Meeting new friends, inspiring new quilters!

Yesterday I was a busy bee teaching Machine Quilting 1 and 2 at a shop I hadn't had the pleasure of teaching at yet.  I contacted Trish from Ivy Thimble Quilt shop in Victor NY in late Feb. about teaching there and we set a date to test out interest. Check them out here!!  http://ivythimble.com/  The first date quickly filled up and we set a second date.... that one filled up too!!  Imagine my excitement!! 

I have visited the shop a few times but was pleasantly surprised to find out its just an hour from home.... a quick spin down the thruway and I was there.  The classroom in the new shop is so bright and cheerful and the wall were dressed up with quilts perfect for using to demonstrate ideas thru the day!  Each student recieved a good area to work in and I still had room to walk around behind everyone to help them out.

The students were AWESOME as well!!  Many hadn't really tried this sort of machine quilting before and a few were pretty certain they COULDN'T do what I was teaching but everyone agreed to TRY.......and TRY they DID!!!  The ladies really ROCKED the straight lines and even had fun and made BIG improvements with their free motion quilting when we dropped the feed dogs and got going with the circles and curves!!

I had SOOOO Much fun and I can't wait to go back on May 8th to meet a new group of ladies.  If you want to join me check out the calendar here http://ivythimble.com/Classes.php.  I know the 8th is filled already but there are some new dates being added today so call soon and you can come too!! 

Quilty inspiration courtesy of MQX!!

This will be a picture heavy post today.  I spent 5 days at MQX drooling over quilts which in most cases were as awesome on the backside as the front.  Last year I took a photograph with my good digital camera of EVERY quilt which hung at the show and then I took a closeup or 2 or 3.  It took FOREVER!!  Then I bought the memory card stick and it had all the same photographs on it and more.   I had too many classes and not enough time this year plus it was silly knowing I was going to buy the memory stick again anyway so I only snapped a few with my phone if they really moved me while I was gazing.  I discovered that I enjoyed the individual quilts more this way.

Anyway, on to the quilts........These are FRONTS..... I failed at the important job of documenting who these were all created by ( I promise to update it when I get the memory stick as all the information is on the stick)

Guild quilt- quilted by Bethanne Nemish

Gypsy- by Cathy Wiggins

Deb Levy

Deb Levy

Rememberance- Jan Hutchison

Stars on Mars- Pieced by Gail Stepanek, quilted by Jan Hutchison

 These are BACKSIDES!  I sure do love a beautiful backside!!

Stars on Mars- My mother apparently really liked this one too ;)

Margaret Solomon-Gunn

close-up Margaret Solomon-Gunn

Cindy Seitz-Krug

Judy Woodworth

Oscar- Cathy Wiggins ( this one received the Viewers choice award)

Laurie Tigner

The detail in the quilting on these pieces is just Awe inspiring........ You could stand there and look at them for hours!!  These are not your average quilts clearly, and they were all created to be entered into a show.  I am so glad these amazing people share their ART with all of us so we can become inspired!!

Mandy

April so far.......

Its already been a busy month in the yellow house!!  Getting many things finished and checking quilts off my to-do list!! Even with a week long escape for inspiration to MQX I still have a number of pretties to show everyone! 

Up first the Raffle quilt that my friends at the "sewday" completed to raise money for the Scipio Fire Department.  They all get together and create a top which I quilt for them each year.  The quilt will be raffled off on Mothers day after the pancake breakfast is complete.

Shhh, this one is a secret, alright so maybe not a secret but I cant show you the front yet.....it was created by Sue Jerva.

This is a picnic quilt made by Darcie Perkins for her grand-daughters to use at their softball games.  It has some issues with fabrics bleeding after a leaky humidifier got in an argument with it so it isnt going to be a prize winning quilt but it is pretty.  I used teh "spring" pantograph from Anne Bright Designs to quilt it and it worked up fast and pretty!!

