Beth Schillig & Philippa Naylor

Phillipa Naylor, author of Quilting in the Limelight and a recent winner in Paducah came from her home in the U.K. to teach two classes this April at Nancy Crow's barn retreat. Wow! What a fabulous barn set up Nancy created-a wonderful environment for art and quilting including dyeing labs and a big kitchen area with a gourmet chef!

Philippa has received several awards for her fantastic quilts (scroll through here and here for examples) for the past few years at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and at AQS in Paducah, so when she announced that she would teach two 5-days classes here in Ohio, my quilting friends here were all excited.

Kim, my graphic designer, and Beth Schillig took her class and learned from concept to completion how Philippa designs and uses trapunto and applique. Beth is a retired local Bernina dealer who has taken up quilting in a serious way. If you don't know Beth, I'm shocked. Beth knows everybody! She emailed me a few days ago with pictures of the project from the class she just finished. Although she is new to art quilting, she has already won some awards and has had her quilts selected for some big quilt shows across the country.

Here is what Beth has to say about Philippa, in Beth's own words:

Three years ago I went to Paducah for the first time. I stood in the National Quilt Museum and was so mesmerized by this one quilt that I made some quick sketches of the fabulous quilting. At that time, I was not familiar with the name of the quilter, but I kept those sketches in a safe spot. She had made such an impression on me. When Dragon Threads introduced Quilting in the Limelight, by Philippa Naylor, I could finally put a name and a face to that fantastic quilting I had remembered from the Quilt Museum! This is one of my favorite books ever!! So, imagine my thrill when I got to spend a week with Philippa at Nancy Crow's Barn!! She is a gracious and giving teacher. And so much fun and inspiring to be around! It was great to have her help and push me a little out of my comfort zone in creating my latest piece.

Thanks for the shout out, Beth! My experience with Philippa was the same. I saw her quilts at the National Quilt Museum a few years ago and was blown away. They really are incredible. At the time Philippa was living far away (in Saudi Arabia) and I had a full docket of books in various stages of publication. Then, a miracle! My dear friend Jane Sassaman mentioned that she and Philippa would be rooming together and would ask her if she was interested in writing a book with me. The timing was perfect. I couldn't wait to get a book from Philippa started. Working with her was, from beginning to end, a joy. She is as amazing as her quilts.

But back to Beth's terrific quilt, called Cosmic Confetti. The applique pieces have a row of black satin stitch and are embellished with two rows of machine buttonhole stitch. She used a double layer of Hobbs 80/20 and Hobbs wool and which gives the quilting a really intense, cool look when you see it in person. She used a very old fashioned/traditional stencil and marked the clamshell quilt design and embellished it here and there. Finally, she used Philippa's squiggle lines to fill in the rest of the background. She even added a few "yo-yo's" in the flowers using the very smallest of those yo-yo makers. They add a fun little touch.

Look at Philippa's site for her teaching schedule. I guarantee that if you can take a class from her, it'll be the best one of your life!