Category Archives: I’ll Fly Away

Stitching for Spain: Teaching Again

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In the last few years I’ve switched from teaching in person to teaching online with Creative Spark. (Being a peripatetic teacher was exhausting!) But when the invitation arrived from Spain to teach at the Asociación Española de Patchwork I couldn’t resist.

The Spanish patchwork festival takes place in Sitges, Spain on the Mediterranean coast March 14 through 17 of this year. The Spanish quilters are wonderful welcoming people. And I can’t wait to teach there and exhibit my artwork too.

I’ll Fly Away #1 (detail) by Laura Wasilowski

For the past few months I’ve been creating new artwork for my solo exhibit in Sitges. These are all made with silk fabrics and intensely hand embroidered. Quilts like the one above are part of the I’ll Fly Away series that will be on view.

The silk embroidered quilts will be on exhibit as well as larger art quilts in a quaint gallery near the festivities.

This is the same gallery where I exhibited my work in 2009 when I was young and perky. It will be great to be back there again!

Dyeing Silk Fabrics

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I’ll Fly Away #4 (detail) by Laura Wasilowski

Lately, I’ve been dyeing silk fabrics for my bird series, I’ll Fly Away. The designs are made with free-cut shapes that are fused into place using Misty Fuse and then ironed to wool batting. I love the ease of stitching through silk and the fact that it is tightly woven so the edges don’t fray. But mostly I love the glow of silk fabric. It has a special warmth.

Silk yardage is hard to come so I search out silk scarves and skirts and dresses at resale shops. My favorite finds are large skirt fabrics with few seams and some patterning. Overdyeing the fabrics in a variety of colors gives me more colors from which to choose. These fabrics are my latest find. And I can’t wait to start another I’ll Fly Away quilt with them.