Nothing is better than Lizards!

I am all boy at heart and nothing is better then lizard or at least that is what I believe.  On vacation or other locations that we visit as a family, the kids know that there is a standing order to look for and find lizards and since none of them seem to love them as much as me (maybe they love them more who knows). They are paid $1 for every one I get to see and take a picture of.  This one above was found on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  If you love lizards as much as me you can go to my picture site here and see all of them that my kids have helped me take pictures of (and it cost me a lot of money so check them out).  I think I enjoy taking pictures especially of wild life, as much as I love quilting.  But then here I am going far from the point of my post today.

While out at the Beehive Shop Hop and the Wasatch Shop Hop Tanya and I spent way too much buying every thing we fell in love with.  Needless to say when I saw lizards I fell in love with them.  Above is the completed quilt top the pattern is of my own making and design using EQ7 and Tanya and I plan to make a pattern for this quilt and give it away here on my blog.

This quilt is being made for my wife's step brother Jared  (his baby any way).  They are pregnant with another baby.  I have only met this step brother once (at the wedding of my Father in law and step mother in law) 2 years ago.  When we found out they were pregnant with a boy we knew we had to make them a quilt and what boy would not love a lizard to snuggle with.  Tanya went and sized the quilt in Julia's Crib (she is not yet sleeping it, but she is getting big quick and in no time she will be).  Any way less then 2 min after putting the quilt in the bed, Tanya tells me I am not done yet today.  She is going to have me make the same pattern (different material) for Julia.  So as I write up this post my wife is cutting up blocks out of the Twirl line of fabrics.  You might remember that we made Tanya a quilt out of this line and can go read about that here. Most likely by tonight (its only 5pm as I write this) I will have yet another top done, but I wanted to make a post now as I wanted to showcase my lizards.

Its hard to see on the 2 above pictures but the 2 white strips on the top picture and the middle section on the bottom picture I was able to Stipple them.  I was so excited about finally being able to do some FMQ.  After I did the little bit I did Friday night I went over to the Free Motion Project site and watched a few video's then came back and did the above.  I am so happy with this new machine.  Tanya even complimented me.  The bottom of the 2 she said even looked nice. Back in January I made some hot pads for the single purpose of having something to try FMQ on and my wife made me stop because she told me it sucked.  So her saying kind words means a lot.

I finally got my back done for my blue and yellow batik and my wife basted it for me.  I think I have a good deal with my wife, I quilt and she bastes.  She does a fantastic job at it.  Any way this is the second back (that I can remember) that I pieced something into the back.  The swirl material was not long enough for the back, so we used the left over fat quarters to make a line across the back to make up the difference in space.

 It is sitting right now on my sewing machine, waiting for me to stop babbling and get back to quilting.  I have to say the walking foot on this machine is just fantastic.  It is so smooth and so quiet compared to my old machine and foot.

Last but not least, I got one of my blocks for my swaps in July.  I guess that is the hint that I should start working on mine this month this one comes from Dawn in KY.

I have died and gone to Quilting Heaven!

It has arrived, My wife picked this out and bought it for me (she was tired of me grumbling about my old machine). She was looking for the best machine she could find in a budget that I was willing to afford. (At HMQS she tried to buy me a 3-4,000 dollar machine and I would not let her, mostly because I am afraid of myself and I think that is way too much at this stage in my game, after all only been quilting for 7 months now)  But I beat my last machine to the point that it would just not cut it any more.  For those that can't read the picture its a Janome Memory Craft 6300.  One of the biggest selling points for us was that it was bigger (more quilting space) and stronger then my old machine. 

After opening the box I found this child? Wait hum he must have climbed in there after I pulled out the machine.

Top and bottom you can see the size comparison of the 2 machines.  The space under the neck is a inch taller and 5 inches wider then my old machine.  That will help a lot now that I am getting more confidence and going bigger with my quilts.  My Soldiers Star almost killed me trying to wrestle its size (and its not really that big) though the neck of this thing.  I was echo quilting the star and kept turning and turning and twisting and dang was it hard.

I finally sat down an read the instruction Manual (yes such a un-manly thing to do), but I figured after spending a grand on this machine I would feel terrible if I broke it before my wife got home from work.

Last night while waiting for the machine to not show up, I cut out the 2 above blocks.  I am happy to say that at first sewing (only 2 - 12 1/2 inch blocks) it sews even better then I could have hoped.

