1st Finish of 2010!

I put the last stitches in Candy Hearts tonight, the class I took last week.  In spite of the frustrations with the class itself, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I think I will seriously consider not doing the rest of the months as applique/quilt as you go.  The instructor had us spray baste this piece and it seemed that this wasn't quite stable enough of a basting job to then do the applique and the quilting as one step.  I ended up with some poofiness in some spots around the hearts, which you can see in the picture.  I think that spray basting is probably the way to go with these little quilts, but then it is also probably better to do the applique separately from the quilting so you can keep the piece flat. 

Since these quilt of the month kits also include the hanger, I've already got this cutie up on the wall by my front door where all of the monthly quilts will probably live.  Who cares that it's not even February yet LOL.  I don't even normally decorate for any holidays other than Christmas and we don't even do that sometimes, so I'm way ahead of the game right now :-).

I'm either crazy or I really, really, really love my Janome 6600

I'll go with the second option.  I purchased my first (a clue where this post is going) Janome 6600 three and a half years ago.  I have loved everything about it from the second I got it, except for transporting it.  The thing is a beast and I don't have much space in my sewing room (aka the guest room) to maneuver it in and out of the travel case.  Disregarding the back story of the past couple of days whereby I even started thinking about getting a second 6600 (I do have an older Elna that could be used in a pinch, but it doesn't sew anything like the Janome), the bottom line is that I put a deposit on one this morning at the same dealer where I bought the first one.  They have to bring it over from another store to the one closest to me, so I can pick it up Wednesday.  I basically paid the same price as I paid for the first one, so I feel I got a pretty good deal.  I will also ask them to kick in the extra straight stitch throat plate when I pick it up, as that was the only add-on I've had to purchase for my original machine.  I have been saving some of my stash money all year long and I had enough to pay for 2/3 of the cost, so the additional out of pocket is not too bad.  As my husband said, I certainly don't need any more fabric (see previous post on my stash), so why not spend it on another sewing machine if that's what I wanted.  I couldn't argue with that.

The plan is to keep this second machine in the traveling case for use for class, taking to Dawn's etc., and to sell the Elna since I will no longer need it as a backup.

I'm very excited to get the new machine.  Fingers crossed that it works as great as the first one.  I know a few people have gotten lemons, but for the most part, everyone that has this machine loves it.  And if by chance I get a lemon, I will take it right back for an exchange.  I know how it's supposed to work, so it should be obvious pretty quickly if something isn't right.

Update:  I called the store to see if they would throw in some of the new accessories that have come out since I purchased my original machine and my new machine was already at the shop.  So, I convinced DH to go up there with me right away rather than waiting until tomorrow.  So, here is my new baby.  I also got them to throw in the FMQ bobbin case and a package of bobbins and they gave me 20% off the ditch quilting foot.  I can't wait to try these new accessories when I quilt my next quilt.  I did not purchase the straight stitch throat plate as they only had it in combo with a foot that I don't like (just like with my original purchase), but I found the plate only on-line for $22.  The local store was honest and said there's no way they could beat that price, even if they could get the product, and to go ahead and order it on-line, so that's what I plan to do.

Christmas 9 Patch Backing is Done!

I finished the backing for the Christmas 9 Patch today with no time to spare to get a photo outside before the sun went down.  The yellow things on the side are my stickies that were my row markers.  I didn't have time to remove them before taking the picture.  The fabrics aren't fabulous together, but it completely used them up except for scraps so that was good as I believe all of them were purchased in 2001, the year I started quilting.  I put in a couple of close-up pics of the fabrics I used.

Tax season officially starts tomorrow, so we'll see if I can keep up my productivity the next few months.

Quilt of the Month Class - somewhat disappointing

I have been debating for a couple of days as to whether to post this or not, but have decided to go ahead, even thought it's going to be largely a negative post.  On Thursday night, Dawn and I attended the first session of a Quilt of the Month series at one of our local quilt shops.  I'll leave the shop name out of this since I have some criticisms of the class.  The concept is great...you make a cute little wallhanging for each month and the kits come with a coordinating hanger.  The cost is $30, which includes everything but the batting, thread and fusible, so not too bad.  The main technique learned was supposed to be applique/quilt as you go, so that sounded interesting.

So, the first class was scheduled for Thursday, January 7th and as of Tuesday, the 5th, no supply list had been provided.  I had to go down to the shop to even find out what color threads to bring since this was an applique project.  Between Dawn and I we tried to come up with a list of everything we would need, but even then, we missed some things, which was frustrating to say the least.  We started out having to do some cutting that we weren't expecting so had to use cutting implements which we weren't familiar with.  Then I went to press my borders and found that someone in the morning class had fused their applique on the wrong side and burnt it on the iron which then transferred to my white background fabric.  No time to ask for them to cut more fabric since we were already behind, so I am hoping I can get the black marks out as well as those on the red border fabric.

I was constantly behind all night because there just wasn't enough time allotted for cutting, tracing and fusing applique and then still doing the basting, quilting, etc.  When the instructor (one of the shop owners) asked who wanted to sign up for the next month, I asked if we could at least get the pattern in advance so we could get the applique traced and she agreed.  Even better would be if they would also give us the fabric kits so we could get everything fused and prepped for the actual applique, but I don't see them having them available far enough in advance to get that done.

I probably could have tolerated the haphazard and disorganized manner in which the class was conducted if there hadn't also been constant sales pitches for the other classes, events, products, etc.  If you couldn't take the time to provide me with a supply list for the class I'm sitting in, I really don't want to hear about other classes.

But, at the end of the day, the project is really cute.  Dawn has hers completely done, but I've got a bit more to go.  I had to hand sew the letters (another frustration, but I will leave the details on that out of this post), so that took forever, but I like how they turned out.  I have decided to run a wavy quilting line around the red border and then will trim the quilt and bind.  I'm hoping to get that done this coming week.  Here's my progress so far:

Productive Saturday Quilting Day

At least once a month, my friend Dawn and I have a quilting day.  Yesterday was one of those days.  We both got a lot done, which sometimes is not the case LOL.  My first priority of the day was to make the backing for this quilt:

I want to cull some of my Christmas fabrics, so I cut a bunch of them into 10 1/2 inch squares ala Bonnie Hunter for the backing.  I haven't sewn them together yet, but layed them out and was pleased with the look.

I hadn't hauled my machine along to Dawn's house, so after that I got caught up with pressing all of my leader ender pieces I had sewn and that pretty much wrapped up the day.  I might have gotten more done except for frequent breaks to play with her new kitten, Otis, who you can see a bit in the upper left corner of the picture.  You know me and cats!

Binding attached and ready to hand sew

After class today I attached the binding to the rest of the quilts I quilted recently so I now have a nice stack of quilts just waiting for the hand sewing of the binding to the back.  I love this final step to completing the quilt.  I also have to make the binding for two large quilts, so soon I should have those to sew down as well.  With the Winter Olympics coming up, I'm thinking this will be a good project to tackle while I'm watching my favorite events.

Something doesn't belong in this picture...

I was washing my new batiks on Sunday and as I was transferring them to the dryer I noticed that I had a helper.  Do you see anything that doesn't quite belong in this picture?

I thought if I kept throwing the wet fabric on her, she would leave.  Nope. Just kept letting it pile on until she was completely buried.  Shortly after that she popped her little head out for this picture.  I can't ever accuse her of slacking on her Quality Control duties!!