Please Read the Supply List

The Quilting Bee always has a full roster of classes, and I had planned this trip partly so I could take one. There were two scheduled for Wednesday. The morning class was on making a threadcatcher pincushion. I didn’t need a class for this—I actually drafted a pattern and made one last year—but it’s fun to be a student instead of the teacher, so I signed up. The afternoon class was on making a byAnnie travel bag. The only reason I didn’t take that one as well was because it required some work to be done ahead of time and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get that work done and come to class prepared.

Coming to class prepared apparently is a foreign concept to some people. I’ve experienced it in my own classes, when people express surprise that there was a class supply list on the store website. On Tuesday evening, I got a call from the store asking me to confirm my attendance at the class Wednesday morning and asking if I needed a machine. “No,” I said, “I am bringing one with me.”

[I have a little Janome Jem 639 that I picked up at one of the thrift stores in Spokane for $15.00. The machine is nothing fancy—it only has three pre-set stitch lengths—but it’s solid, with metal innards, and it’s a great class machine. I cleaned and oiled it before I left so I knew it would be ready to sew. The machine and all my class supplies travel in a milk crate on wheels that I got at Staples. I also use the milk crate to tote my serger to class when I teach.]

Just in case you were wondering, this is how big a destination quilt store is:

The store has been in this location for a couple of years. Before that, they were crammed into a tiny space in a strip mall about a mile away.

I arrived at the store around 9:45 am and was directed to the classroom. There were a couple of machines already set up at some of the workstations. The store will provide a class machine if you ask ahead of time. They are often the latest and fanciest models, though, which is not always ideal. Using an unfamiliar store model means the student spends more time learning how to operate the machine than learning the technique being taught.

I was the first one there. Gradually, the rest of the students wandered in, and as I was setting up my workstation, I was listening to the conversations happening between them and the teacher.

“Were we supposed to bring a machine?” Well, yes, you should always bring a machine to a sewing class.

“But a sewing machine wasn’t on the supply list.” (I could not help myself. I rolled my eyes at that one.)

“I didn’t bring a rotary cutter/ruler/cutting mat. Do I need one?” Yes, that was specified on the supply list, but I have an extra you can use.

“Was there a supply list?” Yes, it was on the website.

“Can you help me wind a bobbin? I don’t know how to use this store machine.” Yes, you wind a bobbin this way . . .

The instructor, a retired fifth-grade teacher, was very patient and gracious. Eventually, she was able to introduce herself and hand out the instructions. I took off and got started on my project. I did have the advantage of having made one before, but I also came prepared with a cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter, and a machine ready to sew—in other words, everything that was on the supply list. By the time the class was half over, I had finished one threadcatcher and started a second one.

“You left everyone else in the class in the dust again, didn’t you?” the husband remarked when I talked to him that evening. Yeah, well, it’s not hard to show up prepared for a class. Or life, for that matter. I wonder, sometimes, if I am being too hard on other people by expecting them to be even moderately competent, but I don’t think so.

In any case, here is my finished pincushion threadcatcher.

I still have to stuff the pincushion. Some people did that in class, but I have a 25-pound bag of crushed walnut shells that I need to use up.

I left the store, went and got lunch, then headed up South Hill to visit one of the three Joann Fabrics stores and the other quilt store. I spent a quiet half an hour thumbing through the new Simplicity pattern catalog and writing down pattern numbers. I knew that a new Joanns weekly flyer was coming out on Thursday and I suspected the Simplicity patterns would be on sale.

The quilt store on South Hill is small, but well stocked. It’s so well stocked, in fact, that the owner would like to move into the space next door and expand, but she told Tera and me how much she is currently paying in rent and I think it’s astronomical. And she’s not even downtown. This store carries Juki machines. I was the only one in the store, so I casually mentioned how much I love my Juki sergers and that I was teaching serger classes in Kalispell. I asked if she ever had requests for serger classes—I’ve never seen them on her class calendar—and she said that she would love to offer some, but she just doesn’t have time and doesn’t know other machines well enough to troubleshoot problems.

[You see where this is going, don’t you?]

I offered to send her my teaching information. She seemed eager to schedule at least a basic serger class to see if there was interest. If the universe wants me to teach serger classes, I might as well embrace the opportunity. It’s not like I have a lot of competition.

I was back at the Airbnb by 4:30 pm in order to miss the evening rush hour, and spent a relaxing couple of hours working on my EPP and reading. On Thursday, I went further afield to two new quilt stores, so stay tuned. My Kalispell quilting peeps will be especially interested as I may have found a place for us to have a retreat.