{"id":5553,"date":"2018-02-13T15:23:19","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T22:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.road2cablog.com\/?p=5553"},"modified":"2018-02-13T15:23:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T22:23:19","slug":"jamie-wallen-and-the-art-of-longarm-quilting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/road2ca.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/13\/jamie-wallen-and-the-art-of-longarm-quilting\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Wallen And The Art Of Longarm Quilting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tInnova<\/a> machines under the tutelage of Jamie Wallen<\/a>.\"\"<\/a>\nPrior to becoming a long arm quilter, Jamie was a Registered Nurse for over 20 years. Burn out with the profession settled in after working 18-hour days, 7 days a week for so long. One day, in the mid-90\u2019s, Jamie went to a friend\u2019s house to help him put up a fence. His friend\u2019s wife was a piecer and had a quilting magazine laying around. Jamie picked it up, thumbed through it, and saw an ad for a longarm quilting machine. He bought the machine 2 days later!! Right from the beginning, it was never about the piecing for Jamie; he was all about the longarm quilting. \u00a0He recalled, \u201cI saw the potential for \u2018painting on a canvas of what was finished.\u2019\u201d\nFor two years, Jamie did nursing and quilting was his hobby. In those days, there was no support for longarm quilters so \u201cyou had to make it up as you went,\u201d shared Jamie. He did a lot of practicing on bed sheets to come up with ideas. Soon, the quilting industry began to boom\u2014and so did his business. How many quilts has he quilted? He stopped counting three years ago when his total reached 6,500!! \u00a0\"\"<\/a>\nA resident of Michigan City, Indiana, he and his partner, Rich, travel extensively with their business, Quilters Apothecary. <\/em>In 2017, they spent 34 weeks traveling over 60,000 miles driving and flying, including a one-month stint in Australia teaching in five different cities. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\nJamie got in to teaching as a way to be a mentor for friends who made a big investment in their longarm machines but didn\u2019t know what to do with them. \u00a0Today, he values teaching as a way to be a caretaker for the industry<\/strong>.\"\"<\/a>\nJamie teaches at Road approximately every other year (he previously taught in 2013 and 2016), and his classes sell out fast. Being from the East, he enjoys coming to Ontario during the winter. He appreciates the creative energy found at the show and all the inspiration that it has. Jamie says his students are always \u201chappy and ready to learn.\u201d\nDuring his classes, Jamie demonstrated drawing and quilting different designs as he shared personal stories of what it like to be a longarm quilter. One thing Jamie stressed with his students was the necessity of putting aside time each day for practicing. <\/strong>\u00a0With drawing, practicing at least a half hour to 45 minutes will help build muscle memory which eventually translates over to working on the machine. \u201cDrawing designs is addictive. Anything a pencil can do, a longarm does,\u201d Jamie said. He recommended keeping a TV tray, a folding chair, and some drawing tablets in the family room and use them when watching television. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>\nWith quilting, Jamie said that the biggest problem is waiting until you have a quilt before you start quilting. \u201cYou need to practice a lot before you lay down a quilt on the machine.\u201d He added, \u201cEvery new quilt design is like learning cursive. It will look ugly at first,\u201d but over time, \u201crepetition brings rhythm<\/strong>.\u201d \u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Looking for new longarm quilting ideas? Jamie recommends going online<\/strong>. “Search for\u00a0contour line quilt blocks.<\/em>\u00a0There are 100’s of quilt blocks to print off and practice.” He also said to look for popular quilts, print a picture of them, and come up with three ways to quilt it.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\nWhat are the biggest changes Jamie has seen with longarm quilting since he started? \u00a0For one, it has become more of an industry<\/strong> than merely a hobby. People recognize its value and are willing to pay appropriately. Another change is how quilts are looked at in general. No longer are they just functional fabric items. They have evolved into family heirlooms<\/strong>\u00a0where quilters preserve lasting legacies<\/strong>. \u00a0Jamie shared that the current biggest trend<\/strong>\u00a0is photo quilts\u20144×4 inch photos on fabric.\nTo learn more about Jamie Wallen and his quilting tools, please visit his website<\/a>.\n \n \n ]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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