New Machine

This past fall I bought a new machine, and it really is a NEW machine, not just new to me, but new to being used!

I bought a Husqvarna Viking Ruby 90.  Here she is straight out of the box.  I will probably use her mainly for embroidery, and the occasional zig zag stitch (since none of my singers have a zig zag stitch)

I don't really have a lot of room to keep her in my sewing room, but I made room.  I am just using a fold up table.  

I love that I can sew & embroider at the same time.  I love having it set up! 

I have wanted an embroidery machine FOREVER! When I was in high school they had one (and Husqvarna Viking) that I could use, and I learned how to use it, I think I knew it better than the teacher ;) 

I have already done a lot with my machine, labels for my quilts, Christmas gifts, and more! I can't wait to share it all!

Design Wall Monday

Here is what is up on my design wall, they are blocks I am doing as a scrap buster challenge.  It's definitely helped me cut into my scraps!

 

I am trying not to finish this all at once, I am not using it as a leader/ender, but every once in a while I make a few blocks.  I think I will make a total of 120 blocks and then finish the quilt.  I am 1/10th of the way there with 13 blocks!

Here's hoping this one doesn't turn into a UFO by the end of the year ;)

Finished Friday!

 Well I have my first finish of the year!  It is actually a quilt I started in 2013.  It was a black & white log cabin.  You can see the progression of it here.    

I quilted this quilt at some point, but it doesn't look like I took pictures of it.  It has been sitting quilted in my closet for years.  I don't know why I didn't just bind it (as an aside that has been my issue since getting my long arm, I finish quilting but don't finish the quilts as much, which is crazy since I have my accuquilt I have cut out so much binding!).  

It's not super big.  But I think it will be perfect for the recipient.  One of my husband's cousins recently adopted, and rather than get him a toy, we decided a quilt would be better.  And I remembered I had this one.  I thought it would be perfect for a little boy.  

So maybe that's why I didn't finish this quilt all the way, I hadn't found a recipient for it yet :)

Of course now I want to make another log cabin! I love how fun and simple they are

All people quilt January

Every year All people quilt does a UFO* challenge where you list out 12 UFOs you have, they give you a number each month and you work on that quilt.  I tried to do it in 2021, but moving half way during the year put a damper on getting that done.  I knew I wanted to do it again in 2023.  

So I put together a list of all the quilts I had that still need to be finished.  And January's number was 3, and my number 3 was my pinwheel quilt a long, that I started in 2010.  

I am excited to have the top done.  I knew I wanted to add borders, the issue was, I did not have a lot of the fabrics left.  I like how the borders turns out.

I am not 100% done with it, as I need to quilt it, but I think I have some fabric that will work nicely for the backing, once there's a nice weather day, I think I will be going to the garage to quit this.

* UFO - Unfinished Object - can be a quilt that you started, that you haven't even cut, but it's a project that isn't done!
 

Bow tie blocks - count 587

 I have been trying to keep track of how many bowties I have, because there are too many for my design wall.  Well not too many, but too many I don't want to put them up anymore to try to count them.

This was in May of 22.  I had 339 bowtie blocks and I decided I was not going to put them up and count them there anymore.  I couldn't even imagine trying to do it now!

Last week I made 21 bowtie blocks.

And this week I made 18 bowtie blocks.  My total right now is 587!!! I cannot believe I have made over 200 since May of last year! 

I am so ready to start sewing these into bigger blocks.  But I think I will wait until I have 600.  If I make this as big as my quilt is, it will be 672 blocks total.  

Design Wall Monday

Design Wall Monday! Is a very old quilt.  It's one I started in 2010.

My journey with this quilt is here.  I think the last time I really touched it was in 2014.

I thought I only had one more seam to sew this together, the two on point halves.  I was quite wrong. I did have to sew the two halves together, but I also had to add the cornerstones, and I figured out why I hadn't added those. 

I didn't have enough fabric!  I had to piece them, which turned out fine, but I think that is why it slowed me down.

Now the top is done! I do want to add borders because this quilt ended up square, and I while I don't mind square quilts I prefer rectangular ones.

 I am linking up with Small Quilts & Doll Quilts Design wall Monday.

My Long Arm

Happy anniversary to my long arm!!! Yesterday (January 19th) 4 years ago in what ended up being a snowstorm, we (my husband, teen daughter & I) drove from southern Indiana to northwest Indiana to bring my long arm home. 

We rented a 12 ft uhaul truck. The table barely fit but we got the door closed. The actual machine rode in the car with me. 

I’ve loved having this machine. I’ve finished so many more quilts than I did before. In 2022 I finished 12, that wouldn’t have been possible before this. 

Last finish of 2022

Well I squeaked by finishing this before the end of the year!  I started this as a round robin over the summer.  Then the quilt was sent to two other ladies that added some rounds to it.  Then it got sent back to me, and I finished it with one more round.

I knew I wanted to make this for my mom, and my mom has said she wants a quilt big enough to put on her bed.  So I kept that in mind as I added my final border to the quilt.

Here is the full quilt being held up by my dad and my husband.  I started with the yellow "flower" in the middle.  It was actually a snails trail block that I slightly modified to make it look like a rose.

I chose to do a yellow flower because that has always been one of my moms favorite colors.

And here is a picture of the full quilt on my mom's bed.  I would say that it fits!  She loves it, so that's all that matters.

Because of other Christmas obligations I wasn't able to add the binding until the night before I gave it to my mom! Luckily our friends have a sewing machine I could borrow. otherwise this might have gone into the next year pile!

This was finish number 12 of the year! (I know I haven't shared them all yet, but I will this year).  That might be the most I have finished in one year.  I do know one year I finished 9.  Having a long arm really helps!

It's been a year!

Oh my goodness, I haven't posted in a year! Life has been very crazy.  But I am definitely going to be making a point of posting more things year.  I know I have said it before but I love being able to read back and see what I have been up to.

I made my bowtie quilt, and started one for my friend Christine.  I have been trying to keep track of how many I have, so that I can make sure I make enough!

I am adding 18 bow ties this week.  So that brings my running today to 537.

When I hit 500 I thought that I was almost done, because I knew I needed 600 some, what I did not realize was that I needed closer to 700, 672! So I still have a ways to go.  

I am using this as my leader/ender quilt, so I used it in between other projects I am working on, so I always have something under my needle on my sewing machine.

It's also really good for using up scraps!