Hi everyone…thought I’d rap up my posts on the Janome Education Summit in late May before they are ancient history.   One the first day, I noticed what this woman was doing across the aisle from me with Kimberly Einmo’s flying geese units and fabric, and was smitten instantly.  Turns out it is Tamara Kate Serrao of Kayajoy Designs.  Her quilts, embroidery and fabrics are so inspiring…if she had had yardage there I would have gone home with a whole bunch!  You can find her on FB as well as her website.

Tamara Kate has a fascinating background, being from both Nova Scotia and Trinidad.  She is the Janome Canada spokesperson, and designed a phenomenal Maple Leaf Quilt as well as a special (gosh I wish I’d known about it) Janome machine for Canada’s 150th anniversary a couple years ago.

And here is that QUILT….her work is very much in the Modern Quilt aesthetic, but it also is infused with this like watercolor-y feel, palette and fresh vibe that still pays homage to our quilting history.

And the last pic…Janome had brought in their top of the line 15000 machines and iPads and stylus for us all to try sketching our own designs.  Due to slow wifi, we did a test-quilt (in a hoop using the embroidery module) using a pre-loaded design.  But of course I had to do a quick (and wobbly) sketch of the Flying Pug!

Yep, I think I have to confess to being a total fan-girl!   More fun stuff from the Education Summit in the coming days.

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So before I begin with our Tuesday afternoon session, let me set the stage:

Upon reflection, the range of techniques and machines we covered in 2 1/2 days was remarkable! Kudos to Janome’s Education Coordinator Regena Carlevaro for a fantastic Summit with amazing sponsors and projects.  Our schedule was:

• Monday evening:  arrival and welcome reception with munchies
• Tuesday morning:  Kimberly Einmo, Welcome and Flying Geese on the 9400
• Tuesday afternoon:  Amy Dreisbach Johnson and Ruler Work on the 9400, Janome David on Marketing Trends
• Tuesday evening:  Pizza Pajama Party and more fun sewing and playing and seeing everyone’s quilt blocks, presentation on using the Binding Attachment with Liz Thompson
• Wednesday morning:  Working with Double Gauze and Luxe Cuddle from Shannon Fabrics–OMG …WAIT until you see the furs…not cheesy fake stuff but feels like heaven fake stuff…bring on the winter snuggles AND  Build your Brand and Design your own custom Fabrics with Eileen Roche
• Wednesday afternoon:  Exploring AcuSketch for Quilting with Tamara Kate
• Wednesday evening:  a dream excursion:  dinner cruise on the Hudson at sunset!
• Thursday morning:  More on Build your Brand with Custom Fabric, then Serge Forward with Heather Peterson of Girl Charlee and making a  knit pencil skirt (custom sized) on a Janome Serger and Cover stitch machine
• Then, sigh, the buzz and comradeship drew to a close and we all spread to the corners of the continent going home.

Many of us are blogging so I’m going to set up a separate post with links to posts from the Summit, here.  I’ll add to this as more posts go up.

Back to Amy and Ruler work:

The day started out with a real boost–Amy came up to me and said my book, Threadwork Unraveled, was one of the ones she used to learn how to free-motion quilt and that I was part of how she got to where she is today…isn’t that kind and sweet and amazing?   Squee!  She certainly has learned…look at some of her her amazing quilting (more at the end of the post):

Many of the participants had never done ruler work.  The 9400 machines were equipped with the latest upgrade and the ruler-work foot.  WE were equipped with (Oh my!) a set of Janome rulers made by Westalee!  Amy gave each of us a quilt sandwich with a small square in a square design printed on fabric (done at sponsor MyFabricDesigns.com), which we could quilt using the design she provided to teach using the various rulers in our kit.  Of course (this will be a recurring theme) I decided to do the quilting my way instead–sorry, I am SO not a hearts person!

And some more delectables from Amy’s work:

Tune back in a couple days for more of the Janome Education Summit 2018.

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Many of you know I have been a Janome Girl for a long time.  I was beyond fortunate to be able to attend Janome-America’s first ever Education Summit last week in New Jersey.  It brought together Janome Educators–those wonderful folks who work in show booths for Janome, Janome dealers, in classrooms at quilt shows, around North America, the National Spokespersons for Janome for both the US, Kimberly Einmo, and Canada, Tamara Kate, as well as many Janome Artisans (like me) and Janome Makers.   As someone said at the start, I am in awe of the talent in that room, and my awe only increased as the week progressed.   I’ll share what we did over several blogposts because it was WAY to much fun and educational to fit into one post.  A bunch of us from the summit are blogging, so I will link to their posts at the end (and perhaps in a separate post, too).  A HUGE HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to Janome America–I think all of us are still floating on the collective energy and inspiration!

We began by working on the Janome 9400, the machine I have in my studio.  You will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.  I love what I can do on this machine. Stay tuned for different session work on it (as well as all my garment sewing and a lot of my quilting).

The swag that came from attending this Summit was unbelievable–thanks to ALL the donors.  Kimberly designed a ruler for flying geese and has a new line of fabric, Solid-ish which was one of our first delights. I had admired it on Facebook posts, but OMG it is SO much prettier in person!   And I am now a convert to specialized rulers.  This ruler makes it brainless and possible for even me to get perfect points (and I totally mean that, not just complimenting because we got a freebie, it really works).

One of the first and most useful tips came at the start:  ya know how Jelly rolls and other precuts have pinked edges and shed bits of thread and lint like crazy?  Lint roller them FIRST, before you undo the package!!!!!   Brilliant!

