20-23rd September 2018
The Australian Machine Quilting Festival is dedicated to providing inspiration, education and encouragement to all machine quilters that own a longarm, midarm and/or a domestic sewing machine. Come & join us in our new venture to grow & learn about machine quilting!







Friday, April 30, 2010

5 months to go!

Tracey mentioned in the last blog post that I would be teaching at the Machine Quilters Exposition (MQX) which was held in Providence, Rhode Island, USA a few weeks ago. Attending a show such as this is not only exciting but so inspiring, it is like an explosion of all things “quilty”.
Three years ago I attended MQX for the first time and since then have longed for an event in Australia which focused on machine quilting. During a discussion with Tracey in November 2009 it became apparent that she’d had similar thoughts – hence the inception of what is now known as the Australian Machine Quilting Festival. It has been a torrid few months to get everything in place in such a short space of time and we are very excited with how it is coming together.
Since being in the US I’ve been thinking about the fantastic opportunity that AMQF will provide machine quilters in our own Country. We will no longer have to mortgage our homes to travel overseas, suffer 21 hours flying time, eat airline food, cope with time changes, jetlag and the chance of lost luggage! (That’s another story). No, we will have a wonderful show of our own!
There are quite a few shows in America dedicated to machine quilting such as MQX, Machine Quilters Showcase (MQS), Home Machine Quilting Show (HMQS) and the work that goes into making them a success is absolutely enormous. It is shows such as this that Tracey and I have used as a model for AMQF.
Having had classes with 3 of the teachers we have coming from America I can tell you that I would crawl, if I had to, just to sit in their classes.
Pam Clarke can give you endless ideas for designs to fill any spaces in such a quick and easy manner. If you are having trouble marking your quilts then her use of stencils will amaze and astound you. Never does a custom quilt leave my machine that I haven’t used her “one inch” stencil on.
Helen Baczynski is teaching Intelliquilter (IQ) Classes for those that have that particular robotic system. She is very calm with a lovely English accent and her teacher training for kindergarten has certainly put her in good stead to teach those of us that are a little challenged. She truly has the patience of a saint, puts you at ease and finds time to answer all questions.
Kimmy Brunner is without doubt one of the best teachers that you will ever be able to learn from. Apart from the fact that she is hilarious, her teaching method is outstanding. Kimmy has just received the Teacher of the Year Award at the Machine Quilter’s Exposition. Her way of teaching feathers is fun and so easy to learn and once executed they are simply stunning.
We, of course, have our Australian teachers and also John Neilson from New Zealand; they will be featured in future blog posts.
Many experienced teachers have indicated a desire to teach at AMQF so it can only get bigger & better. A show such as AMQF, will benefit us whether we quilt as a business or hobby.
If you have any questions or maybe some ideas of your own please don’t hesitate to contact either Sharon or Tracey

Let’s make “Festival” the success we know it can be!

Until next time….

Tracey & Sharon

owners AMQ Festival 2010

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Happy Easter

Hi all

I trust you haven’t overeaten in the chocolate department yet this weekend?

We have some very exciting news!!

AMQ Festival now has FIVE International Teachers coming to share their knowledge with us…

We are thrilled to announce the latest additions to our line-up.

Kimmy Brunner

is a third generation quilter who has made it a goal to bring her family's quilting history into the future. Her work has won multiple national and international level awards and has been featured in numerous books, magazines and calendars. Nominated five times for Teacher of the Year, and known for her beautiful quilting and crazy sense of humor, her style combines laughter with years of experience. She produces top-rated instructional DVDs for midarmers and longarmers alike, digitized patterns for computerized quilters, and high quality quilting aids and tools. A frequent contributor to quilting industry publications and the author of the ask-the-expert column ‘Ask Kimmy!’, she teaches jam-packed classes at major machine quilting shows. Still sane (sort of) despite having two teenagers, she lives in Minnesota with her family, spoiled rotten dogs, and an alarming stash of fabric. Visit her website at www.Kimmyquilt.com for more information.

Kimmy has offered 4 classes to AMQ Festival & we are thrilled that she is coming.

Sponsored by MP-MQU

Stewart Plank

Owner of A1 Quilting Machines/Plank Manufacturing has agreed to come to lovely South Australia and to present a class on A1QM maintenance as well – more details later…

John Nielsen

Introducing John Nielsen, of Quiltfairies at Baylys Beach.

I am originally from Denmark, but I have lived in New Zealand for almost 20 years I have been doing patchwork and quilting for seven years, and for the last three years quilting for customers on my A1 Longarm machine. In July 2009 we added the Intelliquilter Computer System to my longarm, - which of course is like a "Quilter’s dream come true".
In my Quilt studio I have three favourite tools. One of them is Pre-Design! (If you ask me I will also tell you about the two other ones later!)
I can do free-hand quilting, but have never been good drawing with pen on paper, and did not like to draft and doodle quilt designs, - well that was until I found Pre-Design Studio 2 years ago. Pre-Design is a computer drawing software , - vector based, where you can draw or trace block or panto designs to your hearts content, print on paper and / or convert the drawings to "sew-files" (dxf-files) to be sewn on either your domestic embroidery machine, or on a computer guided longarm machine.
Visit the website to learn more about John & his classes!

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To help you find all this information go to the teacher page on the website and you will find all the teachers that have agreed to participate so far and if you click on the About Me button below their name/photo you will find more information and a list of their classes being offered. This is still a work in progress as they provide us with their class offerings.

When all this is finalised we will create a schedule and let everyone know when they will be able to register for AMQ Festival and the classes of your choice. We are aiming for mid July for this to be finalised & released.

AMQ Festival will allow you to choose which classes you wish to attend and you only pay for what you want.

There will be a student registration fee that will cover a goodie bag (which will have magazines, discount vouchers & merchandise & more), entry into the vendor mall & quilt show everyday. Then you will simply choose individual classes, banquet dinner & what ever else we come up with to attend & pay for those accordingly. Very similar to attending a machine quilting show in the USA. You have total control of your budget and scheduling….

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We are also thrilled to announce our GOLD sponsor for AMQ Festival 2010 is Victorian Textiles

vt_logo

Silver Sponsors

Zoltan Kasa of Kasa Engineering intelliquilter_logo-CMYK

Meander Publishing MP-MQU

Sue from Sue’s Sewing World

Hetties Patch

Universal Magazines homespunlogo

 

Without generous sponsors festival simply could not happen, so please express your appreciation when dealing with these businesses at all times!

A full list is always available on the website and is updated as they are received.

Until next time…

have a blessed Easter & a safe one!

 

Tracey & Sharon

owners AMQ Festival 2010

ps: Best wishes to Sharon Parkinson, who is about to head off to the USA to teach her classes at MQX this month! Have a great time Sharon…