Sneak Peek

I'm stuck on my calico fabric stash.  Thought they would make a cute boat quilt.

African Safari Quilt

I finished my first quilt on my new HQ Sweet Sixteen.

I chose this machine because it is for "free motion quilting".  I love the "organic" look of this quilting method.

I searched online for some ideas for free-motion quilting.  One of my favorite sites is Day Style Designs.  Leah has made some fantastic tutorial videos for quilters, and given lots of sample ideas for free motion quilting.  She has a post for beginning free motion quilters here, with some trouble shooting solutions.  

Leah noticed that most of the filler quilting in her quilts was stippling or mctavishing.  So, she set out to create a new "free motion quilt filler design" for each day of the year.  Here is her post about that.  On her flicker site, you can find those designs.  I kept the above sample, blown up to full size, next to my quilting machine as I quilted, and used it for reference.  Leah shares her talents and ideas with us free of charge, but you can support her by making a small donation here.

I used fabrics from the URBAN CIRCUS collection by Laurie Wisbrun, as the feature fabric for this quilt.

This quilt went to my new nephew, Tsubasa.  Here he is with his darling mother, Maiko.

The back and binding are scrappy.

HQ Sweet 16

Boxes from heaven arrived on my porch this week via UPS.

The Sweet Sixteen is made by Handi Quilter.   It's a sit-down (semi) long arm, for free motion quilting.

 Here is a link to HQ's demonstration video of the Sweet 16. 

 Smooth sailing!  No bumps, tugging, pulling, rolling,  etc.

 The back looks beautiful!  No site of the top thread on the curves.

 Lots of throat space . . . 16 inches!  

 Love it, love it!!

 I think I'm starting to literally fulfill that prophecy my husband mentioned about my hobby "taking over the house".   Maybe my next quilt should be for him.

Quilted with the HQ Sweet 16

 African Safari

 Sherbet Pips

work in progress