Final Stitches

 

Summer is officially here!  Hay is on the ground and I won't see Adam again until it rains or the leaves start to turn colors.  He's working on that farmer's tan and getting his clothes as greasy as all get out.  Three washings finally got the grease out of the pockets!  If you happen to know a trick for getting grease and cow poop off blue jeans....please share!

While the men worked outside this weekend, I played with my mother's sewing/quilting machine.  I've been a little scared of quilting with it, but I bit the bullet and played with a couple of pieces.

Janome Memory Craft 6600

 

 Here was my first attempt at straight lines.  The pieces were left over from my Nine-Patch quilt.  They are the Disappearing Nine-Patch pattern that I used in my class when showing the students some of the variations of the Nine-Patch.

I think this made a cute little doll quilt that will be put away for a future grand-daughter....no rush on that!

I found that using the auto-stitch option made my stitches even. 

 Then I played with the free motion setting with another Disappearing Nine-Patch made into pin-wheels for a small table runner.

I was a little tense doing this, but started to get the hang of it too.  I don't think I had one of my settings right, but I really like that technique.

 These two pieces are now ready to be quilted.  I love the greens and roses of this Nine-Patch sampler.  There are 3 different sizes and techniques of the Nine-Patch used in the lap quilt.  Then for fun I added some applique.  I call this one "Chasing Butterflies".

Here are some of the applique pieces close up.  I used bullion stitches for some of the flowers.  Several of the patterns used are made from templates found in my grandmothers' things.

 This is my Nine-Patch set together with 2 1/2 inch strips.  I don't have the name of the material, but it was a new line that came out a few months ago.  It is all done in country rose, greens, reds, and creams.  All machine pieced.

Now I just need to get brave enough to put these in the machine!