Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thursday Thoughts

Handmade for Newtown wrapped up last week and raised over $5,000! My Super Bright Strings quilt was auctioned off for $143. I gave it a last once-over with the lint roller, wrapped it up in tissue paper with a bow made of selvages and mailed it off yesterday to a very kind-hearted new owner.

I've had these cute bags from Debbie from A Quilter's Table on my Make Someday List and was excited to read about the Triple Zip Along which is getting underway on Monday, January 28th. I've got my fabric picked out and zippers ordered!  It's not too late in join the fun.
                                                  A Quilter’s Table

Beth who blogs at Quilting Hottie Haven is launching a month long UFO event called Drop and Give me Twenty (DaGMT 2013) complete with prizes. Click HERE to read all about it.  First, you must make a pledge...

I, Deb who is the not-so-proud owner of a Fab UFO Collection, am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's second annual DaGMT event, and pledge to quilt for 2 hours every day of the month of February, 2013. In doing so I hope to finish 10 UFOs (to be listed on my sidebar Feb. 1st but you can get a sneak peak at my selection pool HERE) and I think Beth Helfter is brilliant for coming up with this concept and inspiring me to join.
Did you notice how I added my January Goals to my sidebar as a constant guilt inducing tactic gentle reminder? Considering I had company for the 1st week followed by a week of a sick son and problems with new sewing machine deliveries I'm not doing so bad. I'm heading down the homestretch on the binding for Shabby Roses (goal 3) and I'll be quilting my Valentine's Day table runner today (goal 7).  FMQ practice sessions (goal 9) are ongoing and I'll be heading back to Christmas over the weekend to work on goals 1 & 2.

We braved our absolutely frigid weather to see Life of Pi on Monday night. I love a movie that really makes you think after leaving the theater, which Life of Pi certainly did, but the thing I enjoyed the most about the movie was the amazing cinematography. I found myself gasping several times at the sheer beauty on the screen. I'm starting to think I should go see it again! Tucker is getting tired of being called "Richard Parker" by all of us.

I have my Juki set up on my sewing table and my Pfaff set up on my spare folding table which are both out in the middle of my quilting room right now. When I walked in yesterday I could not stop looking at the insane difference in height of these machines! Check this out.
I'm using my 6.5" square ruler in these pics. See the peek of my Valentines Day runner ready to be sandwiched back there? With no more wavy edges thanks to the IDF on my Pfaff!
Isn't it amazing? Just a few well placed inches makes all the difference in the world!  Not to mention the design for quilting... see the presser foot on the Juki completely behind the machine? On the Pfaff it's harder to see behind the 6" vertical line on the right. When you raise it goes sideways up into the arm space. I can't tell you how many times I've caught it on the quilt and had it slam down.

12 comments:

  1. Your string quilt is really pretty. I'm currently working on my second Heartstrings quilt and really like how these turn out. And to me - the brighter, the better! That new owner got a bargain too.

    And it's interesting how much different in height those 2 machines have. I rarely do any of my own machine quilting, so haven't paid much attention to that opening before.

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  2. Have fun with all your UFOs . The Juki looks like it would accommodate a big quilt ; )

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  3. Welcome to DaGMT! So happy to have you join us, and it sounds like the perfect thing for you as you are very project-finishing oriented this year!

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  4. I love that string quilt - all those bright primary colors pop!

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  5. Love that quilt! Sounds like you are doing a lot better at your resolutions than I am!

    And thanks for the movie recommendation. I will put it on my list to go and see!

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  6. Love love love your string quilt!

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  7. Wow! Congratulations. I'm sure the new owner will be very happy with that gorgeous quilt!

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  8. Are you just using the Juki for quilting, or are you going to do piecing on it? I can't cure this sewing machine bug, and I think I located a used machine. I am interested on if you like

    Beautiful String quilt.

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  9. Your string quilt is gorgeous. Is that the juki 98q? I've heard such great things about jukis

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  10. Yes - a huge difference in quilting something is the throat area ... yet another reason to get my old Singer fixed I think.

    Glad to meet you - another attendee of the DaGMT challenge.

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  11. I just bought a new Brother that has a lot of space under the arm. I can't wait to try quilting on it. Good luck with Dagmt--I hope to get a lot accomplished also.

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  12. ooh...interesting post about the amount of room in the harp of the machine...what model is your Juki? I have a Brother and the pressure lever is in the same place as your Pfaff and it drives me nuts and I'd love to get a new machine with a bigger harp and the lever at the back like your Juki...any thoughts on your experience would be appreciated ;o)

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