Tuesday & Wednesday    (October 22 & 23)

OR

Friday & Saturday    (October 25 & 26)

After seeing so many of you at the Minnesota quilt show and hearing the hunger for education on these longarm machines, we are excited to host the HQ Van again!  If you are into quilting and would like to start exploring the world of longarm quilting, then this is the place to be!  Karen is a great teacher with many years of experience and a desire to empower you to find your creativity!  Over the course of the two-day event, you will learn a ton of pro-tips to either get you started on your quilting journey, or give you all sorts of ideas on how to expand your creativity with what you already know!  We have had both beginners and experts alike take this class, and they have both loved it!

This is not just a lecture class!  We are having the HQ Van here, and there will be 6 machines all set up and waiting for you to practice and play on!  We also limit the class size so that there are only 2 people per machine, to give you a nice amount of time working on the skills that they show you.  Plus!  If you have already purchased an HQ machine from us, please email us for your coupon discount to save some money off the registration fee!

Don’t Wait!  Reserve your spot today!  Some years we have sold out LONG before this spring event, so you don’t want to miss this one!

We have (2), two-day events.  Either Tuesday and Wednesday, or Friday and Saturday.  The classes are exactly the same between the two times, they are just spread this way to try and fit various schedules and to make the most of the room we have and the educators time here!  We will start at 9:00 AM and end at 4:30 PM each day.  Here is what the schedule looks like:

Day One:

Morning: Longarm Machine Quilting Basics

Afternoon:  Fast, Fun, and Fabulous Free-Motion Quilting

Day Two:

Morning:  Introduction to the Pro-Stitcher (Hands on)

Afternoon:  Hands on Ruler Essentials

To read more of what is taught in each class, scroll down below to the class descriptions!

Our Educator:

Karen has been quilting for over 30 years. She started quilting her quilts by hand but soon became proficient at quilting on a stationary sewing machine. She enjoyed learning different quilting styles and techniques from the various books she borrowed from her local library as well as from a group of local quilters. She was welcomed into a small group of experienced quilters who met at a local quilt store.  These women have given Karen inspiration and encouragement throughout her quilting journey.

She discovered Handi Quilter longarm quilting machines at a quilt show and soon she was hooked on longarm quilting. She started to quilt for others and soon started her own longarm quilting business. She enjoys combining free motion quilting and ruler work with Pro-Stitcher® designs.

Karen finds that teaching students machine quilting builds confidence and develops artistic skills her students did not know they possessed. She is looking forward to reaching a wider audience of students through the Handi Quilter Educator Program and increasing the number confident and artistic quilters.

Karen’s two passions are quilting and traveling. She combines the two by visiting a quilt store in every town, city, or country she visits. She gets inspired by talking to and interacting with the local quilters about their quilting projects.

When Karen is not quilting, she and her husband enjoy exploring sandy beaches and hiking trails near her home in Saint James, New York.

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Class Descriptions:

Longarm Machine Quilting Basics:

Does longarm quilting interest you, and you’d like to learn more about it? Or do you just want a review of longarm quilting basics? This class removes the mystery of longarm quilting by explaining machine and frame elements and features, how to load a quilt, and vital facts about thread, needles and tension. Handi Quilter longarm machine and frame systems come in various sizes for every budget, and are user-friendly because they are designed by a quilter, for quilters – just like you!

Objective: Learn skills that will help you manages your long-arm machine with confidence

Topics Include:
• Basic machine and frame elements and features
• Bobbins, tension, needles and thread
• How to load a quilt onto a frame
• Quilting with Groovy Boards and pantographs
• Rulers, Adjustable and Micro Handles, and basic free-motion

Fast, Fun, and Fabulous Free-Motion Quilting

Quilters everywhere LOVE the excitement and fun of free-motion quilting – and it’s easier than you think! Create flowing designs by connecting simple design elements with continuous lines, traveling across the quilt or filling in a specific area. Learn how drawing and muscle memory contribute to beautiful free-motion quilting, and how you can create stunning designs.

Objective: Learn to create free motion designs that can be used to finish any quilt.

Topics include:
• How to develop an inventory of free-motion designs
• Proper scaling and spacing of design elements
• Edge-to-edge free-motion quilting
• Adjusting your quilting path to create your own new designs
• Using Micro Handles and adjustable handlebars for free-motion control

Pro-Stitcher Premium™ Basics

Pro-Stitcher is an intuitive computer-guided quilting system designed especially for use with Handi Quilter longarm quilting machines. User-friendly and simple to operate, the step-by-step process for each function is easy and fun. Whether finishing your own quilts or consider a quilting business, come see the elegant and precise quilting you can accomplish with Pro-Stitcher. New owners – start here!

Objective: Students will set up a design in an area and quilt it and set up an edge to edge design and learn the basics of advancing and repositioning designs

Topics include:
• Basic overview of how to use Pro-Stitcher
• Create an area and place a block using Skew, Resize, Rotate, or Align
• Use the modify tools to make a design fit in any space
• Demo how to set up an e2e (edge-to-edge) design
• Basic repositioning and advancing an e2e design

Ruler Essentials

If you love precision and consistency in your quilting designs, you will love using design rulers and templates! These handy tools assist in placing designs accurately and stitching them out precisely. Learn to handle rulers and templates safely with the ruler base and Sure Foot, and how to achieve accuracy with the markings. The wide variety of Handi Quilter rulers will inspire you to new design heights.

Objective: Learn the safe way to use rulers & templates. See ways that you can incorporate these tools in your quilting

Topics Include:
• Handle rulers safely
• Understand and use ruler markings for precision and accuracy
• Use piecing lines and marking tools to build ruler design confidence
• VersaTool quilting: stitch-in-the-ditch, cross-hatch, piano keys, clamshells and arcs
• Apply binding with the HQ VersaTool