It’s almost over!

Today is the last day of my workshops at PIQF.  I have been enjoying myself so much.  But with every class comes another UFO or set of things I want to remember to do.  🙁  I’ve got some pictures on Instagram so  be sure to follow me  – thousandneedles – to see what I was able to take pictures of.

On Wednesday night I attended the pre-show and got the lay of the land.  I looked at all the show quilts and got inspired, laughed, and was in awe at how beautiful or creative many were.  I actually met some guild-mates and joined them.  Another perk of being in a guild!  — running into quilters I know at the show and being able to have lunch with them and shop and check out the quilts.  I didn’t buy anything this first night.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted.  I came into the show with the intention to spend money but with some guidelines –

Guideline #1 – NO MORE KITS!  I have tons (not just a ton but tons) of kits that I intend to complete.  The one exception I had to this was a corduroy quilt.  I saw one at the Long Beach show but by the time I saw it, I had already hit my budget for the show and could not get the corduroy quilt kit.  At home months later when my quilting budget cleared up, I tried to find it online but I couldn’t remember the shop it was from (and I couldn’t find the card that I took from the booth.)

Guideline #2 – NO FABRIC!  It’s nice having a stash but I want to focus on buying fabric specific to a project.  I plan to keep a stash on hand for those small projects I jump into to learn something or practice something but for the most part I’ll only buy fabric for specific projects. (At least, I’ll try.  I can’t seem to help myself with grab bags!!!)

So with those two things I’m limited to tools and books and whatever else I can find.  Although once PIQF got started on Thursday I’ve just been too busy to shop!  As I said in a previous post, I signed up for a ton of classes to concentrate learning techniques rather than going shopping.  I signed up for 4 classes and a lecture.

Thursday – First Class – Sue Nickel’s Machine Quilting Essentials

Bernina provided machines for the class and I got to play with a Bernina 710.  I absolutely loved it.  If my own Bernina 330 wasn’t just a little over a year old I would seriously consider plunking down a huge chunk of change for this baby or even the 750.  My hubby always tells me that I’m such an easy sell! 🙂    But that has nothing to do with the class.  Sue was awesome!  By the end of the class I was quilting feathers on a practice sampler and while the first few were somewhat wobbly, I was getting better and better.  The next step is to start practice free motion quilting on my Bernina.  I’m going to make a few practice sandwiches and practice every week with a different design.  Of all my classes, I liked this class because I learned a technique and didn’t add another UFO to my ever-growing UFO list.  Just another to do item. 🙂

Thursday evening – Second Class – Jean Brown’s Hawaiian Quilt Making

This was my favorite quilting class at PIQF.  I signed up for the class because I like the look of Hawaiian Quilts and wanted to learn the technique.  However I wasn’t super excited about taking the class.  It was Jean’s last class as she is retiring now.  So I’m really happy I signed up and took this class.  I was thinking of taking it next year or some other time but decided to just do it now.  Thank goodness, I bit the bullet and took the class now.  Jean basically hand applique’s the entire thing and then hand quilts it.  I do not know if it can be machine appliqued and/or machine quilted.  I’m sure it could be done but I’m more experienced with hand applique and I’m almost done with my current hand quilt so I may just end up adding a Hawaiian quilt to hand quilt in front of the TV.  Jean has a tool that she calls Aunt Becky that she uses and makes the most perfect stitches.  I’m hoping that once I get the hang of it it will increase my hand quilting speed.

Friday – Third Class – Linda Ballard’s Dancing with the Stars

This is the class I had a hard time getting my fabric together last week. This is what I started with –

FABRIC CHOICES

I added 1 more purple strip and I went with plain white for the light.

Linda’s finished Dancing with the Stars. It’s kind of hard to see the detail but you can see the overall circle affect.

I was able to make 2 of the stars and 1 one of the snow balls.

Dancing with the Stars
Block A

Dancing With the Stars
2-Block A and Snowball

So now I have another UFO! 🙂

The great thing about taking classes with teachers who have been doing it for years is that they have so many tricks to share.  I learned a great cutting trick to speed up the cutting process as well as a trick to sewing 4 patches and a few others.  The tricks were the best thing I learned in this class.  I can pretty much figure out how to make the quilt if I really wanted to just by looking at it and breaking it down.  I think a lot of quilters can after a few quilts under their belts.  However the tricks she teaches is really what the class is about and worth paying for! I’m not going to tell you the tricks because you should take her class!  It’s worth it!  However I got tired in this class much earlier than the Thursday classes.  On Thursday I was up at 4am to get some work stuff done and then headed over to my first class beginning at 9am.  The Hawaiian quilt making class didn’t end until 9pm so by the time I got home unpacked and readied my stuff for Friday it was probably 11pm by the time I got to bed.  So by late afternoon in Linda’s class – I was pooped out!  And I still had a lecture to attend with Sue Nickels.  Well – I was really tired and didn’t think I would make it.  Plus I wanted to spend some time shopping.  I shopped a little on Thursday between Sue and Jean’s classes but I felt rushed and there were a TON of people.  So while I got stuff, I didn’t get everything I wanted.  So I gave away my ticket to Sue Nickels’ lecture and went shopping!  I bought a lot of stuff and I’ll post about everything I bought later.  But the highlight of my evening was that I FOUND my corduroy quilt kit!  It was the same shop and I’ve even been in the shop.  I can’t remember it exactly but it’s in Southern CA and part of the annual quilt run I participated in last year (2012).  I’ll post pictures another time.  It’s still dark here (6:15am PST) so I can’t take a picture of it now… 🙂  Do you know where I can buy good corduroy fabric?  These are really pretty and bright so while it is corduroy, it’s not dark and heavy as the corduroy I remember.

I’ve got one more class today at 9am – Kellie Rushing’s Fab Feathers Messenger Bag.  Materials are in class for a fee and we will play with Bernina’s 780!  I plan on checking out the vendors one last time before I leave and that’s it for me!  The show continues on until tomorrow but unless I’m not able to get something today that I absolutely want I do not plan on going back.  I really do not know what more I want to get but – you never know!  I’ll walk through it one or two times and something may catch my fancy.  🙂

– happy to be at the show!

Melanie