Pecking away!

Any visitors before lunch today will likely catch me in my jammies. A busy day here in the Coop and Saucer Playroom. I'm so busy my brand new fat pocket book is firmly placed with its face to the wall so I can resist the urge to check the next chapter. lol I will be dressed for lunch as the truck is scheduled for an oil change and the next chapter will keep me from gnashing my teeth as I consider my down time. ;^)

The 3CS weekly Journal Challenge is due Fridays. I'm so impressed I'm keeping up but decided a quick free motion stork ( Crafter's Pattern Source Book) on a Bali was all I could manage this morning. I need to upgrade my MQing skills on my new machine which does things a bit differently.

The quiltlet is a quick finish edge and a snazzy backing that has a slightly oriental theme.

Next up is a comfort quilt for the friend who introduced me to quilting. Because this is a new machine and a new set up I put in lots of pins. The better you are at MQing, the less pinning. This would be a good amount of pinning for a beginner. I straight pin the edges and then machine baste with the even feed (walking) foot right away so I don't get stabbed too much. I trim off the extra batting and I'm ready to begin. Often prepping the quilt sandwich gets the ideas perculating. This helps with the placement of the pins as I'd rather not stop at everyone to remove it.

I really luv my big craft table and noticed how good I felt standing to work so I began to sew occasionally on it. Turns out my new machine is too big for my old cabinet so I folded it up, stuck it at the end of the cutting table and added some boards to get Nina even with the table top.

Hmm, I need more room on the left and whatta ya know... The cupboard I've used as an ironing station and scrap collector is as high as the tableand is right behind me. So I shoved that close. My cutting mat smoothes the transition over the various edges. I'm good to go. I'll be tweaking this I''m sure but for now it works. I really was intrigued with Monika at My Sweet Prairie. She uses that thick pink foam core insulation to surround her machine. Ah, two staples down here on the farm are twine and styro foam insulation. I got access!!!

I'm using the even feed foot to straight line the zig zag on the quilt and then I'll free motion the stars. At least that is the plan. I hope to zig zag my way thru the day and probably thru the weekend. It was great having coffee with you!

elle