Schedule of Upcoming Classes & Events
I’m now booking classes and trunk shows through 2026. To check if I’ll be at a guild or show near you, CLICK HERE for a listing of scheduled classes.
To learn more about the classes I’m currently teaching and the new classes planned for 2024 and beyond, keep reading!
Trunk Shows/Lectures
Gems & Joy Trunk Show
In-person & Zoom presentations available for guilds and other organizations.
My “Gems & Joy” slide lecture and trunk show chronicle my 25-year adventure in learning how to create the biggest diamonds in the world using fabric.
During my presentation, I’ll talk about the techniques to create and assemble the hundreds of pieces in each diamond, materials I use to create the wash of color and light across a gem’s surface, and the quilting techniques that enhance a gem’s facets. And, as so often happens with any artist’s decades-long journey, I’ll share what I’ve learned about the importance of choosing joy and saying “no” to fear as I made the leap from the Corporate Life to the Creative Life.
Download the overview below.
Length of Presentation: 50 minutes – 1 Hour
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450 ($400 when a class is also scheduled)
The Smithsonian Series Trunk Show
In-person & Zoom presentations available for guilds and other organizations.
MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will introduce you to the most beautiful gems in the world – the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gem Collection – and the quilts they’ve inspired.
During this hour-long lecture and trunk show, MJ will share the history and lore of these magnificent gemstones, plus introduce you to their eccentric, intriguing, and often outrageous owners throughout the ages. During this hour-long lecture and trunk show, MJ will share the history and lore of these magnificent gemstones, plus introduce you to their eccentric, intriguing, and often outrageous owners throughout the ages.
In addition, MJ will also lead you through the step-by-step process she uses to transform images of gems into quilt designs. It’s all about the faceting pattern!
Download the overview below.
Length of Presentation: 50 minutes – 1 hour
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450 ($400 when a class is also scheduled)
Playing With Pixels (Lecture)
In-person & Zoom presentations available for guilds and other organizations.
MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will share one of her favorite ways to find inspiration for new work or a new series – playing with images in a photo editing app. These apps allow you to manipulate images in infinite ways, transforming them into intriguing ideas for new work.
MJ will show specific examples of the process she has used to create new mock-ups of current and future work.
Additionally, students will learn more than 20 different ways to manipulate images to create fascinating designs. For example:
- Want to turn a ruby into an emerald? MJ will show you the tool to use.
- Boost the saturation of an image to make your image glow.
- Add a gentle curve or tight twist to your image.
- Pixelate your image into squares or triangles of different sizes.
- Slice your image into segments horizontally, vertically, or both.
- Create an infinite variety of kaleidoscopic images. (Caution: this is addictive!)
- Melt your image into waves of color.
- Tilt an image backwards, forwards, or side to side to add perspective.
- ….and more!
Download the overview below.
Length of Presentation: 50 minutes – 1 hour
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450 ($400 when a class is also scheduled)
The Magic of Color Interaction (Lecture)
In-person & Zoom presentations available for guilds and other organizations.
Josef Albers, the great artist/educator of the 20th Century, acknowledged how tricky colors can be. In his words, “Colors deceive continuously.” As artists, how do we navigate this world of deception?
Luckily, by using a few simple rules, we can predict how color will try to deceive us and thereby increase our color confidence.
In this lecture, MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will share four rules of color interaction and show you how to apply them to your own quilt design to create dramatic effects – regardless of your subject matter. For example, MJ will show you how to:
- Add sparkle (“bling”!) to your quilts.
- Create dramatic focal points.
- Add exciting visual movement.
- Make your quilts glow.
- Create powerful transparencies.
- Alter the appearance of a color simply by pairing with another color.
- Create the illusion of metal surfaces without using metallic fabric or thread.
MJ’s lecture is based on her new book, “Cracking the Color Code: Master the Magic of Color Interaction”, available in class and on her website.
Download the overview below.
Length of Presentation: 50 minutes – 1 hour
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450 ($400 when a class is also scheduled)
Classes (Half-day & Full-day)
Half-day Classes (Approx. 3 hours)
Improv Gems (Half-day)
In-person & Zoom presentations available for guilds and other organizations.
MJ Kinman, maker of giant gemstone quilts, will show you how to create sparkling gem blocks in a whole new way using the power of improvisational piecing.
Learn how to use improvisational strip-piecing techniques to create emerald-cut, baguette-cut, and Asscher-cut diamonds. These are diamonds that feature long, lovely facets – the “hall of mirrors” that highlight the interior clarity of a gem.
During class, MJ will discuss color selection for gems. (Hint: there is no wrong answer!). She’ll show you how to make your gem sparkle with value contrast, and how to make your gem glow with saturation contrast. Finally, she’ll demonstrate simple assembly techniques to piece together your lovely creation.
