Quilting Academy
 

After I finish my mom's quilt and complete a quick one for a cousin's daughter which is mostly applique I'm going to set aside my next project and go through the Quilting Academy series. I think if I start over from square one and go all the way through my quilting skills will be significantly better.

I saw the recommendation for this series on here but does anyone else recommend this series?

Thanks,
Yael

If you are referring to the Harriet Hargrave books, I want to do the same thing. I really could use some help to improve my quilting and the first book I looked at had to me a good series of exercises and projects to improve various techniques. I have not seen her latest book yet.

thanks for posting this subject as I have the same thoughts.

Lisa that is the exact series I'm talking about. I'm really excited to go through this. I'm also in the Denver area so I might end up doing one of her workshops or retreats for fmq.

I have all 4 of Harriet's books - I think they contain a great amount of information. My books are very heavily highlighted. I been piecing for a long time and feel all of us can use a refresher course. This series takes you from the beginning - the why/why not wash, cutting, stitching, and goes all the way to designing your own quilts. She shows different ways of doing the same thing - you try each one and decide what works best for you. The books also give examples for quilting each quilt. Book 5 will be out in 2014 so I'm hoping I can work my way through her books by that time. If I could only have one set of books then the Quilter's Academy series would be the books I would choose.

I was lucky enough to take some classes by Harriet years ago. She is a great teacher who is respected by her peers. She is funny.

She is a great teacher. She knows to rephrase rather than repeat. She is able to listen and understand what you mean and go from there.

Go girl and pretend I am in your luggage. Maybe I can learn through long distance osmosis.

I've thought about flying to Denver for one of her boot camps, but the pricetag plus airfare and hotel is stopping me this year.

I've been blogging my way through the learning process and am almost to the end of Volume 1. They present things in a way that I can easily understand and emulate.

I will get to take her Invisible Machine Applique class at the NC Quilt Symposium next month and I'm very much looking forward to doing so.

Cheers, K

I've been thinking about doing this. Only problem is my time is so limited I really want to work on other projects. I'm not sure I'll enjoy "homework"

Any opinions?

Working through the QA series, you can set your own pace. I started in mid 2010 when I decided I wanted to teach myself to quilt. There are no deadlines. It helps me on some of the quilts to have a recipient in mind for a given project. I also expand some of the lessons into a study of color/contrast/etc. and use the projects to play with techniques.

Cheers, K

How many books ar there please? I do have one but it is all kaleidoscopes not seen any others.

Harriet's books have helped me improve the accuracy of piecing. While I have thought about doing all the exercises in each of the 4 books, I haven't. However, I've read through them many times and when I have a specific technique to do -- half square triangles, etc. -- I follow her advice. The first time I was able to nest seams without having to pin sold me on doing it Harriet's way. I took a machine quilting class from her a few years ago, and she was fantastic and her quilts are outstanding. Her "Quilters Academy" Freshman thru Senior years are must have's. I think her 5th book is coming out this year. If you are a machine quilter, get her "Heirloom Machine Quilting." I also have her "Mastering Machine Applique." However, I prefer doing my applique by hand. Check out her website and store.