Home again Home again

I finally feel rested up after a very busy week. Just a little recap>>> I got home on Thursday night at about 10:00pm. Fat Quarter Log Cabin was my late workshop - 5:30 - 8:30. What a fun class and making the log cabin with Marty Michele's ruler certainly made it a lot faster.

Hip to be Square was my Thursday afternoon workshop, all about making sure your long arm frame is set up right each time before you load your quilt. Renea Haddadin was the instructor. Renae had several of her award winning quilts on display and I must say she does stunning work. It was a very informative class. I know I don't have a long arm - Yet. :)

Friday was a very busy day starting at 8:30am and going until 4:00pm. Free motion quilting 101 with Micky Dupre. What a great class following Frieda Anderson's on Wed. I certainly feel more confident about jumping in and PRACTICING my Free Motion quilting. Micky really took us step by step through various stitches that all worked off of each other. Kind of like building blocks really.

I came home early and went to bed early and now it is about 4:00am Sat morning and I wanted to let you know that if you didn't take any workshops this year there is always next year. It is definately well worth the money. The instructors are all professionals and your classmates are all very nice and friendly. I loved it and look forward to next year.

Of course I didn't get out of the show without spending more money. :) I bought a table extension for my sewing machine,(recommended by Micky) and quilting thread for my FM quilting projects.

Well there you have it, Des Moines Quilt show 2009. Today is the last day so if you haven't gone yet, stop in and check it out. There are a lot of Beautiful quilts and tons of goodies.

Hope you have a great weekend. Keep reading as I am going to have a fabric giveaway coming up. Stay tuned for details.

Talk at you later,

Des Moines Quilt Show and workshops

Good Morning,

Sorry I didn't get this in last night. I came home, fed the animals and crashed. I was sooo exhausted. Mostly because I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before my workshops.
I kept waking up about every 2 hours and then finally got up a 4:45am to get ready. I left the house at 7:00am to be sure I would get there by 8:30am and be sitting in my class ready to go. Well I got there okay, found a parking spot ($6 for event parking) and arrived 20 minutes early, (plenty of time to find a good seat and get situated)only to find that my first work shop was cancelled. :(

After getting the refund paper work completed I now had 4 hours to kill before my next workshop, so off I went to look at everything.
WOW! So much to see, vendors, quilts, people (I met some of the gals that are in my online quilt group) and more. I checked out several long arm dealers, picked up a new 18 inch ruler and a book. I looked at the quilt collections and it was time to get something to eat and go to my next workshop. I didn't even have time to go look at all the quilts that were on the main display floor. I was so tired by then I wasn't sure I would make it through my workshop, but I did and I am so glad I took it. I learned so much in such a short time and the teacher was fun and very informative, not to mention patient with us newbies.
Now I need to find out about quilting on my little Janome so I am going to their display today to see about a quilting foot for free motion.

Here are some of my practice quilt sandwiches. It was such a fun class.


I practiced writing my name.




This is me practicing stippeling. Can you see the instructors stippeling in there? It is the really nice and smooth one.



Such a serious sewer. Just trying to get my hands and foot to coordinate.



Yes that is a new Janome we practiced sewing on. Boy was it nice. That is about it, if you have any questions go ahead and post a comment and I promise to get you a prompt answer.

Today my first workshop is at 1:00pm and then another at 5:30pm. Can't wait to tell you all about it.

It's raining out now and looks like the weather won't be so great. I am sure it will be fun at the show and maybe I will see you there.

Hope you have a great day.

Gettin ready for DM workshops and Show

I have my supplies all packed for tomorrow. First workshop is at 8:30 am and it's called Bordering on Lunacy for Beginners. It is a workshop on borders and sashings geared for the beginning machine quilter. That's me! That workshop will last until 11:00 am and I have a break until 1:00 pm. The 1 o'clock workshop will be my first free motion machine quilting class and it lasts until 4:00pm. I have my "quilt sandwiches" all made up



and I am ready to go. I am so excited I hope I can sleep tonite.:)

I hope you all sleep well tonite too and I will talk at you tomorrow.

Gratitudes:
1)Thankful that I had all the fabric on hand for all of my workshops.

2)Thankful for Daughters that are soo encouraging for this newbie quilter.

3) Thankful for a good car to get me to DM tomorrow.