Activities include:
- Creating a color palette that brings you joy.
- Playing with high value contrast and saturation contrast to incorporate sparkle and glow into your gem.
- Strip-piecing the interior facets of your gemstone.
- Assembling the strip-pieced facets to create your own unique gemstone.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Presentation: 3 Hours
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450
Maximum Students: 24
Lights! Camera! Action!
Add Sparkle, Focal Points & Movement Using the Magic of Color Interaction
(Half-day)
In-person ONLY presentations available for guilds and other organizations. Because this class requires intense hands-on experiences and feedback, Zoom presentations are not feasible.
Josef Albers, the great artist/educator of the 20th Century, acknowledged how tricky colors can be. In his words, “Colors deceive continuously.” As artists, how do we navigate this world of deception?
Luckily, by using a few simple rules, we can predict how color will try to deceive us and thereby increase our color confidence.
In this hands-on class, MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will introduce you to the four rules of color interaction and show you how to apply them to your own quilt design to create dramatic effects – regardless of your subject matter. For example, using strips and squares of solid fabric, MJ will show you how to:
- Add sparkle (“bling”!) to your quilts.
- Create dramatic focal points.
- Add exciting visual movement.
(There is no sewing in this class. However, a sewing component can be added if the organizers prefer. If so, the Supply List must be amended.)
MJ’s class is based on her new book, “Cracking the Color Code: Master the Magic of Color Interaction”, available in class and on her website.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Presentation: 3 Hours
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450
Maximum Students: 24
Lit From Within: Make Your Quilts GLOW Using the Magic of Color Interaction
(Half-day)
In-person ONLY presentations available for guilds and other organizations. Because this class requires intense hands-on experiences and feedback, Zoom presentations are not feasible.
Josef Albers, the great artist/educator of the 20th Century, acknowledged how tricky colors can be. In his words, “Colors deceive continuously.” As artists, how do we navigate this world of deception?
Luckily, by using a few simple rules, we can predict how color will try to deceive us and thereby increase our color confidence.
In this hands-on class, MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will introduce you to the four rules of color interaction and show you how to create a dramatic GLOW to your quilts as though they were lit from within.
(There is no sewing in this class. However, a sewing component can be added if the organizers prefer. If so, the Supply List must be amended.)
MJ’s class is based on her new book, “Cracking the Color Code: Master the Magic of Color Interaction”, available in class and on her website.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Presentation: 3 Hours
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450
Maximum Students: 24
Dive Deep into Transparency: Add Depth to Your Quilts Using the Magic of Color Interaction
(Half-day)
In-person ONLY presentations available for guilds and other organizations. Because this class requires intense hands-on experiences and feedback, Zoom presentations are not feasible.
Josef Albers, the great artist/educator of the 20th Century, acknowledged how tricky colors can be. In his words, “Colors deceive continuously.” As artists, how do we navigate this world of deception?
Luckily, by using a few simple rules, we can predict how color will try to deceive us and thereby increase our color confidence.
In this hands-on class, MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will introduce you to the four rules of color interaction and show you how to place colors to create credible and dramatic illusions of transparency.
(There is no sewing in this class. However, a sewing component can be added if the organizers prefer. If so, the Supply List must be amended.)
MJ’s class is based on her new book, “Cracking the Color Code: Master the Magic of Color Interaction”, available in class and on her website.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Presentation: 3 Hours
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450
Maximum Students: 24
Color-Shifting: Transform the Appearance of Color Using the Magic of Color Interaction
(Half-day)
In-person ONLY presentations available for guilds and other organizations. Because this class requires intense hands-on experiences and feedback, Zoom presentations are not feasible.
Josef Albers, the great artist/educator of the 20th Century, acknowledged how tricky colors can be. In his words, “Colors deceive continuously.” As artists, how do we navigate this world of deception?
Luckily, by using a few simple rules, we can predict how color will try to deceive us and thereby increase our color confidence.
In this hands-on class, MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will introduce you to the four rules of color interaction and show you how to literally change the color of fabric right before your eyes simply by pairing it with another color. For example, MJ will show you how to make one color look like two, and two colors look very similar – RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES!
(There is no sewing in this class. However, a sewing component can be added if the organizers prefer. If so, the Supply List must be amended.)
MJ’s class is based on her new book, “Cracking the Color Code: Master the Magic of Color Interaction”, available in class and on her website.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Presentation: 3 Hours
Skill Level: All
Lecture Fee: $450
Maximum Students: 24
Full-Day Classes (Approx. 6 hours)
Bite-Size Gems (Full-Day)
In-person & Zoom presentations available for guilds and other organizations.
MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will show you how to create sparkling gem blocks using the design and piecing techniques she relies on to create her signature quilts. During this fast-paced class, students will create their own singularly beautiful work of faceted light.
Freezer paper piecing techniques are powerful techniques that can transform any quiltmaker’s ideas into reality. MJ’s inspiration is gemstones, but yours might be landscapes, florals, portraits, abstracts, or any other kind of inspiration. The technique works for all!
MJ is quick to point out that this technique is NOT foundation paper piecing. There’s no sewing to paper or tearing paper out of the back of your quilt block when finished. Instead, this is traditional piecing using freezer paper as your templates. If you can put two pieces of fabric, right sides together, with a quarter-inch seam allowance, you can do this!
Over the course of a single day-long session, students will learn how to:
- Create a freezer paper pattern based on a mock-up of a bite-size gem that I provide.
- Understand how different types of fabrics impact the flow of light and color across their design.
- Assemble the fabric facets to create their own block of faceted color.
Activities include:
- Prepare square freezer paper template (recommended size: 18”).
- Transfer the mock-up design to the freezer paper by using a simple grid technique.
- Create a color palette.
- Code the facets in their template to designate position, color, and adjacency.
- Cut apart their freezer paper template and sort by color code.
- Iron freezer paper facets to their painted fabric according to the color codes.
- Cut the facets and organize them by section code.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Workshop: 5-6 hours
Skill Level: Confident Beginner
Workshop Fee: $750
Maximum Students: 24
Cracking the Color Code: Master the Magic of Color Interaction (Full-Day)
In-person ONLY presentations available for guilds and other organizations. Because this class requires intense hands-on experiences and feedback, Zoom presentations are not feasible.
Josef Albers, the great artist/educator of the 20th Century, acknowledged how tricky colors can be. In his words, “Colors deceive continuously.” As artists, how do we navigate this world of deception?
Luckily, by using a few simple rules, we can predict how color will try to deceive us and thereby increase our color confidence.
In this hands-on class, MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, will introduce you to the four rules of color interaction and show you how to apply them to your own quilt design to create dramatic effects – regardless of your subject matter. For example, using strips and squares of solid fabric, MJ will show you how to:
- Add sparkle (“bling”!) to your quilts.
- Create dramatic focal points.
- Add exciting visual movement.
- Make your quilts glow.
- Create powerful transparencies.
- Alter the appearance of a color simply by pairing with another color.
- Create the illusion of metal surfaces without using metallic fabric or thread.
MJ’s class is based on her new book, “Cracking the Color Code: Master the Magic of Color Interaction”, available in class and on her website.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Workshop: 5-6 hours
Skill Level: Confident Beginner
Workshop Fee: $750
Maximum Students: 24
Dames & Diamonds (Full-Day)
In-person & Zoom presentations available for guilds and other organizations.
Do you love quilts, gems, and great stories? This class is for you! MJ Kinman, maker of giant gem quilts, has designed three patterns inspired by some of the world’s most beautiful gems, including:
The Clark Pink – A stunning 9-carat pink diamond owned by the richest woman in America you’ve never heard of!
The Bismarck Sapphire – The gigantic, glowing sapphire owned by Mona von Bismarck, a style icon of the early 20th century. The Bismarck now resides in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
Maximilian’s Folly – This gigantic emerald was owned by the Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian I, who was murdered in 1867. It eventually found its way to Marjorie Merriweather Post, one of the richest women of the 20th century, and now lives in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gem Collection.
In class, students will choose one of the fully charted gem patterns to create. MJ will demonstrate the technique, as well as tips and tricks that will give you confidence to create your own glowing gem.
While our sewing machines are singing away and your gem block takes shape, MJ will also share one of these amazing gem’s stories, as well as tales of their eccentric, intriguing, and often outrageous owners.
Over the course of a single day-long session, students will learn how to:
- Learn the codes and visual clues MJ uses to piece together her gems.
- Learn about the dazzling variety of colored gemstones so that they can select the colors for their gem that bring them joy. (Hint: there are no wrong answers!)
- Understand how different fabrics impact the flow of light and color across a quilt design.
- Practice the assembly techniques as they create their own lovely gem block.
- Learn about one of the gems that inspired the patterns – their histories, legends, and the amazing people who crossed paths with them.
Download the overview and supply list below.
Length of Workshop: 5-6 hours
Skill Level: Confident Beginner
Workshop Fee: $750
Maximum Students: 24
Schedule of Classes & Events
Find downloadable PDF of descriptions and supply list for each class above.
