Couple of Mom's quilts and Kitten helping me free motion machine quilt

Mom made this beautiful quilt using a pattern from "Whimsicals".  I love the quilt so much it sneaked a ride home in my suitcase.  There are so many wonderful quilts at Mom's house.  Here is another that is just plain ole kitty faces:

I have been trying to finish my Samaurai Squares quilt.  All I have left is to free-motion the borders and bind it.  Kitten has been watching my attempts at free motion.  There is no impressing her.

Her NO-MOTION quilting style seems easy to master though.

I just love kitties!

Off to its new home

This is another free-motion practice piece. The backing fabric used to be black and white, but I dyed, bleached, dyed it until I got a brown I liked. I bound it today, so off to the mother-to-be at work tomorrow. Wow, I love little gift projects!

Free Motion Baby!

Yes, I have been practicing free motion quilting. And also, yes, I hated what it looked like when I was doing it, but, darn, the result isn't bad....How does that happen? I started this little practice gem in Peggy Barkle's free motion class at Patchwork Cottage. The piece was to be (I thought) a throw away. Then my co-worker, Rachel, had her little baby boy, Giancarlo. That created a mission for me: Finish the baby panel and see what it looks like. I want to remember, next time I do a baby gift, that it takes 3 hours for me hand-stitch the binding down. Perhaps I could use the machine on that too? Duh! The quilt is on its way to Rachel and Giancarlo today. (Happy dance in progress.)

Practice, practice, practice

Yesterday was my last machine quilting class with Peggy Barkle. She is an incredible teacher, so if you need help learning free motion machine quilting, she is the bomb. She covered everything from batting types, straight line and free motion quilting, to design elements in pattern choice and quilt planning. But, if you have been following this blog, you know I have had some sewing machine issues and I now have a new sewing computer (yes, the don't call them machines anymore). Today I have been practicing and learning more about my 1 week old Bernina. Next Saturday I have my first Bernina class, and I will be hanging on every word. The great thing about having played with the machine is that I will know something of what I want to know. It is like how I tell the math students to read next class' section in the math book BEFORE you go to class. Everything is more meaningful if you have some idea of the terms and subject to be covered. I hope some students listen. Good habits (and preparation) make a big difference.

Back to today's practice. I put binding on some of my practice pieces (the black thread is from practicing on my old machine), and then it hit me; I need a pad for the cat to lie on for the back of the sofa. I found some leftover flannel, some leftover stripes and a chunk of batting and VIOLA'; kitten proofed sofa. I practiced free motion quilting and binding secured by a decorative stitch. It is certainly not perfect, but the first thing kitty said when she put her paws on it was "Meow." That makes my practice project the cat's meow, and that's certainly good enough for me. Note: I posted the YouTube binding video I mentioned to the class below. It is the one with lavender binding. Also, one of the binding pieces I used for practice was a waist band from a pair of Talbot's suit pants. I save and use just about anything to practice on.