QuiltNebraska 2008

What a wonderful weekend I had in Chadron at QuiltNebraska 2008. The drive out there was uneventful and the Sandhills were so green this year. Since I drove up and home on highway 2 there were few cars so it made it a more relaxing drive. Round trip it was 847 miles and am so glad I had the company of two friends.

On Friday morning I had a lecture by Becky Goldsmith http://www.pieceocake.com/ that was very good - her quilts are fantastic. Friday afternoon I attended a lecture by Marsha McCloskey http://www.marshamccloskey.com/ which was also very good. I enjoy listening to lectures of national teachers as you can pick up a lots of information and not have to drag a sewing machine to a class and still get to see their fantastic quilts.

Saturday I had a class by Aie Rossmann http://www.lotuslands.ab.ca/ on hand applique. She is very knowledgeable and a very sweet gal. I felt sorry for her as she got stopped at Calgary,Canada by US customs and think from what she told us he must have been a real chauvinist and having a bad day too. She was not allowed to bring any of her finished quilts into the US unless she would cut them apart and write with a black marker "Sample" on them. Can you imagine! I bet they don't ask artists of other mediums to destroy their work. Needless to say she had to go find a place to ship all her quilts and step by step samples back to her home so she didn't have any to show in class. I was so looking forward to seeing her quilts as the photos on her website are wonderful. What a trial she had to go through to get here. The customs guy didn't understand why she just couldn't teach "sewing" to Canadians and why she was coming into the United States to teach. I told her he could make her send her quilts and samples home but he couldn't keep her knowledge of how to do the applique out of the US. I feel so sad that she was treated this way but she did a good job teaching us without any props.

The Saturday night banquet speaker was Ami Simms http://www.amisimms.com/. She was just the most delightful speaker and so funny. It would have been fun to take a class from her but can't get them all as QNE only lasts 2 1/2 days.

The entire convention seemed to run smoothly and the gals that chaired the event worked very hard as did all the committee members. If there were problems we sure didn't know about it. The photo below is of my 3 roommates and me. We have roomed together for many years at QuiltNebraska and try to get together several times a year too since we don't live close to each other. Besides these 3 it is always so much fun to visit all the other quilt friends I have made over the years - QNE is like a big family reunion for me anymore. They announced that there were 324 in attendance this year, smaller numbers than is past years but still a lot of quilters.

Next year the convention will be in Lincoln and again will look forward to it for months. I couldn't figure out who the national teachers were from the slide show presentation on Sunday morning as they didn't have any names listed but will check the NSQG website soon and find out. http://www.nsqg.org/index.html

Have been sitting here at the computer all morning catching up on my email and now need to get some laundry going and figure out what we are going to eat this noon.

Lynn

Ta-Da-Drum Roll

TA-DA - Drum Roll!!! I got my miniature quilt done last night around 11:30 pm. Was taken away from working on it by watering my flowers and garden, general household stuff and a friend stopped in to visit for about an hour in the evening or I would have been done by late afternoon. I was determined to get it finished last night no matter how tired I was. As you can see I added another folded strip of the gold fabric just inside the binding - it only peeks out a little less than 1/8" but like the way it pulls that gold through the whole quilt.

This second photo shows the size of the elements in the quilt. It is hard to tell size or to visualize it but hope the ruler laid on the top helps. The quilt size is 13 1/2" x 10 3/4" and I named it Morning Star Over the Pine Ridge. The NSQG (Nebraska State Quilt Guild) challenge is called Stars Over the Pine Ridge so played on that name. When I first designed it I was planning on having multiple stars on a dark background with the trees but when it came time to find fabrics I couldn't get a good enough contrast to make the trees show up and after piecing one star I decided that would have to do - was really tedious. Putting a star in a blue sky meant I had to think of why it would be there, thus I called it a morning star.

By the way I designed it in EQ6. I love the program and it makes designing and printing PP patterns so much easier. I got the quilting design for the last border from a mini program called Quilting Designs that can be linked to EQ6. This design came from Quiltmaker 3. Could re-size it to the size I needed when used through EQ6. This was the first time I used any of the quilting patterns from the program and it worked great!

I used the stitch regulator on parts of the quilting and the walking foot on others. I can tell I need lots more practice using the BSR foot. Not quite satisfied with the stipple quilting in the center but am going to leave it for now.

Now to get my supplies gathered and figure out what I am going to wear and get it packed for the trip to Chadron tomorrow. I plan to leave here by 8 am so need to get it all done today. I will be taking two other friends so we will have a jolly time on the long ride out there.

QuiltNebraska is always so much fun I am really looking forward to it and seeing and visiting with my quilting friends from across the state. It is almost like a family reunion so many of us have gone yearly since the beginning. The quilt displays are usually just grand and it is always fun to shop at the vendor malls besides the wonderful lectures and classes.

Guess that is all for now - talk to you later when I get back after Sunday.

Lynn

Bernina 830 & Miniature Quilt

Well I watched the much hyped Bernina live feed video for their new 830 last night. First it looks like it will be a great machine for those that want and need all the features but the live feed was rather a disappointment. I thought the singing was cheesy and you couldn't really see what the gal was pointing to a lot of the times. Some of the new features do sound great though.

I do agree that it will be fun to actually see one in person but I have no need nor do I want a sewing machine that large or expensive. If I am going to spend that kind of money I would get one of the less expensive long arm machines.

Here are a few photos of the miniature I have been working on and trying to get done by tonight. Want to leave myself some time to collect the stuff I need for the class I am taking at QuiltNebraska and to get my clothes ready on Wed.

This is how I inserted the small 1" star into the quilt. I chose to machine applique it and used freezer paper with a circle drawn on it and ironed it to the back of the quilt in the position I wanted the star. I cut out a circle of fabric leaving a little more than 1/8" to be turned under. Used a glue stick and turned the edges under and glued them to the freezer paper.

This is how it looks from the front before I put the star under the hole.

This next photo is a close up of the star stitched in place. I used clear nylon thread on top and Bottom Line on the bottom and used a small stitch that looks like a button hole stitch. Of course you shorten it to almost nothing and turn the width down to catch only a couple of threads. It is such an easy way to get out of piecing the star into the quilt. With all my seams in the other part I just couldn't figure out how to get it pieced and not have a mess. When things are this small I sometimes have to figure out a better way to get something done and this technique worked for this quilt. Oh, forgot to say that you take the freezer paper out after the stitching is finished. Another thing I did was tip the star over on it's side so I wouldn't have to match the seams - thought that might be just a little too tricky with something this small. Every little imperfection looks large on miniatures.

This last photo is of the quilt before I started quilting on it. I inserted a small gold piece of folded fabric in the seam between the blue and the green. Think I will use a small piece of the same gold near the binding too. Just needed to pull that gold out and use it in the quilt more than in just the star.

Back to the sewing machine as time is getting short.

Lynn

BSR - 830 Unveiling

Just a note here as I am taking a break from quilting my NSQG challenge. Used the BSR on the trees when I should have used the walking foot as it was hard to get straight lines and because the quilt pieces are so small I had to be very exact. I am using Bottom Line for the underneath thread and it is doing a great job so far anyway.

Also taking a break from sewing to watch the grand unveiling of the new Bernina 830 online. With all the hype that has been out about this machine I want to see what it is like. Don't think I am even remotely interested in purchasing one but just the same I want to see what it can do.

Better get off this website now as the live video is about to start.

Lynn