Instructor

Graves, Julia
Julia Graves started her quilting business, Special Occasion Quilts LLC, in 2007 and teaches, lectures, designs patterns, makes commission quilts, longarms for others and sells & services APQS longarm machines. She won Best Longarm Machine Workmanship Wall Quilt Category at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, has had quilts published in many books, was an Artist in Residence at Empty Spools in 2019, and teaches at Empty Spools Seminars. Julia has been sewing since she was ten and always loved fabric, needle arts and the entire creative process. She did her apprenticeship as a quilter by making a quilt for each of her nieces and nephews (and thinks she should have counted them before making this promise – there were 32!). She has since made more quilts than she can count, many for charity, and is partial to scrap quilts and working with color to achieve amazing results. To learn more about Julia, visit soquilts.com.

Instructor Workshops

A House for Every Season: Color with Scraps, #27506

Piecing
Friday, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Cooper Creek 3
Graves, Julia
All Levels
$70
Plus Kit Fee

Who doesn't love house blocks and experimenting with color? This fun pattern lets you use up a LOT of scraps and learn about the three aspects of color – hue, value, and intensity. Join Julia and learn how to use color to create houses that reflect the seasons – Spring becoming Summer, then Fall and Winter, and the cycle begins again! You will have so much fun finding cute little novelty scraps to put in the doorways. Size of the finished quilt is 48" x 68".

soquilts.com

BERNINA

Beginning Free-Motion Quilting, #28521

Quilting/Finishing-DOMESTIC MACHINE
Wednesday, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Short Creek 3
Graves, Julia
Beginner
$70
Plus Kit Fee

Join Julia and learn to free-motion quilt on a domestic sewing machine in a fun, supportive, and encouraging environment. This class is great for beginners or those that need a refresher on the basics. Techniques you will learn in class include setting up the machine, preparing the quilt, the how-to of the quilting, lots of designs and practice, how to deal with a large quilt, and how to overcome common problems.

soquilts.com

Janome

Sold Out

Color Exploration with Julia Graves, #21809

Lectures
Friday, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Fall Creek
Graves, Julia
All Levels
$15

In this lecture Julia will discuss how to select beautiful color combinations for your quilts and provide tips on how to fix color combinations that just don’t seem to be working. A slide show and trunk show illustrating classic color combinations and fascinating color illusions will be included in this lecture. Supplies are not required for a lecture, although you may want to bring a pen and paper to take notes.

soquilts.com

Creative Collage Scrap Quilt, #28522

Quilting/Finishing-DOMESTIC MACHINE
Wednesday, 8:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Short Creek 4
Graves, Julia
All Levels
$70

Create a quick and easy raw-edge collage quilt in your choice of size that features bits and pieces of focus fabric surrounded by a supporting cast of scraps or precuts. In this class, you will lay out your fabric pieces directly on batting, layer with backing, and stitch the scraps down at the same time as you free-motion quilt the sandwich. No piecing is involved. You can make this entire quilt in just a few hours and bust that scrap stash at the same time! The true value of this class is that you will learn the color secrets to combining scraps to create a cohesive whole.

soquilts.com

Husqvarna Viking / Sewing Machines Express Classroom Sponsor

Intro to Custom Quilting, #28529

Quilting/Finishing-DOMESTIC MACHINE
Saturday, 8:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Short Creek 3
Graves, Julia
All Levels
$70
Plus Kit Fee

Custom quilting follows the piecing, but it doesn’t have to be hard or take a long time! Bring your free-motion quilting skills and join Julia to learn custom quilting. Take your quilting up a notch and learn how to select and quickly stitch custom designs for your blocks, sashing, and borders that will bring out the beauty of your quilt top. You will be working on home machines in class, but this is also appropriate for longarm machine quilters.

soquilts.com

Janome

Water Rippling: Create Shimmering Triangles, #27103t

Piecing
Thursday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Cooper Creek 2
Graves, Julia
All Levels
$125
Plus Kit Fee

