Innovations 2010 – First Day!

Wow, what a great day!

I met up with one of the Innova quilters who lives in the Tacoma area, whom I met on one of the Yahoo discussion boards.  We had lunch together and other people in the area joined us, too.  Thanks for the sandwich, Sheri!

I only took one class, called Panto Fun, that was about a really wonderful piece of software called Pre-Design Studio.  It will allow you to make your own, original, pantographs!

It has tools similar to those found in major graphic design software packages, and I have been wondering if I should get one over the other.  They both have their places, as I knew they would.  Pre-Design Studio is designed specifically for digitizing images (not creating the stitch information for the design) that can be used for embroidery and longarm use and all of the tools I need are included in this one application.  The stitch-out creation happens in the big sister application, Art & Stitch.

All I can say is “Wow!”  Not only can this package do everything Pre-Design Studio can do, it does more…lots more!  So, not only can pantographs be created and resized, it can be used to create embroidery designs, including the stitch information, as well as computerized longarm quilting files for all major systems on the market today.  Now I just need a computerized system!

A quilt conference wouldn’t be a conference without meeting new people.  I had a wonderful conversation with Mavis Rosbach of Quiltbird Studio after the Pre-Design Studio class.  I was delighted to hear her story of becoming a quilter, teacher, and pattern designer as well as her upcoming endeavors and she was generous enough to offer some suggestions to some ideas I’ve been tossing around.

I also met Anne Bright while I was browsing her selection of pantographs, which can also be found on  her website, AnneBright.com.  Since I was at her booth at the end of the day, I decided to look through her catalog a bit longer before making my purchase; she’s having a “buy 2, get one free” sale and I want to maximize my choices.

After the show, I met up for dinner with Marian Drain and her sister Edie Elliott, from CuddleTime Quilts, and Marion Carmickle.  Marian Drain will be teaching her first Innovations class, although it’s not her first teaching gig, on how to fix the challenging quilts that come into your life.  Marion Carmickle is teaching about leveraging social media and YouTube in your quilting business, as well as a class for new quilters.

Time for bed, I need to get up  in the morning for a full day of quilting classes!