Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Thou Shalt Not Covet....

I don't covet my neighbor's husband...or wife either for that matter, but I sure do covet my neighbor's sewing machine! Last Friday and Saturday I had the pleasure of attending two of Patsy Thompson's machine quilting workshops. If you ever get a chance to take a class with Patsy, go for it! She's a wonderful teacher and her quilting is exquisite. Check out her work on her website and here are a few photos of her samples I took with my cell phone. The last one is the teaching sample you can see her creating on her sewing machine. Wow.


As for coveting.... The workshop was an unique opportunity to see what other machines people use for machine quilting. The one that impressed me by far was the Juki TL98Q. SIGH.....


I'll have to wait for that. I did treat myself to a Bendable Bright Light though. *happy dance*


One of the jobs the Juki would be fantastic for is foundation piecing...because of the thread cutter feature. I know this because I've been foundation piecing this week...with no thread cutter.


Last year I had the pleasure of taking a Pineapples Plus workshop with Jane Hall. Another wonderful teacher and lucky for us, a member of our guild. I made one block and then of course it became another UFO. Bless the organizers of this year's North Carolina Quilt Symposium, they've included The Jane Hall Challenge as an entry category so now I have to finish it. :-) I've been slaving away at my Bernina this week finishing eight more blocks to go with UFO block number one.


"Challenge" is the right word! I have such a crick in my shoulder, despite regular stretching breaks. And I have made so many stupid mistakes! Aaarrrrggghhh. To say nothing of changing the design of the first four blocks twice! Ripping out the small stitching on foundation papers is not fun. But success comes to those who perservere (ha...listen to me preach). I have now have nine blocks pinned up on my design wall....


and a mess (this is just today's mess!). Just wait until I get to ripping out the paper backing. Oh my!

The dogs are unimpressed as usual. :-)

I was hanging the fabric strips on a quilt rack. Handy...except the rails are slippery and Ivy kept helping herself to the strips that slid off onto the floor. So I spent a bit of time glueing flannel to the rails. Works like a charm! :-)


While I was working away and humming along with iTunes my mind was wandering and I had fun thinking up names for this little wall hanging. Some weren't so nice. :-) In the end I decided I should call it Don't Tell Jane. I'd rather she didn't know how much I've struggled with nine blocks when she's made many award-winning quilts with the same method. My hat's off to you Jane!

And this just in from my DIL, the Navy Wife. The Sailor Son has been sending videos from the ship for his son, of himself reading story books.

DIL also made him a "Me and my Daddy" poster.


Now doesn't that just pull your heartstrings?

5 comments:

meggie said...

AWWWW how cute is that kiss!
Wow you have been busy with all your sewing. Lucky you with the classes.

Kathie said...

Hi Kate,
I think your Pinapple looks great. Jane would be proud!
I put all the pictures I took Saturday on a memory stick. I'll drop it off sometime so you can download...way to much memory even when I tried to zip drive it.
Kathie

Angie said...

Your Pineapple blocks look great! It that not the sweetest picture of our grandson. I envy your class with Patsy. Gorgeous quilting on her samples.

Nancy said...

While it's never easy, how much better to stay in touch during a deployment now , with the internet and videos, etc. Before I was born, my dad was in Italy during WWII, and my brother, 2 at the time was at home with mom. I can't even imagine how painful that is for everyohne involved. thank you and your son and his little family.

Kathleen said...

How could you not covet! Wow is right! . . . and what a neat way to keep Daddy in the picture (no pun intended) during deployment. Thanks to your son and his family for his service.