It's here!

Yea, my new Viking Ruby arrived today! I brought it home but haven't taken it out of the box yet. The kids are visiting for a late Thanksgiving weekend so now is not the time. I took out the manuals to look at and drool over, woo-hoo! I just had one of my old machines cleaned and oiled for my daughter to use. She needed something to do house projects with. She can start out with that one and see how she likes it. Meg and Jack are telling me I could sell my small stuff on etsy. I might think about it. Maybe my mug rugs and coasters. I am interested in that I think.
I can't wait to take my new owner classes for this sewing machine. I hope the learning curve isn't too bad. I haven't had to learn a new machine (not Bernina) in quite a while.

Big changes on the sewing machine front.

I guess I should start this off by saying I have been a Bernina user and lover for over 30 years. My school taught Home Ec using Berninas and I was hooked.  I have two sewing machines and a small embroidery machine.  The small embroidery was just enough to whet my whistle and wish for a bigger one.  I quilt most of my quilt tops and find if I get very big they are hard to fit into my regular machines.  I sort of looked at larger machines in the Bernina line.  Although I found a couple that I was interested in I had trouble getting good info from the dealer.  I have had this problem in several other dealerships over the years.  Great machine but not great service.  I hope I haven't offended anyone.  I truly love the machines.  Since I moved here to CT I have been going to The Yankee Quilter for my supplies, and to quilt with a great group of ladies.  Most of these ladies sew with Viking (Husqvarna) machines.  That is the machine sold in the shop.  Well yesterday I asked the owner to show me what her machines can do.  Well at the end of her showing me I fell in love with the Ruby.  It is a large quilting and embroidery machine.  I will get many improvements with the size of this machine and I am looking forward to getting it.  I placed an order for it today.  I am sad that the great service I get at this shop was not available at either of my local Bernina dealers but I feel like I am off on a new adventure!  Woo-hoo!

Sewing like crazy!

Today I made progress on my sewing. I offered to make mug rugs for my grandson's teachers. He is in preschool and has many teachers. I have a few other people that will be on the receiving end of these cute little things. I am trying to wrap up several WIP's that I am working on for Christmas. Sundays are a hard day to spend in my sewing room, it is football season and I love football. Oh well I started early and then watched a couple games. I'll get going again tomorrow! Pictures later!

My blog is weird looking now!

I allowed an update to occur and now it looks sort of weird. Hope I can figure out what is going on! I got a good start on a batch of mug rugs for my grandson's teachers. He is in preschool and has a bunch of them. It is nice having an outlet for my projects.

My latest quilt book just came today, 15 Minutes of Play by Victoria Findlay Wolfe. Can't wait to try some of her ideas! The book looks cool. Like I mentioned before, another project waiting to happen. Tomorrow I get block 5 of my block of the month, yea!

Well, let me go mess with this blog and see what I can do, Happy Friday!

Sixty degree triangles

What fun! At my retreat last month I picked up a sixty degree triangle ruler and started experimenting! With this ruler if I use six of them and sew them together in the same direction they form a circle. If I see them opposite together top to bottom they form a straight line. You can see this style in the last picture I'll post here. I am making Christmas gifts this year out of this new ruler. I love new projects. Each one of the ones I have made so far I do a little different. The basic design is four rows of 2.5" strips sewn together. This is a very scrappy look. My new favorite is the one that I sewed one 5" strip I between two 2.5" matching strips. Less scrappy and very cute. I am getting carried away making these cuties! The pics show the toppers unfinished but you get the idea. The little oval is the size for back of toilet tank. Be careful you might get bit Blythe sixty degree triangle bug!

First donation quilt!

I just sent my first donation quilt off in the mail! I chose Bob's Blankie Brigade for this donation. I know the founder Helaine from my quilt retreats and wanted to support her! I used some of that sample fabric that I cut into strips two months ago!!! It is hard to make such a scrappy quilt look cute so I tried to have one color stand out. The center strip is coral in most of the blocks. Then I ran out of that color and used a green in the rest. I think I will make the blocks a little larger next time. My brother thinks there is a retro 70s look to the quilt. There is sort of! I have plans to do more but I am glad to get this one off! Great day!

4th Block of the Month Christmas

I finished my 4th block this morning. These blocks are really challenging me! It is another pretty one. Can't wait to see the finished one. In addition to this block I am working on my string blocks for my first charity quilt. It will go to Bob's Blankie Brigade. Helaine runs this non profit and hope to do something for victims of hurricane Sandy. Still early to figure this out.
Here is a pic of my Christmas block-