I am so excited to once again be on the faculty of MQX, this time in the Midwest! This is such an amazing show featuring so many talented teachers, and to be considered one of their peers is truly an honor. This year’s show is October 19-22 in Springfield, Illinois. If you’re planning on going to the festival, I’d love to see you there! Registration for the classes is already open. You can see the list of my classes below and register for the classes on MQX’s website.

Avoiding the Biggest Blunders of Longarm Quilting

Wed. October 19, 8am-10am Type of Class: Lecture Angela Huffman has quilted a mountain of customer quilts and students will benefit from her mistakes. Find out how to deal with problem quilts, how to keep things square, and how to avoid many of the pitfalls to become a confident machine quilter. Learn how to keep a quilt square, quickly set tension, taming wild borders, how to handle “friendly” blocks, and interacting with customers.

Express Lane to the Modern Quilting Highway

Wed. October 19, 1pm-5pm Type of Class: Hands On Stand Up Longarm Quilting Modern quilts have wide open space which may be intimidating. Break out of simple straight lines and use texture as a painter uses brush techniques. Learn how to stay within the modern quilting genre while pushing the boundaries of typical line quilting. In this hands-on class, students will make a modern wholecloth sampler to learn a variety of modern designs while relying on basic design principles.

Quilting Legos

Thurs. October 20, 9am-11am Type of Class: Design/Draw Knowing how to quilt basic patchwork shapes will make devising a free-motion quilting plan much easier. In this class Angela will explore dozens of ways to quilt flying geese, 9-patch blocks, square-in-a-square blocks, half-square triangles, quarter-square triangles, and more. Learn how to break down the shapes found in patchwork and how to apply a library of common tactics for quilting these shapes. This class is applicable for both sit-down and stand-up quilters.

Slice and Dice Pattern Motifs with your IntelliQuilter

Thurs. October 20, 1pm-3pm Type of Class: Computerized - Intelliquilter Use Intelliquilter to break apart a pantograph to create a suite of design motifs. Learn how simply the Split feature can easily offer up unique custom motifs when combined with fan pattern, magnet and spiral transitions. Easily create border patterns, line patterns and frames for applique all from one basic pantograph. Dive into the power of IQ to make a suite of complementary patterns from a panto simply and easily.

Simple Shortcuts for Custom Quilting with your IntelliQuilter

Thurs. October 20, 4pm-6pm Type of Class: Computerized - IntelliQuilter Angela will teach how to create beautiful custom layouts with the IntelliQuilter. Learn how to audition designs, create a catalog of blocks, play with the Divide feature to break large patterns into stitchable segments and large setting triangles. Finally, learn how three button pushes will reposition motifs throughout a quilt.

Essential Skills: Beginning Custom Quilting

Fri. October 21, 9am-11am Type of Class: Design/Draw Move to the front of the machine to explore custom quilting. This class begins with a broad overview of custom quilting then to easy custom border/corner/sashing treatments. See how to "read" a quilt top to select the best design. Ruler work and templates will also be discussed. After this class, students will be prepared for more focused custom quilting classes.

Sculpted Quilting

Fri. October 21, 1pm-5pm Type of Class: Hands On Stand Up Longarm Quilting In this hands on class, each student will receive a different pre-marked quilt block. Class will begin with layering designs over a paper version of the block to find the approach that will enhance the natural flow of the block’s design, then moving to the machines to stitch out the ideas. Learn simple, straight line quilting and easy ruler work that will provide the structure needed to carve out spectacular quilting. Bring a camera to capture the amazing designs from classmates.

Big Ass Borders

Sat. October 22, 8am-12pm Type of Class: Design/Draw Heart stopping, huge quilt borders? We’ve all seen them… those ginormous swaths of fabric slapped onto a quilt to make it bigger. In this class, learn how to transform them into gorgeous, eye-popping borders. Students will draft designs that are ready for the next B.A.B.