Look what I can do with my new machine!

I have been working hard trying to get enough quilts made for my table at the Fall Bazaar at Concord United Methodist on October 6. I fell in love with this fabric from Joann's. Why didn't they have this 4 years ago when my son was born? Bummer. I bought two yards of it and decided to go simple for the first quilt, show off the fabric and all that.

 



 

I quilted this baby on 3 different machines. I seem to collect sewing machines, as my husband would tell you with a groan. What, another one?! I picked up a nice metal heavy duty Singer from Goodwill that was really smooth. Hm, maybe good for quilting? Nope. This monster sews great in one direction, but when you try to quilt, it grabs on for dear life and fights you all the way. Ok, sewing machine #1 abandoned, back to the good old steady Viking. In the midst of this process, I made the mistake of stopping at Sewingly Yours, and fell in love with the Babylock. Two days later, and with much deliberation (ha ha! who needs convincing), I had myself yet another sewing machine. And so I finished this quilt using the Babylock. The difference was amazing. I thought I was doing well with free motion quilting on the Viking. The Babylock made everything so much simpler and enjoyable.

Baby quilt #2: completely done on the Jane. Feeling totally free and emboldened by the ease of quilting with my new machine, I tried designs I had never attempted before.

 

The butterflies are ironed on with fusible web and sewn over with pink thread.

 

I had a lot of fun with these borders, especially the tiny one with little circles on it. In the past, I would have just stitched in the ditch around this 1/2 inch strip, but no longer. I found the swirls on Pinterest, along with the feathers. Still not sure about feathers. Anyone else have a hard time stitching perfectly back along the edge of the feather? I have seen some that are not connected to each other. Seems like a brilliant idea. By the way, none of these borders were marked beforehand, just free handed as I went along.

 

 

Last, but not least, the sun! I had to break out the water soluble marker for this one. I turned a kitchen bowl upside down and traced a circle. Then I eye-balled the center and marked the tiny circle. From there, it was simple enough to draw a couple of 1/2 inch lines coming from the circle and connect them to make small petals. Then I free-handed the slightly larger petals. That is the extent of my marking on the center. For the outer swirls, I drew a larger circle so I could keep the swirls all the same distance from the center. I marked one swirl for a base and just started quilting the rest. This is my first go at pebbling and I'm ready for more!