Classes Reopened!!

Classes Tracey and I, along with our DH's Paul and Tony, spent a few hours at Endeavour College today working on the logistics for "Festival" and checking the class configuration against the student lists. We have now made a few changes which will enable more students in some of the classes. This has resulted in opening a few of the classes that had previously been closed. If you were one of those that had missed out go to the website and check if the particular class you were interested in is one of those that have been reopened. Classes have been filling rapidly, as the early closure of some has indicated, please book asap to avoid disappointment.

Sponsorship Opportunity The chance to have your business promoted on the registration bags is rapidly drawing to a close. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain great exposure for the very small outlay of $200 including GST. This offer will end on August 3rd!

Valuation of Quilts If you have a quilt/s that you would like to have valued, the Valuation Panel from the Quilters' Guild of SA Inc are offering this service. The cost of valuation for SA Guild members is $16.50, $27.50 for members of affiliated groups and $33.00 for non-members. If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer please contact Heather Ford, Valuation Panel Coordinator via email. Please note that this is a service being offered by the Guild and not AMQF - all coordination is to be done between those wishing to have their quilts valued and the Valuation Panel.

Accommodation The accommodation at Mawson Lakes Hotel is almost at capacity. If you are thinking about attending Festival and haven't booked your accommodation please do so asap.

Remember to mention AMQF for your discount!

Stay tuned for updates,

Sharon & Tracey

New Class available!

Hi everyone.

I am thrilled to advise that our lovely Keryn Emmerson has agreed to teach a repeat of her FULL class 228 on Monday.

Class 428 Creative Studio 3 in Stand Alone Mode with Keryn Emmerson is now open for registrations and being run 11-1pm on Monday 4th October.

Thank you also to those volunteers that are letting our coordinator know what times you have available now that you have booked classes!

Don't forget to let all your quilt group buddies know that Festival is for all machine quilters! There are many classes available for domestic machine quilters as well.

Quilt entries are coming in! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enter your quilts and be in the running for some really nice prizes, get the exposure for your work/business and the feelgood feeling of seeing your quilt on display.

Until next time…

Tracey & Sharon

Classes & Volunteers

Class registrations have just reached 665 and as Tracey mentioned in her last post some of them had reached capacity. Due to some re-organisation of classrooms and machines we have been able to offer these classes again. If you are considering attending Festival please register asap to avoid disappointment.

We are very excited and a little overwhelmed at the response we have had and this has prompted us to put out the call for more volunteers.

If you have any spare time and would like to offer your services we would love to have you help us. There are many positions available from Thursday, judging day, through to pack up on the Monday. We have had over 40 offers from volunteers but are calling for more.

Val Towill, Bluegum Quilts, has very kindly offered to act as the Volunteer Coordinator and she can be contacted via email. Many people offered their services before the class registrations and as such didn't know when they'd be available. If you have previously registered to volunteer it would be appreciated if you could contact Val and let her know what days/times you are available.

Until next time,

Sharon & Tracey

Update on class availability…

We are thrilled to let you know that we are able to re-open the two full classes with Kim Brunner (142 & 440) to allow a limited number of extra students in them. There were so many that missed out that we have negotiated a different classroom that will allow room for more people in there. It has theatre seating, screens  & Kim’s classes will have full video camera/laptop/data projector to enable everyone the perfect view of what she is teaching.

Class 228 - Creative Studio 3 in Stand Alone Mode with Keryn Emmerson is now FULL.

There are other classes that are getting close to full as well, so if you are still thinking about classes we suggest that you don’t wait  too long to avoid disappointment. 

Don’t forget the AMQAS 2010 entry forms for all your wonderful quilts  are due at the end of July!

We are thrilled to advise that Sue’s Sewing World has generously donated a Brother NV400 sewing machine. This machine is priced at $1199.00 and will be presented to the winner of the Best of Show quilt!! Well worth getting organised to enter some of your quilts isn’t it??

There are many opportunities for sponsors to get involved still. Please visit our Marketing Opportunities page to see more details on this.  If you would like to add your sponsorship to any of the AMQA Quilt show categories  then please  email president@amqa.com.au to discuss this further.

