Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Lions and Tigers and Templates, oh my!

Hi, all!

It's Friday again - the first one of May, can you believe it?  Time sure flies when you're having fun!  I hope you're ready to get your whoop whoop on!!

Last Friday I had the opportunity to take a class from Kimmy Brunner at the AQS show in Paducah, and it was amazing!!!  The class was titled "Playing With Plastic" and Kimmy taught us how to use templates in long arm quilting.  Now, this has always intimidated me - but after a bit of instruction, I headed over to the machine and created this...

Now, I know it doesn't look like much, but it amazed me how really simple it was - once you know the tricks and aren't afraid to try it!  

So I came home and was dying to try out all I had learned - but only had ministry quilts ready to quilt.  One of them, though, was a man's quilt that really needed straight line quilting - and I thought I'd give it a try on the long arm, using my straight edge template.  (I didn't get my melon templates until yesterday - can't wait to play with them next!)

And here's what I ended up with!

Now granted, it looks a bit better from a distance - it was my first time using the template, remember?  But it worked up fairly quickly and certainly faster than it would have if I'd had to wrestle it through my tabletop machine!

I love the cross-hatching on this quilt - it was the perfect finishing touch.  The charm squares Pam and Deb used on this quilt had loads of texture - homespun, flannel, linen, pintucked - and this quilting didn't interfere with that at all.

And here's one last shot, showing the back - a gorgeous flannel print that we found a bolt of at a yard sale.  All in all, it makes this quilt very cuddly, yet manly!   It has found a new home with a man who was diagnosed several years ago with sinus cancer, and unfortunately the cancer has recurred.  They tell him he will have to be on chemo for the rest of his life....  I sure hope this quilt reminds him that folks are praying for him and his family!

So that's my whoop whoop for the week!!

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And now it's your turn!

What are you whooping about this week?

What has made your heart sing?

Do tell - we want to whoop right along with you!!

The party will remain open until Sunday midnight - 

Be there or be square!

Hugs!

Sarah

PS - Kimmy has a class on Craftsy now - if you're interested in quilting with templates, check it out!