My new frame is here!

Just a short posting today... having a bit of a rough day here... will be going in next week for another mammogram, am not dealing with this bit of news very well.
But.. That is NOT what this posting is about. I just wanted to share first pictures of the new frame, Wow!!!

 This baby is really long!As you can see we off loaded it in the garage, will be taking it out to the sewing room this evening when Stuart gets home from work!

 It is fully as long as my van. Yes I have space for it in the sewing room, I have spent every night this week clearing out my "junk corner"

 Once we get it out there I will have to lay out the table and level the frame. I will also have to sew casings on the leaders for my new loading system.. I ordered a set of the Red Snappers!

Sadly, my Homesteader is still in NC. Jennifer ran into some issues during the upgrade and it has taken quite a bit longer than expected. The bad news it looks like it will be a few more weeks, the good news she is making Major changes since I have one of the very first Homesteaders from the sounds of it! So I won't be able to get to put this frame to use until April at the soonest. Thank you Sue for bringing me my new frame! I you are interested in the Suzy Q frames, I would highly recommend them. Art and Sue are two of the nicest people, and they make a good quality product. I love the fact that due to the new Stitch Regulator I am putting on my Homesteader, Art custom built parts of this frame to match my exact specifications!
Plus he made it longer than what they sell on their site, so if you go to Suzyqquilter.com and don't see a size you want, call them and they will probably be able to get you what you need! Yep this just turned into an advertisement LOL

Hey Wendi, I just got the MOST interesting call from Bobbie!
And with that I shall bid you farewell.

Ginny

Sold My Frame! Bring on the 12 Footer!!!

Sometimes life can be funny.. Yesterday was a day from hell! I had to go in for my Pre Op and then register at the surgery center, I also got to have a mammogram! Yep fun day... So in the middle of all these appointments I get this phone call (I literally was getting ready to take my shirt of and put the little pasties on) The call was from a lady who saw my Suzy Q frame listed on Craigslist! She was very interested as she had just been looking at one at the quilt show last weekend. I scheduled for her to come over yesterday evening... And she bought the frame!!! I will be delivering it to her next week, helping her set up her machine and giving her some tips on quilting with a 9 inch throat machine. I could not be more thrilled. 

Here was the kicker, after she left I noticed the husbands name on her check, I ask Stuart if he knew a guy named Don H.... He say well, yea I worked with him years ago at Hanford, he was instrumental in my advancing to management! Needless to say, Stuart will be going with me to deliver the frame so he can visit his old mentor! It truly is a small world!

So with my old frame sold, and my new one being delivered tomorrow now all I have to do is wait for my Homesteader to make its way back home! I got an email from Jennifer and they are almost done making all of the upgrades. To quote her...

The timing issue is to do with the timing of the take up arm. That has to do with an internal cam which we will change.

I know you will be very happy with your improved Homesteader.

I can't ask for more than that! So with any luck she will be sending my machine back home to me soon and I will be up and quilting again... I have three new quilts I am working on, plus a little scrappy thing I am putting together from corners cut off the three I am working on... It just seemed like such a waste to throw away those little 1 inch half square triangles... here is a sneak peek...

OK so the pictures aren't great, but you get the idea, these are pretty small still as they are just laid out on the ironing board.

I am not sure which one I like better so far, and since this is just a play around thing it is not a top priority, I have another quilt I need to get done asap as a surprise for a friend...

Well, that's about it for today, thanks for letting me share my good news. 

Happy quilting,

Ginny

Fun Stuff.. and not so Fun Stuff...

March, one of my favorite months of the year! March means the start of spring, flowers blooming, my birthday and our local quilt show, all of these are some of my favorite things!

This March has been a good month, well pretty much. I will start with the good and then go from there.

