{Post 1,681} Machine Quilting

I was gone at my daugher’s for over two weeks. I had a big customer’s top to quilt before I left (she knew I’d be gone) and then another customer dropped off two tops while I was gone.

Here is the BIG Thimbleberries’ fabric fall quilt that I just finished this AM. I think the texture will be fabulous after it is washed.

Here is the first of the other two. It is a baby quilt. Check out those sweet prints. The first picture is when it is on the floor, before quilting, folded in half. I love the block patterns, too. Here is the after the first pass on my frame. I am using a variegated pastel thread and wonky feathers quilting pattern.

{Post 1,680} Worth Waiting For?!?!?!?

I have been planning and hoping for a different sewing machine table. I had been using my former one for 22 years, as far as I can tell. It was originally an L-shaped table meant for a computer and printer. I used it for my sewing machine and serger, then my serger was sort of retired. Recently I asked my husband to remove the non-machine side to make it easier to get around in my sewing room, which is quite cramped.

I was surfing Pinterest one day and found a tutorial for making one’s own set-in machine table from an IKEA stock table that was relatively inexpensive. So we bought one in February as we were passing near an IKEA on a trip. Fast-forward to two weeks ago. This beauty entered my life. Well, it had entered my life in February, but was living in a cardboard box all this time. We finally set it free!

The above picture is obviously after I stained and applied multiple coats of polycrylic to it.

Here is my new set-up. I think I will like facing the door so I can be more interactive with those who enter. I am back here most of the time, as the left side of the table will serve as my desk. 

My former desk had a little space to the left of the machine bottom that acted like a little shelf. I had my bobbin rings, extra pincushion (that just holds hand-sewing needles and safety pins), extra empty bobbins, and my sewing machine feet (in the clear case). I needed a space for those things, so I added a shelf to a wooden crate I had used at a couple showers for holding desserts and such. I repainted it this afternoon, and voila! The perfect holder for the items that were displaced. I will be keeping my iPad on top of it when I’m not using it as well. The rice bowl on the top shelf has my walking foot, free-motion quilting foot, tweezers, and nail clippers in it. 

Here is the whole area. The door you see just past the bookshelf is the door coming into the room.

To the right of my machine is my magnetic pin cushion (don’t leave home without it!) and an antique coffee mug with the essentials...pen, small scissors, ripper, and my nail-cleaning stick. That is fingernail. Don’t ask!

I am going to let the top cure for another 24 hours, then use it like mad. I can use the time tonight to put all the items back in place that I had to move in order to stain and seal this wonderful unit.