Complete...

I still have been having fun playing with my machine and seeing what works and what doesn't work as well....
This was one of the doesn't work as well as you imagine in your brain it will...........
Quilt was fine...thot I would do butterflies on it...even had the already digitized outlines which is what I wanted.......well for some reason the program put really big stitches for the large ones and really little ones for the smaller butterflies.......not exactly what I wanted but am still in that awesome overwhelming learning curve
You can't see the design on the front of this

but on the back you can see the outlines........used a variegated purple on the front and back till I got to the little ones and then used a darker purple on the top and the variegated on the bottom...looking back I would have used the darker on everything...but this is the curve :)

This one I went way out of my normal comfort zone and did a variegated yellow and it showed up well on these darker colors.

and the variegated on the back also...........playing with combining patterns on this one...and pleased with how it turned out.....

then I did two more tops waiting for me to decide what pattern I want to choose for the embroidery :) Love having options :)

On a roll......

I have a friend, Paulette....she is very very very bad for me...well not really but I spend hours not only looking at her blog, SweetP, but also the blogs she follows...mind you most of these I don't follow myself but that doesn't stop me from following virtually....or should I say...take a bunch of time :) My pastor was just saying something about making sure you take a rest day...I don't think I take a 'full' day resting but I do find moments each day to rest...albeit at my computer either through facebook or blogging...but to me it is rest and enjoyment....not exactly sure that is what he meant but it works for me ;)
Now on to what I actually was going to blog about today....another giveaway...again thanks Paulette for turning me on to this site...have already ordered fabric from this store but right now they are giving away 4 patterns from Cluck, Cluck, Sew...yep aonther contest.....one of the ways to win is to blog about it.....soooooo......here is the link to Burgundy Buttons and a possibility of winning these four patterns......go check them out at Burgundy Buttons




hum...maybe I shouldn't have posted..that is just more competition for me....darn ;)

Chances to win....

Don'tcha just love a chance to win something???? For you quilters out there if you hurry there is a chance at 5...yep count them one, two, three, four and five prizes....1Choice 4 Quilting is having a grand opening and is giving away 5 different prizes...but it expires tonight...well the chance to win does at least.....but the shop is open with lovely fabrics, fat quarters, jelly rolls, charm packs and other yardage at really good prices......check them out 1 Choice 4 Quilting

Let me brag a bit :)

I am a new grandma! My son and his wife had a baby....yesterday their time but today my time...HA does that make sense? They are in Japan so their day is a day earlier than our day...

This picture is really small but it shows my son and his new baby girl, Leia Shino Rusk

Here is an up close and personal pic of Leia...she looks like her mom in this picture...except with her daddy's eyelashes :)

What made me get my machine

This is the quilt that convinced me to get my new machine....I didn't need a new machine...I wasn't really looking for a new machine....I hadn't been plotting how I could afford a new machine...it just kinda happened :)

I went to my local quilt store (Cotton Pickins in Stanwood) who sells Bernina machines and asked her to tell me what the machine could do....had seen this quilt she had done and loved it...but still wasn't convinced that it was something I could do easily. I wanted a way to finish the tops I had made and future tops that I wouldn't mind finishing...that was the least fun for me...to finish what I had started. Well Kathy spent a couple of hours -after hours- showing me what the machine could do....and that was only seeing samples...not actually even turning on the machine :) Soft sell???? But after a couple of hours I went home and thot about it...prayed about it and decided it was something that was worth persuing....and WHOA! it has exceeded my expectations.... It is totally different from my other machine and it does take a bit of getting used to cuz it doesn't do the same things in the same way but I do love it....
So I started trying to do things and realized I needed more instruction on how to do things that I wanted to do and was assured it was easy to do :) So all that to say, me a non-class person is taking a series of 3 classes to make the above quilt...the making of the top was easy...what could be easier than sewing a series of strips together? So the top is done in different colors as I wanted to use some of my stash....altho was drew me to the quilt was the colors Kathy picked :) Oh well...here is my top done and eagerly awaiting next weeks lesson on putting embroidery on it :) Might change my backing to be that lighter color where the embroidery will actually show...have a lighter blue flower like the dark blue flower that I was going to use but you won't be able to see the pattern on it as well....

wow...I was wordy on this post ;) But am having a lot of fun with my machine ;)

