Back in the Saddle Again

Have I mentioned that I love my new machine?  Well, she's not quite so new anymore but I love her more every day.  And especially every time I free motion quilt (or straight line quilt, or piece a quilt......).  The stitch regulator that came with my machine does such a beautiful job of keeping the stitch even on the front and the back.  I heart it so much!  And I really love doing free motion quilting.  I find it so soothing and rhythmic.  And I love to watch the layers of pieced fabric, batting and backing slowly become a quilt.  So, here is the project I'm currently working on (which is one of my favorite ones so far)

I'm so excited to see this one complete.  I'm hoping it can become a class at the Bernina store where I teach.   I'm going to submit it for consideration, anyway.  It's made from a pattern by Abbey Lane Quilts called Matchbox.  The majority of the fabrics in this quilt are from "Breath of Avignon" by American Jane Patterns by Sandy Klop.  It is such a happy quilt, I think.  I tried a new product for this quilt called Heat Press Batting Together (odd name, I think) It is a fine mesh fusible product that is about two inches wide.  What you do is lay your batting scraps together, butted right up to one another but not overlapping at all.  Then, you press this product over the seam.  It's super thin and light weight and once I had the quilt layered up, you couldn't even tell that I had used four different pieces of batting.  Pretty cool!  In order to make sure I had the seams completely smooth, I laid the whole thing out on the floor.  Then, I didn't want to try and pick those pieces up and move them to the ironing board so I plugged the iron into a long extension cord and crawled around on the floor ironing the seams!  Oh well, whatever works, right?

G was out of town for this past week and when he was packing last Sunday night, this is where Max ended up:

He sort of looks like he's saying "Um, you're not leaving without.....Me!"  I kind of felt the same way.  But, he's back home so I'm happy.  When he has a trip planned I always think "yeah, I can sew, sew, sew" but then I miss him so bad!  Then again, I really appreciate him all the more when he gets back home.  All is well in my world tonight.  Tomorrow I'm headed to a craft fair with a friend and then a baby shower for one of my business partners in the afternoon.