More quilting

I took a break from quilting yesterday to go hang out with Girlie for the day. I'm back at the sewing machine today, and here's the progress I've made so far. I expect to get more done unless something distracts me, but I need some lunch so I'm taking a break.

I left off on Monday with the green triangles. The first border is blue. This is almost exactly the colour of Girlie's walls.

When she saw this part, her response was to say "ooooh, pretty!" I think she likes it, don't you?

Since I'm showing off, I'd like to introduce you to my new best friend. I think she needs a name, don't you? What you would name a workhorse like her?

I got a screaming deal on her too. A Fraser Valley sewing shop had some "show machines" left over from a quilt show. She is a Janome Horizon 7700QC, new in the box, but because they were for the show, they were selling them at a deep discount, as they were "floor models" that just never got opened. I was pleasantly surprised when my man picked up the machine for me, which I committed to over the phone, as it included accessories I had expected to purchase separately. The biggest thing that was unexpectedly included was the extension table, which will be very handy when I machine quilt this project. I hated machine quilting on my old machine, as it had a very shallow throat and I was always wrestling with the weight of the quilt falling off the table. I won't have that problem with this machine. The extension table is over $100 to purchase separately. I can't thank my man enough for picking her up for me, or his sister-in-law for telling me about the deal (she bought one as well, and told me about it over brunch one day, unaware that this was the machine I'd been lusting after).

This quilt isn't the first thing I've sewn on my new, nameless best friend. I've got some catching up to do, as there are projects I have worked on in the last couple of months that I haven't shared on here. I set up the blog and walked away from it to get my projects finished, so now I will be posting like mad to get caught up.

Okay, time to eat, then back to sewing! You can see the pink border being sewn on in the photo above... the final border is purple, then the quilt top is finished. I have my knitting night tonight, and it just HAPPENS to be near the fabric store. Girlie asked if she could join me the next time I meet the knitting ladies, so it is a perfect opportunity to take her to pick out backing fabric. I already have batting. I'm planning on making a pillow sham to match the quilt, which will give me something to practice machine quilting on. I may even buy some funky trim for the sham. We'll see what they have when we get there.