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I came to Quilter's Quest via their beginning quilting class, where it quickly became apparent that I was in way over my head. The store's owner and her staff have gone waaaay above and beyond the call to walk me through making my first quilt. And what started out as an exercise in frustration has turned in to a truly lovely, immensely gratifying creative process.
Spending a few hours a week in the shop working on my quilt-to-be, I've noticed that to a person, the staff is unstintingly helpful and friendly to every single customer that walks through the door. They are patient, and immensely knowledgeable about every aspect of quilting, from fabric selection to piecing to finishing.
I've been working primarily with Jacqueline Harris, and she is fabulous. She's inarguably an artist. She''s also an exceptional teacher. It's rare that those two traits show up in the same person and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the chance to learn from her.
In addition to knowing their business when it comes to quilting, the staff also has an encyclopedic knowledge of sewing machines, from featherweights to long arms. There's a huge selection of machines in the shop, and as a beginner I found the selection overwhelming. (And those long arms - I Can't Even. They're like space ships.).
Anyway, rather than steer me toward to most expensive Bernina in the place and sending me on my way (which is what happened elsewhere, the last time I tried to buy sewing machine), Quilters Quest has let me actually work on their machines right in the shop (Not the long arms. As the kids would say, you need, like, dope mad skillz to operate those.) So after a few weeks of putting together a quilt top on their machines, I've now got a pretty good idea of what I need to buy for myself.
At any rate, short of some unforeseen catastrophe, it would seem that I will actually have a finished quilt (a smallish, imperfect one, but a quilt nonetheless) in time for Christmas gift-giving. And in the new year, I plan on taking some more classes.
Speaking of which: In my experience, you need basic sewing skills to get the most out of the beginning quilters' class. You will also need lots of time to work on your project outside of the alloted class time. In the "From the Start" class I took, there was never more than 10 minutes or so of actual in-class sewing/cutting/quilt construction time. The rest of the two-hour sessions were lectures which, while informative, I found difficult to apply to real-life quilting once I got home.
PS The fabric selection is AMAZEBALLS. Themed, prints, solids, batiks - everything from classic florals to saucy prints of dancing brassieres. You can browse the selection on their website, which is useful but also potentially a major isssue if you tend to procrastinate.
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