Thank you for considering me for your event! I love teaching and getting to combine it with quilting — well, that’s my heaven-on-earth kind of day. I have several lectures and workshops ready to go, but I will gladly put something together just for your group. No, no! Really, I don’t mind at all! I am teaching in person and will gladly travel to your location for in-person events. I am booking dates for 2023 and 2024. Expenses covered by the host organization: transportation, housing, and one meal per day. Click on the title of a workshop for supply lists and additional information. Let’s have fun, shall we? Oh yes! Let’s do!
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My Teaching Contract …. |
Email me at mary.marcotte@gmail.com if you have any questions.
40 Years and Counting! Trunk Show/Studio Tour
Trunk Show all levels; 1 hour; $10 per student with 10 student minimum.
I’ll show you my quilts, we’ll chat, we’ll laugh, we may even cry. Who knows? I’m a pretty emotional gal. I begin at the beginning and tell you how and why my quilts have changed so dramatically over the last 40 years. I’ll include some of my art quilts and talk about my struggles with bipolar 1 disorder. If we are meeting virtually, you’ll get to see my new studio. (I’ve always loved seeing others’ sewing spaces.) Mostly I want to encourage you with my quilt story, so that you can be bold and daring, you can be honest with yourself, you can find order in your chaos, you are inspired and empowered to be the quilter you want to be.
A la Mary Improv Quilting Lecture/Workshop
(GSQA Honorable Mention winner)
Improv Piecing Lecture all levels; 1 hour; $10 per student with 20 student minimum (maximum 45) Improv Piecing Workshop all levels; 1-3 hours; $25 per student with 15 student minimum; 4-6 hours; $35 per student with 15 student minimum
Lecture of various improv quilting techniques. We will talk about improv, how I create “found fabric” from scraps, and visualize how I “think through” ideas. It includes modern improv quilts, my personal journey into improv, and an explanation of the title, a la Mary.
Workshop includes techniques for using up those unfinished or unwanted blocks. If time permits, we will wander into how I use color theory, create large-scale blocks, and build alternative blocks. Slow-paced workshop perfect for improv beginners.
Hello Improv! Workshop
Improv Piecing Workshop intermediate; domestic machines; 3 hours; $20 per student with 10 student minimum
Improv quilts have their own ideas, voices, and needs. Do you wish you could see, hear, feel your quilt? How do you listen to or feel what a quilt needs? Like anything else, you ask it! Ahh, but the questions and the answers are elusive. I get it, so let’s work on that together! We’ll explore methodologies, quilters, and techniques. I’ll give you some ideas of how you can incorporate your improv pieces into your traditional blocks AND how to include traditional blocks into your improv quilts.
We’ll talk about the idea of having a relationship with our creativity. We often think that other people are the creatives, but there’s gene built into human DNA. It’s what makes us people (though animals can be pretty creative as well.) Some of us need to find it, others need to learn how to apply it, and still others need to unlock it. Let’s do that for you!
Workshop consists of creating fabric from scraps using color theory, creating large-scale blocks, and creating alternative blocks. This workshop is a great morning class followed by Crazy Curves in the afternoon.
Come with a good knowledge of your machine, because by the end of class you’ll have used it to create several blocks and learned how to put them together in one cohesive quilt top.
Crazy Curves! Workshop
Two – three Hour Improv Piecing Workshop advanced; domestic machines; 2 hours, $25 per student with 10 student minimum; 3 hours $30 per student with 8 student minimum
Are you ready for curves? Are you ready for the crazy ones? In this workshop Mary will demonstrate curved piecing, beginning with shallow indentions and moving on to more difficult curves. By the end of class you will have completed maximum crazy! Free-hand, double curves, deep curves, S curves—you will piece them all. Expect to walk away with several crazy curve pieces and a new-found love for curves.
Workshop consists of cutting, piecing and practicing a variety of free-hand curves. This workshop is especially effective when paired with A La Mary Improv or Hello Improv!
Have a happy relationship with your machine and your rotary cutter, because by the end of class you’ll have asked them to cut and resew curves like you can’t imagine. A new blade and new needles are going to be your friends for the entire day!
Improv Imagine Workshop
Improv Workshop intermediate to advanced; domestic machine; 3 hours; $25 per student with 8 student minimum.
Reimagine new ways of dealing with old problems: scraps and discarded blocks. We all have them and we all need to DO SOMETHING with them. While I will have several quilts available to show, the goal here is for participants to create unique, modern quilts using their own orphans and scraps.
Workshop consists of creating fabric from scraps and orphan blocks; using color theory to connect the pieces; creating alternatives to the age-old question of what to do with castoffs.
Know your machine and your rotary cutter, because by the end of class you’ll have used them to cut into castoff blocks, create reimagined blocks and begun to put them together in one cohesive quilt top.
