It has a darning foot for free motion quilting (I already have one, but a spare can’t hurt), a walking foot with quilting bar, a quarter inch foot, and a seam allowance guide.

The walking foot with quilting bar (top) will be great for quilting straight lines for grids/diamonds/stripes. The quarter inch foot (second from top) will help me piece accurately and precisely. The fourth attachment, the cloth guide, will also help me keep my seam allowance accurate when it is larger than the marking guide on my machine.

I’m looking forward to using all of my new tools!

Love,

Tiff

darning foot

I’m hoping to graduate from stitching in the ditch and one day be able to do some free motion quilting, so I did a little practicing on some scraps.

This led me to think, “Hmm, that small rectangle doesn’t compare to moving the bulk of a large quilt beneath a darning foot. Maybe I’ll practice some more on my new tablecloth. It’s fairly large.”

I'm sitting at the dining room table in order to watch the birds.

I need to work on maintaining the length of the stitches. Some are long leaps of the needle, and others are like stayed stitches.

Isn't this fabric gorgeous?

The tablecloth is simply lined and hemmed yardage from Hobby Lobby. I hope I don’t regret this experiment….

Love,

Tiff

It has feed dogs for the top layer of fabric to allow for even feeding of fabric layers.

I’m excited to use it and see if it makes a noticeable difference in my sewing.

Love,

Tiff

Huzzah!

I’ve named the quilt “A Walk in the Park.” It has such soothing colors, and the tones of many of the prints remind me of nature: specifically when I’m walking in the Smoky Mountain National Park.

It’s dimensions are 100″x108″. The length is longer than the width. It has kept us perfectly warm with the cooler weather we had this weekend.

Now I just need to make some curtains to match our bed’s new look!

Love,

Tiff

P.S. The Shabby Chic quilt will now become our picnic blanket, I suppose. The blanket that we were using and kept in my vehicle is too small for both of us to comfortably stretch out when we picnic in the park.

Thank you for being such wonderful mothers. Your prayers and Godly examples have served us well as we developed and matured. Thank you for all the sacrifices you’ve made and the love you continually show us. We love you!

For Mother’s Day, I made Mom Knapp a quilt and Mom Sullivan a set of place-mats. You’ve seen the quilt, but here are the place-mats:

beautiful bird fabric from Jo-Ann's

I hand quilted (rather poorly :}) around the birds. I always think of Mom Sullivan when I see birds because she feeds them near the deck and she identifies them for us when we sit around the kitchen table.

I had fun making things for my dear moms.

Love,

Tiff

cute little flotilla

I love it! I can’t wait to add the borders.

Love,

Tiff

bottom of blocks

ready for pressing

sails with solid blue sky

I’m ready to start assembling some blocks. I can hardly wait!

Love,

Tiff

P.S. How does Brendan occupy himself while I’m sewing, you ask?

with a new computer game!

Can you see the quilting?

How about now?

Now I need to think about binding. I’m going to go with black. I would like to try to make my own sometime, but I’m not sure if I’ll do it on this quilt. It would probably be more cost effective, but speed really appeals to me right now.

Love,

Tiff

wish me luck!

It looks like it’s about to devour my poor Kenmore!

Love,

Tiff

super adorable

I think I need to add a strip of “sky” across the top, and I plan on getting a solid blue to use for the sky. I think the sails don’t stand out as much as I’d like them to against that “net” print.

Love,

Tiff