I'm home, and filled with all things quilty. It was a great trip, and all in all everything went quite smoothly. Did I take photos to share, no, who had time for photos? Not me. I had really good intentions when I arrived at the SLC airport, but then the shuttle came, and the whirlwind of classes, new friends, quilts, and vendors happened, and I don't any photos to share.
Overall I learned something from every class and every instructor. Some more than others, but that is to be expected with any series of classes. What I found the most consistent among all the teachers, was the complete inconsistency from one to another. One urges you to SID all seams, while another says she never has and never will. One will tell you to mark all lines and motifs, and another will steer you in any direction that reduces any type of marking. So, what I took away from all that is to do what works for you. I am a
staunch SID kind of quilter, and maybe I will try marking a bit more. I learned more about my own style by trying to learn someone else's. I am not a stencil person, though I can appreciate the opportunities they can give you. I tend to like rules and order to my quilting, but I was totally impressed watching Sue Patton quilt one handed while drinking coffee with the other hand, and non stop talking between sips. She is awesome, and she told us to say that.
I have a quilt on the rails right now, and I am trying some new ideas influenced by my class with Judi Madsen on secondary designs, I am also really making an effort to plan my quilting path ahead of time to be more efficient and have less traveling, backtracking and starts and stops. So far I am doing better, and starting to see ahead of myself to better plan where to go next. This has always been a struggle of mine, and any improvement is welcome.
So, to recap the entire trip, it was great. If you ever get a chance to go to a show, take classes and get away, I highly encourage you to do so. Being around so many like minded people who "get" your hobby, passion, obsession, or whatever you call it is refreshing and encouraging. There is always something to learn, and ways to improve, new things to try, and most of all new friends to meet.
Thanks for all your encouragement in my journey, I appreciate it.
Esther
Excellent recap! And that is exactly how I felt - I felt empowered by the inconsistency because it meant that I was doing just fine, quilting my way. I liked that every instructor I had said, if I can do it, you can do it, you are only the only one holding you back. It is an incredible environment to immense yourself and every quilter should do it at least once - though, like me, now that I am hooked, I will definitely go to more shows. I would be interested in hearing which teachers you would recommend. I learned from every class I took at Road, but I doubt if I would ever take two classes from one instructor again.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you took any classes fro Judi based on what you were saying--SID everything, mark everything! It really is interesting to see how different everyone is. I'm definitely a SID convert--it just looks better.
ReplyDeleteI loved Judi's Custom Quilting class and wish I'd taken the secondary designs one as well. She's my favorite.
I didn't take any photos either, so you're not the only one!
I hope to get to that show one day but it is a hike for me. And I'd love to hear about the other shows so I can figure out which ones I should put on my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe that you need to work on anything, but I guess we are all continous-students.
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