My Sweet New Sewing Machine

My friend, Gray, and I shopped for new sewing machines last week after lots of research and testing of various brands and models. We both bought Viking Sapphire 875 Quilt machines at The Sewing Circle in Fort Collins. I'm impressed with the shop and its staff who spent hours with us and offer excellent support. I've signed up for a new machine owner's class later this month but in the meantime, I'm working my way through the manual learning and practicing what my new gem can do. I've gotten the basics down and have made a pillow case and sewed borders on my Cobblestone quilt. I've had the most fun trying out the decorative stitches - I plan to make a sampler of all the stitches for a reference tool.

My last new machine, a Brother purchased in the late 1960's, still works but after more than forty years, I wanted a machine that will do things my Brother never dreamed of. I have a hard time staying out of the sewing loft even when I have other things to do. It's like a magnet!

I have three "priority projects" of the quilting variety that I'm working on now.

• The first is my contribution to the New Mexico Twin Quilts that my friend, Linda, and I are co-making. She did the centers and I'm about to put the first border on each one and send them back to her so she can add something. The twins (as we call them) are to commemorate our trip to New Mexico last year. The borders will include cornerstones of New Mexico icons that I've printed on fabric.
• The second project is putting together my contribution to our February Quilt Guild program. I'll be showing two antique/vintage quilts and I'm doing some research for the presentation. The Sunbonnet Babies quilt belongs to my 91 year old mother. Her grandmother made it for her when she was a child. The second quilt belonged to my mother-in-law, then my husband when he was a child. It has fifteen blocks embroidered from early 1900's patterns by Ruby Short McKim. Both quilts are charming.
• The third project is the Cobblestone quilt. The borders are on and I'm ready to start hand quilting.

Those should keep me busy for awhile.