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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Have an Opinion??

I have been spending some quality time with all the pretty, little petals of my Jubilee quilt - all 224 of them!!  I'm finally out to the border - can I just say "Yay" !?!  You can see by the 1/2" quilting that these little darlings are about 1" each.  I'm slowly getting there - I'm almost ready to start the last side. :)

But that's not what I need an opinion about.  I'm doing a program for my Guild next week on Blogging (not exactly sure why I volunteered for that!!).  At least one other person will be sharing.  What I'd like to know from you is what is your favorite thing about blogging.  It can be anything.  And for those of you who have been following me a while and have never left me a comment - now would be a great time to start.

Hope to hear from lots of you, or it may be a VERY short program LOL.
Have a great day,
Karen

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Something New

A few days ago, there was a big box on my front porch.  I've been waiting patiently for it to arrive.   So without further ado, sitting underneath my little quilt......
is my new Juki!  This was the grand prize for winning the NYC MQG DWR challenge with my quilt "Pink Pickles".  The first thing that had to change was my sewing table.  The Juki  didn't fit!!  So my wonderful DH got his handy little saws out and cut out enough to slide it in.  I will need to re-sand my table and add another coat of polyurethane, which won't hurt it at all.
It's an Exceed F600 and it's pretty intimidating!  At this point, everything, and I mean everything is different.  Forget learning about all the cool things this machine can do, I'm still trying to find my "perfect" 1/4" seam.  It's been a little elusive up to this point, but I'm sure it's there waiting for me.
After successfully winding a bobbin and sewing a little, I changed feet, dropped the feed dogs and decided to see what it would do with some machine quilting.
Can I just say, I'm pretty impressed.  I found a leftover sandwich that I'd made for my class with Cindy Needham last year, put some thread in and just started.
There was not a single glitch, not a single tension issue, no birds nest, nothing.
In fact it was so perfect, I had trouble telling the front from the back (it's the one in the above picture).
Aren't these pretty stitches? For the very first time??
It was so pretty, I decided to put a cute binding on it.  Not exactly sure what to do with it, it kind of looks like a little doll quilt.  Hmmm, I do have 2 granddaughters....
So, it's a brand new time for me.  I know I will have this machine for many years and I'm thinking of all the quilts waiting to be created and quilted in the years to come.  It's really so exciting.
Right now we don't know each other very well, but I'm sure in the years to come, we're going to be very good friends. :)
Happy stitching, hoping those in the storm's path stay warm.
Karen

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The Proof is Here

I just picked this up - the proof page for our opportunity quilt "Vintage Blooms". 
The Show Committe has decided to offer this as a pattern - available at our show in April.  We have done this in the past, but not in a few years. 
It is really so very exciting!
This is an 8 x 10 page of our 98 x 98" quilt and we wanted to give as much detail as possible.
It's all getting very real and very exciting.  The inside pages should go to the printer in a few weeks.
To those of you buried in snow, stay warm and happy stitching.
Karen

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Two down, one to go

This saying means many different things to different people.  Today, to me, it means that I have finished my second spool of hand quilting thread and I'm starting my third.
It also means that I have already put 440 yards of quilting thread into my Jubilee quilt.  I'm kind of glad I didn't know this particular fact when I started this project.  I still have 2 other colors to use, but those will be minimal amounts.  
There are many days when I'm not sure what possessed me to want to quilt this 70" square quilt with 1/2" grid cross hatching.  But most days I'm so happy with where this quilt is heading.
The dime shows you the scale.
I'm not sure if these visuals are helping me feel better or not!
I will say that I am almost done with the center.  It's not perfect by a long shot, but it will be done. Then it will be on to the flowers, the border, and  the 224 little petals, among other things.  I'm so glad our show is in April this year!  I'm hoping that finishing this is still doable.
I got a copy of this picture the other day.  My DH and I with our 4 precious grandies last Christmas.  It looks like such any easy thing, but I know many of you know how hard it is to get a picture like this. At least no one was crying :).
Happy stitching,
Karen