New Baby and a New Hobby



I guess the new baby and the new hobby aren't quite connected, but seeing how negligent I've been about updating my blog I'm just going to put them both in this post.

The new baby, as you can see in the above pic, is a Babylock Enlighten serger.  I've been happily serging on my Brother 1034D for many years.  The other week I went to adjust the stitch width from rolled hem back to a regular stitch width when something popped loose.  I had the pressure foot down and I think that's why.  I managed to get it working again but decided that since I had a little extra cash in my pocket this fall why not take advantage and buy my dream serger?  So I did!  As an added bonus I brought the Brother serger and my old original White sewing machine up to keep at J's house so that I can play when I am staying up here.

I'll be honest I haven't done much with it yet as I've been totally engrossed in my new hobby - quilting!  I started and finished a quilt top for my lovely granddaughter as she moves from her crib to a bed.  Pics are the purple quilt pics on my previous post.  I had a lot of fun with it; it is an Irish Chain done with strip piecing which made it quick and easy.  I then embroidered butterflies on all the large squares.  I'm going to call it "Butterfly Kisses".

I'm spending the week at J's this week so I went to Lens Mills in Woodstock to see what they had on offer.  They have a large selection of quilting fabrics that I have bought from to make aprons.  I was initially looking for some fabrics to make maybe some placemats or something for the sunroom.  As I was at the cutting desk I realized I didn't know how much of each fabric to buy.  I ended up buying a meter each of six fabrics, and then decided that I could make a lap quilt out of it.  I made my own pattern similar to the Irish chain, in that it is blocks of 25 squares alternated with solid blocks.   I found a 1/4" quilting foot in my stash for the White so I have been happily sewing away while up here on my visit.

While still at Lens Mills, as I was walking towards the checkout I saw a small display of Stonehenge strip packs.  They were marked down half price.  I wouldn't normally spend the full price for these, as nice as they are, but at half price I figured it was a good deal.  So I bought two packs each of two different colourways.  When I got to my truck and looked at my receipt I realized that they qualified for the 65% off clearance items, so I got 65% off the half off price.  Woohoo!  So of course I went back into the store and bought two more packs each of two more colourways.  I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet but they will have a good home in my sewing room until I decide.

So far 2018 is looking to be a very busy year!

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