Fun & Games–2026–29''H x 31''W

Last weekend’s Circle & Curve Sampler was an adventure! Fun & Games is composed of all the units I demo’d. While the opportunity to attend the live event has passed, you can still enroll in this workshop and get all of the handouts and recordings by following this link. 

I might be laid back, but I can lean forward real quick.—Dolly Parton

Many of you have heard me say, “ If it is not working, you have to be willing to pivot.” Pivoting is hard for quilters.  Once we rev up our sewing machines, nothing is going to stop us even if we know we are stitching down the wrong path.

Sometimes students tell me—I didn’t know I could do XYZ—throw out a unit, start over, add colors, remove colors, or perform surgery! But you sure can. At any moment in quilting, it is okay to say, wait a minute. This isn’t working. Just take your foot off the pedal and think. What can I do to make it work?What does this situation need? Well, that is how I ended up with a Promptopia Pivot. Here is what happened.

Promptopia was supposed to start in July. Enrollment was sluggish. I thought about this. WHY weren’t students signing up? I came up with four substantial reasons. 

1. The students who love the long format workshop were all in Improv Salon. Improv Salon is a hybrid lecture, prompt, community experience for students who have taken Stitching Towards Discovery and Promptopia. They were already getting all the fun in a different class!

2. Students are being more selective about where they spend their money, and in person events are much more desirable then they were a few years ago. This is good news. There is something very special about convening together to make quilts! 

3. July is the thick of summer. There is just too much going on. People have too many commitments and are just not interested in adding more during the month of July!

4. Six months is a VERY big commitment any time of the year.

Promptopia is my favorite workshop, so I did not want to give it up. Instead, I recalibrated. I offered a few alternatives to the students who had signed up. I changed the price and the duration of the workshop. Those students who chose to stick around got a special extra prompt, and now we are ready to relaunch Promptopia 2026!

The Promptopia 2026 "Pivot" starts Thursday, September 3, 2026. Here are all the details.

PROMPTOPIA 2026
LIVE Virtual Workshop

$600

Thursdays
6PM—9PM Eastern Time

September 3 & 17, October 1 & 22, November 5 & 19, December 3 & 17, 2026. We will conclude the workshop with a Private Promptopia Party on Thursday, January 14, 2027.

Promptopia is a skill building workshop—each month you get a NEW prompt that is designed to get your improv juices flowing as well as expand your technical and compositional skills. There are rules, but they are liberating! Students can expect an active and dynamic community, detailed and motivating quilt design exercises, fun and informative conversations about art, design, and quilts, guest artists who will share their process in creating their quilt based on the design exercise, feedback and consultation sessions, and MORE! For more information check out my Youtube video on the class.

Each session is RECORDED and will be available for students viewing for approximately six months. You can sign up here. 

The quilts I have shared in this post were all made in response to the Promptopia Prompt Rock & a Hard Place. If you want to see more amazing quilts, you can visit my Instagram page @mariashellquilts.

NEWS & EVENTS
Improv @ the NEST 

Tuesday, May 18—Saturday, May 22, 2027
After Party Saturday PM May 22—Sunday AM May 23 
The second annual Improv @ the NEST is happening!

This is my personal retreat. We meet in the beautiful farm country of northwest Missouri for an amazing five days of quilting, instruction, yummy food, and MORE. You can sign up here. 

Hudson River Valley Art Workshops

Big Botany

Sun, October 25 to Sat, October 31 2026
I am teaching Big Botany at Hudson River Valley Art Workshops in October. This is one of my favorite venues. I hope you will join me for some fall colors and Big Botanicals. I love this place!  The location is exceptional, the food delicious, and the community is fantastic. 

FLASHBACK PHOTO
I love to cut, cut, cut, piece, piece, piece, and press, press, press. This massive pile eventually became several quilts!

STUDIO SNAPSHOT

I am packing up my makeshift McCarthy, Alaska living room studio and headed back to Anchorage this weekend. It was a wonderful summer. Filled with so many good things. Including new quilts!

May we all embrace our inner Dollys!

Maria

PS—THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
For supporting Fletcher’s seventh grade science classes at Clark Middle School in Anchorage, Alaska! Quilters are the BEST! If you still want to donate classroom supplies to Fletcher's classes, you can by following this link.