One thing I though was cute the tools and parts box that came with this new toy of mine has a little foot holder to keep the feet and parts sorted.  It came with all the 101 feet that I have no clue what the heck are for.  It also came with a walking foot (they called it a Even Feed Foot) maybe its me that calls it the wrong name (its the bottom left foot in the box above).  Another item it came with and I did not know about was it came with a Quilting bar (a bar that connects to the foot and you can set it for a set distance and it rides on top of the quilt while quilting so you can even space your lines). I had bought one of these things (OK 2, of them, the first one I bought never fit) that connected to the back of my old walking foot to do the same thing its how I made my spiral in my granny gone wild quilt.  While actually 2 of them, one for the normal foot and one for the walking foot.  One other extra is a cloth guide (similar idea as quilt bar, but its a metal plate with screw that connects to needle plate.

And last but not least, I am happy it came with its own extension table.  I was so worried I would have to buy another and go though the work of finding one that fit my machine (this is yet another item I bought twice.  lucky for me I ordered it from a store that said they would deal with sending it back if they got the wrong one which they did the first time for my old machine).  So the machine can sew a straight line, what else can it do.

Any one that has read some of my old posts can remember all my frustration in FMQ.

In the past every time I had tried to FMQ it got jammed up or just plain sucked.

Not sure if any one remembers this thing, but the last 3 pictures are one of my few Fugly Runners I made but never finished quilting. (I have been holding this in reserve to practice FMQ)  I have to say I had fun.  I was able to move right to left and up and down and quilted 2 long rows of my runner.  If you look close my quilting skill is lacking, but now that my machine does not jam up I can practice and put another tool into my quilting tool box. I can now start to attempt some FMQ.  I think I hear the FMQ project calling my name.  I have been whimpering every time I saw some one talk about FMQ as my old machine just could not figure it out.  One fun thing I found with this machine is I can drop the feed feet and of course it has a nice Darning Foot (what the heck is darning any way?)  It has a great FMQ foot and it works.  While I wait an hour for my wife to get off work, I will go find me some video's on FMQ and see If I can try something cool.

Here is a picture of the darning foot.  Any way as you can tell I am very happy.  I have only had this machine now for 3 hours.  Just think of what I am going to come up with next?  Good thing I have a few quilt tops in the box that I can baste and then try some quilting tomorrow.

LAFF #23

Welcome to LAFF here at Richard and Tanya Quilts.  This is where you get to show off your finishes

I came home again to my wife showing off again.  She is now caught up and current with our beginners quilt along and she is doing a fantastic job.  Above is the first 6 blocks together, and below is the block that she did today.  They are looking amazing.

When I came home from work I checked tracking for UPS.  My new machine was suppose to be delivered tonight. but it was a no show.  So I spent the night trying too not look so sorry compared to my wife.  She is doing 1 quilt and I am doing 2.  I have the first 4 blocks of one quilt done and the first 2 blocks of the other done, so I am 6 blocks behind.  I was waiting for the machine to show up, when I refreshed the UPS tracking and it now tells me its scheduled to deliver on Friday rather then Thursday. My wife is now working nights, so I called her to let her know that it did not show up.  And she sprung the "News" and it was that when she took the full shot of her 6 blocks above she "Accidentally" dropped the sewing machine off the table onto the floor (she blames the Cat, which is probably true).  Since my new machine was not going to show, I grabbed the old one off the floor, where she left it and tried to use it.  It turns on and it made lots of noise.  Scraping plastic and all kinds of other good noises.  Long story short, I pulled all the screws out of it and popped the case back into place (never could figure out how to pull the case off) and it works just as crappy as it has for the last 2 weeks.  I can't wait until the new machine shows.

I did get one block done (so I am 5 behind now, lol) and two more cut out.  So I got some progress done today.

So my misery can only be fixed by your successes.  The most popular link last week was from Captain StitchyPants  It is a wonderful baby quilt.  Remember each linked up quilt gets you into the random drawing once a month for 2 Fat Quarters.  Thank you to all last week's linkups.

 Each link on LAFF enters you into a random drawing for 2 fat quarters each month. The winner will be picked the Thursday after the last Friday of each month.  The winner have their choice of 2 fat quarters from the 9 pictured. This picture will be updated with current selection, as the two with safety pins were chosen for June.   These are from my stash, but have no current project with their name on them.  Some of them are items I got from the shop hop, others are items that came with materials we bought, but did not make it into a project.







