I love learning ... am a committed life-long learner. I define a good day as one where I've learned something :)
I got to spend three entire days in a workshop IN UTAH! My beautiful, new Bernina Q24 longarm robotics - "QMatic" is great to work with. I've been doing basic stuff since it was installed last summer. Bernina themselves offer training but their classes book just as soon as they are published. An opportunity became available in the spring with an educator in Utah. She has run previous training sessions with great reviews, so I signed up. We were going to bike out but ran out of time, so I flew. I even love the plane ride over the countryside - from the pie shapes from pivot irrigation to the rugged foothills.
Utah itself is just astoundingly beautiful. And Utah is also a quilter's haven! Just look at these Row By Row shops! Literally, my shopping journey on my free day had six shops within a 40-minute driving route. Including a quick stop at Quilts On the Corner, of the famous Renae Haddadin and her Red Snappers. Picked up a new set of Red Edge clamps.
The QMatic training itself was fabulous - you just never know what you don't know. I learned so much, and lots of tips and tricks as well. Denise Gatinella Lopez of Nuttall's was our fearless leader. We had a class of 10 participants, and 5 machines to work on. Working in pairs worked well, as you also learn a lot from how other people work!
A couple of the new techniques you can do with different feet on my machine - couching (this is a nice heavy cording) and twin needle work.
And yes, my luggage was overweight coming back, and I did have to pay some customs on the overage from the personal allowance. A great week, and I am so much more confident in what I can do with my machine!
Even managed to spot "Mike Weir Drive" in the hills by a golf course ... Mike is a famous golfer from Southwestern Ontario. The haze in the background is from the wildfires.