Today's pics

Got a few pics of the newbies today.....want to put pics up on my website of the sable as she is in need of a grooming and all those tips will be gone after the cut :( But right now she is brushed out and looking very cute :)
Her name from the breeder is Finnegan but I am thinking of changing it to Reese???

this girl can run like the wind...she loves to play chase with the other dogs...and if I throw a ball she is the only one that will bring it back...wassup with that? all the others will run to the ball but no one has the brains to pick it up and bring it back so I can throw it again :)

I am so not a class goer.... I prefer to learn mostly by trial and error but I signed up for a three week class...YIKES! Usually I am way done before others are half done so it is frustrating to sit there and wait :) HA! But Cathy told me it is a self paced class so am gonna try it...what I really want to learn is the technique of combining embroidery designs....I will try and get a pic of the quilt that actually convinced me to get my machine instead of a long arm...and I must admit I am having fun playing with it...altho it is computer driven and likes to 'burp' every once in a while and do something it shouldn't or not do something it should :)

but there is a possibility that it is operator error too....just saying............

A beautiful giveaway

Oh look at this wonderful stack of black and white materials.....They are being given away by a new shop.... Take a look at Tess's blog here

You might have a chance to win too

Out with the older...

Today I finished all the quilt tops that have been sitting for over...well over a year but probably more like two or three years....the last of the bindings were put on and are ready to go to the hospital along with a few of the hats that are done too :)
It is so hard to see the pattern on this one...I decided to go simpler cuz I was having trouble getting the lining up of patterns so I just took the block and made a pattern fit it....can't wait for the class I am taking that is going to show me how to line up patterns...have a quilt planned that I can practice on already too :)

Here is the back of above quilt....it is a more boyish quilt and didn't want overly girlie pattern on it...and this one fit perfect

here is the last of the quilts to do.....it was really small so added a funky binding to it to make it a couple of inches bigger....didn't like the pattern I chose but it worked :)

here is the center of the above quilt....it double stitched the roses which I didn't want but oh well...live and learn :)

stack ready to go ...............now to finish the three that I just did :) flannel is in the washer getting preshrunk to finish them :)

The more the merrier?

I think I am obsessed :) Seriously.....got an opportunity to get some more pups today and guess what??? I took it ;) Ok....so I am sick...very very sick :)
This is Zoey...she is due for a haircut next week...I like my dogs shaggy like this but can't keep them combed out so they have a grooming appointment....usually I do it but for one they all need it and for two my knee is hurting when I stand too long or walk so I thot it better to get them into a professional :)

This is Bailey...I am so bummed...I took a bunch of pictures and loaded them....or so I thot on my Mac...took the card out and deleted them on my camera...I had even renamed them so the computer would accept them......only I didn't transfer them from the card to the compy.....darn it...and I had some good ones...so I went back outside to get more but by now it is darker than it was so the flash kept thinking it needed to go off....double darn

This is Rudy....he is such a cutie...but I don't think he is staying....gonna find him a GREAT home

This is one of the new ones...they named her Finnegan but not sure she is gonna keep that name or get renamed with the 'y' sound at the end...my friend always makes fun of me when I do that...she says they won't know their name but all of my dogs respond to their name...and all of them have that 'y' sound at the end ;)
Anyway this is one of them that I got today

Here is the other one...man can she run...and run...and run...and run....and...you guessed it run.....her name was Reese...but not sure that is gonna stick either :)

these are actually sisters............gotta get a better shot of the sable...maybe tomorrow when it is lighter

another shot of the two of them...for those of you that don't know the sable one is going to change big time...all those chocolate tips are going to grow out and she might be this gorgeous golden color that I can see coming thru...or she will be a light tan...sables change so will see what she ends up like...she will keep dark tips on her ears tho...I love sables :)

pups and quilts

This is the state of the evenings here right now :) When it is time to settle down we come to my chair and lay down...or I should say they lay down and I sit with my feet up....there is a bone that comes with us for their chewy times :)

This is their normal stance....one on top of the other playing

hippity hop this guy loves to hop and bounce and run

here he is again bothering Cody

Izzy Bella...isn't she a cutie?

and one blanket done....I do love my machine :) The flower pattern really was digitized poorly but was fun to stitch out....then the border pattern was just the same flower only smaller....fun :)