Until next time…

Tracey & Sharon

Class full already!

Just a quick note to encourage everyone to book your classes if you really want them? Already our first class is FULL…

Kim Brunner’s Friday class – It’s more than just Edge to Edge -  is FULL.

Her Twirly Whirly Feathers is very close as well.

Could we ask all of you to let your local guilds know that Festival is celebrating ALL machine quilting and as such there are many classes suitable for domestic machine quilters as well? We have two multi award winning domestic machine quilting teachers at Festival  and they don’t want to miss out on these classes!

The majority of registrations have  gone very smoothly, so thank you for reading and following the instructions on the online registration page. There were a few of you that have forgotten to DEDUCT the delivery fee when you chose to pay by Internet Transfer. We will refund this fee to you in an envelope with your registration package to collect at Festival. There are also some that have mistakenly purchased classes or registration more than once?  Please be patient whilst we get through the list & contact you to sort all that out.

Until next time….

Tracey & Sharon

Registrations are OPEN!

You can now visit the website and choose the classes you would like to attend. Please ensure you choose carefully.

Please  remember you are responsible for your own schedule.

 

It has been LOTS of work for both Sharon & I, so I do hope that you are thrilled with all the choices we are able to offer. The ability to educate ourselves on this scale at the one place has been a dream for both of us. The promotion & exposure the machine quilting industry is already receiving and will continue to receive from this event, will be ongoing & positive.

We also greatly appreciate that the Australian Machine Quilting Association Inc has agreed to run their AMQA Show 2010 in conjunction with Festival. We hope that everyone considers entering a quilt to make this a ‘show’ to showcase your work & be proud of it.

None of this would be  possible without  some  amazing  sponsors! So please show your appreciation of their support by thanking them  & visiting them when you can. The list of sponsors is still growing and can always be found on our sponsor page.

until next time….

Tracey & Sharon

Registration time is almost here!

Registration opens in less than 12 hours - good luck with getting in to your classes of choice. Remember to choose carefully and ensure you coordinate the times & days so that you don't find yourselves booked into two classes at the same time.

Over the past few months we have featured quite a few of our teachers and this post will expand on a few more.

Clare Fairless-Lewis will be teaching 3 classes and on reading what she has to offer has made me realise what I'll be missing out on. Clare's first class is Fun & Funky Fillers -one thing that is very important for all quilters to have in their arsenal are "fillers" - almost all quilts have spaces that need filling. The second class Clare is offering is Time Efficient Traditional Based Quilting showing how to completely finish a quilt top without marking or having to turn to do the borders - what a bonus!! Saving the best til last - in fact the very last class at Festival will be Clare's "Fairless Fancy Quilts". This class is for the time-poor quilter - it'll teach you to whip up an eyecatching quilt that will be the envy of all!

Michele Turner will be teaching all the skills required to make your own wholecloth quilts from scratch. Michele has won award both here in Australia and at two of the major machine quilting shows in America. She will be sharing her method for designing, marking and creating a wholecloth quilt including cut-away trapunto, motifs and background fillers.

Sharon Parkinson will be sharing all the tips she has learnt in her years of machine quilting in her Basics for Beginners and Beyond Class. She will be sharing ways she has discovered to make the life of a machine quilter much easier, more pleasurable and as stress free as possible. You will gain comprehensive tips to help you from the initial call from a customer right up until you remove the completed quilt from the machine and beyond. Sharon's second class, A Feather in Your Cap is sure to have you drawing feathers like a professional in a few short hours. Once you have mastered this skill there'll be no stopping you.

Belinda Betts will be teaching a class on the use of rulers and templates, an area which scares many machine quilters! Belinda will have many different types and designs of templates and go through their uses and applications. She is a very accomplished award winning quilter and has a gift of knowing where and when to use a particular ruler - her quilting is testament to this skill.

Good luck with your class registrations! Whichever classes you choose you will have a fantastic time and expand your knowledge as machine quilters which is what "Festival" is all about.

