Scroll Stories Online Class

Yesterday I took an all-day online class with Libby Williamson called Scroll Stories. As I mentioned in a previous post I’ve been wanting to take this class for a long time. I was so happy to hear that Craft Napa was going to go online so I’d be able to take the class.

Here we all are in class.

And all of the supplies, except the spool, all laid out. You can’t tell by the photo, but I did paint the canvas a light green.

This class project involves making a scroll by adding pictures, words, and stitching to a piece of canvas that when completed will be wound around a spool. I bought this spool before COVID at a thrift store in hopes of taking her class someday.

To start the scroll, we needed to decide on our subject. Mine would be about my irises, and how much happiness they bring me every year. They were especially helpful during COVID last year. So I had already gathered up ideas. I even emailed Schreiner’s where I buy my irises requesting them send me last year’s catalog if they had some left. I must have thrown out mine last year after I ordered. They sent it so I had it in time for the class. I plan to cut up the catalog and add some of their images to my scroll.

Libby told us this was not a one-day project. We would be working on this for some time. Before really adding anything to the scroll, we needed to make the items to attach. When I take a class, even though I work hard, I never seem to get much done! Having an idea of what my scroll story would be, really helped so I could focus on that.

We started with free-motion stitching and painting. This was not new to me, but it was great to have fun spending more time. However, I had not sewn irises for years, so this was fun. Here are my results.

I was really happy with them. I plan to cut them out and then sew them to the canvas. That will definitely be something new for me.

Libby showed us some other techniques, but I was really into my irises, and wanted to work on them.

It was a fun day. It was nice to see everyone in class, and I even “met” a Facebook friend. It’s nice to be able to put a face to her name now. I love Libby’s attitude about her art, and her teaching style. I’d highly recommend taking one of her classes if you have the opportunity.

One of the great thing about this day was Dave kept the cats from bothering me. Well, let me say that again, he kept Molly from bothering me. He kept her occupied almost all day. Ally slept in my recliner for the whole class! It was nice to focus all day on the project, and not be interrupted. Even though I was home, I felt like I was at a workshop. It also was good to see how an all-day Zoom meeting would work. It was fine, and definitely an option for anyone wanting to teach more than a couple hour class online.

Who knows when I will get this scroll completed, but I’ll work on it little by little this year. I’d also love to do a scroll story on my ancestors.

Today it’s back to a normal day including lots of laundry, and our daily walk. Hope you are having a good Saturday.