Finally finished assembling my FMN quilt.  It needs a good pressing but I couldn't wait to take a picture of it.  I need to go to the quilt shop and get something for the backing.  I don't have anything in my stash that will work.  These are definitely not colors that I use frequently.  Now I need to decide on a quilting design, always the hardest part of a project for me.  I am still learning my new software, EQStitch, but I think that I have mastered enough of it to be able to design a few quilting motifs. 

Looking forward to Esther's next BOM! 

I am very pleased to tell you that I am almost done with my FMN quilt top.  I have some hand applique and machine embellishment to do on my last block, but the other 11 blocks are partially assembled and I am quite happy with the quilt.  I auditioned several fabrics for my sashings and borders and finally settled on a multi-color batik.  It sure is a colorful quilt, but I am loving it. 

We are all getting excited about Esther's next project.  I am hoping I have some time in May to get started with it, but we are leaving for the summer around June 1st, so my time will be limited.  Lots of packing to do, I load the van with sewing machines,  embroidery supplies, threads, etc. 

Another busy week here.  Last Friday we hosted dinner for our dinner group, which meets monthly.  Dinner for 22 people took a few days of my sewing time, but we had lots of fun.  Today, we had planned to go over to Disney and spend the day at the flower and garden festival at Epcot, but John has been favoring his ankle lately and we decided that lots of walking probably wasn't such a good idea.  I hope to be able to spend some time with EQStitch this afternoon, I am frustrated that I have spent so little time learning it.  I am hoping to design an embroidered wallhanging but my knowledge of the program isn't ready for that yet.

I hope you all have a great week! 

We returned from our cruise on Saturday and are finally getting things back to "normal".  I didn't do as much hand stitching as I had hoped.......it seems that I am very set in my ways when it comes to hand applique.  I never realized this, but I stitch while sitting in a recliner and use my knees and thighs to support a lightweight board that I stitch on.  I didn't bring that board with me, and the small sit-up straight with your feet on the floor chair was amazingly uncomfortable for me.  I did try, but never lasted more than 15 minutes.  So now I have lots of prepared work, and I have started playing catch up with it in the evenings.

OK, I need some help..................I am not at all fond of the framing fabric that I chose.  I am very tempted to use my border fabric alone and drop the pinkish/orange/purple batik.  The bottom picture doesn't show the border fabric well at all, but it can be seen against the frame fabric in the 2nd pic from the bottom.  Sorry that the pics aren't better, I am definitely NOT a photographer!

 Celebrated my birthday on Sunday and was surprised to receive the very new add-on program to EQ7.  It is called EQStitch, and is a digitizing program.  I am working on the included lessons and watching the videos and it doesn't seem too hard at all.  It will make almost anything into an embroidery or machine embroidered applique design into an embroidery file.  Hopefully, I will find time to actually do a design, send it to an embroidery machine and stitch it out before next week.  If I manage to accomplish this, I will post a picture.  I also need to post a pic of the small wallhanging that I made at our retreat, using the stack and whack method.  I will include that next week as well.

So, I value all of your opinions, so let me know what you think of that batik framing fabric.  I have visited both of our local quilt shops and haven't found anything else.....but of course, I will continue shopping, just in case, lol.

Have a great week!