This last weekend was our local quilt show, I will make a post showing some of the beautiful quilts at the show a bit later. Today I am going to show you a quilt that I did this weekend. This is not my quilt but a customer quilt, a very special customer quilt. You see I am not really in business yet and have only done two other quilts for hire, one was a total commissioned quilt, and the other was a rush job for Stacy.. she needed it done a.s.a.p. for her brothers wedding. Well she called me Saturday during the show to ask if I could do another rush job, I said yes, and this is the quilt. The pictures are not great because they were taken with my cell phone. Now Stacy is a new quilter, I think this is her second or maybe third quilt, she does have some learning to do, but she gets an A+ for effort! She ask me if I could quilt it like the book...my favorite question..not. I was able to do everything except the center medallion on the 5" squares, so we compromised and did a feathered heart... Here are the pictures....

I was very happy with the final quilt, the quilting really enhanced the finished product! But most importantly, Stacy was delighted!
I am glad I got it done for her yesterday...
Mainly because that will be the last quilting I get to do for the next couple of weeks. The bad news in my life... OK so I don't usually give bad news on my blog and I don't usually discuss my medical issues. But today I am breaking that...

You see, I go in for surgery on Friday. During my last "girly" check up the Dr. found a growth in my uterus that is now outside on my cervix also. They will be removing the growth and running tests for cancer. I am not scared and not really letting it bother me. I know that it will be all right. I am bothered that I won't be able to quilt for a bit because that is what keeps me sane. So, if by chance I don't post for a bit. Don't worry, I will be back as soon as I have something pretty to share!
Until then, keep on quilting and lets enjoy the warmer March weather!
Happy quilting,
Ginny

Selling my Babylock and Suzy Q Frame!

As you all know I have sent my Homesteader out for an upgrade, and I mentioned the other day that I am also upgrading my quilt frame. Well officially as of today I have listed my queen size frame for sale. I have listed in on a few of my yahoo quilt groups and also on craigslist. So I figured what the heck I would list it here on my blog also. I don't have pictures right now, but will take some this evening and add them here. Until then I will just tell you about what I am selling.

For Sale: Babylock Quilters Choice Pro 9" machine with a Grace Sure Stitch stitch regulator on a queen size Suzy Q frame. The Babylock has a built in thread cutter, comes with extra bobbins, Magic Genie bobbin washers, a ruler foot, free motion foot and several other piecing feet. The Sure Stitch stitch regulator works beautifully and lets you set your stitch length with the simple press of a button. The Suzy Q frame (did I mention I am getting another Suzy Q, I love this frame!) is very sturdy, with metal rails! Easy crank for the take up rail. The leaders have zippers installed for speed and ease in loading your quilt onto the frame!
I am willing to deliver the entire set up anywhere in Eastern Washington. For everyone else I am more than willing to ship, but the buyer will be responsible for shipping costs. Asking price... Well I am asking $1450.00
But it the buyer mentions seeing this on my blog then you get the Blog Special of.... $1350.00!

Please feel free to send me an email if you or anyone you know may be interested in this setup. I would really like to sell before my quilt machine and new frame arrive.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and pass the word!

Feel free to share this on your blog too!
Thanks,
Ginny

Kimonos and Celtic knots... oh yea!

OK so that was mean! I but I was pretty tired last night. So tired in fact that my poor family had to fend for them selves for dinner!
I am very happy with how the Kimono quilt turned out though and it was well worth the two days it took to finish it.
I originally planned on doing an Asian panto on the quilt to get it done quick and easy. Well about 3 feet into the first row of the panto I decided I hated it! So I ripped it out and went with plan B... OK so I didn't really have a plan B.. I had to make one up on the spot!

This is what I ended up with....

I started by outlining each Kimono, then did a tiny stipple in that little 1/2" space by the colar. Then I worked my way down and around the kimono to fill in all of the black with a stipple. The sashing needed something so I went with a simple ribbon.. and viola there you have it. The fun part.. I quilted the entire thing in GOLD! So sadly you can see my wobble and bobbles. But let me say, doing a ribbon on 1" sashing is kind of a pain in the BUTT!

