QWC 2026 Event Schedule
Opening Night: Craft, Cake & Community!
This is where Quilting With Confidence truly begins — and you won’t want to miss it. Join us for a relaxed, creative party where connections start, confidence grows, and the energy for our time together comes to life.
• Enjoy sweet treats and desserts
• Create something fun and useful for your studio
• Be part of bringing the Quilt Share to life
• Meet your quilting people and start building confidence together
• Step into the creative, supportive spirit that makes QWC special
Come ready to create, connect, and begin this experience feeling supported, inspired, and ready to grow.
Day 1: Workshop & Hands-On Experience
Arrival & Welcome Coffee
First Learning Session: Confident Design — Thinking Like a Designer
What does it mean to quilt with intention?
In this interactive quilting discussion, participants will learn how confident quilters approach design decisions. Watch techniques applied in real time while we explore:
- The designer’s mindset
- Foundational skills every longarmer should master
- How to make intentional design choices
Live quilting demonstrations will explore how tools, specialty feet, and technique choices shape the final result. Following the discussion, students will immediately put ideas into hands-on practice, helping transform knowledge into real-world skills. Designed to strengthen foundational design understanding, this session builds confidence through guided practice and practical problem-solving in a supportive, encouraging environment.
Activity: Time to get hands-on with both hand-guided and computerized Gammill systems to put new knowledge into practice. Join in a round or two of Designer’s Jenga–pull design prompts, build quilting plans, and laugh with new friends as you turn the fundamentals into creative challenges. You don’t want to miss this!
Lunch
Maintenance Moment: Thread
Metallics? No problem. Invisible thread? Gammill has you covered. Come and see how to set your machine up for all the threads you want to use!
Sew You Think You Know: Interactive Team Challenge
A high-energy, team-based learning game focused on tools, accessories, business tips, quilting strategies, and general quilting knowledge. Very similar in style to your favorite TV quiz show. Expect learning, laughter, and a few surprises, including lots of fun prizes.
Maintenance Moment: All about Static
Understand how static electricity and power setup affect your safety and performance. This session focuses on preventing static-related damage, protecting your equipment, and ensuring your machine is properly and safely connected.
Learning Session Two: Quilt Dynamics — Taking Control
Learn how quilting impacts shrinkage, fullness, and fabric behavior. Learn how density and design influence movement within the quilt and develop practical strategies to manage shrinkage and fullness intentionally rather than react to it after the fact.
Rapid Recovery Lab: When Things Go Wrong
Thread break. Tension issue. A wobbly line. A point that didn’t land.
In this guided hands-on recovery session, you’ll learn:
- When to fix it
- When to hide it
- When to leave it alone
- Why almost nothing is fatal
Thread break. Tension issue. A wobbly line.
Confidence isn’t perfection — it’s knowing how to respond.
Final reflection
End of Day One
Day 2
Arrival, Coffee, Quilt Share and Quilt Confessions
Begin the day exploring the Quilt Share and connecting with fellow quilters. We’ll kick off with an activity designed for connection, laughter and community.
Learning Session Three: Traditional and Modern E2E Design
In this session, we explore both traditional and modern edge-to-edge designs that blend hand-guided personality with the power of computerized quilting. Hand-guided quilters will discover how PatternCloud and CreativeStudio can be used to preview, audition, and plan designs, while Statler users will learn how to drop the belts and add personalized hand-guided flair to existing patterns. Rather than separating techniques, this session focuses on the shared design principles that unite all quilters, regardless of how the stitch is guided.
Through demonstrations and hands-on practice with state of the art Gammill longarms, participants will learn how both handguided and computerized techniques can help you plan, preview, adapt, and personalize E2E designs with confidence. Play Design Dash, a fun card game that helps you sharpen your edge-to-edge pattern selection skills while thinking like a confident designer.
Topics include:
• Traditional and modern E2E strategies using designs available both hand-guided and digitized in SAM
• Using PatternCloud for inspiration and auditioning designs before you buy
• Knowing when to use E2E Mode or Repeat Patterns in CreativeStudio to preview and plan E2E layouts
• Adding hand-guided fills and creative flair to computerized E2E designs
• A simple shared method for adapting patterns and adding personal touches — accessible to both HG and CS users
Lunch
Maintenance Moment: Taking the tension out of tension
Prevention & Practical Solutions
This session focuses on avoiding frustration before it starts. Practical, usable knowledge designed to strengthen long-term confidence.
Topics may include:
- Take the tension out of tension with the Tension Checklist
- Learn real-world fixes from support teams
- Tools that simplify your process
Reflection & Educator Q&A Panel
Educators will lead interactive small- and large-group discussions, working through real-world situations and answering student questions together.
Quilt Share Celebration and Awards
The Quilt Share is more than show-and-tell — it’s one of the highlights of QWC. Participants introduce their quilts, gain supportive educator feedback, and celebrate together with fun awards chosen by the group.
Farewell reflection