Hooked on Quilting

Oh my goodness, look out beautiful this looks....until you look at the underside.  I have to rip it all out!!! Remember, check your tension!!! I love my new machine, but my tension has never been right, so I'm blaming it on my new bobbin winder. The bobbin winder that came with the machine had no knob!!! I'm hoping it's the culprit because I've tried everything and nothing has worked. Sorry to be amiss for so long, but, again, life just gets in the way so much of the time. 

I will just say, "Sorry," and move on. Life really gets in the way A LOT for me. It's been a hot summer and the pool has been very inviting. Too hot to sew outside, so "swimming" it is!!! The tree over our pool has shed its leaves directly into the pool. They are still falling, it's a bunch of work to keep them gathered up and off the bottom. Since my husband is unable to tend to the outside work (or inside), I've taken on this task. I've only sucked up so many leaves one time and had to call the pool company to blow the lines. Got one of those leaf catchers, pronto!!!  Enough said, here's what I've been up to: I decided that I couldn't pass up the Sew Sampler subscription box from the Fat Quarter Shop. This was the pattern called Moonshine and they included the fabrics so I was able to whip this up pretty quickly.  I'm really happy with my points on this one. I've added the outer borders and will update the pic soon...

So, here's the quilt: It's pretty much directional, so do I quilt my motif (taken from the appliqued elements and quilt designed in AnS) in the outside border going all around or do I do the top/bottom the same as well as the sides or do I just quilt the motif around the quilt?  Better stated, do I treat it as a wall hanging and that I want to see the cars going across the quilt at both the top and the bottom? Or not? This is why I never get anything done.   Here's a pic of the motif (may be hard to see): I'm using the blue thread, just have to decide, help!!!!  I know, I know, it's my quilt, but I'd love some input. 

I'm struggling here.  I've never done anything black before (well, finished anything) and now it's loaded and ready to quilt. I'm going to mark the appliques and fill in the background with some sort of fill pattern. I now have a new machine AND Decision Paralysis. What do I do in the four-patches in between the applique?   I was going to use the truck, airplane, car from the pattern "On the Go" by Kariepatch Designs to make a quilting design for the black borders. Do I use black thread for just the borders or the white I plan to use in the center?  Help! Please comment if you've tried white thread on black and if it was something you'd do again. I'm so anxious to get started. It's basted and everything, just can't decide...

Here's my new HandiQuilter Infinity!!! It's ginormous.  I'm so excited and can't wait to do all my tops that have been hanging around.  I finally traded my old HQ16 in because I just couldn't sell it for what people wanted to pay for it. Nothing wrong with it and it had everything, just time to step up a bit. Loving it.  Here is the first quilt that I did on it last week. It's called "Snack Time" by Julie Herman. This is a close up of what I designed in Art and Stitch for the center hexagon. I did elongated loops in the triangles and fatter ones in the print hexagons. I also did the binding with the faux piping so it was all done by machine. It's the way to go, for sure. Even gifted already. 

Sorry, I've been trying to re-arrange my studio and just didn't seem to get back to sewing/quilting, but I'm forging ahead because I missed all of January's blocks of the 365 Challenge ! These are really tiny and I can see I need to be much more accurate with my cutting/sewing. LOL I'm using all stash fabrics, so my dark may not be dark enough and my lights might not be light enough, but my record for finishing projects prohibited me from spending money on this one!!  Here's February 12, 2016 block:  Now, here's the beginning of the blue and white quilt that I'm making. I designed it in EQ7 and the rows of the top left corner have been sewn together, so we'll see how accurate EQ7 is when I go to sew the diagonal rows together.  I am using it as leaders/enders for the 365 Challenge because they took a bunch of seams so more rows are finished without realizing it. A good thing. Just want to mention that my design wall is four 2' ...

Okay, I wasn't going to do any sew alongs or online commitments because I just never keep up and/or I just simply forget or lose interest or whatever the day's excuse was. I'm going to sign up for this one, they are 6' blocks and some variety, so I sent in my email address and, the good thing is, it doesn't start until February. Phew!!! If you'd like to join me and probably lots of others, here's the information you'll need from Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson. Feel like joining, please do. 

I must have crawled under a rock somewhere in 2015 because I just now heard about this book and it's everywhere and has been for a year!! I got my copy yesterday and read through most of it and am ready to begin tidying up...however, I really want to start with my sewing studio.  So, has anyone done the KonMari method for their sewing room?  I think everything gives me joy, so now what?  Marie Kondo says to put like categories in one place, but I need pins at every sewing machine, design board and my hand applique station. Same with scissors, seam rippers, pin cushions, oh, so many things.   Should I go around and touch everything? There's nothing I think I can discard everything gives me joy, so I'm back to organizing. I will turn some of my piles into vertical piles which is something I can do easily.  I've moved my "stuff" around again because it just wasn't working where it was. My HQ16 can't be moved, a good thing. I moved my Rub...

I bought the panel of Anna and Elsa and decided to make a Frozen quilt (ages ago, but in 2015) so I ordered a kit and have cut up the fabric and started making the "snowflakes" for the inner border.  I decided that, if nothing else, I'd get in 15 minutes of sewing - something! anything! and this was the easiest project to tackle for the few minutes I had.  A Costco near me just opened before the holidays and I found myself wandering around there instead of using my time (more wisely) to sew.  I also stopped at Target and got a drying rack and plan to hang it from my A/C door to hold ironed fabric for another quilt I'm working on. Presently, it's hanging on my belly bar of my long arm machine, which should be loaded with a quilt top. I have to download the latest software and that task keeps getting pushed lower and lower on my To-Do-List.  Happy New Year!!! Thanks for stopping by and commenting if you choose to do so. 

This is my latest "want to do" series. It's a series of bench pillows by Kimberbell Designs . This is the Thanksgiving/November pattern that I started before Thanksgiving and have decided that I need to put this as a leader/ender project until the top is pieced enough to do the machine applique. I cut all the applique pieces with my Scan and Cut so they are very precise, fusible pieces and are ready to be ironed on, except the word Together, which I just couldn't find the right colors/fabric so it just sat. Sign. It has a braided top and bottom border which was fun to put together, so it's pretty close to finished...so to speak. It's already January and I missed the December/Christmas one altogether, so I will forgive myself and move on, but will keep it handy to use instead of a scrap piece of fabric. Now, do I do January or February next?  Thoughts?   I didn't really sew today, but I fixed my wifi extender so that I could use my laptop in my b...