My First Projects on the New Machine

First a commercial break.  I had removed the moderate comments functionality on my blog, but I missed two weeks worth of comments.  I really enjoy reading your comments and I didn't see them until tonight.  So I turned it back on so I can read them when they come in.  Thanks for all the great comments you all have left!

Now on to the business at hand.  My first projects on my new machine.  First I made an extra block for my Farmer's Wife Sampler.  I paper pieced it, simple and fun!








Labels for Blue Moon

 The first label I made is for the Blue Moon quilt.  I have to admit I did a practice piece on muslin, just to see the size of the letters.  They were big!  Then I realized I could make them small, so I did.  These are the small letters here.  The second label is from the quilt show.



Mystical Horses labels

 Here is my Mystical Horse labels.  I have both sizes of letters in this label.  I forgot to change the size of the font when I did the name of the quilt, that is why it is larger.  My name & Mesa AZ is saved in my machine's memory.  How cool is that?  On my old machine I had to reset it every time.   Maybe that is why I didn't use it a lot.



YoYo Blocks



Well during the quilt show I found this wonderful book called Simple Grace.  There is this amazing YoYo quilt in it that I fell in love with.  So on Saturday I bought some background fabric.  I plan to use scraps from my stash for the yo-yos.  I made about 36 background blocks.  You see all the yo-yos I have made so far.  I plan to work on these when I am traveling for work this summer. 

Happy Stitching! 

She will be Missed



My old machine

 This is a picture of my old sewing machine.  It was the machine I purchased when I had been quilting about a year and a half.  We became buddies in February of 1997.  We have been to camp together, she fell out of a truck once and kept on sewing.  She was a good friend.  A couple of my cats even liked her. 



Smokey

It is always amazing to me how they can get into such small places. My current cat Rosie doesn't get anywhere near the machine, she only sits in my lap and comes between me and my machine.






Avalanche

 Three Saturdays ago I sat at my machine and started to make labels for my quilts when she suddenly stopped.  Lights won't come on the needle won't move.  I took her to the repair shop and had hopes it would be an easy fix.  She was there almost a week and they got her running again.  They could not find a new motherboard because she is so old.  How insulting to say she is old.  I was told she might last 2 days or 2 years.  I had hopes for 2 years.  She lasted 3 days. 

On Saturday the 19th I spent all day going from one machine shop to another.  I tried Pfaff, Bernina, Vikings, Janomes & a Brother.  I was so exhausted I couldn't decide.  I had an idea that the machine I would like was a little more then we had agreed to spend.  I talked it over with Mr. B. and he told me to go ahead and get the machine I wanted since I will use it a lot any way.  Isn't he great!!. 



New Machine

 Monday after work on the 21st I went and picked up my new machine.   Here she is, isn't she a beauty!  It is so different to have push button controls.  I do not have to use the pedal to make it go if I don't want to.  I had to use the pedal to do machine applique.  It sews so fast I have to keep it at the medium speed level.  She is so quiet and smooth. 

After work I'll post the pictures of the things I sewed this week.  Sorry to  keep you in suspense but I do have to go to work.

Sewing Room Closet



Before Picture of my closet

A few post back I shared a picture of my sewing room closet with a dresser in it.  It was full of my fabric.  Her it is so you don't have to search for it.  Well I finally made a decision on how I would manage this closet. 






Monday Night

 Last Monday I started moving things out.  I clean off all the stuff from the top of the dresser and placed them in the empty bedroom, soon to be guest room. 





The drawers are out



Tuesday evening I moved all the drawers and put them in the Food Storage room.  There are 10 drawers and some were full to the top and some are half empty.  Each drawer had a color or type of fabric in them.



Dresser is out.



Thursday night I moved all the stuff that was in front of the closet like my rocking chair, stacks of magazines.  Mr. B & I went to Home Depot after our Friday night dinner and purchased the shelves and all the accessories to hang them in the closet.  It is amazing how expensive those things are.  The shelves aren't bad it the brackets that hold them up.  He & I also carried the dresser out of the sewing room to the room across the hall.  I am sure glad it wasn't any further.



New Shelves


Saturday when I came home from shopping for a new sewing machine, Mr. B had all the shelves in place.  He and I did adjust the heights a little bit so I can fit a couple short and long buckets on the bottom.  I went to Target and purchased more bucket or plastic bins for my fabric. 




Sorting batiks



I spent Saturday evening and most of Sunday sorting my fabric.  Here are my batiks that I was sorting, I ended up with 4 buckets, one for lights, mediums, darks & Christmas.  I really did vacuum the floor before I started, now I have to do it again.

Almost done!

Here is the last picture for today, I am almost done!  What a good feeling!  See that tall bottom shelve, those taller buckets fit there just perfectly and now I don't have to stand on a foot stool to reach for them any more.  They were on the very top shelve over my cutting table.  Now to make labels for my boxes.

