A Week of Creation

It is very difficult to describe the experience of taking a class from Cynthia Corbin. She is a soft-spoken woman who has the ability to encourage every type of quilter to step out of his/her comfort zone. She carefully guides us through various exercises, pushing and coaxing us to try something new. And by golly, she is successful. Not a single design wall resembled another in our class, and on the last day, people who walked through the classroom were very confused. "What was she teaching?"

All I can do is tell you the assignment and show you my results.

First we were to showcase our favorite color. They are shown in order, left to right.


The next assignment was to introduce a color we hate into the mix. Mine was the multi-color shell fabric that is "in jail." The exercise reads left to right, top to bottom.

Tuesday was Ugly Tuesday. Monday night's homework was to find the ugliest fabric on the face of the earth. Mine is the mauve in the center of the 8-pointed stars. (Yeah, I know, what 8-pointed stars?) We were to use the ugly fabric to make the ugliest quilt possible, breaking all the rules and doing everything wrong. I definitely did both. It would take me 15 minutes to explain it to you. ;)


That afternoon, we were to take something we did in the ugly exercise and incorporate it using our favorite fabrics. I kept the imperfect stars and the crashy color scheme. I was THRILLED when she suggested that I "tone it down" so that the design would be more apparent.


On Wednesday, we were to reduce an image to its basic lines. I was working from a wild piece of yard art that I'd photographed in Germany. She liked the addition of the eye, and encouraged me to pursue it.

Our final project was to incorporate some of the things we'd explored during the week. We could either continue the series of studies, or create a 30" - 40" wallhanging. I was trying to do the wallhanging, but instead I ended up with the series of studies.

I intend for this to eventually become some sort of finished quilt. And yes, I might be slightly nutty, but I definitely had fun. I was outside of my box all week long (with the exception of the afternoon in which I worked on my applique bird), but it a fun excursion. If you ever want to be pushed in directions you've never even thought of, I'd encourage you to sign up for a class with Cynthia Corbin. You might be uncomfortable for a while, but you won't be disappointed.