When I posted to my blog yesterday I forgot to say the charity top was pieced by my friend Riea in Texas and I quilted it. Riea is one of the best toppers I've seen in my long career as a machine quilter. Riea sent that top (and two others) to me just about this time last year. The other two have not gotten quilted yet. They will also be given to charity. Geeze, this year has been a hard one for getting things done.
I went to guild meeting yesterday... no Ike this time. I think it was a very good meeting. Lots of helpful critiques were going on. I wasn't as far along on my own quilt as I should have been. The other people in the group are at various stages of completion.
I mentioned to a couple of people in the group that I would be teaching machine quilting at the Happy Heart Shop starting hopefully in January. The new machine is still sitting in the boxes. Neither the shop owner, nor I, have the time right now to set it up. We agreed to wait until after the rush season is over before working on it.
One guild member asked me what I would be teaching and how it would be helpful to her as a sit down machine quilter. You know what? I couldn't explain it. I could see it in my mind but just couldn't find the right words to explain it.
This got me to thinking.... ooo, dangerous.... about how will I describe the classes? What will be my class outlines for the different stages of machine quilting? Will I be a good teacher? How helpful will I actually be to others who want to learn machine quilting? Can I really be helpful to a sit down machine quilter? I have to do some serious thinking and planning before January!
My origianal thoughts for the first class were that I should show how pantographs could be used to do custom quilting. Pantos are used with a stand up machine and wouldn't be helpful for a sit down quilter. Pantos are quilting designs on long rolls of paper. In most instances pantos are as long as the machine table and are followed with a pointer to stitch from one side of the quilt to the other. The rows are repeated until the whole top is quilted. The stitching falls wherever on the top.
But..... with a little ingeniuity.... pantos can be used to create a custom quilted top. Pantos can be used to quilt individual blocks or around an outside border. Even on a small shortarm machine. A person doesn't need a hugh machine or learn how to freehand in order to do custom machine quilting. A person can do large 15 inch designs with a machine that only has a reach of 5 inches. It's all in how you do it that matters.
Some of the other classes I though I would teach are:
How to load a quilt - floating the top while keeping it square
How to create your own pantos, including nested designs
How to freehand quilt - good for sit down quilters
How to use line dancing for custom quilting - good for sit downers too
How to combine pantos and freehand designs to create very intricate custom quilting.
I have other thoughts for classes but I need to save some of them for later.
Well I could sit here type-talking for a long time but I must get off the computer and get busy. First order of the day is to wash the dishes! For one person I sure do make a lot of dirty dishes.
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I got several suggestions for classes in my email and I appreciate them all. Several people sent comments but your "no comment reply" is turned on so I couldn't email you to ask for more details. Now that I have an idea about what classes to do; I can work on details of how to present them.
But first here is today's finished quilt. It worked out really, really nice.
Here is another picture of this quilt. Sorry it's blurry.
Here is a close up of one of the blocks. As you can see the stitching is hard to see from the front.
So I'll show you the stitching from the back. I did line dancing on the blocks.
A leaf design on the sashing, le lace on the inside border, and a leaf design on the outside border.
Another picture of the sashing and the circles done on the inside block frame.
I had fun doing those freehand circles. I tried several different ways of creating circles just so I could record them in my sketch book for the future.
When I looked at the quilt through the camera I realized it was perfect as the basis for my Saturday class. I lay it on the table and drew some of the blocks on paper to be used in the class.
Speaking of the classes at the shop. What I said in my post yesterday sounded like the owner didn't want to replace the old machine. That was wrong. I guess I was just in a pity me mood. I need to work on myself to stay out of those moods! Or at the very least keep myself from telling the world what type mood I'm in.
The shop owner does want to get a new machine. I believe between the two of us we will get one but just not right away. One reason I stayed several days in Paducah was to check out several machines and pick up information packets to give to the shop owner. We haven't had a chance to get together since I got back. First because she had other time commitments and then when she was ready to get together I got sick.
The shop classes started a couple of years ago with me doing a simple demonstration to show what is possible to do with a household machine on a Hinterberg frame. Everything I can do with a Gammill machine can be done with a household machine. It just has to be done differently. The demonstrations expanded to actual classes because so many were buying machines and frames then standing there in front of their machine saying..... now what?
I WANT people to buy machines and get excited about doing machine quilting. I want others to know how I feel when I see a stitching design done on a top. Hmmm..... maybe I'm not explaining this well enough. Ok, you know how it is when you go to a quilt show or a guild meeting or a fabric shop and see a new piecing design that excites you so much that you want to make one yourself? So you start looking for classes or books to learn how it is made. Then you are so happy about learning and making one yourself that you show it to everyone else. Well that's how I am about machine quilting. I see new stitching techniques or designs that get me excited enough to want to learn them...... then show everyone else what I did. The trouble is that when I want to show someone else.... I'm in the studio alone. No one to see it. This blog is the next best thing to having people around.
I can't tell you how many times I try a new stitching design.... it works out perfectly..... I stand there saying..... Oooooo that's fantastic, you guys outa try this..... but there is no one there to hear me. So I keep my excitement for a time when I can share it with others.
