Marlene Kuskie
Quilting is not what it was. Our grandmothers and mothers pieced their quilts and then often asked others to help them hand quilt in the large frame. Or they might have had the local church ladies hand quilt it for a fee. Modern quilters still often have others with skills using a longarm sewing machine quilt their quilts for a fee based on the size of the quilt and the intricacies of quilting. Quilts in competition are mostly quilted by machine, using either a domestic machine or a long arm.
PC Quilters are fortunate that they own a long arm machine in the Fiber Arts Room in the Creative Arts Center. It is available for certified members to use to machine quilt their own projects and charity quilts that are given to five charities in the West Valley. The art of using the longarm machine has grown the past five-ten years. So, with that has come the desire to expand quilting skills beyond using pantographs (patterns that are followed). Free motion quilting is when the quilter designs and creates the patterns which are different for every quilt.
Roberta Penchina moved to PebbleCreek a year ago from Vermont. In Vermont she owned her own longarm and custom quilted for others. On April 20, Roberta taught a class using rulers and simple templates to create detailed designs using the longarm machine. Participants then experimented using the rulers and templates to refine their skills. The talents of our members and their willingness to share without cost continues to be appreciated by everyone.