Sharon & Tracey

Not long now…

Just a reminder to everyone that online class registrations will be available early on Monday 12th July!!

Here is a sneak preview of some information that you will need to read…

How to Register for Classes

There are two ways to register for classes.

• You can register online below (This is the fastest and preferred method)
  OR
• You can print the class registration form when it is available and mail it in with your payment. Class Registration Form can be mailed to:Australian Machine Quilting Festival, Student Registration, 13 Harbour Drive, Gulfview Heights, SA, 5096. Make cheques payable to AMQ Festival Pty Ltd.
• A complete class book (Class descriptions, teacher bios, Special Events, etc) will be available for download as soon as it is ready.

Registration opens July 12, 2010 at 9:00am.
Online Registration closes September 17, 2010.
Mail-in Registrations must be postmarked before September 1, 2010.

Watch class times carefully! You are responsible for your own schedule!

Schedules, tickets (Banquet Dinner and/or Day Passes), badges, etc.will not be mailed in advance. Students need to check-in at the Student registration desk when you arrive.

Fees:

• Class Registration fee is $60.00. (This is a $110.00 value)
  • This fee will be payable by all students nominating for classes. This fee not only helps towards teachers fees and expenses, staff time, supplies and equipment but also offers benefits to students. These benefits include 4 days admission into the show and vendor mall, and also a fabulous tote bag complete with goodies including magazines from Meander Publishing.
• Attendee Package is $100-. This is a $230.00 value & is optional & includes the Registration fee with more benefits
  • In addition to the above, the Attendee Package includes a Commemorative Badge, at least 3 full patterns, 3m of wide backing fabric, a listing in the show catalogue and a few other surprises.
• Banquet Fee is for our Sunday evening banquet, awards presentations & special guest speaker - Kim Brunner. Please visit our Special Events page to view the menu & timetable.
• Festival Photo CD - this will be a fantastic professional CD of photos of the quilt show and the festival itself. Great inspirational quilting shots to inspire you with your own quilting at your fingertips.
• Class fees are listed with the class descriptions and payable at time of registration. All fees are GST inclusive.
• A Kit fee & Handout fee may be listed for some classes. This fee is payable directly to the instructor before the class starts.

Online Registration Instructions:  PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY !

• View the class description by clicking on the class number and a new browser window will open to review the details.
• Choose your classes by placing a number one (1) in the box. You can add all your classes at once in the form then click the Add Me button below. This will take you to the shopping cart to see what you have ordered. You can press the back button to return to the registration page to add more classes or to add class registration fees, banquet dinner etc Once all your classes have been added to the "Shopping Cart", proceed to "Go To Payments" to enter your billing and shipping information. Then "Continue"
• Choose your method of payment and then press Continue..
• Methods of payment are
  • Internet Banking (our preferred option) Please manually deduct the 'delivery fee' then perform your internet transfer -to do this you will need to open a new browser (leaving the AMQF window open), go to your banking website & perform this transaction. You will be allocated a reference number from your bank. THEN complete the AMQF transaction by placing the reference # and date of deposit on the next page of the cart. Your position in your classes is NOT confirmed until payment is received in our account.
  • Credit card using Paypal. There is a processing fee added to your total when choosing this option. This is the 'delivery fee' in your shopping cart which is the actual 'fee' that Paypal charges us to use this service.
  • Print & mail order with a cheque minus the 'delivery fee'.

After your payment information is entered, click on "Continue". The final page is "Order Receipt". You will receive an email showing your registered classes. Please print this for your records.

Class enrolments: Classes will be processed on a “First Come” basis. On-site class enrolments will be available for classes that are not filled. The class registration fee will still apply.

Waiting List: We will maintain a waiting list of 10% of the maximum allowed in a class.

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We would also like to remind everyone to prepare their quilt show entries and get them in by July 31st. We love seeing quilts & the quilting on them in all genres, so download the entry forms and get them in to AMQA before the due date. There will be some great prizes along with the thrill of seeing your own quilt hanging as well as on the Festival CD to remember the event.

until next time…

Tracey & Sharon