A Day with Kimberly Einmo!!!

     All of my quilting friends will be the only ones to understand what it means to not only spend a day with Kimberly Einmo, but a day and a half!!!  If you don't know who she is, she is a world renowned quilter.  Yeah, one of those you see on TV!!

     It started Saturday with her being a speaker at the Quilters of South Carolina Spring Meeting.  Then Sunday I attended one of her classes.  

     It was amazing to learn how normal she was.  She acted like one of us and treated each of us like we were her friend!!

     The class was on her Quilt, Modern T's, which is in her book; Modern Quilts and More. It highlighted her Flying Geese Ruler.  And can I tell you was eye opening to me!!!

     We started the morning by learning about the ruler and grains of fabric.  It's always good to have suttle reminders of things we already know.  The EZ Flying Geese ruler has 2 sides.  An "A" side and a "B" side.  The secret is if you can read the writing correctly you have the ruler turned the right direction.  The goal of the ruler is to speed up the cutting and sewing process while leaving no waste. Each side has a coordinating set of colored lines.  Pink for Breast cancer and Mint for Ovarian cancer.  The "A" side makes the actually geese, while the "B" side makes the outside little triangles.  There is a corner missing.  This is done to give you a better starting place and allow you less points to trim off!

     She gave us a hint while teaching use to cut.  To achieve ruler control you should not hold your ruler with your palm, but instead with your finger tips.  Then leaving your pinky on the outside on the mat, to keep the ruler from moving and establishing control. 

     Her rulers,  including the Jelly Roll(which I wish she would make a 6x24 like!),  have the same type of lines her choice of coloring is easy to see and just has the inch and 1/2 inch lines.  This allows for less confusion! 

     I have not done flying geese except for in quilt along blocks.  I have decided in this quilt I will try to master them and do one more!  My first block did not turn out perfect.  I have decided instead of ripping it out,  I am going to use it to make something and make a second.  I usually don't do this, but I think that this will be the first quilt I send to a Longarmer.  So I want to try harder to make it worth it!!

     The next tip Kim gave us was after I already put my block together.  She showed us what seams to iron open.  One of my downfalls is hate doing.  She showed us this little gadget that I of course bought.  It honestly made it easier to iron the seams open. It's called the strip stick.  It has a curve in it that allows the pieces of fabric to lay open around while you iron.  This is the 18 inch one. 

    Once you learn the first block it is easy to chain piece the rest.  The first one is a little different and not as easy to chain together.  It is easier to lay out and sew a section at a time.  

     Kim then taught us a neat way to do a pinwheel block that I will be trying soon and will hopefully be giving you an update on!  Her method allows for a more accurate point that lays flatter!  

     One of the most exciting parts of the class was that she chose to sew on my sewing machine!!  Every quilters dream!! A famous person using their machine!!!

     After a busy work week and a weekend that I felt was to short,  spending the last 2 days with this quilt group makes it all worth it!!!