Quilting Machine (Me)

Well as time seems to go I have found myself a quilting machine, although with my self imposed limitations I find most of my days either washing dishes with a nervous quilting twitch or annoying the hell out of my friends with my quilting lingo and hilarious quilting anecdotes (which are never appreciated to the entirety of their wit). I made this quilt for a very special little girl (Cally).

I quilted it with a pattern called Heart Flow (http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.ca/). It was a really fun and fast design to quilt and I would use it again (or one like it). There just seem to be a multitude of babies being born all around me at the moment so most of my recent projects seem to be a little childish. Which happens to be quite the joke at the guild since I put a lot of profanity and love into these quilts (it's that or grind my teeth into non-existence).

This is little baby Bowen's quilt, with big banana leaves quilted around the boarder.

So I know that everyone has a 'stash' (or as I like to view it; Essential materials accumulation) and I'm sure mine looks a lot like anyone elses, but due to the lack of a fabric store within a reasonable distance (the next town) and lack of funds I actually have to use my 'stash'. I have been fortunate enough to acquire the dregs of stashes all around the province... I'm not sure if I've been lucky or cursed with this haul. Why does everything seem like such a good idea at the time only to become the biggest headache since the last time you turned on your sewing machine? I have been wrestling with all sorts of material that my skill and

knowledge base is completely unprepared to handle. I will go and google all sorts of things about animals or cooking, but when it comes to quilting I get this blocky look in my eye and just do it! Then of course I fix it, then fix it again, throw it in a corner, and fix it once I've ruined something else. I do one day plan to take photos of these mistakes so hopefully I could stop someone else from this horror but I'm usually happy when I don't throw my machine out the window. I have been following the free motion quilt along lead by Leah Day (http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.ca/) And the first couple of weeks were based upon how to quilt on a larger scale, I have been wrestling with this problem. When you quilt on a home machine you can only move the quilt so far and so fast and see so much before you've sewn your finger into your quilt. So with a little guidance and a glass or two of wine (I knew a problem for my temper would naturally present itself) I did a pretty good job. Well the projects are mounting so I'm off to the curve again.