There are new people reading my blog that may not know my history of machine quilting so I'll tell you about it. For over 20 years I used a Singer upholstery machine rigged up to a table and track system to do machine quilting. I could only quilt 5 inches of space with each pass over the quilt before advancing. I was still able to do very large 15 or 20 inch designs in spite of the 5 inch limitations.
I own a Gammill machine because the Singer machine just wasn't right for my business anymore. I was constantly having to load it into a car to make an all day trip out of town to get it re timed and tuned up. It was wore out from all the years of work. When the trips out of town began being a monthly trip I decided it was time to quit the business or get a new machine. To make a story shorter..... I got a Gammill. I don't have a Gammill because its large enough to do big designs. I have it because it's sturdy enough to run for hours and hours to do what I want it to do. To be honest any of the larger sturdy machine would have been adequate. Whether it be an A1, Prodigy, or any other of the major brands.
BUT... if a person is only planning to quilt their own tops then an industrial machine is not really needed. If someone wanted only to do a few tops as a spare income then a smaller machine is fine too. It really is possible to do the same things I do with my Gammill on a smaller machine. The machine you buy should fit the type of work you plan to do.
On my trip to Paducah I looked specifically for affordable machines for those people who want only to do their own tops. I looked for machines that could be used to create the ART of machine quilting without taking out a second mortgage to own it.
Ok, I've rambled on long enough. I have to finish making paper copies of the class materials for Saturday. It won't be the same as actually using a machine. BUT.... it's a start.
But first here is today's finished quilt. It worked out really, really nice.
Here is another picture of this quilt. Sorry it's blurry.
Here is a close up of one of the blocks. As you can see the stitching is hard to see from the front.
So I'll show you the stitching from the back. I did line dancing on the blocks.
A leaf design on the sashing, le lace on the inside border, and a leaf design on the outside border.
Another picture of the sashing and the circles done on the inside block frame.
I had fun doing those freehand circles. I tried several different ways of creating circles just so I could record them in my sketch book for the future.
When I looked at the quilt through the camera I realized it was perfect as the basis for my Saturday class. I lay it on the table and drew some of the blocks on paper to be used in the class.
Speaking of the classes at the shop. What I said in my post yesterday sounded like the owner didn't want to replace the old machine. That was wrong. I guess I was just in a pity me mood. I need to work on myself to stay out of those moods! Or at the very least keep myself from telling the world what type mood I'm in.
The shop owner does want to get a new machine. I believe between the two of us we will get one but just not right away. One reason I stayed several days in Paducah was to check out several machines and pick up information packets to give to the shop owner. We haven't had a chance to get together since I got back. First because she had other time commitments and then when she was ready to get together I got sick.
The shop classes started a couple of years ago with me doing a simple demonstration to show what is possible to do with a household machine on a Hinterberg frame. Everything I can do with a Gammill machine can be done with a household machine. It just has to be done differently. The demonstrations expanded to actual classes because so many were buying machines and frames then standing there in front of their machine saying..... now what?
I WANT people to buy machines and get excited about doing machine quilting. I want others to know how I feel when I see a stitching design done on a top. Hmmm..... maybe I'm not explaining this well enough. Ok, you know how it is when you go to a quilt show or a guild meeting or a fabric shop and see a new piecing design that excites you so much that you want to make one yourself? So you start looking for classes or books to learn how it is made. Then you are so happy about learning and making one yourself that you show it to everyone else. Well that's how I am about machine quilting. I see new stitching techniques or designs that get me excited enough to want to learn them...... then show everyone else what I did. The trouble is that when I want to show someone else.... I'm in the studio alone. No one to see it. This blog is the next best thing to having people around.
I can't tell you how many times I try a new stitching design.... it works out perfectly..... I stand there saying..... Oooooo that's fantastic, you guys outa try this..... but there is no one there to hear me. So I keep my excitement for a time when I can share it with others.
There are new people reading my blog that may not know my history of machine quilting so I'll tell you about it. For over 20 years I used a Singer upholstery machine rigged up to a table and track system to do machine quilting. I could only quilt 5 inches of space with each pass over the quilt before advancing. I was still able to do very large 15 or 20 inch designs in spite of the 5 inch limitations.
I own a Gammill machine because the Singer machine just wasn't right for my business anymore. I was constantly having to load it into a car to make an all day trip out of town to get it re timed and tuned up. It was wore out from all the years of work. When the trips out of town began being a monthly trip I decided it was time to quit the business or get a new machine. To make a story shorter..... I got a Gammill. I don't have a Gammill because its large enough to do big designs. I have it because it's sturdy enough to run for hours and hours to do what I want it to do. To be honest any of the larger sturdy machine would have been adequate. Whether it be an A1, Prodigy, or any other of the major brands.
BUT... if a person is only planning to quilt their own tops then an industrial machine is not really needed. If someone wanted only to do a few tops as a spare income then a smaller machine is fine too. It really is possible to do the same things I do with my Gammill on a smaller machine. The machine you buy should fit the type of work you plan to do.
On my trip to Paducah I looked specifically for affordable machines for those people who want only to do their own tops. I looked for machines that could be used to create the ART of machine quilting without taking out a second mortgage to own it.
Ok, I've rambled on long enough. I have to finish making paper copies of the class materials for Saturday. It won't be the same as actually using a machine. BUT.... it's a start.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)