Rayna Gillman Workshop Results

Oh, what a lucky break! Somehow I discovered that Rayna Gillman was speaking at the East Bay Heritage Quilt Guild in Berkeley last summer. Although not a member, I snagged the last spot in her workshop.

My quilt from Rayna Gillman's workshop, 24" x 22"

Rayna encouraged us to bring fabrics that had been languishing or that we found challenging. And I had a perfect example. My dear friend, Catherine, gave me this beautiful Java batik in yellow, blue, black and white. She'd stored it ten years but was never able to cut into it. Foolishly, I was certain I'd use it very soon. That was twenty years ago.

Original batik I wanted to use in the workshop

I finally cut a bit off but as you can see, I had no real vision of how to use it. I guess I thought I could place it wholesale on the design wall and mess around the edges. Hopeless! Although it looked wonderful in the morning (when no one else had anything up) by the end of the day it was a mess. Still, it was so enjoyable to watch other quilters develop their pieces. Isn't the interaction with others and the privilege of watching their creative process one of the the most stimulating parts of a workshop?

Modules completed at the end
of Rayna Gillman's workshop

At the end of the day I happily rolled it up, took it home and put it on the wall there. I cut up more fabric, moved pieces around but finally took it down. Then last week Bron encouraged me to bring the pieces over and lay them out again. This time I could see the problems - parts needed to come out, sections needed to be unsewed and the entire piece should be smaller. Reading the book helped.

So many more ideas are running through my head now that this one done. Even another idea involving the batik!

Enjoy the day!
Ann