IMQA Conference

Last Sunday I drove to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the International Machine Quilters Association Conference.  I had only learned about it the previous Thursday.  I found they had sit down longarm machine quilting classes -- something I hadn't seen offered anywhere else.

When I got to the Doubletree Hotel I discovered that a crowd was gathering for a Slipknot concert.  They were definitely not my genre of music -- scary indeed.  I had a quick dinner and escaped to my room.  The conference organizers called me to say my first class on Monday would be cancelled because the teacher couldn't arrive on time -- bad weather cancelled her flight.  Argh!

I made the best of it by traveling to a couple of quilt shops in the area.  One was in LeClaire, IA and it happened to be right in front of American Picker, the antique shop that's on TV.  They were filming so I couldn't go in, pooh!  I found a few things at the quilt shop though, had lunch and then headed back toward Cedar Rapids, to another quilt shop.  Fabulous store, great employees, tried out the new Bernina Q20 -- A-M-A-Z-I-N-G machine.  It has two stitch regulator sensors and it's impossible to not stitch evenly.  Oh, the price including the table is a just short of $12,000 -- ouch!

Here's my haul from the two shops:

As my mother would say, no one in the world can spell anymore.  Should be Royal Oak - ugh.

My evening workshop was great but I didn't have time for dinner so I had grabbed another cookie at the front desk on my way to class.  I met a very nice gal who was taking all of the same classes I wanted to take.  It was good to meet someone with similar interests.  Even our work history was similar.  We've corresponded since then and I'm sure we'll meet up again.

My Tuesday morning workshop involved using rulers in machine quilting and I never would have had the confidence to use rulers had I not taken it.  I ordered a bunch of rulers from AllBrands.com -- great prices!

No update on my Juki QVP yet -- the store is supposed to call me tomorrow or Tuesday.