quilt classes

They look really great, Lynn. What fun those curvaceous squares are!! (though I wouldn't like the job of arranging them - you did really well on that >gHi all, I'm back from the Lowell quilt festival and my first quilt

Hi Lynn, I am considering taking a machine quilting class this fall but I'm not sure it will be worth the time and $$ ($40 for a 5 hour class). Did you find it usefull? My thinking is that because machine quilting skills are so dependant on practice, practice, practice is a class really that helpful, or would a book teach me just at much? What do you think?

Pam in Spencerport

Not Lynn but...$40 for a 5 hour class is reasonable in my experience. As to whether it is worth it, that somewhat depends on your learning style. Some suggestions:

Cast a look on the supply list and see if the requested supplies are the type of thing you hope to machine quilt with.

Talk with anyone who has taken a class with this person before and find out if it is more demo or supervised practice and think about how that fits with what you want.

Would you put in several sustained hours of practice if you weren't in class?

Mary

Hi Pam, I'm no expert, but I think it would depend on the style of the teacher and the liklihood that you'll practice without someone there to tell you to. Personally, I never would have gone out and bought muslin and practiced. I know I should, but I just wouldn't have. There was quite a long time (3 hours) of lecture/instruction and show and tell before we sewed in this case (followed by 3 hours of sewing, after a lunch break). That might or might not be what you want, but I thought it was useful, with advice about threads, posture/ergonomics, ways to think about design, etc. Other classes I took were 95% sewing, and that was fun too. Sorry, I'm not much help!

Lynn

I love the pink curvaceous squares!!

Hi Lynn, I was at the Lowell Quilt Festival on Saturday too. There were a lot fewer quilts than I expected. Many were made by people I know, including a 3rd Place ribbon for a little girl in my guild. I bet she's thrilled. The vendors were good but I bought only two fat quarters. It was my first time at this show, we stopped at Mill Girls Quilt Shop on the way home, it was a long, but fun day. I'm glad you enjoyed your classes.

Denise

QI

Re: taking a MQ class or not.

It may depend on the expertise of the teacher, mine was lousy. I expected to be given lots of helpful hints on how to set up my machine, but the teacher took one look at my Janome 6500 and said she knew nothing about "NEWFANGLED" machines, and just walked away. She made us buy tons of very expensive threads and extra needles, then we did nothing with them. It was about $40 for 6 hours. The only good thing is that I spent 4 hours of uninterrupted practicing which I probably would not have done otherwise, so I guess it wasn't a total waste.

I took a 'jacket from sweatshirt' class a couple of months ago and this teacher was wonderful. She knew her subject, had tons of examples and was always available for questions.

My advice is to ask around if someone has taken a class from the teacher you're considering.

Denise

QI

I dont know anyone who has taken this class or any class by this teacher but I think I will call and get more info. One thing I think would help me is to see a demo and then a chance to do it myself with the teacher checking to see if we are all doing it right.

Probably not, so that in itself may be a good reason to take the class. Thanks Mary.

Pam in Spencerport

Welcome back, Lynn! :) I know just what you mean about four classes in four days. LOL! That's how I feel every year after camp -- and this year my friend Judy took *six* classes in *six* days. I bow to her fortitude. ;)

I think you should tell us about all of your classes -- we love hearing about this stuff. I've had a class with Kathy Sandbach -- isn't she wonderful? :)

Now, which block in your picture goes with which class?

They look as if the classes were really interesting.You did a great job! Well done.

On Sun, 6 Aug 2006 16:49:39 -0500, Pam in Spencerport wrote (in article ):

I've taken a couple of machine quilting classes, and i think they've been worth it. It's a great opportunity to practice, practice, practice. And usually I find I learn something, usually just a tiny thing that makes me say "Duh!", and improves my skills.

Just my $0.02.

Maureen

Thanks! They are a bit deceiving, because they come out all wonky and mismatched on the edges (at least, they do when I sew them!), and then you just chop off the edges and square them off. So they are not hard at all. It has made me braver to try some gentle curves, though. Maybe I will make it to a NY Beauty quilt one day afterall.

Lynn

NickName wrote:

Thanks, Patti! They just spoke to me and told me where to put them. I love it when they do that.

Lynn

Patti wrote:

Love the Curvaceous Curves!!

I took Diane's class in Paducah this year. She's really nice, isn't she? I love your colors and arrangement! I may have to make some more blocks.

I like yours better! hummmmmm I really should get my first class project finished before starting another one though. One of my numerous faults. KJ

Yes, she is super nice. I told her in the beginning of class that I was a bit of a 'beginner masquerading as an intermediate' because I had never sewn a curve before. Near the end of class, she called the whole class over to applaud the "beginner". She was really fun. Your quilt is great - love your idea for the borders! I'm toying with making the outer border of bigger blocks (like she did - twice as big as the center ones).

Lynn

KJ wrote:

I didn't really have enough hand dyes to make the bigger blocks for the border. And I wasn't sure enough of my color families to sacrifice "favored" fabric for the bigger block border. So I sliced up the extra blocks I'd made for the inside to make the border fabric. It will do. I like it better than some class projects I've made. Kj