Libby Lehman in Bangkok

I had a couple of days of quilting excitement last week when Libby Lehman came to town.  I guess you could call her the Queen of Threads as Libby is most famous for her Threadplay technique, which in a rather small nutshell, is free motion 'painting' a lace-like design on a quilt top.

Libby has written about this technique in her book Threadplay, which is available on Amazon.  I can wholeheartedly recommend this book.  My well-thumbed copy (which now proudly bears her autograph) has been with me on all our postings.

Libby also has a dvd, called A Day of Threadplay, which is available from Amazon.  I haven't seen it but if it gives similar information to that in her classes, should be a good purchase

In addition, Libby was named The Quilt Show Quilting Legend 2009 and her quilt Joy Ride was placed in the top 100 of the 20th Centuries best American quilts.

If all that wasn't enough, Libby teaches internationally and finds time to write a column for The Quilt Life.  I have no idea how she fits her quilting in, but somehow she does.  If you want to see some of her beautiful quilts, take a look on her website.

Having previously met Libby in Houston (where I took one of her classes), I volunteered to give her a quick guided tour of Bangkok.  We were accompanied by Wanitta from Bernina, who sponsored Libby's trip.  I don't think either of them had any idea what the had let themselves in for!

We started at Libby's hotel, and travelled by train to the river ferry, where we took the ferry to the Grand Palace.  After a quick look around we had an early lunch and then took a tuk-tuk to Wat Po.  Then after admiring the Reclining Buddha, we walked to the pier and got the ferry to Chinatown.  We strolled along part of Sanpeng Lane, before grabbing a taxi to get to Jim Thompson's house for a quick drink and the guided tour.  A heavy downpour forced us to sit around until it had stopped.  By this time I suspect Wanitta had been praying for rain so that she could rest, as by the time we had walked to MBK for foot massages, she declined the foot massage in favour of closing her eyes and going to sleep!  Libby and I enjoyed our massages, before we headed back on to the train to Nana and dinner.  Now, I defy anyone to get more into a day than that!  I walked home, whilst Libby and Wanitta poured themselves into a cab, no doubt rubbing their sore feet.

The following day I had to load my sewing machine into a suitcase to get a cab to the class.  It wouldn't fit into a carry on, so it had to be a fairly large case.  Then I had a problem with my taxi driver, who didn't know where I was going and finally lost his temper and threw me out of his cab!  Yes, he got out and opened my door for me, and pulled my case out!  Luckily I wasn't too far, and pulled the suitcase along the road, avoiding pavement potholes and motorbike taxis, arriving at the class 15 minutes late, which was somewhat embarrassing.

I would think there were about 40 women, shoe-horned into the conference room at the hotel where the class was held, it really was packed to the rafters!

Most of the women were Thai, and I have to say that Wanitta worked really hard all day, providing the translation for the Thai speakers.

The class involved Libby demonstrating various techniques, which we got to try for ourselves.

The first technique we covered was Libby's  signature Threadplay.  Now I have done this before, so whilst the actual teaching of this particular technique wasn't new to me, what I found the most interesting was all the additional information that we picked up when Libby chatted to the class as she demonstrated things, and I think this was true throughout the day.

The part of the class that was most useful to me, involved layered reverse appliqué.  Here and below, you can see some demonstration quilts that Libby brought along to show us for this technique.  These circle quilts actually involved making two quilt tops, lining them up exactly, sewing the design onto them and then cutting away parts of one of the quilt tops.  Wow, that is a really brave thing to do!  I kept meaning to ask her what she did with the cut-away parts, but given her answer to a similar question for another quilt, I think she probably throws them away.

Everyone was exclaiming over these two quilts.  The colours used for the piecing, make these quilts really sing.

I have seen Libby's quilts at shows in Japan, but they were on more muted backgrounds, where the glow was a bit more subtle, but I just loved these saturated colours.  I asked Libby if she hand dyed her fabric, and the answer was a resounding no!  Clearly from what she said, the dyeing was too messy and smelly for her.

A mini shop was provided in another room so lunchtime (lunch was also provided) found us all in an orgy of spending (at a discount too!), and the thread racks were soon bereft of content, as we were buying as fast as they were stacking.

Before moving on to the final item, we got a bit of  an 'extra', as Libby gave us a quick whisk through another quilt that she had made.  I was filling my notebook with all sorts of information and advice.  Even if you were not interested in her style, I think most quilters would have been interested in Libby's advice.  I was interested in how she bound her quilts, which was quite different to the way I know.  The class payment was worth it just to find out that if you spray baste your quilts, don't spray the batting but the quilt top and bottom, as the batting absorbs too much of the glue.  Now that never occurred to me, and may be the reason why I have on occasions had to deal with thread catching.

The final part of the day, was again reverse layered appliqué.  Libby demonstrated bit by bit and we worked along too.  The task was to make one of these wacky flowers (below), with a leaf sitting behind it.  It was rather funny, as though Libby had demonstrated cutting into the quilt top, we were all still hesitant as we cut through the top two levels of fabric (which had revealed the leaf) to reveal a flower on the third layer of fabric.  I decided that if she told me it was going to be okay, then just go for it.  And it worked!

You may wonder why this was all done using reverse appliqué.  Basically it eliminated the build up of bulk from multiple seams.  It is actually quite an easy technique, you just need some sharp scissors and a bit of bravery and concentration.  Interestingly, though made with reverse appliqué, the elements still look as though they have been appliquéd on top.  This is of course down to judicious quilting.

In class we made one flower on top of a leaf.  I finished mine as far as cutting it all out, but time didn't allow to do much more.  Also, given what I knew would be horrendous traffic, I was keen to make a quick getaway.

Back home I knew I would never finish the class sample as I hated the fabric colours that came in our pack, they were a bit too Christmas like for me.  As usual I was keen to have a go in a way that interested me, so for the last few days I worked on this little quilt, called Funky Flowers!

The Bright yellow and dull green fabric, are my own hand-dyes!!!  I drew the same basic wacky flower shape we used in the class, but left off  the leaves and layering the flowers instead.  I quilted it using variegated thread for the small flowers and a thread that matched the background for stippling around all the elements.

So, what did I think of the class?  Well you can tell that I am a fan of Libby's work, and this class did not disappoint at all.  Libby is a fun teacher, who was more than willing to share all her knowledge with us.  She didn't speak down to us, or show us pictures of her quilts with cats sitting on them (sorry, but I just hate those sort of quilt photos).  The class was easy to follow but it was clear that if you desired, you could make a really complex quilt.  I would recommend that if you get a chance to take Libby's class, then do so.  I know you will have a lot of fun!