Freddy Moran's visit to Sacramento

I was lucky enough to take a class from the famous artist/quilter, Freddy Moran, Saturday in Sacramento.

I invited my friend Natalie to go with me, and that made the day even better :)

This is the house that Freddy built :)

She doesn't measure, at least hardly ever, and she doesn't consider herself a sewer either.

Here's my freehand house on the left, along with one of my trees on the right.

Freddy says that if something doesn't fit, add some more fabric to make it fit, and the extra fabric also adds some interest.

Freddy and me:)

Freddy has a degree in Fine Arts, raised a family of 5 boys (6 if you count her husband), and she says she was very successful at that because they are all grown up and all have jobs, lol!

Freddy started her career with textile arts when she was 60, she's 80 something now.

Here's my little house and a wonky star and a tree that I made in class Saturday.

This is one of my favorite quilts of Freddy's.  

The buildings come off the sides, and it isn't bound.

Freddy creates a background, often from flannel, because fabric sticks really well to it.

She then creates her masterpiece by laying fabric on top and gluing them on with a purple glue stick that dries clear.

She takes the finished quilt to the quilter (that hasn't been sewn or appliqued) and she tells Carol, "if  any piece falls off, just stick it back on where you think it looks good!"

 This is a close up of one of her small quilts.

The background is sewn together, and she cuts fabric or images on fabric (flowers) and glues them onto the background.

Freddy loves the living dead too, hence the skulls.

Freddy said that she has never bought a piece of muslin and never will.

She takes great care in producing pretty backs for her quilts.

Alexander Henry fabrics are very beautiful and interesting, and Berkeley, California, has a Crate and Barrel outlet where they sell Marimekko fabric for $5.95 / yard.

Freddy buys a lot of her backs there.

Another favorite of mine is this cow quilt!

Freddy has lots of "parts".

That's fabric that she she has cut into shapes, she has them in containers separated by color.

She grabs those "parts" and places them until she likes the arrangement, then  glues them down and lets her Carol, her quilter, machine quilt them in place.

Did you notice that the cow's tail is three dimensional?

 This is the bag of the cow quilt.

This is a close up of the machine quilting, where you can imagine the pieces being attached to the flannel background, by machine quilting.

During the day, we had our sewing class, and in the evening, we had a talk and trunk show by Freddy.

It was great!

Notice the stack of quilts?

I didn't count, but there were 30 or more.

Freddy said that she collaborates with her friend Gwen Marston.

Together, they make about 30 quilts a year, not including the machine quilting.

Freddy and Gwen can make a quilt a day, with their combined creative genius!!!

Freddy's "parts department" also includes little blocks that have been put together, otherwise known as orphan blocks.

She uses the parts for her quilts.

Another favorite quilt of mine that she made is called "Parts Department".

It's a kaleidoscope quilt with lots of little girls holding hands, pinwheels and much much more.

It's really cute! (I couldn't find a photo of it)

Freddy told us that she takes all her fabric out and refolds it every 3 months, so that she knows what she has.

What a great idea!!!

Here are my little blocks that I sped through!

The wonkier the better, it adds a lot of interest.

You don't trim until you figure out if you want your quilt to have horizontal or vertical rows, or if you are going to make a kaleidoscope quilt.

Freddy loved this background fabric!

I think this block is too matchy matchy, but if I put it with crazy, wonky blocks, it will add interest.

Isn't this the cutest photo?  

I took it off the internet, it looks like a self portrait.

Freddy's vests that she often wears are made by an artist in Berkeley, and are made from quilts.

The biggest thing I learned from Freddy, is don't be hard on yourself, or critical about your work.

Never show anyone your quilting mistakes, they will never notice them anyway.

Be crazy and try new things in quilting.

You don't have to follow everyone else's rules, make your own.

I am still talking about quilting, lol!

This quilt is called "Little House in the Big Woods".

Do you see the little house in there?

This is the quilt that Freddy built, and I am going to make my own version of it.....someday.....

Freddy signed my book, and do you know what she wrote?

"Red is a neutral."