February 17, 2025
Zoom
Join me and the members of the Loose Threads Quilt Guild for my trunk show “Gems & Joy”. This slide lecture and trunk show chronicle my 25-year adventure in learning how to create the biggest diamonds in the world using fabric.
During my presentation, I’ll talk about the techniques to create and assemble the hundreds of pieces in each diamond, materials I use to create the wash of color and light across a gem’s surface, and the quilting techniques that enhance a gem’s facets. And, as so often happens with any artist’s decades-long journey, I’ll share what I’ve learned about the importance of choosing joy and saying “no” to fear as I made the leap from the Corporate Life to the Creative Life.
Contact: : ‘Rosa Merrell’; [email protected]
February 21-23, 2025
QuiltCon (Phoenix, AZ)
IN-PERSON
I’m so excited to to have been invited to teach for the very first time at QuiltCon next year! I’ll be teaching and lecturing on some of my favorite (and newest) topics.
“Improv Gems” shows you how to make gem blocks in a whole new way without all the prep work.
In my lecture “Color Play – Beyond Color Theory”, I’ll lead you on a color adventure that starts with this idea: When we see colors in close proximity, our brains act to make them as dissimilar as possible. In other words, it’s all about the contrast! No wonder so many people believe (wrongly!) that they have trouble with color.
We’ll talk about…
- How to make quilts sparkle with value contrast and then use that to create lovely all-over shimmer, dramatic focal points, and movement in your work.
- How to make quilts glow with saturation contrast and then use that to create work that looks like it’s lit from within.
- How to use your new skills in creating sparkle and glow in your quilts to produce cool effects like replicating metallic surfaces and creating powerful transparencies.
- How to change the appearance of a color just by pairing it with a different color. I’ll show you how to make 1 color look like 2 and, conversely, how to make 2 colors look like 1.
These are concepts that blew my mind when I first heard about them. They’ve opened up a whole new way of approaching color with confidence.
Ready to gain more color confidence? Join me for this lecture.
In my lecture “Playing With Pixels”, I’ll demonstrate some of the coolest and most fun ways I find inspiration for new work or a whole new series. Playing with images in any image-editing app (like Adobe Photoshop, Photoscape, and others) can lead to design breakthroughs you can’t achieve through hand sketching.
I’ll demonstrate over 20 different effects and the practical ways I use them in my work.
To learn more, CLICK HERE to go to the QuiltCon website.
September 8 – 12, 2025
Madeline Island School of the Arts (Madeline Island, WI)
IN-PERSON
Make plans to meet me on Madeline Island, a gorgeous retreat on Lake Superior, in September of 2025!
“Treasure Hunting: Designing with Freezer Paper”, is an immersive, hands-on adventure in design. I created this class specifically for quiltmakers who want to make a quilt in which every piece is a different size and shape but aren’t quite sure how to execute it.
The secret is freezer paper. Freezer paper piecing techniques are powerful tools that can transform your idea into reality. While I MJ finds her inspiration in gemstones, your inspiration might be landscapes, florals, portraits, or abstract images. These techniques apply to them all.
I’m always quick to point out that this is not foundation paper piecing. There’s no sewing to paper or tearing paper out of the back of your quilt block when finished. Instead, I like to describe this technique as traditional piecing using freezer paper as your templates. If you can sew together two pieces of fabric with a quarter- inch seam allowance, you can do this!
Using images of gemstones (which I will provide) — or any other image you want to use as your inspiration – I’ll work with you step-by-step to transform your design into a quilt.
Here are just a few of the skills you’ll master that week:
– Transform an image into a quilt design by charting the “through lines” in your image.
– Understand the visual clues and codes that will help you put your quilt together with confidence.
– Evaluate fabric’s impact on the “clarity” of your design.
– Create a color palette that makes your heart sing.
– Create focal points, visual movement, and “bling” in your quilts with value contrast.
– Make your quilts glow with saturation contrast.
– Create powerful transparencies by manipulating alignment, middle mixtures, and depth order.
– Build your color confidence by mastering the rules of color interaction.
– Master piecing techniques specific to freezer paper.
Additionally, I’ll show you….
– How to use photo-editing apps to find inspiration for new work or a new series
– Fabric painting techniques
– Finishing techniques for your quilt (i.e., quilting designs & gallery facing)
And finally, throughout the week I’ll share tales of famous gems and the wild, eccentric people who owned them.
Make plans to join me for a week of design inspiration and create your own singularly beautiful work of faceted light!
Note: This class is also open to anyone who wants to work on one of my gem patterns ( i.e., Birthstone Series or Diamond Divas Series) during the week. The curriculum will inform those students’ work, as well.
CLICK HERE to register for “Treasure Hunting” on Madeline Island now!
