Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Signature Quilt

Here is my brother opening his quilt that I made for him for his retirement from the Navy. I think he likes it. All the family signed the center of the stars.

Home from Vacation


We are home from vacation. We went to Florida where the weather was warmer than in Wisconsin but a little on the chilly side for Florida. But when you think about it even at 50 that is much warmer than below freezing at home! We went down for my brother's retirement from the Navy after a 26 yr career. This picture is of my family and my Brother and his wife. We combined this family visit with some family fun. We had a good time visiting different museum's and a few beaches. One morning my youngest son and I were in our winter coats on the beach collecting shells. And that was a Gulf of Mexico beach. My family and I are sandwiched between my brother (in uniform) and my sister in-law.
I came home with a stretched sewing machine for my quilting frame. I bought the WOW IV machine that has an 18" arm. I am going to have to modify my carriage on my frame slightly to get the full 18" but I put a practice piece on the frame already. I want to do one more practice piece before I put a real quilt on but I may just put a baby quilt for donation on and give it a whirl. As long as I make sure to check the stitches when I get started I should be okay.
I also now have DSL and am loving it! I can't believe how long I sufferred with that slow dial up. Now I will have tons of extra time for quilting! Good thing too as I have lots of projects that I would like to get done.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Mystery Revealed


Here is the New Years Day mystery quilt top finished. The quilting is not done as that will have to wait until after vacation. I already entered it into a quilt show in February so I will have to get it done when I get back. I used fabric out of my stash so it is not the colors I would liked to have used but I did not want to go shopping. My bedroom is purple so it will go well on my bed as I think I will save this one for myself.

Sewing Room




These are pictures of my newly reorganized sewing/computer room. I spent pretty much all Saturday afternoon moving everything around. I have my computer desk on one end of the room and the cutting table/book shelf on the opposite wall. My room is fairly small so it still looks quite messy even though I know where everything is. Except I was making some pantograph's for my machine quilting frame and I can't seem to locate the rolls right now. I know they are somewhere but just can't remember what I did with them. I will find them eventually. My 9 year old son was watching me tracing stencils and he wanted to help so he is working on one for me. He is doing a good job also. I am going to finish up my last two borders on the New Years Eve Mystery and then will post a picture of it. We are leaving for vacation this Friday and then when we get back I have two quilts to finish quilting because I signed them up to be in a quilt show in February. I know I may regret committing myself but I really wanted to participate in the quilt show.