Sewvivor - Oh Sew Loved

 

I'm entering Sewvivior!  Fingers crossed I get picked as a Top 16 :)

So here is my work-in-progress as my entry:

Cue Exhale - First Longarm Quilt Finished

I feel like most people who first get their longarm machine are in the same rickety boat:  I've got this new machine, don't really know how to use it, and I need practice.  I didn’t want to be that person saying, “Hey you’ve just spent 56 hours piecing together that beautiful top, why don’t you let me ruin it in about 15 minutes... but don’t worry it’s giving me practice so I can do it waaay better on another quilt top you make in the future.”  Wasn’t going to happen.  So what to do?  I also thought about making tops myself from fabric that’s lying around the house and then practicing on those and donating them.  I love donating things but didn’t want it to look rushed from me trying to squeeze in another quilt top into my schedule.  Then I heard about Quilts of Valor and I could hear the heavens rejoicing. 

Ghost of Projects Past

Since this blog is pretty new, I figured it might be worthwhile to do a post about some of the sewing creations that have come to fruition over the last couple years...

The very first sewing project I ever made was about two and a half years ago when I found a giant pile of old tshirts in my fiance's stuff that we were packing up before he was deployed to Afghanistan.  He said he'd been saving them for awhile and wanted to send them away to be made into a tshirt quilt.  Being naively confident, I said, well I can make it myself.  Turned out he had enough for a queen sized quilt (OK, so maybe naively ambitious as well) and I didn't even own a sewing machine.  So I borrowed a machine from a friend and somehow I managed to get through it with my share of blood, sweat, and maybe even a few tears.  All that being said, it think it turned out relatively nice:

My Innova Adventure

So amount a month ago, I decided I needed a longarm sewing machine, like real bad.  There happened to be a quilt show near us and we got in the car to go test drive machines that happened to be at the show. I had done my homework and knew Innova would be there and that there is a local rep and showroom near me. I got to the show and first tried out the Fun Quilter by Nolting. It was ok, but I wasn't really impressed, it seemed stiff and rigid. It also required oil regularly at the top.

Onward to the Gammil booth. They had a pretty snazzy looking booth going but they didn't even notice I was in the booth. One worker was busy messing with an automated system and didn't look up, and the other two were busy talking to each other. If I'm about to lay down some serious cash on these things, I better get some attention, like stop what you're doing and lay down you coat so I don't step in a puddle kind of attention. Others might have had a different experience, but it didn't sit well with me and I wanted some personal attention, not only when I was buying it but in the future.

First blog post ever!  Eek!  Hopefully this will be a place where you can see all of my crafting, sewing, and longarm-ing (I think that's right?) adventures that I get myself into and anything else I deem blog-worthy.  Well, this blog is actually an adventure and experiment in itself so we'll see how it goes!

And just for good measure, a picture of my fiancé and I at a Flying Squirrels game!  Have fun, go nuts!