My New Toy!

Thursday morning there was a delivery at my house. It came on a day where I had next to no time to play with it. Isn't that how things go? But even in the few minutes I did stitch on it, I could tell I loved it!

This is my first real quilt to go under the needle. 

My two favorite features, okay, maybe three--1) the ring of LED lights that shine down over the needle area. I don't have to shine an Ott-Lite there, like I normally do when I sew; 2) the ability to preset my favorite speeds on the touch screen. Trying to FMQ on my regular machine was maddening. It either zoomed faster than I could control the quilt, or it was so slow I could barely move the quilt or the stitches would be toenail catchers! Finding the "sweet spot" on the presser foot was next to impossible and once I found it I hated to stop stitching or it would be lost forever! 3) LARGER bobbins! Yippee!! I love lots of other things about it, but those top the list. Now I have to come up with a name for her. Any suggestions?
I am so grateful that DH was not only supportive of me getting it, he pretty well talked me into it. I was really dragging my feet. It is pricey and it was giving me knots in my stomach thinking about it. But even so, I realize that when I am no longer quilting by check, this little girl will pay for herself before too long!
Today I finally got my Itty Bitty Primitive Pinwheels bound and in place. It is 10" square. What a fun little piece. I really like the look!

Finally--Randy, I'm ready for the second set of Farmer's Wife blocks! Here are the first three.

The first one (on the left)  isn't my favorite. I think my light fabric choice didn't work. But I'm hoping as more get added to the wall, it won't be so noticeable. If it still bothers me after a few more rounds I will have to remake it. : ) I just washed another batch of thrift store shirts today and I am excited about some color combinations that I can see for future blocks. I'm calling this one, "The Farmer's Missing Shirts". In case you aren't aware, this is a "Sow-Along" (that is not a misspelling), using The Farmer's Wife book. This fun event is being sponsored by Randy of Barrister's Block blog. She posts 3 blocks twice a month. It just started this month, so it isn't too late to join in.
That's it for now! Until next time,
Janet O.

A Plethora of Projects

(I love the word plethora.)
When I was making Lori's "Pink Lemonade" I made a few extras of the red Shoo-fly blocks. I needed a runner for my hutch to blend in with the Valentine's Day decor, so I pulled out those little blocks, made a couple more, and put this together.

I will call this one Raspberry Lemonade.

I think I want to quilt the center with the paisley heart design I saw on LuAnn's blog. She was kind enough to send me the link to Leah Day's tutorial for this design. I will bind it with the red I used in the setting squares.

I finally quilted my Itty Bitty Primitive Pinwheels. The one at the LQS was quilted in a straight line grid and I couldn't see a better way to do it. You can see the pattern more clearly on the back. 

My lines aren't perfectly straight, but it will do. Now I need to choose a binding and get it finished. I already have a home for it. For Christmas my oldest son gave me a shelf unit he knew I wanted for my sewing room. Can you see the picture sitting on top?

Next to the shelves is the cabinet to my Mom's 60-year-old Bernina.
 I can see that I need to trim the dangling threads from those flimsies
hanging above the shelves!

That was a gift many years ago from my youngest daughter. I love it, but have never had a place to display it that I felt did it justice. Now I do and I want this little pinwheel mat to go beneath it.

This picture is a print of "Hands of Time" by Liz Lemon Swindle. I love her artwork. Enlarge it and get a good look.

Rocky Mountain Christmas is coming along. It is still kind of a background project. Mentally I have divided it into 12 sections, and I have 4 of them assembled. 

I take one section, put it on my largest design board and take it to the cutting table. I trim up any corners that didn't turn out as straight as they should have and then take it all to the sewing machine. I web this section, sew the rows together and place it back on the wall. All of this takes very little time, so when I have a few minutes and don't want to think too hard about what I am doing I work up another section.

I'm in the cutting stage of another quilt. I've decided to make another Primitive Gatherings Picnic Quilt from the rest of my Kansas Trouble fabrics. This is the quilt that was my secret at Christmas because it was a gift for my oldest daughter and her husband, but this one is no secret.

I have jumped on board Randy's "The Farmer's Wife Sow-A-long." The particulars, as far as we have them, are found at the end of her post if you click here. My book came in the mail today. 

I'm a little nervous about keeping up, but I am anxious to try! I'm thinking I will make it from my shirt stash and call it The Farmer's Wife Cut up His Shirts. I don't know--that title is still a work in progress. Maybe I will go crazy fussy cutting all those plaids (you know I will have to do that), and give up on them, but I think it would be really cool, and different, in the plaids.  Okay, I know I already have two plaid projects going, but I just love plaid fabrics in quilts!

I've rambled long enough. Until next time,

Keep stitchin'

Janet O.

ETA: I forgot all about linking up my FMQ challenge project, until I saw Denise's link on her post today. Thanks Denise!

Here is my effort, feeble though it may be. I feel like I have regressed in my ability because I haven't been practicing regularly. Hopefully that will change soon--more to come. : )

I had tension problems this time--which I don't usually, my motion seemed anything but free, and I kept running into the pins. Talk about not seeing the obvious!! Lovely, it is not, but finished, it is! And now for the link.