Festival Notes...

 Vermont Quilt Festival 2012 was a resounding success from the point of view of the visitors! We had, as usual a good time, and we all left nice and tired! That's how it should be. Previously I recounted the shopping coups and didn't mention too much about the quilts themselves.  The quilts were, as they always are, quite lovely. So much work goes into each show quilt. More work than I can imagine ever doing. Artisans all, the quilters who compete are all winners to me because of the effort and the care they put into making and showing their creations.  I took a class in free motion purporting to free me from too much tension and letting myself get comfy with the medium. The class was fine. A bit too touchy-feely, but there were people there who really benefitted from a more free approach to free motion. The pictures I am using are from the show - they were my favorites and if I had the names of the creators I would add those. The pictures are small enough to preclude using them as patterns, as I want to at least try to meet expectations when I post the work of others.
Some of the class practice techniques were interesting - such as tracing designs with your finger several times to train the brain in a pattern of your choice. Then there was some emphasis on pencil drawings of the designs you were interested in. Some benefit can surely be gotten from this sort of thing, especially for people who haven't previously done much drawing or had art training.  Books were being promoted both in the class and in the Zentangle class and the booths which were selling the Zentangle products. Zentangle is very attractive, and the fact that I love paper and pencils and art items of all sorts makes the Zentangle sets alluring! I did, however, resist because I wanted to buy Lead Day's book instead of falling for the gimmick and over pricing of Zentangle. BUT, O really did think the books are of help to those who just cannot think easily of designs.

All told we had a good day, and it was made extra special because two friends from Maine, and one from Southern Vermont came up and we were able to network, which is what I like to call lunch at the Peking Duck! No, really - we did a lot of talking about the show, quilting, each others machines and works-in-progress and in general had a really good time! It is so good to see friends and to shop with them as well...and to shop with those who understand our thread and fabric manias!

Quilt Quilted....New Toy for Cat....

Wondering where I have been? I finished some projects that had been laying around, mostly mending, and then I spent time for the last several weeks working on my quilt - and now I can tell you the first free motion quilt I have done, in fact the first quilt I have made at all, is finished except for binding. I will put the project of the binding on hold until after Summer much loved family visits and after a few weeks practice again.  There may be room to sew a skirt and maybe even a shirt in that time period.  In other news, the Vermont Quilt Festival came around again, and the two days were a whirl of fun, class and spending,oh dear, I mean judiciously choosing of necessities. I did purchase the Quilter's tool called the Fabulous Fabric Guide  and instead of buying thread at the Superior Threads booth, I bought the thread cards for Masterpiece and King Tut. Who knows what color thread I will want next project, so this lets me hold actual thread next to fabric - I love the cards.

As you may know I have been looking at sewing machines for some time now because the two things I wanted if I ever spent on another machine were more harp space and faster speed, and a knee lift. The knee lift is just so handy. 

I had been following the dropping price on the Brother 1500S at AMAZON, and it had dropped pretty low when I found a really good price on a Janome MC6300.  I am so glad I bought the MC6300 Professional from Janome. The accessories are plentiful, and the fact that it comes with a large acrylic extension table is frosting on the cake. I have it in a Gidget II Arrow table. I don't need more stitches than the 6300 has, and I don't need the other additions of the other machines in the line. My Viking more than has all the extras I need for any type of garment or utility sewing. The 6300 is going to take some time to totally test out and sewing several projects is for the next several months. After all that I'll review it on PatternReview. Meanwhile, here is an excellent review from another site! Janome MC6300P Review            

Quilt '93 Moves Forward...

I have had some help with my quilt as you can see. This is at the pinning stage. Pearl helped me by keeping the quilt on that table. This is the first quilt I have pinned, but true to my first teacher, Sue Nickels, and then Leah Day and the rest of the good online resources I have read, I pinned the heck out of the quilt sandwich. That time investment really pays off I can tell you now. In between sewing up the straight lines I am running top to bottom down the lines of geese, I fold it up and Pearl sleeps on it on the sewing table - that way the quilt won't escape. Little by little, in the evenings, I have been completing the straight lines. Not perfect by any means, but I am enjoying the sewing very much. I do use the smooshing method rather than carefully rolling the quilt - it is just more my style. I am so glad my Pfaff has a large harp area, and the walking foot now called IDT. So very used to good feed top and bottom by having IDT all these years. Straightening the whole quilt sandwich and keeping it moving smoothly requires stopping quite a bit, removing pins, and making sure all is smooth under the quilt as it moves through. And my space is cramped, but I am used to that anyway, so it's really not a problem for me. I am thankful for the years of sewing experience that allow me to keep watch on 1. the fabric feed, 2. the positioning of the quilt, and 3. the sound and flow of the machine as it goes along. Being able to hear the changes can save you some troubles. The one thing I would love is to know when my bobbin is low, but that is a problem for all types of sewing when you have a vertical bobbin. And, I have been known to not check a horizontal bobbin as well, so that doesn't always do me any good either! In the pictures you might have spotted the Superior Threads Thread Stand. A wonderful gadget. I have an inexpensive thread stand I picked up at JoAnn's years ago, but the edges were a bit rough - yes, really! Not a good thing with thread running across it. So I thought why not go all the way and get this really flexible item from Superior. It can be used many ways, and made to work for my C&C thread I am using now as well. I think I am going to get a lot of use out of it. Meanwhile I did purchase a Sew Slip as well, but haven't had a lot of love for it. I had to remove it to get a visual on the bobbin area of my machine when I ran out of thread last week one night. I wanted to move the Sew Steady Table away so I could do the bobbin, and the Sew Slip made that process worse, so I just rolled it on up and put it away for now. I will try it later on again. Meanwhile, back at the proverbial ranch, I have ordered a Sew Steady table for my Janome 8050 because sometimes I am going to want to place it in the table and use it for free motion. For example, when I get my Pfaff out and take her in for servicing.

Tiny quilt made from sample effort at Free Motion. I see I really need to study up on binding. I used pre-packaged wide bias tape and I just couldn't seem to get it to miter the corners. SO - the other piece I made I sewed strips on each end, then on the sides and then tucked in the corners, and made two other sample pieces into a cat pad. The cat loves it, so that is sufficient gratification for now. Imagine me even putting this picture up. Being brave. I love the Seattle fabric I got at Hancock's in Seattle a few years back. Next is to scope out a Lutterloh pattern for some summer pants and get my quilt quilted.