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Thanks again for visiting Richard and Tanya Quilts and supporting  our quilting adventures.

So for the rules.

1) Who likes rules. Toss them out.
2) Add a link to your finish blog or where ever you show off your finishes (Not limited to quilts but I like them the most).
3) Visit a few of the finishes and comment or encourage them on.
4) Monthly random winner picked from all of the months linkups to win 2 fat quarters.

Not Required but fun to do

1) Follow my blog.
2) Follow the blog of all those that link.
3) Link back to my blog.
4) No finish, go quilt and stop reading the web.

200th Post oh time is flying

You would think I would have something exciting today to say on my 200th post.  But sadly that its not so.  I have been keeping busy though.

I finished my part on the John Deere quilt.  Tanya, since our first rag quilt, has been doing all of the cutting of them.  She tends to cut though less of the seams which causes less mess of trying to fix that.  This lap quilt is for my wife's youngest sibling.  Cody was 9 years old when we started to date and was a cute kid.  Its amazing how much time has passed since then.   Cody now has 5 boys of his own (only 2 with current wife).  We tease him that he can't produce a girl.  He does love Julia and on every instance that we have see him, he is more giddy then a school girl when it comes to getting to hold Julia.

After finishing the rag quilt (sewing it, its still half done as the cutting I think is harder work then the sewing it). I started on another project given to me from my wife.  When out at the shop hop, I bought these cute lizards.  As a kid I loved to catch them and we have had many as pets (even Tanya I think enjoyed the iguana while we had it).  I also picked out the cute swirls and my wife found the dots.  A few days ago I posted the picture of what this quilt will look like (it was the one with the silly castles on it) Any way I can't wait for my new sewing machine to show up and I can see how easy (or hard) it is to sew up this quilt top on it.  Hopefully later today.

Surprise, surprise, when I went to go make this post my wife whipped out another beginner quilt along block.  I think that I am a couple blocks behind now.  Once the new machine gets here, I will I guess relent to catching up.  Before my wife rubs my nose too much into it that she is faster then me.  Her blocks are looking nice.

One last thing, I think my oldest son James has decided that my invasion of the family room (or as its now referred to, the quilting room) needs to come to a end.  He approached my wife and I, after I got home from work, with a plan to share one room with his brother and let his sister have his old room leaving room for our sewing room in the larger room in our basement.  My daughter Rebecca is a pack rat and tends to collect junk (in the middle of her floor).  She is away at Girl's Camp and her big brother was trying to be nice and find the room.  After 4-5 hours of cleaning his sisters room, he could barely find the floor (I exaggerate, but only a little).  Any way as Julia gets older and will soon need to move from our room in a bassinet (or the bouncer depending on her moods) to her bigger crib.  It has come time to tame the wild room, so that Julia can live in it. It seems like with the prodding of my son, I will get a large sewing room (that I can share with Julia).

WIP Wednesday #20

Today is going to be a Work In Progress Wednesday.   I will be linking up with Freshly Pieced.  

Completed Projects: I completed my Soldiers Star quilt this last week and it turned out fantastic.

In Progress:
I am working on a few rag quilts at the moment.  My machine is giving me grief.  Once my new machine is back I want to get this blue and yellow batik done and I also have my other batik that needs borders and I have bunch of tops that need quilting.

Ready To Quilt:
I am getting behind on quilting my tops I have 4 I think now in the box.  Rebecca (my 14 year old) has a quilt also on the list it was basted by her and her mother this week and she has started to quilt it.  It will be her first pieced quilt. With any luck I can help her get it done this week (she is doing all of the work I am just giving guidance).

Ongoing Projects:
I am now interested in making quilts for others if you know any one looking to have a quilt made, send them my way.  I also have a few quilts listed on my etsy shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/RichardQuilts.

Planned Quilts:

I started writing a list and so has my wife.  With just family quilts I need to make (about 10-12) and the quilts I just want to make because I can I think my list is now near 20 or so of what I want to make.

Totals:
Finished: 3 June, 10 May, 8 April, 10 March, 10 February, 7 January
46 Total for Year wow only 9 more quilts tell I meet my 55 projects and I have to set the bar higher maybe I should go for 100?.