This is the Buggy Barn!
The Buggy Barn is "a unique quilt shop in the country", run by Pam Soliday and Janet Nesbitt in Reardan, Washington. They are also fabric and pattern designers. I spent last week at an amazing retreat organized by these two wonderfully sweet and talented ladies.
This was the 16th year for this retreat, it was nothing but fun, I can't believe I missed the first 15!
I'll blog more about my week of classes, the wonderful food, and the quilt show later this week. Since this is my normal Tools Tuesday slot, and since I got so many questions about it, today I'm going to blog about my sewing machine travel bag.
I'm happy to report that I checked my sewing machine and it made it to the show and back home just fine, it even changed planes in Minneapolis!
This bag is made by Omni-Glide. It's a lightweight, hard case bag on wheels with a great pop up handle for easy maneuverability. It comes in several sizes but I needed the X-Large for my Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0. I added the pink daisies to the outside of the case and every single daisy also made it back home!
Inside the hard lined case is a padded bag for the machine,
with a padded top.
That bag is then attached to the inside of the case with clips to keep it in place. Just to make sure my machine didn't move around at all, I also added the following in the case with the machine.
At one of my first classes at a quilt show, on the list of class requirements, was listed a padded seat cushion. I brought one to that class and have brought one to every class I've had since. I placed that cushion on one side of my machine and around the top, the cords were also on the outside of the padded liner. My Omnigrid cutting/pressing mat went on the other side of the machine. I then used fabric for my class to pad each end. The fabric in the picture above was used to pad the sides on the way home, it's Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater for Moda and it's going to be my new sewing machine cover.
Anyway, with all that stuff stuffed in that case, my machine didn't move at all.
The TSAs took a look inside the bag on the way to and from the retreat.
I had it locked with one of the TSA approved locks, nothing was amiss and the sewing machine made it so I guess it passed inspection.
I spent no time last week looking at blogs or reading my email but I hope to get caught up this week.
I also hope to finish this, Dimestore, the August Schnibbles of the month, the parade is just a few days away!
For those who asked, the background fabric I'm using is Great Harvest by Debbie Mum for South Sea Imports and it's a perfect match for that Phenomenal Fall line by Sandy Gervais. Plus it has dots, who doesn't love dots!
In addition to the two Paula Barnes classes I attended last week, I also attended a wool class, my first, and I'm hooked! Stop back tomorrow for a look at my project.
Nicole, from Sister's Choice Quilts blog, met me in Washington and we attended the classes together. Stop by her blog for her posts regarding our week of fun.
