Friday, January 28, 2011

Can I get a Whoop-Whoop?? Mastering the Machine!!




Hi, all!!


Well, it's time again for a little bloggy love - I hope you've got lots of great things to share today!  


Last week I was e-mailing with my friend KarrieLyne of Freckled Whimsy
and I mentioned that I still hadn't had a chance to play with my Christmas present, 
a "faux" long arm quilting frame.   Her response - and I quote - was, 
"I can't believe that you haven't quilted on your new frame yet woman!! 
Ack!! I need to come and break it in for you! LOL :)"  

Oh, the shame of it!  Unwilling to face Karrie again 
(even through e-mail!) without having used my new frame, 
I set aside last Thursday, and last Friday as it turned out,
to get the thing set up and running.

I was using it before last Thursday....


Just not exactly for its true purpose!
(I will say, though, it makes a great flimsy holder!)

But last week I girded my loins (whatever that means!) and read the manual (oh my gosh!), moved my new Juki onto the frame, hooked up the Cruise Control, 
and loaded up some test fabric.

Took it for a whirl.  Oops!  Helps if you drop the presser foot!
But after I got past that little catastrophe, 
it was pretty smooth sailing!

So I loaded up a quilt top I had made for the quilt ministry....
Then reloaded it, as I wasn't happy with the way it went on the frame.
I did the quilting over the weekend!  Woohoo!!

It's so nice to have my little photography assistant again!

The back of "Tropical Breezes"

It didn't feel like I was saving much time, but I vowed to 
give it another chance.  I loaded another ministry quilt on it yesterday
during Lilli's nap, and then quilted it today while Lilli was in preschool.  
It only took 1 1/2 hours to quilt!


The binding is sewn on the front, but I still need to hand-stitch it to the back.
I'm calling this quilt "The Shirt Off My Back" because the blocks are
made with 2" x 4" samples of fabrics for men's shirts from back in the 1960's.
(I'll be showing finished pictures of this quilt later on in the week.)

And then tonight, after working on all the quilt ministry quilts, 
I decided to spend an hour or so working on one of my UFO's.
This is the Christmas Around The World quilt I started last January.
I'm naming it Noel.


And it's done!  (Well, ok, just the flimsy, but wow! I cut this out over a year ago!)

So all in all, even though I felt like I was spinning my wheels while working on the quilt frame, I seem to have gotten a reasonable amount of stuff done this week!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

So now it's your turn.  What did you do this week that made you want to dance?   
Link up below and show us what you did!!
Whoop whoop!!



10 comments:

  1. Wow ..... I mean Whoop Whoop! I love them all, however I am extremely partial to your Christmas Around the World. I bet you can't wait to put Noel on the frame. And I think Vanna White has a little competition. Have a Great Day Sarah.

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  2. Whoop Whoop!!!! Keep it going, I need one of those frames, my flimzy's are stacking up. I have 4 new ones in the work, and about 15 old ones I am working on too. Maybe if I keep going, then I can get me a frame later this year. Keeping the fingers crossed......again Whoop Whoop for you!!!!

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  3. Good for you! I'm glad you got the system up and running and that it's working well. Oh boy, I just thought of all the extra things you're going to get done now that you can quilt so fast! :) Nice job getting the Christmas Around the World flimsy done too!

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  4. oh my goodness....i'm totally giggling over here! LOL!!

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  5. "Girded your loins!" Love IT!!!

    I have 3 blocks left and got some more thread to finish the embroidery today. No camera yet, still waiting patiently for hubs to come home on the 16th of Feb. so I can have it back(Well I want to see him of course too ya know!!)

    I will post pics next Friday and hope to have it basted at least too by then:)

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  6. I didn't realize you were new to it too. It looks good. Don't feel guilty, just do it and prove everyone wrong! Your quilt looks good and your little helper is so cute....I love your Noel quilt, I can't wait to see it finished. It''s lovely. Thanks for hosting the Whoop-Whoop Friday. That inspires me to work during the week to get it done! I'm feeling guilty about my quilting on my machine but not so guilty that I'm doing it. I want to get my UFO's under control and when inspiration hits, I'll start quilting. Have a great Friday!

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  7. Wow! You get so much done in a week it makes me tired for you. I love seeing all of your projects! Thanks for the inspiration and the motivation seeing your finishes gives me.

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  8. Yay for the quilt frame! You'll be flying through those quilts even faster now, if that's possible. Nice Christmas quilt!

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  9. Didn't get much done this week except the wallhanging that I posted about on Monday. Maybe I'll link to that. I am amazed that you put a quilt on the frame for the first time and just quilted it! It took me months of practicing on muslin before I dared put a real quilt on and go at it. Great job!

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  10. Your Christmas quilt is just beautiful. I missed friday's update. But I did finish my fall quilt and started on a new one. Hopefully, I will have that one to post this coming friday.

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