Handi Quilter Event

The Handi Quilter event I went to was Wonderful! I learned so much. The coolest thing was that I was the only one who wanted to work on the Sweet Sixteen. The store, Friends Quilting Basket in Lake Odessa, MI, that put this on, brought in 4 long arms and a Sweet 16. There were 12-15 people in the classes, and I had the 16 all to myself--without having to pay extra or anything!!

The instructor was Mary Beth Krapil, a Handi Quilter educator. Also on hand were the store owner, Josie, staff from the store, and the store tech. So any questions were easily answered. All of these people were so kind. I'm so glad I found this store. I was not happy at all with the store I actually purchased my machine from, so it is so nice to find one eager to help.

In all the quilting magazines, there are ads for the new HQ long arm. Only 4 have been delivered in the country. We had one at our event to play with. Boy, does it have cool bells and whistles! For more information on the Infinity, see here.

I took tons of pictures:

The event was held in a church. This sign is what greeted us. Let you know you're in the right place.

Chris, the tech, goofing off

The Infinity

Can you get a feel for the size of the room?

The long arms were each 12', and there was plenty of room!

Mary Beth bought herself a Sweet 16 since she was going to have to teach them, so she is very knowledgeable on them too. She told me she thinks quilting on the Sweet is more difficult than quilting on a long arm. I've often wondered about that. She said she admired my quilting.

We had a class on Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), a class on using rulers, and one on Borders, Blocks and Backgrounds. The rulers class was the most enlightening to me. I've played with rulers and always forget to breathe because I get so tense. She made it much easier.

My room mate issue worked out just fine. Jean was quite nice and we got along fine.A whole lot better than it might have been. I actually woke up the night before I left, worried about security. Can I leave anything in the room if I'm not right there, will I wake up to find she'd absconded with my things, all sorts of wild worries. None of the above happened! Yay!

Because the store and this church are out in the boonies, the owner provided lunch for us all. A very nice perk. Much appreciated. Also donuts in the morning. Not quite so appreciated by me. Donuts talk to me. They jump in my face and say, "Eat me. Eat me. I'm so creamy and yummy." Darn little things know just how to get me.

More pics tomorrow.

Thanks,
Lin

New Quilter

One of my golfing buddies said she'd like to learn how to quilt after seeing pictures of my quilts. So I kindly offered to teach her everything I know. I told her it would take about 5 minutes.

We worked out a time, and she came over. We took a tour of my quilts first. They just keep popping up all over my house. First thing we worked on was scant quarter inch seams. We were sewing on my machine, so I told her to go home and play with hers. We also took an outing to a quilt store. I had to buy backing. Why don't I purchase things like that when I buy the stuff for piecing??? I actually know. Because I need to see the quilt to get a feel for what kind of backing it needs. I guess the quilt does talk to me. I thought they were mute to me.

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On a way different note: A couple years ago, I got a Singer sewing machine for our grand daughter (T) for Christmas. She asked for one. Bought a starter model at JoAnn's. It has everything she'll need for quite awhile, then we can see if she keeps her interest. She was doing lots of things for a little while. Then it got put away.

Meanwhile, my daughter (T's mother) got interested in sewing, and tried using this machine. It wouldn't work. I looked at it too, and couldn't get it to do anything. I told her it needed to go to a repairman.

We took it in on Saturday. They told us at the shop that some of the machines bought at big box stores, etc., are made to be thrown away. They cannot be repaired. She would certainly know better than I do, but that seems wrong to me. My daughter did get it back today, repair person said it needed a good cleaning, and it had issues. If it ever makes a noise like this to stop sewing right away or it won't be able to be repaired. I guess it doesn't pay to buy cheap??? But my little Brother $100+ machine has been just purring along at classes or travelling.

Thanks,

Lin

Bonnie Hunter's 2014 Mystery Quilt

I made Celtic Solstice My Happy Quilt last year with Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt, and ended up loving it. I felt rushed tho because of travelling. I debated, do I want to make this year's? Decided I just can't pass it up. So checked out her first entry, where she tells us what colors and how much fabric we need. Bonnie is the Queen of scrappy, and I decided I want to work not scrappy this time.

