Round Bobbin Springfield Quilting & Sewing Expo
Springfield, MO, April 8-10, 2010

Irena Bluhm
Irena Bluhm has been a longarm quilter since November 2004. She is teaching at all major venues in the United States, including American Quilter’s Society shows and International Quilt Festival in Houston, along with private workshops nationwide and abroad. Irena is internationally acclaimed award winning longarm quilter, instructor, author and pattern designer. With 18 years of garment making/design and 12 years of doing fine art for a hobby she applies her experience on to making quilts for exhibits exclusively. Irena is an author of eight books and a winner of 60 awards in national and international quilt competitions. Some awards were won at the most prestigious quilt competitions nationwide: AQS Show in Paducah and Nashville, IQF in Houston, Road to California, PIQF, MAQF, DNQF, MQS, HMQS, NQA, RMQF, and Innovations, to name just a few. Irena started teaching just after a little over one year into longarm quilting. Her passion and enthusiasm for quilting is contagious. She loves and enjoys sharing her knowledge with others.

Bluhming Background Designs
Hands-on Design Drawing Workshop, 3 Hours, Thursday 9:00am - 12:00pm
Suitable for All Levels
Instructor: Irena Bluhm, Irena Bluhm Designs
Say goodbye to any conventional way of using stippling to fill in negative spaces on any quilt. This very unique, easy to understand and easy to execute technique will have your creative juices flowing, as you can add your own twist to Irena’s ideas. From very dense to allover, this technique is very forgiving and the visual effects are very impressive. No planning ahead and no marking of the background designs are required.
Supply List: bring drawing pad with no lines or grid and pen or soft pencil
Kit fee $15, which includes 14 pages double wire bound laminated design practice diagrams package plus dry erase pen. The kit fee will be paid directly to the instructor during the workshop.
Class fee $35

Formal Feathers – Basics and Beyond
Hands-on Design Drawing Workshop, 3 Hours, Friday 1:30pm - 4:30pm
Suitable for All Levels
Instructor: Irena Bluhm, Irena Bluhm Designs
If you have never tried them, it is about time! You will never regret it, once you understand the concept. The rest is just putting a little effort into trying to get them looking exactly the way you like them. The flexibility in creating quilting designs using these feathers cannot be underestimated. Starting with the basics followed by little more advanced designs, you will realize that you can do anything you wish using these feathers on customers or your own quilts once you know how. You will learn how to create those charming, unique plumes of feathers and feather swags, how to fill any shape and form with these charming feathers. Irena will show you how to make them look like they are about to leap off your quilt. They might become your forte with some practice and confidence as time goes by.
Supply List: bring drawing pad with no lines or grid and pen or soft pencil
Kit fee $15, which includes 14 pages double wire bound laminated design practice diagrams package plus dry erase pen. The kit fee will be paid directly to the instructor during the workshop.
Class fee $35

Quilts of a Different Color
Hands-on Coloring Workshop, 3 Hours, Saturday, 9:00am - 12:00pm
Suitable for All Levels
Instructor: Irena Bluhm, Irena Bluhm Designs
Learn how easy it is to apply color using colored pencils to a small, already quilted piece, ready for painting. You don’t have to be an artist, just try to paint what you see. Don’t shy away from using bold colors and stark contrast to create a drama. You can learn how to do the shading in order to make your designs look dimensional. It is a lot of fun and very relaxing. Irena feels very passionate about what she is doing and loves sharing her experiences, the good along with the bad, so you don’t have to go through the pain of learning the lessons the hard way like she did.
Kit fee $35, which includes one quilted sample (12” x 12”), ready for color application, two sets of 12 colored pencils, one set of six brushes, plastic dispenser cup, 2 oz. textile medium, paper pattern package, CD with all information about the coloring technique, plus another CD with 367 images in color. The kit fee will be paid directly to the instructor during the workshop.
Class fee $35