Description
Join AQS Instructor Julia Graves for AQS QuiltWeek - Columbus September 23-26, 2026.
Take a look at her workshops and lecture:
Chinese Pinwheels
Day: Wednesday
Time: 8:30 am - 11:30 am
Create this fun quilt with Interlocking Pinwheels. The open centers are perfect for fussy cutting or pops of color. Julia’s inspiration was a wooden panel she saw on a trip to China. This is a fat-quarter-friendly quilt. Learn how easy it is to make partial seams and have fun making color combinations.
Color Magic Lecture
Day: Thursday
Time: 9:30 am - 10:30 am
Go beyond the basics of the color wheel and learn the secret recipes to create transparency, luster, and luminosity to add depth, movement, and interest to your quilts. Transparency is the appearance of overlapping images. Luster is the appearance of light moving across your quilt, and luminosity is when the colors seem to glow. Enjoy a slide show and trunk show illustrating these concepts, along with step-by-step “recipes” so you can create it on your own. Supplies are not required for a lecture, although you may want to bring a pen and paper to take notes.
Framed to Perfection Borders
Day: Saturday
Time: 8:30 am - 11:30 am
In this hands-on quilting workshop, you will learn how to elevate your quilt tops with three essential border styles: Plain, Flange, and Mitered. You’ll learn simple techniques to measure, cut, and attach borders that not only frame your quilt beautifully but also add dimension and polish. You’ll also learn the causes of wavy borders and how to prevent them.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll confidently:
- Add clean, straight, plain borders for a classic finish
- Create a pop of color with flange borders that sit between the quilt top and the outer border
- Master the elegant angles of mitered borders
Scrappy Jelly Roll Race
Day: Wednesday
Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Put a modern, eco-friendly spin on the classic Jelly Roll Race quilt! Julia shows you how to transform scraps and stash fabrics into stunning, quick-to-piece quilts. With a focus on color and design, you’ll break free from the rules and discover the joy of mixing fabrics and values with confidence.
While the construction is beginner-friendly, quilters of every level will appreciate guidance on fabric combinations and creative design variations. You’ll start by learning the basics of the Jelly Roll Race and then remix it with playful variations that let you make fabric from scraps, creating one-of-a-kind designs with flair.
You’ll walk through selecting fabrics, combining color and pattern, and sewing techniques that will have you completing a quilt top in a day! Gain insights into color, value, and fabric curation that can be applied to all your quilting projects. The detailed pattern has instructions for multiple quilt sizes, from baby to king, as well as three bonus variations using made-fabric techniques. The math has been done for you!
Whether you use a jelly roll or dive into your scrap stash, you’ll finish with a quilt that’s as creative and unique as you are.
Shimmering Triangles
Day: Friday
Time: 8:30 am - 4:00pm
Make this gorgeous quilt that gives the effect of water rippling in a stream. It is a perfect pattern to showcase beautiful fabric, especially large-scale prints. 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. You will learn a quick piecing method for Half Square Triangles with perfect points. By the end of the workshop, 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 workshop includes complimentary show admission for Friday.
Learn more about Julia's workshops and lecture here: https://www.americanquilter.com/quiltweek/workshops/columbus-2026-workshops/?_workshop-event=columbus-2026-workshops&_instructor=445735&~2