Bonnie sets her colors with paint chip cards from Lowe's, so off I went to pick up the paint chips. Her color choices are built on the colors at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. So I felt like I had to join.

Maybe you can just see--the color name of the yellow is---ta da----Grand Hotel Awning Yellow! She said she didn't know its name when she chose it.

Now here are my fabrics:

The print that looks orange-y in this pic, is really a great pink y color.The green is really closer than it looks here too.Gotta wait until she starts posting her directions. 

For more information about the mystery, see her blog at Quiltville. 

Thanks,

Lin

Handi Quilter Education

Later this week I am going for 3 classes in using my Sweet Sixteen! I'm pretty pumped about the chance. The store I should have bought my machine from is putting on these classes. The store is 1 1/2 hours away, so I chose a store only 1 hour away, but they just didn't know much about the machine.

The owner of the store told me there would be a Sweet Sixteen for me to work on at the classes, so I don't have to learn things on a stand-up quilter, then translate them to my sit-down. I'm so looking forward to this!

I've talked to the owner several times to ask about accommodations near the classes. She alerted me to a house, and rooms that rents out, but Lake Odessa is a very small city. There's a motel about 20 minutes away. That's where I made my reservations.

Owner called me today to ask if I wanted a room mate. Someone I don't know. I'm a little skeptical. But I talked to Jean and it sounded like we could get along. So I agreed. I went online to change my reservation to show two people. I had made the reservations for the wrong nights!!!!! I have changed it now tho. So God was looking out for me. Yay, God!

I will update you later about the classes and my new best friend (?).

Thanks,
Lin

Sweet Sixteen Problem Solved

I wrote on October 20 about the problems I was having with my quilter. See post here. In short, my Bottom Line thread was separating into two plies, and eventually one of them was shredding. I had changed to a larger needle because I've heard that can be an issue with shredding. Not much better.

I emailed to Superior Threads and they suggested loosening the tension. I decided to thread my machine only thru 2 of the three holes in a certain spot in the thread path, and loosen the upper tension. My stitches did look good before this tho.

Superior's suggestions helped some, but still ongoing. I was getting very frustrated!

I left a message for Handi Quilter's tech number, and they called back. She asked me how tight my bobbin was, and told me to loosen that, and then loosen the top a lot too, and change back to size 14 needle. Go back to three holes.

I did all that, and have beautiful results now! I'm guessing I have always adjusted my bobbin too tight. Guess I should read the directions from HQ, and not go by the You Tube tuts??

My Sweetie and I are friends again!

Thanks,
Lin

Slacker!

I've been such a slacker! I haven't posted in so long.
So sorry.

I have been doing quilty things tho! Does that win me back any points?

I laid this little baby out:

It's called Ribbon Rings from Quilt Moments. I have no idea what the fabric is. I pieced it last winter in Florida. I'm trying to get things ready to go this year, and found it in a pile. Guess I better finish stuff before I start new? Ah----no.

I have lots more pieces in my storage box, so this will be a good size quilt.

Thanks,
Lin

Quilt Club, October

The Quilt Club went on a shop hop for the October meeting. Any trip to a quilt shop from here is quite a hike. Living in the boonies has its good points, believe me, but being close to a quilt shop isn't one of them.

We went to Miles of Stitches in Merrill, Michigan first. Very nice store, tons of batiks. (drool)

This whole wall is batiks!

Nice big classroom.

Then we went to Common Threads in St Louis, MI. Much smaller store, but has a wonderful collection of precuts. I'm a sucker for precuts.

This bin is filled with precuts.

First time a shop owner has asked me what I'm going to take pictures of when I've asked for permission. Maybe they've been burned by someone taking pictures of samples? That's all I can think of. 

Then to lunch! Quilters have to eat!

A good day was had by all!

Thanks,

Lin