Craftsy Sale

I wrote about Craftsy last week in this post, "What is Craftsy?" and have since then delved into the wealth of online classes offered.

I started off with  Free Classes at Craftsy . First I watched Sewing Machine 911 and then Machine Embroidered Classics. I wanted to see if these would be good classes to refer customers to when I'm working at the local Janome dealer. (Did I mention I'm working one day a week there?) I also wanted to fill in any gaps in my own sewing knowledge and learn more about machine embroidery. These free mini classes certainly did that.

But the class I'm most excited about is Kimmy Brunner's Machine Quilting with Templates. I haven't gotten very far into the class with all the Thanksgiving busy-ness, but I really like it so far. She speaks very conversationally, not with a stilted script and throws in some humor too. And since she's recorded, it's more polished than a live class (or at least that's my assumption, not having taken a live class with Kimmy). I'm learning more about using templates/rulers for quilting. And you know how crazy I am about using rulers to free motion quilt on my stationary sewing machine.

My next class I want to take is the Online Beginning Serging class, as they sell sergers in the shop and I have never used one! Then I want to take some more quilting classes. Fun!


Craftsy has all types of classes. I am thinking of taking one of their photography classes too.

Right now, they are having a sale on all classes until December 2nd! All classes are $19.99 or less!And they are having other sales on fabric and yarn.

It's a great time to sign up for classes at Craftsy. Don't forget that once you sign up for a class, you can watch it instantly or if you're busy now, wait until any time in the future to watch it. And you can view the class as many times as you want!

Thankful Thanksgiving

Just a quick post to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope your day is full of food, friendship, and gratitude for a multitude of blessings. I have much to be thankful for, but I just want to say here how thankful I am for the people and fun that have come into my life through this blog. For that I say to you, thanks!

What to Quilt? Auditioning Quilting Designs

I'm working (still!) on a customer quilt and needed to figure out a design for the setting triangles. Out comes the handy dandy plexiglad sheet and a dry erase marker.

I had to figure something out that wouldn't require me to quilt it too densely, but would still look great. Feathers tend to fit that bill nicely. It's a bot of an odd shape, but the echo around the black helped.

Above, the design itself, off the quilt. Below, it's all quilted and worked great. You can use plexiglas, clear vinyl or even a page protector or laminating sheet to figure out designs. Just make sure to devote one particular side for the drawing so marks don't accidentally transfer and make sure that you don't go off the edge onto the quilt!

I also use the plexiglass as an oversized ruler for squaring quilts up and sometimes for marking out the size of a whole cloth wall hanging or such. This one is 18x24 and is quite handy for these tasks.

Quilt Getaway Weekend

Last weekend I packed my bags, kissed the hubby, and left the kids in his care and ran off to visit my wonderful quilty friend, Robin.

Isn't she adorable? Robin and I 'met' online at MQResource. A quilter and an experienced homeschooler who graduated her youngest already, we had a lot in common. I drove down and met her in real life this past January. Yes, I did what we tell kids not to do!

This time we had a very laid back weekend and went shopping. First we hit Mary Jo's Fabrics. This place is huge! It's mostly older fabric lines and clearance type fabrics, but they had a great selection of quilting fabrics. Below is the only pic I took as the place was very busy and I didn't want a bunch of strangers in my pictures.

That picture represents about one-sixth of the store! I did buy about 4 yards of fabric here. But didn't break the bank.

Then we were off to "Sew Much Fun"! What a great name for a shop. This is probably the prettiest, biggest, well lit shop I have ever been in. The colors and prints were just beautiful and the place is huge for quilt shop standards. Not as big as Mary Jo's but quite fabulous (and cleaner).

Above is to the left of the entrance and below is to the right, where they had Berninas galore and all kinds of embroidery supplies. I bought just one spool of thread, a lovely blue and silver metallic combination to use on the fabric I bought at Mary Jo's. I was the very image of restraint!

 Then after a meal of huge burritos at a place called Q'doba's (is that spelled right?) we drove back to her house and set up my machine. I gave a free motion demo to a friend of hers and then I convinced her to load some fabric onto her longarm for practice. She has been needing to stretch herself by doing more free motion work, and I wanted to try the long arm. I really don't want to get a long arm, but since I've been doing quilts for others, I have been giving it some thought.

Some of my stitching. Not too bad. It feels like I have no control whatsoever compared to moving my quilt under a sewing machine.

Then I left Robin with a stitch sampler to use as "homework" as she and a friend are wanting to improve their free motion quilting skills. Robin even wants to get better at quilting with her sewing machine even though she has a long arm. It was good to make an assignment for her as I am working on teaching a few more classes soon and I like to have the best plans possible for my students.

I had such a good time. I didn't have to quilt anything, but just did what I wanted to. And we sure got to talk and laugh and enjoy ourselves. Her hubby was such an accomodating host too! I felt refreshed when I got home.....until I saw the dishes. :-)   Actually, the house was in pretty good shape and the hubs and kiddos enjoyed themselves too.

Have you met an online quilty friend (or otherwise) and then met in person? Is there a place you can get away to for some refreshment that includes quilting. Have you done a quilt retreat?

 I will be linking this post with Leah Day's Free Motion Friday and Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. Come share in the fun and visit some great bloggers.