cute little block for a group quilt

QUILTS OF VALOR AWARD

On Sep 10 2014 two coworkers, Valerie Bridges and Tony Gibbons were awarded Quilts of valor.  Valerie retired with 23 years service and among other things was a field trainer, a most vulnerable job in battle during the Iraqi Freedom campaign.  Tony was a medic in Desert Storm and was a sharp shooter and grenade specialist.

Another QOV Finish

I finished this one last weekend too.  Except for attaching the label.  It's an odd combo of humility, wishing my longarm skills were further along & proud of myself to accept the process & work hard to push on through.

Quilts of Valor

I have recently quilted up 3 tops I made for Quilt of Valor.  I thought I was going to say this is done except for puting on the label but see some bad spots in the binding to redo.  I tried to machine sew it all & I don't have a good technique yet. 

PPP Paying off finally!

This may not look like a big step in improvement but it's exciting to me to finally be able to see improvement in each practice & starting each succeeding practice session at a little bit higher level of skill.  I thought this fabric would be a perfect piece to practice precision.  I have a hard time hitting my mark on this powerful longarm sewing machine.

My first session (but after 4 hrs).  I admit to being discouraged at not any improvement in 4 hrs.

Then I put my needlebar out of alignment when the bobbin did not go in securely & I was trying to fix that all May, every weekend.  My longarm dealer Jeff Benedict finally saved my life & fixed it.

So the rest of that weekend Jeff fixed it I practiced some more & then had migraines knock me out for the next 5 days.  Stops & starts have been the routine for the past 2 years & the reason I think I can hold the title of longarming's longest beginner.  But I am finally making progress so there's something to dogged persistence.  I'm figuring out little formulas to do this without the ability to stand up at my stand up machine.  So here's this weekend's practice.  This is still wonky but I can definitely hit my mark most of the time.  This is SO encouraging to me!  (don't you love this fabric?!)

 

When machine repairs make you go Ugh, Take a Break & Make a Mugrug

I spent a good part of Saturday & Sunday trying to make a repair on the longarm & made a mess of it.  When I finally get the needle bar adjusted, the biggest challenge is to get it all back together again.

So Sunday night being frustrated by the lost weekend, I had to redeem a little bit of the weekend by making a birthday gift.  A mugrug.  I've been wanting to try some of Lori Kennedy's wonderful free motion designs at http://theinboxjaunt.com/2014/04/22/a-is-for-apple-a-free-motion-quilt-tutorial/.
I love how this turned out.

Patti Practicing Pantos for Perfection

Well no perfection yet but I love practicing pantographs on fleece.  I love the luxurious texture.  I wonder who had this idea?  (double click for closer view)