I've spent most of my spare time this week working on my Bernina machine.  I am in several monthly sewing clubs and have been working on the blocks I have gathered for those clubs.  In one of the clubs we are working on Lori Holt's, Farm Girl Vintage, Cover Quilt. 

I also created 6 drink coasters for a birthday gift.  These coasters are fast and easy.  You need 4 inches of batting for each coaster and two 4.5 inch blocks.  You sew the blocks together with a scant 1/4 inch seam on three sides.  Turn the blocks inside out.  Carefully place the 4 inch batting piece in your coaster pocket.  Turn in the raw edge of the top and bottom and press.  Sew 1/8 inch seam around the outside of the pocket and quilt the coaster any way you want.  I quilted each of my coasters differently.  It's a quick, home-made gift!

Have a great week!

Wow!  I can't believe another week has flown by.  On this anniversary of 9/11, let's remember all those who died in the 9/11 attack as well as all those who helped in getting many people to safety. 

I was able to finish two more Linus quilts this week.  I'm having such a fun time, picking patterns and seeing all the possibilities of how each quilt can be quilted. This week I quilted two quilts on one backing.  It's great to learn new techniques on the APQS Millie machine.

We attended the UT/UTEP game on Saturday and as always, had a great time with friends and a great time at the game.

I am returning the Linus Quilts to the local quilt store and hope to pick up some more to continue my quilting adventures!  Have a great week :)

It's been a great Labor Day weekend.  On Friday afternoon I picked up a bag of "Linus" quilts.  This is a group of quilters that make quilts for kids and adults that may be having some challenges in life and are given a quilt for comfort.  I picked up 6 quilt tops and got busy learning about my new machine and it's capabilities.

One thing I love about quilting, its that each quilt top has it's own story.  There is no perfectly square block and each beautiful quilt top lets you use your imagination on what pattern to use that will compliment the quilt top.  I've had a grand weekend and have finished 4 of the 6 quilt tops.  One quilt top, I quilted by with me driving the long arm machine and the other three I used Quilt Path to create patterns and the allowed Quilt Path to drive the machine.  I have ideas for the last two quilt tops and hope to finish them up in the next few days. 

I was also able to go the the UT Longhorn versus Notre Dame game on Saturday.  Overall a great Labor Day weekend!

All in all, it has been a wonderful week.  It's a 3-day weekend, the first weekend for College Football and my first weekend with Millie.  I loaded my first quilt top during the week and stitched my very first pantograph on Friday evening.  I learned loads!  I had a few common issues and some great learning experiences.  I have my ipad with me at all times right now and have found that Long Arm Quilters that have produced helpful You Tube videos, ROCK!  You can see in my bottom picture that I have some spacing issues too and my loading needs to be a bit tighter.  I was happy to finish a edge to edge pantograph.  Hooray!

My DH also helped me with getting the zippers loaded onto the Pick-up bar and belly bar.  This weekend, I plan to free-motion quilt a charity quilt or two and try my next pantograph on a charity quilt.  More pictures of firsts quilts soon!

Happy LABOR Day weekend :)