Last week I went to a three-day Ricky Tims Super Seminar. It was a Christmas gift from my family. Although it was held in a venue only about 10 miles (or less) from home, they also treated me to staying in the seminar hotel - I love staying in hotels! It felt a little funny at first, but believe me, I got used to it quite quickly and really felt like I was away on a quilt adventure.
Here's a slideshow Ricky and Alex Anderson posted to give you an idea of the weekend's event.
The most challenging thing about the weekend was the weather! South Texas experienced extremely cold weather last weekend - unheard of coldness! And the event venue was a big barny ballroom that never seemed to get warm - and yet, no one complained! We were all so excited to see the quilts and watch the experts demonstrate how to make them we just pulled our jackets around us a little closer.
If you haven't been to a Super Seminar, I recommend it. Ricky Tims and a guest expert or two (typically Alex Anderson) lecture and demonstrate all their signature techniques over the three days. There are also numerous shopportunities to purchase their books and Ricky's hand-dyes, and Bernina is a big player in the retail therapy portion of the event. A couple of the lectures were basically Bernina commercials. Being an Elna girl, this was a little dull for me - could have been off-putting if I'd let it be.
One of my favorite parts was getting to see Ricky's and Alex's actual quilts up close. I've seen these in all kinds of publications and online for years so it was great to see them in person. I've always wanted to compare my hand-quilting to Alex's. I spent a long time studying her quilt Mud.
What I discovered is that I "can" and do quilt like she does - but not as consistently, especially on my own personal quilts. You can find high quality quilting like this on my quilts, but not all over the quilt. I'm happy to let some sloppy quilting (bigger, uneven stitches) find its way into my quilt - sort of lazy, I know. So as a result, for the past week as I've been quilting Kites and Diamonds, I've been much more mindful as I quilt so that my stitch is more consistent. It's really paying off.
I had a great time - paid for it at work this week with all of the catching up I had to do, but it was worth it.
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