Bright and early Thursday morning, I was up and on the road to Woodland for my first class in the Sue Patten/HandiQuilter Workshop. I was a little hesitant to try free motion quilting with their longarm, but it didn't take me long to feel comfortable and I 'went to town'... so much fun! Sue passed out pages of meandering patterns for us to trace and then to practice doing... and with the instruction to go home and print out 12 copies for practicing on. ( I haven't done it yet, but plan to - maybe tomorrow).
After the two classes that day, I had to get back to town to attend the Executive meeting for our quilt guild ( which was basically a waste of time as far as I was concerned - and you don't need to repeat that, Colette :) ). Then it was on to the guild meeting -- we were to bring in the Brown Bag exchange projects ( if we participated in the exchange, which I did) for a 'show and tell' and then return them to their rightful owners. I think everyone was pleased with 1. the exchange itself and 2. what they received back. This is mine:
I LOVE IT!!
Can't wait to get it sandwiched, quilted and bound. I might just hang it on the wall behind my long arm so that I'll see it every time I quilt.
Friday, I was signed up for the afternoon class with Sue Patten... this class was on using stencils and was packed full of information and ideas of ways to use either the entire stencil or just parts of it. I took my San Antonio Star quilt top in with me to show Sue ( and the others taking the workshop) in the hopes that someone could help me figure out how to quilt those 3D flying geese in the borders... and Sue did. I believed that because the pattern is all straight lines, that I needed to do something rounder/softer to give it more interest - Sue said "Not true" and I wanted to fasten down the flying geese in at least the outer row so that fingers and/or toes wouldn't get caught in them... she showed me an idea that I like and that I can do - it will take awhile to get it done, but I think it will be worth it.
This afternoon, it was Tricks and Techniques... which was showing us how to test bobbin and upper thread tensions and how to load the backing, batting and top onto the quilting frame. Some things I've already been doing, most things I haven't... and some things aren't possible for me to do, either because of physical restrictions ( I can't sit on the floor to align and pin my top to the leader/ender canvas, but I CAN sit in a chair and try it that way) or because my machine/frame is different from the HandiQuilters that were being used in the workshop. We learned, too, that we CAN use poly threads in the bobbin with cotton thread on top and visa versa - I'm sure I've read/seen/heard that you don't mix thread types and using different colors of threads on top and bottom is risky ( this one I know is possible because I've done it successfully at least once). It looks like I'm going to have to switch over to pre-wound bobbins, unless I can figure out how to make sure my machine winds the bobbins properly. They're NOT supposed to feel 'spongy' or wind unevenly and I know I've had some of both. There is a machine that HQ has that will wind the bobbins for you, but at $299.00, I won't be buying one. I will check into purchasing a "Sidewinder" - I think that's the name of it... does the same job for about 1/10 the price.
I took lots of notes ( well, lots for me) because Colette wasn't able to attend the afternoon session and she wants to know what we learned. It's a good thing there were pass outs, too, because I'm sure I'm going to need them; I know at least twice during the past two days that my memory failed me.
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