Day Three: (Friday)

4. Art & Stitch: Create your own meander – Linda Matteotti
I enjoyed Linda Matteotti’s teaching style and tips on how to use shape templates and guidelines to create templates. She was flexible and able to work with many levels of expertise present in the class. I had not played with these techniques on my own, but can see that using these tools, I can REALLY meander anything.
Here is a treat for anyone who likes to play with digital quilt designs (Click the link below.) Since this was a Handi Quilter event, I have linked it for download in .hqf format. However, if anyone wants it in a different format, send me a message and I would be happy to provide that as well. I have not tested this yet. If anyone tests it on a quilt sandwich and sends me a picture, I will send them a treat!

Me to my daughter learning to quilt (10 years old): “What kind of design would you like to put on your next quilt?”

Daughter: “Cupcakes!”
The rest, is history.
If you give a cat a cupcake (and a ball of yarn)…
Cupcake: E2E Design By Elizabeth & Sylvia Brown

Cupcake

5. Art & Stitch: Totally Templates – Linda Gosselin
6. Art & Stitch: Lollipops and Modern Diamonds – Linda Gosselin
Both of these classes focused on “playing” with tools in Art & Stitch to transform simple shapes and templates into more intricate block and edge to edge designs. While the demonstration was nice, I actually like the last tip given in class better. Art & Stitch can also be a tool to layout a whole quilt and audition digital quilt designs as if you were stitching a whole cloth quilt. I use EQ7 frequently, but had never thought about using Art & Stitch this way. Moral to this is… Maybe I should read the manual!

7. HQ Pro-Stitch: Maximize your use of Skew 1, Skew 2, and Align Tools – Susan Manry
This simulation / lecture demo was actually one of my favorite classes. Susan was prepared with shape templates to mimic blocks and challenges we might have when machine quilting. My take away is that Skew 2 is a VERY useful tool to pair with align tools. I wish I had subscribed to the HQ Newsletter or attended last year so that I was aware of the update sooner!
A technique that was really cool was using fill patterns in areas like chevrons. A new friend of mine, Teresa Kees, liked it too. She wanted a piano key continuous fill and a chevron area to play with so that she could practice the technique Susan demonstrated on her own. If anyone else want to play with them, I have placed them here for you to download. I will post a quick tutorial on the method later, in case you want to try it on your own Pro-Stitch software. (Let me know if you have trouble downloading these.)

After class, we enjoyed a Banquet dinner and a presentation by Kimmy Brunner, an award winning quilting teacher.

She delivered a touching (and highly entertaining) personal story she called “Grandma’s Girl: The Story of Three Quilters”. We found ourselves touched, and frequently laughing with Kimmy about her ancestors, and her experiences with quilting. You would have thought she was talking to us as close friends. She left an indelible message with me to keep it real and, as I progress in ability and involvement with the quilting community, don’t lose sight of why I began quilting to begin with.

Day Three: (Saturday – A Day in the Life with Free Motion Quilting)

If you haven’t figured out yet, I love my machines, and even more, I love automating what I can. However, we should always strive to improve our skills, just in case our computer crashes! I chose a few classes that were a throwback to traditional non-computerized long arms. I sincerely respect those with the skill and artistic coordination to free motion quilt.

8. HQ Longarm Hands-on Feather Transformations – Vicki Hoth
Vicki reviewed basic freehand feather techniques, both a traditional teardrop and what she called “Formal” feathers. I found the traditional teardrop method easier (especially if all of your feathers are the same size), but see that the method she used for formal feathers is what I want to practice. The method produced less dense spines and was easier to place in complex areas.

9. Machine Quilting Lecture Demo: Rulers Rule! – Kerri Rawlins
After a long week, Kerri worked with us on ruler work. She demonstrated positioning circle rulers, right angle rulers and swags. We were able to “simulate” the machine foot using a small circular acrylic dot with a hole in the middle for our pencil. Whew… Rulers were hard work! (Can you tell I am a pro-stitch girl?) She had lovely samples. I really liked the holly. However, after all of those Art & Stitch classes, I wanted to challenge my new friend Jody (Who is great with ruler BTW!) to a quilting duel. I would digitize and stitch, and she would ruler quilt. My bets are on her!

I had a blast, but notice, did not take any photographs of my work!! I’m wondering if there is a medical term for the condition I have… a broken synapse between design visualization and flexion and extension control of my arms?!