Working on the last two rows of the quilt, each block took about 7 minutes to do... there were 56 blocks... so roughly 6 1/2 hours just for the blocks.. not to awe fully bad!

The entire quilt done! Now I just need to trim and bind it!

And one more photo, you can see how the quilting comes together. In the end I think I made the right decision. I would not have been happy with the panto. I also love that I did not put any quilting in the Kimonos... as you can see blow, it makes the back a lot of fun too!
OK, so not the best picture of the back, but you get the idea!

Sadly, now I have an entire weekends worth of chores and emails to catch up on. Plus I need to start work on Stuarts newest quilt... can you say emerald green and Celtic knots... here is a sneak peek...
Now imagine that... 4 feet across... oh yea this is going to be a fun one!

Happy quilting to all!
Ginny

Sneek Peak...

So, I busted butt this weekend! I spent two whole days working on the Kimono quilt...Here is a sneak peak... I will post the rest of the pictures tomorrow....Yep, I'm evil like that! That's all you get for today!
Stay tuned for the rest of the quilting story!
Happy quilting,
Ginny

February = Crazy!

If I had to describe the month of February in one word it would be "Crazy" and not just this year but every year February ends up being one of my busiest months. Partly because it is my daughters birthday month, the high maintenance daughter, not the easy one! This year was actually the most mellow birthday she has ever had. Her friends threw her a party at their house, she was gone for almost 24 hours, then when she came home for birthday dinner she got called into work. Well in the hurry to get her fed before she flew out the door... Dad incinerated her dinner... UGG well Happy Birthday anyhow kiddo!

This month has also been crazy busy with longarm classes, Oh and time spent at the shop doing my own quilts. So far I have been there every weekend except last weekend as my class was canceled due to the student getting sick!

This month is the big push to get all of the last minute quilting done for all of the quilt show entries, I have finished the yellow and purple pansy quilt and think it turned out lovely...

The colors didn't turn out very well the quilt is really a bright yellow and purple. I also had a heck of a time getting a good photo of the quilting... bu there it is...

I played around and did a circle feather in each circle (this was a first for me) and then I filled the rest with fern feathers... Love those... and actually you can see them even better on the back than you can on the front.
I do love my Minkee backings.. they are so soft and show the quilting so very well!


I also made another last minute quilt... this was the BOM this month at our local Craft Warehouse...
I have over the years collected a LOT of different oriental prints, I can't help myself I LOVE them, well I also fell in love with this block. It is a total PITA to piece but the end result is well worth it. I decided to use a different print for each kimono... there are 56 block is this quilt... I did NOT use all of my Asian prints... I found about 10 more after I was finished with the quilt...

As I work on my quilts I show them to my Daycare kids.. one of my oldest kiddos ask me is she could make a block to turn in next Quilt Party, I said sure... here she is working on her block. I did all of the cutting, she did all of the stitching, together we pressed. She was a good student and did an excellent job. Sounds like she is going to start coming to Q.P. with me.
Here is Miss B with her finished block!

And a close up of her finished block.
Yes a crazy busy month! I have finally gotten around to binding Stuarts quilt Magic Hour... Now in my house of 5 cats you can NEVER make a quilt with out help.. here is Groucho AKA Cho "helping" me bind the quilt. He was a BIG help let me tell you. After much pulling, pushing and prodding I got the quilt done and he had an excellent nap!

One of my favorite crazy busy bits this month... Morgen, had her first "date" she ask a friend who happens to be a boy to the Sadie Hopkins dance (do we know why it is called Sadie Hopkins?) They met up there with a group of friends, danced and had a blast. She was all dressed up and ready to go. She reports that it was the most fun at a school dance that she has ever had. I guess so, her legs were sore for 3 days after wards!

Well that is my Crazy month in a nutshell, and we still have three days left!
I will post pictures of the Kimono quilt when I am finished with it. I think I may give that one to Morgen as a surprise... Shh don't tell her!
Happy quilting,
Ginny