Look where you're going

I have been very busy quilting this week.  I really love doing free motion quilting.  I find it terribly relaxing.  I finished up the Matchbox quilt and immediately moved on to a quilt that has been waiting patiently in the wings for (I'm so embarrassed to admit this) gulp....almost three years.  I am embarrassed because when G and I first started dating, he was so amazed that I quilted and at the things I created.  One day when I was out picking out fabric for a new project, he said he would like to give it a try in order to understand my passion a little better.  So, he picked a pattern and the fabric and came home and went to work.  I gave him a little guidance and instruction in rotary cutting and piecing, matching points, etc.  Within two days he had a completed quilt top!

Pretty amazing, huh?  (He's a pretty amazing guy and I'm lucky he picked me to be married to!)  I think he did an outstanding job.  He was not quite ready to tackle the quilting on this big boy, so I kept telling him I would be happy to do it.  He got busy and designed the pattern of quilting he would like on it and bought a stencil for the blocks.  He even bought me the John Flynn Frame and loaded up a cheater panel and quilted that himself!  So, this week I finally started quilting it for him.  I did not use the Flynn Frame he bought, it intimidates me.  I have been doing free motion on my home machine for many years.  And it is always hard to learn something new.  I usually do plain old stippling, drop the feed dogs and meander away.  So, when I tried to follow the stencil that G bought, I could not follow those chalk lines to save my life!  I kept going all over the place.  Everything was all wobbly.

Well, what I finally realized was that it's just like driving!  You know how when you are driving, if you start looking at something by the side of the road your car just starts going right toward what you are looking at?  Well, that was the secret!  I just started looking a little bit ahead at the line where I wanted the needle to stitch on and voila!  stayed right on the line every time!  Brilliant!

This one looks much better, I think.  

As I write this, I am sitting in my hotel room in Houston.  Tomorrow is Quilt Market.  I have never been before (never qualified to get in before this year, you have to be a retailer or in the industry) and I'm a bit nervous about what to expect.  But, my business partner Lisa is going with me and it always feels better to go with someone you know!  Hopefully, we will find lots of great fabric for the shop and some great ideas for kits and projects as well.  I'll take lots of pictures and post our progress.