Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Catch up, and a new sewing machine.

It's been ages since I posted, but I have been quilting. I finished three quits during the Christmas holidays, all of which were pieced a while back.

First, though, my new friend Juki! I purchased this right after Christmas. If Santa ain't good to you, you've got to be good to yourself! It is a Juki HZL-F600. The extended table and larger throat space have made free motion quilting much easier than with my old Babylock.

The first quilt finished is for my daughter. Her requirements were "blue and yellow" and "pinwheels," so I went with a simple Irish Chain alternating with Pinwheels. It was quilted on a friends longarm before Christmas with an all over paisley pattern.
Next up, a quilt for my niece who graduated college last year. She has a king sized bed so I made it as big as I could tolerate! Quilting it on my home machine was challenging to say the least. I did simple lines with a walking foot and the pattern was 12 + 2 = Q. Instead of a sheet for the top I used Kaufmann yarn died linen.
Next I finally finished the Easy Hourglass quilt I pieced during a retreat two years ago! I gave that one to my sister-in-law, Mom of the niece above. She is one of the sweetest people I know and I am so lucky to have her for a sister! For this one I used a pattern from Angela Walter's book on free-motion quilting. The pattern is an all-over flower design and was remarkably easy (easier that meandering, which is all the free-motion I had done before.) My new Juki made it easy to maneuver the quilt around while quilting!
That's all for now. Next retreat is in February.