I now have a dot com called FMQStudios. M. named me that after she spent enough time in the studio on the longarm listening to me swear with increasing ferocity as I pieced a quilt. I don't even remember which one it was. Almost all my quilts start out as "the quilt." As I grow weary of the tedious piecing, "the quilt" becomes "the g__ Da__ quilt." Finally, as I stitch on the borders, it has morphed into "the g-- Da-- F------ quilt." I created a FB page called FMQStudios for some odd reason. Did I think I wanted to create a business? Dunno. https://www.facebook.com/LizzyKateBetz
Today it was the perfect August day. Sunny, breezy, and agreeable temperatures. That meant that the She Shed was habitable. I spent several hours up there stitching a practice french braid strip. I have so so so so so many scraps. I also managed to put together a 6 by 6 leaders and enders block. I wish I had the tidy gene.
Last week I cleared off the 31-15 so that I could use it to bind my most recent quilt, a Round About (pattern by Donna Jordan). I love this machine. It is almost 120 years old and is in it's original treadle stand with extension table. I managed to coordinate my feet and right knee so that the balance wheel stays put when I use the knee lift mechanism. There is no back tack. I start to stitch and then simply lift the presser foot with my knee and hitch it back a couple of stitches. Works like a charm.
In this photo I am piecing some 3 1/2 inch vintage pre-cut squares. I found out that the 1/4 inch mark on the 31-15 is actually more like 3/16. No problem unless you want a true 1/4 inch seam. Which I did when I sewed the binding on to the Round About quilt. Sigh.
