Virtual Retreat July 2015 - Join Anytime

[Lois B.]

Jdeluca, What an accomplishment! It is gorgeously beautiful. I'd be scared about the quilting too. But that doesn't mean I would/or wouldn't do it. One of my favorite sayings is by Eleanor Roosevelt - "Do something every day that scares you." From my own experience I know the quilting skills may go up a few notches when the quilting really matters. At the same time, I'd assess my skills honestly and do what I think best. She didn't say do something foolish every day. Some days we are scared for good reason and should take heed. Good luck.

[Lois B.]

Stunning!
And another item is listed on my pin cushion. Instead of a bucket I will have a "giant sized" pincushion with notes about what I would like to accomplish, hmmmm
Luann

[Susan S.]

And the winner was,,,, HandiQuilter Fusion 26 with a ProStitch computer.
I also added casters and hydraulic table lift. My space needs to be shared so the casters will move the machine out of the way when others need the space. The hydraulic table lift ensures that I can reduce the back strain that could happen with a table that is at a fixed position. We all tend to 'make do' and pay the price later. If I want to do micro stippling, which requires a considerable amount of time in a small area, I will be able to perch upon a chair OR stool, whichever is comfortable that day.
It would have been the Infinity but my closest dealer, and the one I want to deal with, isn't trained on it. And HandiQuilter won't allow them to sell any model they aren't trained on. Probably a good thing. Infinity has been out for a couple of years, love the bells and whistles, but it wasn't hard to decide to take the Fusion26. And my hubby was along, he fell for the computer because it has a display with'the x y z coordinates'. He's an engineer and that impressed him, I was impressed with the fluid movement when in manual mode. I love free motion work, but will utilize the computer to recoup some of the investment.
Thursday night at Guild I got my first client. I was just sharing about the machine, and she asked if I would be interested in for-hire work. Things are going well for me.
Luann

[Nancy R.]

Your quilt is beautiful, Jdeluka! Follow your heart as far as the quilting. That's really a personal decision. I'm one who gets more satisfaction looking at a quilt that I've made completely myself (and am also cheap), so have never quilted by credit card. But that also means I have a lot of tops that I still need to quilt and I know that some of my quilts could have been really incredible if quilted by a professional.

As for the blogs, I'm disappointed that there was no mention of getting us back all of the text that we wrote on the original blogs, which they had said they would do when they moved to the new site. I've had too many problems with the community area so won't use that, and wouldn't actually trust them at this point to not lose those posts in the future, too. So I've moved my blog to blogspot where I feel confident that my writing will be protected, since I've lost several years of writing here. As you can tell, this is one area where I feel very let down by TQS.

[wendy w.]

Wonderful Luann have you named her yet. Long arms are not anything I know about but I love to watch the demonstrations at shows, here and other sites. It's mesmerising and looks so easy but bet it's not

[wendy w.]

Wendy,
They can be a lot of fun. There is a learning curve, as with most everything in life. I have learned to accept where I am on my way to where I'm going. And then its a matter of practice, practice, practice, and a little more practice!! I think the biggest challenge is to pace myself and take breaks. A person can get so into a groove that you loose all track of time!! The ProStitch unit has a timer built in, so I can set it for a specific amount of time and when it's up, an alarm will sound. I think I will be sure to use it right away,,, no sense in getting sore muscles from something I want to do daily.

Luann

[Susan S.]

Jdeluka, your quilt is beautiful!

Lottie, what a happy way to start your day - visiting the animals. Those bears looked like they were having fun. There was a baby raccoon sleeping on the ledge of my screen porch this morning. His little head was hidden by a large ceramic vase on a table. I think you call that hiding in plain sight? Made me think of little children covering their eyes and thinking they were hiding.

Luann, a new adventure awaits you. Years ago when I carved pictures in clay I would get so involved - lost in the right side of my brain - several hours would pass without my knowledge of the time lapse until I saw a clock!

[wendy w.]

Your Wedding Star quilt top looks great. Looking forward to see it finished. Thanks for sharing.

Margarita

[wendy w.]

Jdeluka your wedding star is beautiful. I feel very tempted to buy the pattern & kit.
Lotti, thanks to asking about the blogs. Like Nancy I am disappointed that we have lost all the old postings.
Luann glad you are decided about your new long arm. Hope you don't have to fight DH over visitation rights :whistle:

Here is a quilt top I just finished for Lilian Hedley's quilts for Nepal appeal. She was sent 2 packets of 200 2" squares and a bag of fabric samples that were about 1 1/4" square. She doesn't work with pieces that small, so I offered to make them larger for her. Got ever-so-slightly carried away after seeing something similar posted on the Quiltville FB page :whistle:

I also spent a good while on Maxiature trying to get the centre looking as good as possible - half a dozen tries later, I have something I am happy to live with. It is now blocked out on a large cake board and drying in the airing cupboard (1/2" deep cake boards are great of blocking on because they are made of soft board and are so easy to push pins into. Added bonus if you get them from a local specialist fancy cake shop you can pick up second hand ones for less than half the price - just remember to make sure they are clean before use!)

[Rita C.]

Beautiful wedding star quilt, and Rosemary your quilt is beautiful too. Luann congrats on the new member of the family. Lotti, thanks for the clarification about the blogs, it is as I suspected from the beginning. And yet again beautiful photos to entertain us, thank you.

[Rita C.]

I have finished a composition book cover. I didn't have a 'pattern' but measuring twice and cutting once, usually works for me.
Front cover


Inside front cover


Close up of a favorite stitch of mine


This will go to my Pastor's wife tomorrow.

Luann

[Nancy R.]

Beautiful quilt, Rosemary! It'll be appreciated and loved! What's in the center of those blocks? It looks like sharks to me. Can you show a close-up?

Lovely composition book, Luann! I assume those are some of your lovely hand-dyes. Another gift that I'm sure will be much appreciated!

[Jennifer D.]

Beautiful quilt Rosemary - The blue really sets off your scrappy piecing. While the bali-pops Judy Neimeier created to use in her pattern are nice to grab and get started, I wanted something a little different. I raided my stash, and then pulled a few of the original bali-pop strips I bought 6-7 years ago (I used most of a set of "strawberry fields", and part of a "mango" something or other and made my own color arrangement - that was half the fun for me!

Luann, the composition book looks great! I really like the multi-colored thread

[wendy w.]

Lucky pastors wife Luann. Your fabrics look almost leather sewn that way.

[wendy w.]

Here are my 'sharks' Nancy




I actually got in trouble for cutting up such a pretty fabric from DH with this hmy:

jdeluka, I have found that dark colours seem to work well for setting off scrappy quilts