Make this gorgeous quilt that gives the effect of water rippling in a stream. This is the perfect pattern to showcase beautiful fabric, especially large scale prints. You will achieve the shimmer by applying easy to understand color and value concepts that you can also use to enhance all your future quilts! This quilt looks complicated, but it is actually quite easy to construct. Along with this, you will also learn a quick piecing method for half-square triangles with perfect points. By the end of class, you should have a design layout for your fabrics, completed several blocks, and understand how to complete your quilt on your own. Registration for this class includes show admission for Thursday.

soquilts.com

PFAFF/Abbey Sewing Centers Classroom Sponsor

A House for Every Season: Color with Scraps, #27506

Graves, Julia
Friday
Cooper Creek 3

Who doesn't love house blocks and experimenting with color? This fun pattern lets you use up a LOT of scraps and learn about the three aspects of color – hue, value, and intensity. Join Julia and learn how to use color to create houses that reflect the seasons – Spring becoming Summer, then Fall and Winter, and the cycle begins again! You will have so much fun finding cute little novelty scraps to put in the doorways. Size of the finished quilt is 48" x 68".

soquilts.com

BERNINA

Beginning Free-Motion Quilting, #28521

Graves, Julia
Wednesday
Short Creek 3

Join Julia and learn to free-motion quilt on a domestic sewing machine in a fun, supportive, and encouraging environment. This class is great for beginners or those that need a refresher on the basics. Techniques you will learn in class include setting up the machine, preparing the quilt, the how-to of the quilting, lots of designs and practice, how to deal with a large quilt, and how to overcome common problems.

soquilts.com

Janome

Color Exploration with Julia Graves, #21809

Graves, Julia
Friday
Fall Creek

In this lecture Julia will discuss how to select beautiful color combinations for your quilts and provide tips on how to fix color combinations that just don’t seem to be working. A slide show and trunk show illustrating classic color combinations and fascinating color illusions will be included in this lecture. Supplies are not required for a lecture, although you may want to bring a pen and paper to take notes.

soquilts.com

Creative Collage Scrap Quilt, #28522

Graves, Julia
Wednesday
Short Creek 4

Create a quick and easy raw-edge collage quilt in your choice of size that features bits and pieces of focus fabric surrounded by a supporting cast of scraps or precuts. In this class, you will lay out your fabric pieces directly on batting, layer with backing, and stitch the scraps down at the same time as you free-motion quilt the sandwich. No piecing is involved. You can make this entire quilt in just a few hours and bust that scrap stash at the same time! The true value of this class is that you will learn the color secrets to combining scraps to create a cohesive whole.

soquilts.com

Husqvarna Viking / Sewing Machines Express Classroom Sponsor

Intro to Custom Quilting, #28529

Graves, Julia
Saturday
Short Creek 3

Custom quilting follows the piecing, but it doesn’t have to be hard or take a long time! Bring your free-motion quilting skills and join Julia to learn custom quilting. Take your quilting up a notch and learn how to select and quickly stitch custom designs for your blocks, sashing, and borders that will bring out the beauty of your quilt top. You will be working on home machines in class, but this is also appropriate for longarm machine quilters.

soquilts.com

Janome

Water Rippling: Create Shimmering Triangles, #27103t

Graves, Julia
Thursday
Cooper Creek 2

Make this gorgeous quilt that gives the effect of water rippling in a stream. This is the perfect pattern to showcase beautiful fabric, especially large scale prints. You will achieve the shimmer by applying easy to understand color and value concepts that you can also use to enhance all your future quilts! This quilt looks complicated, but it is actually quite easy to construct. Along with this, you will also learn a quick piecing method for half-square triangles with perfect points. By the end of class, you should have a design layout for your fabrics, completed several blocks, and understand how to complete your quilt on your own. Registration for this class includes show admission for Thursday.

soquilts.com

PFAFF/Abbey Sewing Centers Classroom Sponsor