ONE DAY FINISH

 Wow, I set out this morning wanting to finish the edge-to-edge quilting on the Follow the Sun top.  I had loaded the backing up last night and got the batting ready.  So, first thing I cleaned and oiled Erik and got to work.

I choose a quilting pattern called Siena Sunflower.  I liked it because it was a 'flower' design that will look really great on the 'plain' backing.  So, I had to learn how to upload it into Q-Matic, which turned out to be very easy and user friendly.

It turns out that the pattern had a few 'jumps' in each section, so I had to stay near and keep hitting the buttons to move it forward.  That was very annoying because they were completely unnecessary (I found out later that I had uploaded the wrong file extension).

But, I got it done in one day.  I even attended a BravePatch Monday get-together, although I had to keep getting up to attend to the quilting.

I set it up incorrectly at first and had to remove some stitching.  But I eventually got it going right.

At one point the machine went insane and made a huge bird's nest on the back - I don't know why.  So, more picking out.

And, we're done!

FOLLOW THE SUN TOP

 I sewed all of the blocks and rows together.  The top for 'Follow the Sun' is ready to be quilted.

I then made a backing with a label and loaded it up on Erik the Bold (I finally named the new Q24) and looked for an appropriate quilting pattern.  

I want to try my first edge-to-edge on this one.

TRIUMPH

 I conquered the problems I was having quilting this little quilt on the Q-Matic Bernina Q24 and got it done. 

I learned a bit along the way.

I also took the rope out of the dye pot and rinsed the dyes out.  I guess it will have to just air dry, can't put it in the dryer.

WORKED ON COMPUTER

 I worked on the Q-Matic computer, trying to quilt this little quilt.  It was frustrating to say the least.  I got a few rows done before I quit to attend the Joe Talk.  This is my first time with him because he used to do it later in the day, making it difficult for me to attend.  Today's meeting started at 2pm PST.

During the time with Joe I was working on the 1-2-3 Blocks.  I cut out some plain flower blocks to mix in.  It's definitely better now, and I started sewing them together.

THREE THINGS

 I worked on a few things today.

I finished the mane and tail for the Nature Pony.

Then I put the 1-2-3 Blocks that I made a while ago up on the design wall...

And moved them around a bit...

I started quilting on a little quilt that I've had around for a while.  I cut the blue and white parts out for it and using a charm pack for the center of each block, I sent them home with Mom and she sewed it all together.  

I had to make a backing for it first.  I started with blue thread to outline the blue crosses with a ruler.  Then I used the new Q-Matic computer system, for the first time, to have the computer sew a pattern into each block.

There was a bit of learning (and cussing) to figure out a few things.  I didn't finish, I had more than a few problems.  I quit in frustration.

NATURE PONY

 I made a copy of one of the Patchwork Ponies that Jo Avery made.  I saw it on her blog and fell in love.

I had quilted the orange panels the other day and machine appliqued the stem and leaves to the two sides. 

 [I actually cut out four sides from the quilted panel, but I made 3 of one side and only 1 of the other.  So I have parts for one and a half ponies]

I sewed it all together today - forgetting the ears and then having to pick out that part and insert the ears.  I cut up some more of the batting scraps I had laying around, stuffed it and sewed up the hole.

I want to take it to the local yarn shop and buy something really special for the mane and tail.

STRIP QUILT TOP DONE

 I got all of the sections of the Strip Quilt put together finally.  There was some head-scratching and adjustments made trying to figure out how to fit them to each other.  I used a lot of partial seams.

I'm mostly happy with it.  

I also got the binding onto the little Plaid Tumbler quilt, it's 30" by 40".  I used some 'leftover' plaid binding.  I think I made all of this binding for another project and then didn't use it.  Some of it finally found a home.

FIRST ONE DONE

 I finished quilting the little plaid quilt with a Baptist Fan pattern and pulled it off the longarm.

It's the first quilt finished on the new Q24.  

During the Monday BravePatch meeting today, we discussed a name for my new machine.  There were some great suggestions.  I'm still thinking on it.

RULER WORK

 I put the Ruler Plate on the new Q24 so I could try a little ruler work on it.

I loaded a very small quilt top I made a while ago.  It's Tumbler blocks cut from an assortment of plaids.  

I'm using the circle rulers to quilt a Baptist Fan pattern.

The machine is behaving wonderfully.  Joy.

I didn't get very far when I had to stop for lunch and then a Book Group meeting on Bravepatch at noon.

PRACTICING ON Q24

 I loaded up some scrap fabrics and batting and got busy practicing some free-motion quilting.

It was fun.  The machine worked great.  We'll get along just fine.

Now, he just needs a name.

21 YEARS OF BLISS

Today was Darrell and my 21st wedding anniversary.

We were married in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts.

It was very cold and windy.  I was wearing a skirt. 

