MQS 2011 - The Things I Learned!

I had an absolutely wonderful time at MQS again this year.  I was privileged to work in the judging room as a scribe, quilt holder and general jack of all trades.  Patricia Harrison and Linda McCuean, both NQA Certified Judges.  I learned so much observing their process and listening to the comments they made as they evaluated the design and workmanship of the quilts and other items entered in the show. 

New this year was the recording of the judges comments.  After an initial evaluation, the judges comments were recorded and subsequently downloaded onto thumb drives donated by YLI.  Each entrant received the evaluation sheet and the thumb drive with the judges comments.  Had I entered a quilt, I would have been thrilled to hear a recording of their comments in their own voices.  They were generous with the quantity of comments - not limited by how fast the scribes could scribble - and the educational value of their comments was tremendous even to me as an observer.  They commented on things done well and offered helpful suggestions for improvements.  Most of all, their comments were upbeat and encouraging.  What a wonderful way to encourage quilters at all levels to improve their craft.

After completion of the judging came the classes.  I signed up for classes outside of my comfort zone and learned several new ways to embellish quilts and to quilt quilts.

Gina Perkes talked about ways she embellishes quilts.  She mentioned obtaining Ultrasuede from garments at Goodwill and other resale shops as a way to cut down the cost of obtaining materials.  She likes Ultrasuede for her longarm applique technique as it doesn't ravel.

One of the more interesting techniques discussed by Gina - the leaves are completed separately and then only partially quilted onto the quilt.  This adds quite a bit of dimension to the quilted piece.

 Another class I took was from Mindy Wylie Casperson.  I've been trying to figure out how to get swags using the templates I have on hand...not possible.  She's developed a series of Swag templates that accomplish the job quite nicely.  I also learned some other ways to use templates that I hadn't thought about before - a very helpful class.

OK, not the best picture.  But a great example of one of the ways swags can be incorporated in a border.

I took a wholecloth class from Judy Woodworth a year or so ago and enjoyed her teaching style tremendously.  So when I saw the class on quilt painting and coloring, it seemed like a good way to become familiar with new techniques.  And it was.  A side benefit was getting to meet her husband, Woody, who does most of the painting on her quilts. 

This quilt is an adaptation of a picture of her daughters in their clown costumes.  It's wonderfully vibrant and fun to explore (a term I heard used in the judging room frequently that really expresses how quilts can be viewed). 

My final class was as a Teacher's Angel for Mari-Lee Seei's class on using templates.  It never hurts to learn more about using templates and I was curious as to why the Off-The-Edge circle rulers were marked the way they were.  I've used circle templates marked with rays (45, 90, 135, 180 degree markings and so forth) and was having difficulty envisioning how to use circle templates marked with lines parallel to the centerline.  Well, Mari-Lee explained it beautifully and identified a whole new range of ways to use templates.

The central motif is generated using a circle template combined with just a portion of a stencil.  It really looks elegant and is different from anything I've tried up to this point.

If you can't tell, I had a great time and learned quite a bit at the show.  And if you want to see who won ribbons at the show, check out the MQS website:  http://www.mqsshow.org/. 

Cheers!
Margaret