I tend to stress in classroom situations and my brain freezes, so I don’t accomplish a lot.   But I do start thinking.  I totally want some play time to make more geese and maybe some placemats, a wall quilt of the modern persuasion…. I saw what Tamara Kate was doing and totally thought that I need to get out of my box and play.   Go check Tamara Kate’s website Kayajoy for inspiration.

More soon!   Next post will be about ruler work with Amy Dreishbach Johnson of Sew Simple of Lynchburg VA.

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Hi everyone!   Thanks so much to those of you who were able to attend my new lecture, Inspiration in the Ordinary.  Thank you so much to the many guest artists who allowed me to share their work in my lecture.  You’ll find them below, along with links to a couple apps that I mentioned in the lecture as well as website links to two exhibits and several books, including The Art of Sarah Ann Smith…so far.  

Inspiration in the Ordinary                   A lecture by Sarah Ann Smith

 

Guest artists, apps and websites

 

Deborah Boschert

http://deborahsstudio.com

 

Kathy (Kate) Daniels

 

Louisa Enright

http://louisaenright.com

 

Bonnie K Hunter

http://www.quiltville.com

• On Ringo Lake: https://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/on-ringo-lake-mystery.html
• Blue Skies from String Fling
• Lazy Sunday from More Adventures with Leaders and Enders
• Crabapple from Adventures with Leaders and Enders

 

Kristin La Flamme

http://kristinlaflamme.com

 

Heather Pregger

http://www.heatherquiltz.com

 

Wendy Caton

http://theconstantquilter.blogspot.com

 

Teri Sontra

Purple Moose Designs  https://www.purplemoosedesigns.com

• Sandy Toes pattern is here https://www.purplemoosedesigns.com/product/sandy-toes/

 

Timna Tarr

http://www.timnatarr.com

 

Jim Vander Noot

https://www.jimvandernoot.com

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TidewaterStudio?ref=search_shop_redirect

 

Angela Walters

http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com

• Blended Squares is at http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/BlendedSquares.pdf
• Impracticality is at http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Impracticality-tutorial.pdf

 

Websites and apps:

 

Pantone  app

Pic-Collage app

PicStitch app

 

The Art of Sarah Ann Smith, so far

http://www.blurb.com/b/8193077-the-art-of-sarah-ann-smith

 

Inspired by the National Parks

http://www.npscentennialquilts.com

https://www.amazon.com/Inspired-National-Parks-Landscapes-Perspectives/dp/0764351192/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1445953799&sr=8-5&keywords=inspired+by+the+national+parks

 

Threads of Resistance

http://threadsofresistance.org/home.html

http://threadsofresistance.blogspot.com

 

Here’s a downloadable Inspiration in the Ordinary PDF of the information above.  Thanks again to all my visiting artists!

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We moved to Maine in 2004.   This top pre-dates that move by at least a year–I made it as a local quilt group mystery quilt (design by Debbie Caffrey but don’t remember the name).  I only made four blocks, made it into a small top, and it has sat in a basket mocking me lo these many years.

Fast forward:  I SPLURGED.  I ***seriously*** splurged.  I bought a Bernina Q20 sit down.  Yes, it costs as much as a nice used car.   And Oh. My. Yes. it is worth it…what a DREAM!  I figured you only live once, quilting is my favorite thing, so I’m gonna just go for it.   And yes, I am beyond grateful that I have been able to earn enough by writing, teaching and selling my art quilts to be able to afford this indulgence!  To each and every person who has ever read an article or my book, watched my DVD, or taken a class or bought an artwork, THANK YOU!

But that means  need to learn to use it and not be a tad intimidated.  Light Bulb Moment!!! Take those two UFO mystery quilts (yep, there’s another larger one) and use them to test-drive the new Bernina, named Birdie because of the beautiful bird’s eye maple cabinet (yes, I splurged a little more and upgraded to the cabinet…pics below).  So I got the somewhat soiled, tired, not particularly well pieced tops out, ironed them, and decided to go for it.

I have to say the included-with-the-machine video was great, although I have no clue WHY Bernina doesn’t make it able to play on a DVD player–only a PC or a Mac.  Have they not noticed that computers don’t come with disc drives any more?????  Luckily, separate disc drives are cheap (about $30 or less) and I had planned on buying one for other reasons (moving CD music to the laptop).  But still.   The disc ought to be able to be played on a DVD player!   Anyway, it is well done, as is the manual.

The Q20 comes with a bobbin tension gauge and the manual says (yes, I read manuals! you should, too) you should test every bobbin.   So for now at least, I am.  That helped me get my combination of thread–40 wt. trilobal poly in the needle and 60-wt very fine Bottom Line poly in the bobbin–adjusted with a minimum of fuss.  The stitch balance is simply fan-flipping’-tastic.  I DO match needle and bobbin thread always, though, just in case!

I need to thank three people:  Barb Black and Karen Miller are friends who have the Q20 (Barb’s is a sit-down like mine, Karen’s on rails) and Jeanie Cook-Delpit of Bernina for their advice, rave reviews and, from Jeannie, help.  When I saw Barb at Quilt Festival I got a great big laugh out of her when I greeted here with “Thank you for leading me into temptation!”  It’s totally true.  And Jeanie — you helped make this possible.  THANK YOU!  You are the creme de la creme of Bernina Ambassadors.  I’ll post more pics when done.   Let’s hope the power doesn’t go out tomorrow during the incoming storm, which is supposed to be heavy, wet snow.  I wanna quilt!