8 year old baby chenille

I went to QC's mini retreat that they have once a month. I thought it would be a good opportunity to work on the 2 chenille blankets I have been working on these past few weeks. Ok, well one I have had around for 8 years.  I started a chenille blanket for a friend when she was pregnant with her first child.  I don't remember the reason I didn't finish it in time but it sat in the basement along with all the other projects I started and haven't finished yet for 8 years.  Needless to say, he is now too old for the quilt.  I do have someone I decided I wanted to have it, however.  So I took it and this other blanket to work on to QC.  I didn't have much left to do, just needed to sew on the binding. Not having done that for 8+ years QC's mini retreat was the place to go and get help.  Binding is just as difficult as I remember it.  With some trials and tribulations I did manage to bind the quilt.

I chose 4 fabrics. The 3 layers that are cut through are a blue, yellow, and green with a small plaid design.  The back fabric is stuffed animals (bears, elephants, cats, and more) all in pastel colors.

Since the back fabric is a printed design and is white on the reverse side, I added another layer of that to the white side so that the animals showed through after the lines were cut. I then used the same fabric as the back fabric for the binding.

One of the things I like about my new machine is the quantity of stitches from which to choose, many of them are really cute designs and a few alphabet styles also.  I wanted to use a really cute heart stitch and put my name and date in there someplace.  Unfortunately, after some trials it worked out not to use that one.  Turned out there were just too many fabric layers to make that design look good, so I went with a nice zigzag.  I also used a nice variegated purple thread, which looks really nice.

I am really glad I have finally finish something after all these years.  I am really glad I got this finished.  I do enjoy making the chenille blankets because they are pretty simple, just time consuming.  I'm just not a fan of binding.  I know that as I do more of them I'll get better at it.

I have one more chenille posting to make but it's late now and I don't want to use up all my material in one night. Good night, happy quilting dreams.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Last month I decided I wanted to get a new sewing machine.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to afford one right away but I decided to go to QC and see what they cost and figure out how long it would take me to save.  As luck would have it they were having a sale on a sewing machine.  I still wasn't going to be able to afford it that day but, much to my delight, they do lay away.  I went home and discussed it with Mom (told her my plan) and the next day I went and made my first payment.  A week later I went to make the second payment and discovered I had a little help from some very generous people I know and was able to take it home that day.  Here are pictures of the old and new machine.

This is my old machine.  It's some brand I have no idea what it is.  I got it at an over stock sale at Hobby Lobby 11 years ago.

This is my new machine.  It's a Viking sapphire 835.  It's really slick.  Everything is automatic and has a lot more stitch options to choose from.  It also has a bigger base space. I can fit the chenille blanket I am working on in there a lot easier than the other one.  I am going to miss the smiley face sticker I put on the other one though.