Hey there!
I’m popping in mid Playful Color Month to share with you a new venture my friend Shannon Brinkley is pioneering. It’s a virtual quilt guild called the Meander Quilt Guild. In short, the Meander Quilt Guild is online quilt guild Shannon designed to help you master color, grow your own unique style, all while exploring lots of fun, new techniques, alongside like-minded quilters from all over the world. So if you like to travel and learn about different parts of the world while quilting, this might be just your thing!
Shannon and I share many common design and teacher traits. We both seek to create our own style and help others find their own style. Many of you have been along with me for my journey, so I thought you also may enjoy what Shannon offers.
The cool thing about the internet is, is that we teachers can really explore all the internet has to offer in terms of offering online workshops. Shannon has taken it one step further by starting a virtual quilt guild; I haven’t really seen any virtual guilds before. What a cool way to connect people around the world!
Apart from the community aspect, in the Meander Quilt Guild members “travel” to a new region around the world each month to learn a new technique and about the featured region. Each month, Shannon posts a new video lesson and PDF patterns; she also hosts a monthly guild meeting via a live video conference. And of course there’s a private Facebook group too.
When Shannon first opened up membership to the guild a few months ago, we “went” to Hawaii to learn about Hawaiian appliqué (see above) and then Japan to learn about Yosegire. Isn’t the Hawaiian appliqué gorgeous? The edging on the appliqué is so unique; I wish I could touch it.
Personally, I’m excited about the Meander Quilt Guild because of the new techniques opened up to me. (Plus, I now like to travel, ha!) For example, in the month featuring Yosegire, Shannon taught a bunch of improv techniques and showed layered improv piecing. As I expand my practice as an artist I’m looking for new tools I can use to express my creative vision, and layering is something I’d love to experiment with. If you’re curious, right now I’m interested in expanding my improvisational tools so that I can make my work more “painterly”. Here’s a glimpse of my latest improv venture, last seen in Holland.
Anyhoo, I thought you might be interested! You can visit this page to learn more and register. Shannon is going to close membership registration September 20, so be sure to register if you want to be part of this session. And let me know if you sign up!
