Megan Best

Hi Everyone!  Today I would like to talk to you about Megan Best.

Megan is a lovely, bubbly teacher and an award winning quilter to boot.  Megan is also the dealer for A1 longarm machines and Compuquilters in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  So for those of you who have a Compuquilter, her classes are a must.  What Megan doesn’t know about Compuquilters isn’t worth knowing!

Megan is offering 6 classes at Festival and I thought to make it easy I’d break it down into categories.

First up, her Compuquilter (CQ) classes : There will be three CQ classes dealing with everything from the basics through to advanced techniques.  A special borders and corners class will show you how you can quilt borders with a CQ  without having to turn the quilt!  How great would that be?

Secondly, Megan will be teaching an A1 maintenance class to show you how to keep your machine humming along.  In this class, among other things,  you will learn to time your machine to find the “sweet spot” to enable you to run all those gorgeous, but fussy threads.

And thirdly, Megan will be sharing with you the techniques that make her quilts so special.  In her Spinal Twist class you will discover a multitude of designs, other than feathers, that can be put on a spine to make your quilts pop!  In her Background Fills for Fun lesson Megan will help you overcome “background block” with inspiring ideas to fill those blank spaces.

Click here for all the details about Megan’s classes.

To check out some of Megan’s fabulous, inspirational work click here.

Until next time, 

Shontelle.

PS.  Next up will be Deb Louie.  Stay Tuned!

Art and Stitch with Susan Smith

Hello everyone!  I am back today to tell you all about Art and Stitch.  Art and Stitch are one of the Festivals generous sponsors and their amazing, intuitive software will be taught by Susan Smith.

Have you heard of Art and Stitch?  It is a fabulous computer program invented by Loes and Theo van der Heijden that enables you to create and digitise your own quilting designs.  How awesome is that?  Susan Smith is offering 3 classes to teach you how to use Art n’ Stitch at festival.  Click here to read about them. 

The great thing about Art and Stitch is that you don’t even need to be able to draw to use the program.  You can upload photos of potential designs and using the program can trace around the design elements in your photo to create and digitise your own quilting patterns or even appliqué and embroidery designs.  Can you imagine the scope you have with this program for truly customising quilts?  Any fancy tile, scroll work, carving or pattern you see has the potential to be digitised as a quilting pattern and the program even works out the stitching path!

Press play to view a video of Loes using the program to create and digitise a quilting pattern from some scroll work on an old chair –it is amazing, and so quick and easy!

On a recent trip to Melbourne I took some photos of examples of things you can come across every day that you could digitise and transform into a quilting or appliqué patterns.  My inspiration board is made up of a carving on an old wulitzer piano, part of a star bannister and some stencilling at the Royal Exhibition Building.

Of course if you can draw, then Art and Stitch enables you to transform your talents into gorgeous digitised patterns with ease.  With this program you can create lovely background fills, perfect cross-hatching and original motifs. 

What’s even better with Art and Stitch is the versatility of the program – you can save your designs to any format including DXF, ABM Innova PAT, CompuQuilter CQP, HQ Pro HQF, IntelliQuilter IQP, PC Quilter TXT, QBot PLT, SideSaddle SSD, StatlerStitcher QLI. And save in embroidery machine formats: Brother Babylock Bernina PES, Elna/Janome/Kenmore SE, Janome/Elna JEF, Melco/Bernina EXP, Pfaff PCS, Singer XXX, Tajima DST, Viking SHV, HUS, Viking/Pfaff VIP, VP3.

The Art and Stitch program will be for sale at Festival but for the classes you will only need to download a free sample of the program so you can "try before you buy".  The details are on Susan's class page.

For more information visit http://www.artnstitch.com/

If you have a computerized longarm or are a keen embroiderer or enjoy creating appliqué then Susan’s  Art and Stitch classes are not to be missed!

All the best,

Shontelle.

P.S.  Susan is also offering several other classes - I will be back at a later date to tell you all about them.  Meanwhile, stay tuned - I'll be back in a couple of days to introduce you to Megan Best.

One day to go!!

Registrations will open tomorrow morning, April 16th 2012 at 9.00am CST.

Please note that AMQF is for everyone that uses a sewing machine of any type – there are classes for all types of quilting.