This beauty is made by Barb Klem.  It was part of a class she took.  When it was complete she didn't really LOVE the quilt, I sure hope she does now that I have blessed it with thread!! I used some things I learned at MQX including new feathers inspired by Jamie Wallen, and Heavy Metal designs from Kim Stotsenburg

What have YOU been up to??
Mandy

Domestic Machine Quilted

Students in my domestic Machine Quilting classes this one is for you!!

There were over 200 hundred quilts at MQX last week, this was just one of them.  However I took the most photos of this beauty so I could share the inspiration this quilt holds with my students in the machine quilting classes......

Golden Ivory Quilted on a Brother QC 1000 was the 2nd place winner in the Large Whole Cloth Class at MQX last week......... It was a HUGE quilt created ALL on a domestic sewing machine.

I couldnt get far enough away to capture the whole quilt with my phone.

It was trully stunning!!  I took MANY MANY close-ups and just stared at it for a long long time.

 She did gold accent thread to highlight the details and it was the PERFECT amount of subtle!

 This entire monster was manuvered thru the throat of a small domestic machine to create details as small as your pinky finger!!

I just couldn't get enough of it, everywhere you looked there was some new surprise!!   Happy exploring and remember this just goes to show you that you can do ANYTHING with a bit of practice (okay a lot of practice)

Get out your machine today and just do it!
Mandy

MQX Classes

MQX 2- THE CLASSES!!!!

This year I took a LOT of classes over the 4 days I was at MQX!!  My inspirations included a variety of topics and a wide array for teachers.  Last year I was a newbie and I only took a few classes, this year I used my time wisely and got the opportunity to take a LOT of classes.

Sue Patten was up first, I could really connect with her, maybe it was the spiky red hair, or perhaps the cowboy boots, but I think it was mostly that whole BREAKING THE RULES thing which I am pretty well known for doing!!

Jamie Wallen was Awesome ( I hope to take a hands on class with him next year) and I had an AH HA moment in his class about bump feathers ( I have always struggled to quilt them)..... Look out world, I have a new feather!!

Class with Gina Perkes was, well lets say.......chaotic for a few minutes as we had a small 4 legged visitor who chose to weave and scurry between our feet ( Gina is quite afraid of mice it seems, so we needed some assistance from the Innova Machine tech in the other room).  Once our furry friend was gone we had a GREAT class on backgrounds and fills!!

I really began to start drawing after the first day of classes and so I spent a bit of QUIET time with my sketchbook!!

My class with Barbara Persing was WONDERFUL, her handouts and information were amazing but I was too busy being the teachers pet to snap any photos in that class.

Judy Woodworth ( who would receive the teacher of the year award later in the night) was a TON OF FUN!!  Her samples were drool worthy and it was fun to watch her quilting on the screen!!Others used the screen but her black fabric and white thread really rocked!!

 My Hands on class of the week was with Lisa Calle where I learned MANY MANY things........ I have owned her rulers for a year but couldn't ever get them to work right ( it was TOTALLY operator error), I also learned that I hold my rulers WAY WAY too tight and that is why my hands and arms hurt so bad if I am doing any ruler work.... after a good scolding and a lesson with a sheet of paper I am already seeing improvements with my ruler work ( and hand pain) since I came back

this is my unfinished class sample with DARK purple thread which tells ALL your mistakes and wobbles!! I had so much fun in this class even on a strange machine (we had handi-quilters) and the frames were VERY low.

Last class with Saturday morning with Kim Stotsenberg- Heavy Metal quilting.  Inspired by wrought iron this class was AWESOME!!  So was Kim!!  I won the random drawing for the class sample so I have something to look at now that I am home!!  It was GREAT, and I have already used some of her designs in the client piece I just finished today.

This was the MQX inspired block she created on the fly while we were in class.......


I WISH I didn't have to go home so I could have kept right on learning and becoming more and more inspired, but I did miss my family while I was away!    Keep your eyes out cause I am sure to sneak in something new I learned in a quilt real soon!!

Take a moment and look for inspiration around you, always open your eyes!
Mandy