Irene Blanck designed her first applique quilt in 2007. More than 100 designs later, she brings a love of color and streamlined techniques to classes in handpiecing and all aspects of applique.
You’ll find Irene’s designs in her book Focus on Applique (Quiltmania) and quilt magazines in the UK and US. Irene joins us from Melbourne, Australia.
I have been quilting for the last 30 years and enjoyed and learned all techniques, from machine piecing, English Paper Piecing, Foundation Piecing and Needleturn Applique. I started designing my own applique quilts in 2007 and was asked to teach my first quilt. I haven’t looked back since then.
I try and run my classes as sit and sew sessions where we have a fun and relaxing day, chatting with friends as well as learning new techniques or perfecting on learned techniques. I am now expanding into prepared edge applique as well as my version of “template” applique. I teach all the shortcuts that I’ve learnt over the years – mostly from making mistakes along the way and having to re-do sewing over and over.
I have taught extensively in the USA, Europe and Australia. During the last year, with the restriction of travel, I decided to try my hand at Zoom classes. After spending a LOT of time learning how to do this I started offering lectures and workshops via zoom. Most of the workshops are 3 hours long and have turned out to be just as much fun as “live” workshops. I teach hand sewing, needleturn, prepared edge and “template” applique, foundation piecing and machine piecing workshops.