Change of Teacher for Art & Stitch

The Art & Stitch Classes were to have been taught by Loes vander Heidjen from The Netherlands.  Unfortunately Loes & Theo are unable to travel to Australia at this time and the Art & Stitch classes will now be taught by Susan Smith (USA).  Susan’s classes vary a little from what was previously on offer but you won’t be disappointed! 

We’d like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Loes & Theo for their valued contribution to AMQF and look forward to a continued association with them.

Art & Stitch will be the next classes to be reviewed – stay tuned because this program is quite simply phenomenal and will turn those that are artistically challenged into “Rembrandts”.

Registration Fee

All those registering for a class must pay a Registration Fee of $60.00.

If you choose the Registration Fee option you will receive a Laptop Style Conference Bag containing a few lovely surprises and a 4 day pass into the Vendor Mall & Quilt Show.

However, there is another option which offers fantastic value for money, this is the Festival Package which is listed below.

Festival Package

Instead of paying the Registration Fee you may choose the Festival Package – cost $100.00.  This includes the $60.00 registration fee PLUS all of the following;

• Laptop Style Conference Bag
• 2.5m Charles Parsons wide backing fabric
• 4 day pass into the Vendor Mall and Quilt Show
• Various threads
• Magazines from Machine Quilting Unlimited, Express Publications, Homespun & Quilter’s Companion
• Quilt Tote
• Business Card Folder
• Notepad & Pen
• Patterns
• Commemorative Badge (new design)
• Listing in the Show Program
• Plus more

The Festival Package is valued at over $300.00.

Until next time,

Sharon & Tracey

Cindy Needham

Hi, my name is Shontelle Stanyer and over the coming months I will be reviewing different courses we have on offer and telling you about some of the fabulous teachers who are going to be joining us at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival this year.  

The first teacher I would like to introduce is Cindy Needham. 
 

Cindy

Cindy’s work is nothing short of amazing and as she won the Machine Quilting Teacher of the Year award in 2010, you know that she is going to be an awesome teacher too.   Cindy is offering five classes this year at festival and you can read about them here. 

 

 Many people think that the Machine Quilting Festival is just for longarmers – this is absolutely not the case. Cindy is just one of our teachers who is offering classes for quilting on a domestic machine. Her classes will take you through everything from thread selection, to design, to a hands-on, in depth introduction to machine quilting on a domestic machine. For the hands-on class we will have lovely Pfaff machines supplied for you or you can bring your own tested and tagged machine.  

One of the real treats at festival this year will be Cindy’s Linen Ladies lecture. This lecture will feature many of Cindy’s exquisite linen wholecloths and you will learn how to create your own masterpiece from ordinary household linens. Here is a sneak peak of Cindy’s trunk show. What a thrill it will be to see these masterpieces up close! 

   

Check out Cindy’s blog where she talks about her workshops and shares her students’ work.

If you have ever wanted to learn to machine quilt on your domestic machine then Cindy’s class is not to be missed! Don’t let the opportunity to learn from a master teacher slip by. 

Have a great week everyone. I'll be back next week to introduce Loes van der Heidjen from Art and Stitch.

Class Cancellations

It is with regret that we have to advise all our subscribers that due to unforeseen circumstances Jane Monk is unable to teach at AMQF 2012.  We apologise for any inconvenience or disappointment that this will cause to any prospective students and we wish Jane all the very best for the future. Tracey and I are working on filling this void and will do our very best to come up with classes equally as inspirational as Jane’s.

Zentangle classes will also be taught by the very talented Lee Vause and you may find what you are looking for in the classes that Lee is offering.

Volunteer Information

If you’d like to Volunteer during festival there is now a form on the website available.  Please check your class times carefully before completing the form to ensure that any classes you are wishing to take don’t conflict with the times you’d like to volunteer.

Alzheimer’s Benefit Quilt Challenge

The first quilt taking part in our Quilt Challenge was received yesterday and was accompanied by the most beautiful poignant story.  There really are some incredible people living amongst us and if you haven’t yet registered for this Challenge there is still time.  It is a most worthwhile cause and we sincerely want to raise a great amount to donate to Alzheimer’s Australia.  Please support this initiative!

Class Reviews

Shontelle Stanyer will be posting reviews on the teachers and classes that are available at AMQF.  She has been researching the teachers thoroughly and will give you an independent view and a different perspective on what you can expect from your class experience. 

Shontelle’s first review will be on Cindy Needham – stay tuned!

Till next time,

Sharon & Tracey