As you know, my big birthday came and went a few weeks ago. In honor

of this birthday, I had the privilege of taking 2 classes with Fibre Artist and

Art Quilter, Al Cote. He is Canadian and lives in Niagara Falls. You can check

out his website here.

I did ask Al if I could take photos of his quilts and he did agree.. I also

asked for permission to post these on my blog. Again, he was gracious

enough to allow me to do this. So, enjoy his work, he is very talented,

creative, and funny.

It is remarkable how creative Al is. He has the ability to make you

believe that you can make something creative as well. He simplifies

the process and helps you takes creative risks.

I was hoping  to pick Al’s brain during class. I asked lots of questions and Al

was very patient in answering all my questions. I really love the fact that

he is constantly learning and growing as an artist. What a great challenge!

I think that I would love to follow in his footsteps, in this regard.

I am beginning to think that I can create my own art quilts but instead of

pressuring myself to create pieces, I can just “play.” This takes all the

pressure off of myself and allows me to relax and just enjoy the process.

Maybe, just maybe I will create something that evokes beauty of some kind.

Al creates a lot of painted fabrics for his art quilts.

One of the classes that I took with Al was called “Panels, Panels, Panels.”

As you can tell by the title, you buy multiple panels, cut one up, sew it back

together and create your layout.

This is the art quilt I created with one of my panels. I really

struggled with the layout but eventually I pushed through and

realized that I was trying to add too many colors. I tried a

more simple route and I think it works. I am so glad that

I figured the layout out because it makes me feel confident

enough to try it again.

I really like the orange fabric in this picture and I love the 3 pieces

of fabric laid onto it. I have yet to quilt it so I am sure that it will

look entirely different when it is totally finished as well.

The second class was called “Curve Piecing.” You had to pick

3 of your favorite fabrics plus a few others.

I have been wanting to make a blue and white art quilt for a while.

I was originally thinking that it would look like a wave but I

really like this art quilt as well.

This is what the orange section looks like; Al was gracious

enough to help me with the color choices and the layout.

And to make my birthday even more memorable, at the

Quilt Guild last week, I won this book. Isn’t that crazy?

I was so excited to win it. It has lots of colorful quilts, it seems

like this is the route I am taking right now.

Have a good week and check out Needle and Thread Network.