This last week I was able to take some classes at Quilt Fest. This is an awesome convention that is put on each year by the Utah Quilt Guild. There are classes, a quilt show, and a vendors mall.
The first class I took was One Line at a Time taught by Charlotte Wahr Anderson. This class was about quilting without marking. She uses creases and templates to make lines of stitches.
We made many samples and had loads of fun.
Here is some of her work that she showed off. Check out the awesome quilting on these.
Then I took a class called Introduction to Ruler Work taught by Mary Hyatt. She is a teacher/seller of Sew Steady/Westalee Quilting Rulers. I honestly had a hard time at this class. It was very much an hour and half long sales pitch. I understand that there is a lot of products that are required for Ruler Work. There is also a a bunch of things that make it easier. Mary spent most of the time talking up her products and not so much demonstrating or explaining what Ruler Work is. We were 80 minutes into a 90 minute class when she finally said that ruler work is just like free motion quilting while using a ruler to make the lines straight. I feel like that should have been one of the first things to be explained. The students kept asking a bunch of clarifying questions and she was getting flustered because she wasn't getting through her prepared material.
The next day I took another class from Mary Hyatt. (I had already paid for it, and was hoping for a better return on investment.) This was Hands on Ruler Work - Beginning Machine Quilting. It was basically the same class from the previous day, except she taught the class how to use each of the rulers and different things we could do with each one. I enjoyed that part. That was basically what I wanted to learn in the first place.
Here are some of the sample quilts she had for the class. All the quilting on these was done with rulers.
This is one of the samples I made.
I liked that I got a lot of time to practice ruler work and a few tricks to help improve the quality of my quilting. I did end up purchasing a set of rulers from her because I learned a lot of things I could do with those rulers and the ones I have are significantly different. But I do feel like I have more knowledge so I can use both sets that I have now.
If you ever find yourself in a class that you regret taking, at least try and find some good in it. Don't be afraid to try something new.
Have fun quilting!
