Chicago Day #3 - The Class

Yesterday at the Chicago International Quilt Festival I was lucky enough to take Melanie Testa's Machine Quilting Sampler class.  It was every bit as good as the day before.  If you ever get the chance to take a class she teaches, take the opportunity.  She is truly a fabulous teacher.

This is Melanie's sampler for the class.  (Sorry, the photos are a little crappy.  The lighting was terrible and I only had the little point and shoot camera yesterday.)


This is my sampler made in class.


These are some close up shots of each of the different quilting types I tried.













Here is a photo of my name tag from the festival.  The bird sticker represents the "Most Studious Student" award I received an award from Melanie.  Fun, eh?


In this class I got to sew on a Bernina (I didn't write down the model number) and really liked it.  It retails for around $3200 I think. 

Did I mention yet how the machines work?  For each student in all the classes that require sewing machines, there is a nice machine provided by different dealers (I think... I guess it could be from the manufacturer, but the dealer makes more sense to me).  The dealers put out each machine for the students to use and provide some sort of an expert in the classroom throughout the day to help with any problems that may arise.  The machines are used for three days before they are packed up and given to their new owners for a highly discounted price.  I think if you are in the market for a new machine and are able to attend an event like this and try out a few different machines, you'd really get a feel for what you like.  And there's an added bonus... the discount.  Because the machines are open stock, they knock off quite a bit... today's machine, the Bernina retails for $3200 (I think) and I could have scooped it up for $2600.  It was a VERY nice machine.  Too bad I don't need to upgrade. 

To see the last few days worth of Chicago Quilt Festival blog posts, look here and here.

 I'll post a few photos I snapped of the quilts that were displayed in the quilt show on tomorrow's post. 

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