Longarm Quilt Guild Meeting

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited as a guest to a Longarm Quilt Guild Meeting in Maumee, OH.  I know almost nothing about longarm quilting and I wanted to know more about the process so I jumped at the opportunity. 

Show and tell was too much fun.  Look at these amazing quilts.

This is a Celtic Wedding Ring.  It is pieced in squares and the "elbows" are needle turn applique.

This is Cindy.....the woman with the "patience of a saint" to put the Celtic Wedding Ring together.  Didn't she choose beautiful colors for her quilt?

When I saw this next beauty,  I instantly thought of Moda Bake Shop Sampler.  However, in the Sampler there are only 480 squares.  This quilt has 2000....yes....two thousand squares.  It was made by Sheryl Guess. 

I really like how Sheryl laid out the squares.  Can you imagine the work involved?

I really like green so you know this one jumped out at me. It was made by Lisa Spalding and the pattern is Magic Tiles.

Here is a close up so you can see the fabrics.

After show and tell we were indulged in an amazing pot luck lunch. I was thinking it would be worth joining the guild just to take part in their quarterly potluck. These folks know how to cook.....unlike someone else I know.

Don't I look happy and at total ease with Lisa's longarm quilting machine? 

Oh yea baby.....I'm a natural. 

This is a picture of my very first free motion quilting.  I just zipped right along .... sort of like a Zen Master Meditating.  I was at total peace and my breaths were even and deep.....in and out....completely at one with the machine, fabric and thread. 

Ok, I lie like a rug (but you knew that).  This is actually my first work and I was sweating like a hog.  I was scared for some strange reason (I think it is because the black handles reminded me of my first time learning to ride a motorcycle.....I turned it over and darn near cried).  I'm so glad that machine was on a big table and the room was full of nice people....because if it had turned over on me.....I would have been traumatized beyond recovery....LOL.

Being a Psychologist by profession, I just so happen to know a little bit about IQ.  But that knowledge was completely useless on Saturday. 

This IQ refers to IntelliQuilter!!!  I had never even heard of such an invention. It is a computer controlled quilting system. Who knew? I'm so glad I was not in the Cash Cab being asked what this referred to....LOL.

Check this out.  Lisa punched in some numbers on a computer screen and this is what happened:
 

I won't be doing anything this cool anytime soon but at least I know some of the lingo!!

The last piece here was made by Rich Spalding.  I loved this Dragon Quilt.  Rich used a pattern by MedowLyon Designs.

After quilting the design he used Paintsticks to highlight the areas he found interesting.  I think this is soooo cool.  Did I mention.....Rich has his own longarm machine?  I thought that was really neat....both Lisa and Rich do longarm quilting.  I was fortunate enough to meet some other couples who also use the longarm quilting machines. 

The meeting was very enjoyable and again I got the opportunity to meet some very interesting and kind people.  By the way, many of them liked my Spanky Fleece Socks!!! 

Smiles,

Kelly