After the Quilt Show

Well it never fails after you have been to a quilt show you feel like sewing because of all the inspiration you have just seen.  I wanted something quick and fun.  So I started this little flag kit I purchased at the show.


Flag

I did stitch in the ditch on the strips and deep waves on the borders.  The quilting is hard to see since my thread blends in perfectly. 



Border quilting

This should give you an idea of my quilting.  I did blue stars in the blue field but the picture didn't turn out.  I did stars in the corners. 



Stars in the Corners

Tonight I'll add the binding.  It has been fun.  There is a second quilt in this little kits.  Who knows I might do it next.

Happy Stitching!!

Some Inspiration!

This is the third time I have come across this little video.  It wonderful.  A non-quilting friend sent it to me.  Tonight I watched it again and decided to share it here on my blog.  Enjoy and share it!



I have to also admit I enjoy the music and  
my feet start tapping!

2011 Quit Show

The quilt show is over and my quilts are safely home and back hanging on the walls.  Let me tell you I think they look so much better on white walls than black curtains. 

This quilt I found right away, this was taken on Saturday



The Quilt sign for Mystical Horses

 It is so hard to describe your quilt in 50 words or less, especially one you designed.

I need to tell you a little story, it is kind of funny now but I didn't think it was while it was happening.  After work on Thursday I ran quickly over to the show to see my quilts.  I found the first one right away both in the program and one the properly labeled isle with the same number.  It look marvelous, I was happy.  I visited with some friend and then I started to look for the the second quilt.  I couldn't find it in the program.  I walked around and thought since it is for display only it must be in the other room, so I went to the other room.  No it wasn't down the halls or in the other room.  So back around the main room again.  Still can't find it.  I couldn't find any of the 5000 number quilts not in the program or on any signs. 

I heard some of the volunteers speaking that some of the program wasn't printed and some pages were missing so that explains why I couldn't find it in the program.  So I asked them where were the display quilts hanging and they said they were squeezed on many of the different categories rows.  So back around again both rooms.  Still didn't find it. 

I finally asked for the organizer to help me find, she thought it was in the back of the room and we walked there together, she remembered the name and seeing it.  Over 400 quilts and she remembers mine.  I am good with that. 


Blue Moon at the Show

 Sure enough she takes me to it, I look at it and I was thinking that's not my quilt the colors don't look right. Luckily I didn't say the words because it was my quilt.  It just looked so different against black. Goes to prove that the color behind the quilt effects the over all look of the quilt. Needless to say I was relieved and I was able to roam around and enjoy the other quilts and the vendors.  The show is very nice on Thursday night not a ton of people like there are on Friday & Saturday. 


Sign for Blue Moon



I have included the judge's comments.  I really dislike that I am also classified as a professional quilter, I think I should be classified as a quilts for others to support my quilting habit, not to make money.  I don't feel I am in the same class the as the big show stoppers type professional, if you know what I mean.  Somehow I don't think I am going to win that debate.

I do not have a stitch regulator on my machine. 

Last but next the least here is the quilt show label I can add to my quilt.



Quilt Show label.



AQG gave us these nice bags to bring our quilt home in. 

 Will I do it again, I don't know, it is fun, it is work, your friends enjoy your quilt make it a lot of fun.  It is fun to see quilts made by your friends.  Today I think, I'll do it again when I finish my Dear Jane. 

Quilting Update

It seems my habit of posting on Sunday night with what I have accomplished in the last week has kind of gotten lost in shuffle over the last couple of months.  Part of the problem is I am not doing a lot of sewing, I have been working on Genealogy. 

After some more playing and rearranging, this is as much as I have on my design wall of my "Yellow Brick Wall".   I still have lots more playing and rearranging to do.  It just isn't trilling me.  I was even thinking of putting it away for awhile.

This is the other sewing I have finished this week.  One more Blue Work Dear Jane block.  I do this when I want some thing mindless to work on. 

My machine is still in the sewing machine hospital.  They can not find a mother board for it. I am sad about that.  He did get it work again, but can't  guarantee how long it will last.  It might work for a week or two years.  I am praying for two years.  I did go look at machine today but I don't know what I want.

What do all these pictures mean????

 This is not the label I wanted to make but just as I sat at my machine to make the labels I had in my mind, my machine died.  I mean stopped dead, no lights in the control panel.  So I stopped and took it to the shop, they think it might be a dead mother board.  I dropped it off late Saturday afternoon.  The repair man was off on Monday so I hope to find out today (Tuesday) how much the damages are.  So instead of pretty labels I made these ones very fast.

Which serve the purpose.

Since they are covered by these.

In the bags!

This is what I did on Sunday before church.   

And these are what I need to pick them up again on Saturday evening after the show.

You got it it is quilt show time!!