occasional major political upheaval here and there. But we will not get into that.

So, what to do? 

TEACH, I think.

I am not doing this ...

A couple of times a day I get an email asking what workshops am I currently teaching. 

To answer that question properly, I am writing this blog post AND posting all of this information on my website under the heading Events & Happenings.

I have neglected my website and almost exclusively posted workshop information here and on my instagram feed. Let this be the moment I change that.

I am teaching in three different types of virtual venues. Below, I explain the differences between each virtual venue and your method for signing up.

Independent Workshops 
Independent Workshops are taught directly by ...

Making Prints is the very first workshop I ever taught. Back then, students were subjected to a volcanic eruption of information as I attempted to teach them EVERYTHING in a one day workshop. Heads exploded. Chaos ensued. I learned. 

Now, I disperse this information over a series of classes. Here is the basic progression of those workshops. 

Follow the links to sign up for the workshops that I am currently teaching.

Making Prints—Strips & Stripes
Circle & Curve Sampler
Three Points—A Triangle Workshop (Quiltcon Together)
Kitchen Sink Quilting—the ART of Making  Do
Linear ...

Happy Holidays and Cheers to a NEW YEAR! If there is one thing that we all need right now, it is a NEW YEAR.

For those of you committed to improving your quilting skills in the next few months, I have just the thing for you—Virtual Quilt Workshops!. Here is the upcoming schedule of teaching events that I am offering to the general public.

Aztecian 36” x 36” Private Collection

Everything I am teaching directly (without a guild or festival) will always be listed on my blog at this link, but you may have to scroll down to see ...

Next weekend, I am teaching a two day VIRTUAL version of my workshop Circle & Curve Sampler in partnership with the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska.

M-Eye Perspective

Here are the details & sign up logistics.

Circle & Curve Sampler
Saturday & Sunday 
November 7 & 8, 2020
2:30 -5:30PM AKST Alaska Standard Time (What time is that for you? Click here to find out.)
$80 
Link to Sign Up 

Wormhole

Most people think of line when they think of my work. This is true. I like lines.

TWIST

Still I have made many, many quilts with curves. In fact, I  have been ...

A lot has happened since I started teaching virtually on September 9, 2020. Basically, I am learning to ZOOM for a living. The traditional limits of me traveling to a guild, shop, or festival and teaching no longer exist. Additionally, no matter where you are in the world you can join me. How cool is that?

In this blog post, I would like to share with you the THREE workshops that I will be offering directly to you this fall.

These three workshops are a comprehensive exploration of the concepts and techniques I use in my work ...

In my blog post LIVE! from Alaska, I mentioned that I was thinking about offering workshops directly from me to you.

Kitchen Sink Quilt by Claire Sherman

I wasn’t sure when this would happen as I am a Technology Resistor. Is that a term? It should be.

But sometimes the universe just makes it happen. Which means, I am offering my first (from me to you) VIRTUAL live workshop Kitchen Sink Quilting on Friday & Saturday, October 2 & 3 from 1PM – 4PM Alaska Time. What time is that for you? Click the link to find out.

Here is the synopsis ...

I arrived in Los Angles on Friday, March 13 to teach for the LA Modern Quilt Guild. By the time I left, life as we know it was being shut down across the world. Since then, historical events continue to explode on our personal, political, and emotional time lines. If life were a game, we would be playing at the VERY DIFFICULT level.

I checked out. I took up biking and sock knitting and berry picking. 

I spent two months in McCarthy, Alaska where we have an off-the-grid cabin. 

Meanwhile, many of my peers were traveling via the internet– teaching ...

Let’s Sync.

Syncing is when I finally manage to step back from my life for a moment and take a big picture look at what is happening. As in, stop quilting Maria, and take a look around.

This is almost always an airplane moment.

I knew this year was going to be a tough schedule all the way around, and then it got serious. The details go like this.

Son #1 and Son #2 are graduating from college and high school this spring. While we do know that they will graduate, we are not so sure about the ceremonies ...

Years ago, I would read my quilting magazines late at night, and I would see the ads for the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops, and wish I was there.

At the time, we lived in rural Alaska with three little boys and the idea of traveling to upstate New York to study quilt making was really just a late night wish before a  slumber frequently broken by toddler demands.

Time passed.

I began to teach—just a gig here and there. The boys grew.

And grew.

And then one day there was an email from Kim Polla inviting me to ...