American Quilter Magazine January 2010 Digital 
American Quilter Magazine January 2023 Digital 
American Quilter Magazine January 2021 Digital 
Description
Renegade Thread Play is a fun and easy way to sketch and blend colors with thread. It’s a great way to add shading and highlights. The end result is a wonderfully layered look that gives amazing depth to your quilting.
Those who are new to free-motion quilting and experienced quilters alike will learn many helpful tips from Melinda Bula who has won numerous awards using this striking technique.
Build your skills on a practice quilt sandwich and then make your own contest-worthy quilt with the free pattern included with the class.
For your convenience, this class can be purchased for online viewing or purchased on DVD.
Click here for full curriculum, supply lists, and more.
Melinda knew early in life that she was going to be an artist, so it was no surprise when she majored in art in college. However, soon she was off to Hawaii to be a flight attendant, a “real” job that paid the bills. But color was in Melinda’s future as she and her husband started a wallpaper and fabric design business, with her designs landing on the covers of major magazines. In 1996, she began quilting and creating wearable arts, soon winning awards for her work in both categories.
Melinda is the author of two books, Cutting Garden Quilts and Candy Cane Lane. Her quilts have been exhibited in the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, at Quilt Expo en Beaujolais in France, and at the Texas Quilt Museum. In 2013, The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, bought Melinda’s quilt entitled …AND OUR FLAG WAS STILL THERE!
Kay Weiser (verified owner) –
I am brand new to Thread Painting so this class was a perfect introduction. Melinda’s teaching style is very encouraging and the take away is: Be easy on yourself. Breathe. Thank you, Melinda.
Susan Oberwortmann (verified owner) –
My take aways for the class are 1) her method for stopping and starting stitching and 2) it’s okay to color outside the lines. The beginning seemed to be a bit basic and the written documents only supported the basics and no mention of the starting and stopping of thread. I wish more time could have been spent on the last half of the class with more written content to support it. It felt like this class was intended for a different audience.
Kathleen Robb-deberardini (verified owner) –
Perfect companion class to Melinda’s Flower Photo Quilting-collage class! I love both classes! I have only been quilting for 4 years and I love it. I studied art in college and I LOVE this technique…like painting with fabric and thread!! I made a hibiscus quilt and I am anxious to do some more!! Thank you, Melinda!
Barbara Marquette (verified owner) –
The information Linda has is great and I enjoy her instructions. I am very disappointed with the class however, because after lesson 4 all you see is the top of the machine with Linda speaking and some of the shots of her work are so far off camera you cannot see them. I cannot believe a class would be sold like this. Have emailed and called iquilt regarding this, but had no response. I would be careful is buying this class.
Amanda Wedden (verified owner) –
Excellent class. I’m a newbie with so many questions and EVERYTHING was answered in this class. Loved it.
Carlene Gadberry (verified owner) –
Another great class from Belinda, I love her care free approach to thread work, I have watched the class several times.
Carol Kandoll (verified owner) –
LOVING your class!!!! I’m watching through videos as I finish another project and I can’t wait to get started on this. Great tips!
Elaine Armenta (verified owner) –
Linda is my hero! I really love her personality and teaching style. She can make you laugh. I do agree with some other reviewers that the first three lessons were geared totally to absolute beginners and you would think a person doing this complex of a piece of art would be a little more advanced. The rest of the lessons is where the meat of the class begins. Her shadowing and highlighting is incrediable. If only we could have seen two hours of her actual working on her quilts. Showing us different flowers, different ways to approach these complex flowers. But even so I was pleased with the part that we did get. If you haven’t taken her first class, I recommend that you do. You will not be disappointed. All in all, if you like her quilts I still recommend the class. You do get a better grip on quilting these style of quilts.
Peggy Evans (verified owner) –
I feel way too much basic information was included which made this course very boring. Maybe if I had taken Melinda’s first class on applique a flower quilt, the quilting part would have been more meaningful. I do not feel just doing straight line or wavy line quilting is very “renegade”. I was looking for a lot more thread play. (Creating images from thread)
Such as creating flowers with thread play not just going over an appliqued piece of fabric. The one piece of information I did like and may use was the quilting of the leaf. The leaf was very pretty when finished. I can see quilting free motion leaves for a different fill-in background. What I mean is creating a leaf with thread not going over an appliqued leaf. I’m not sure when I signed up for this class but I’m sure I watched it after the refund time limit was up. That was a lesson learned.
Lori Boyter (verified owner) –
This class is full of great information for those of us with no formal art training but a good eye for color values. I loved the hints on batting choice and how to manage a quilt with so much thread as the work grows in size. Melinda is great on breaking down a complicated project into small pieces. I really enjoyed this class and Melinda as a teacher. I finished a big project with her techniques and won a ribbon in a local quilt show! I look forward to other offerings by this teacher.
Jan Walker (verified owner) –
Melinda’s style is friendly and sweet, but I am disappointed in how basic this class was. There is nothing renegade about straight line fillers, “seed” (AKA pebble), and echo stitches. The quilts are beautiful, but most of the class seemed to be about basic fusing, stitching, and finishing. The idea of covering your sleeve with more stitching is interesting, but I don’t know too many quilters who would take the time for something so complex that would almost never be seen. If this class is typical of iqult classes, I think you could work on a better descriptions of the class so there was less come-on and a better understanding of what was being offered. I doubt I’ll return for another class after this experience.