BERNINA Q24 DELIVERED

 It's been almost three months since I bought my Q24 Longarm, but it finally arrived today.  

They came and set it up while I watched.

He gave me a quick run through before they left, but I'll wait until tomorrow to try it out.

I made a clean spot for them in the studio to assemble it.

They discovered that the monitor was broken inside a perfectly fine box.  That means I'll have to wait a few days for the computer to be set up.

Set up and ready to quilt!

VALENTINE FLOWERS

 Here's this year's painting, in oils,  of my Valentine's Day flowers from my sweetie.

BOTTOM HALF

 I've been working on this Strippy quilt.  I've got most of the top half done - lots of partial seams and adjustment strips added or subtracted.

I'm now working on the bottom half.  There seems to be a few fill in pieces needed.

DONUT HOLE?

 I got all of the 'panels' done for the Skinny Strips quilt.  I put them up, stood back and took a photo.  Oh no, there appears to be a big hole in the center.

So, I moved things around.  It's better, but I need to let it rest and think about it.

I heard from Sewing Machine Service today.  They will be here this Thursday to set up my new Bernina Q24.

THREE DIMENSIONAL

 I cut the gusset for the 'horse' from some black wool yardage I had purchased with some intent a while back (but I didn't follow through with that project).

I sewed the two halves of the horse together, leaving an opening for stuffing.

I purchased some wool stuffing, it should be here next week.

HORSE EYES

 I worked on making the two sides of the Horse Pillow.  I finished piecing the last one and then quilted them both and cut out the shapes.

I rousted my wool collection and cut out the shapes for the ears and eyes.  The ears are sewn on at this point. 

I took them into the house and hand appliqued the felt 'eyes' while watching another episode of Pennyworth (love it) after dinner.

After lunch, I cleaned up the studio in anticipation of the delivery of my new Q24!

HORSE!

 I'm making a Horse Pillow from a pattern by Jo Avery.

She is also having a Sew-A-Long this month which I'm sort of following.

I ran across these Tumbler block pieces I'd cut out years ago from a William Morris fabric collection.  I'm using them.  Black, taupe and gold - lovely.

This week we are just to make the two sides of the horse.

CHANGED A BIT

 I did move the parts around and made some lighter valued ones to fill in the gap.  I still have a few more bits to make.

TUESDAY STRIPS

 I moved the strip sets around and then made a few more.

Now, when I look back at yesterday's arrangement, I'm not so sure this is better.  I like yesterday's blank spots.  Hmmmm.

I guess I can put it back the way it was, right? 

MONDAY SEW

 I continued making strip sets today with my Brave Patch Monday Sew-in Buddies.

I rearranged the results, too.

But first I had to chase this potato out of my scrap bucket...

FREESTYLE STRINGS WORKSHOP

 I attended a two-day zoom workshop by Sherri Lynn Woods this weekend.  We started out at 8am on Saturday with a talk by Tara Faughnan about color and value, mostly value.  It was a great lecture with pictures of her quilts.  What struck me was when she said, she needed to 'unlearn' balance.  I need to unlearn balance too!  I have a tendency to want to place the colors evenly around the quilt.  I need to stop that, and be content with the tension that 'unbalanced' causes.

She talked about value and it's importance.  She makes areas of light values and dark values in her quilts.  She said, black and white are the extreme ends of value and with every color in between it's value depends on what color it's next to.

Here are a few of the quilts she made using strip sets.

After Tara's talk, Sherri started the workshop where we cut strips and sewed them together.  She suggested several ways to do it - planned, where you lay the strips out and decide what order you sew them together.  Spontaneous, where you pick a strip and then another and sew it to the first and then choose another from the pile and sew it on, choosing which would be next as you go.  Then there is randomly, where you put the strips into a bag and pull them out without looking and sew them together without editing.

I prefer planning as I go.  I don't think I could do the random way.  I like to have some say in it.

We sewed strip sets on Saturday until about noon, then there was an open sew afterward.

Sunday, Sherri talked about cutting the strip sets and sewing them back together.  I didn't get to that, I was just having fun sewing strips together.  Someday I'll get around to making a quilt from them.

I started by picking five colors that spoke to me that morning and jumped into it from there.  I cut some strips and then pulled some strips from the scrap bucket that worked with them.  I was surprised at how many strips were useable.  I was able to make use of some of the long, long strips that were excess backing cut-offs from after a quilted quilt is trimmed.  I mixed prints and solids.

Here is what I had at the end of the weekend.  I don't know where it will go from here.

BIG FLOWER TOP DONE

 I got the last pieces sewn into the Big Flower, Amity Baroque, today.  I stay-stitched around the outside, too.  I'm sure a lot of those seams would have come undone when it's time to start quilting it.

Now, I can relax a bit.

Well, no, it isn't actually 'done'.  I still have some appliqued circles to sew on.