Today is the fourth anniversary of this blog.  I started it as a way to keep track of my quilt work.  That first year, there were only 17 posts, most had no pictures or links.  Some were only a few sentences, or thoughts, I did spell check though!  Through these past few years, I went public, added a few weekly links and a few badges.  I like to keep it simple, I hope the ads don’t get too distracting.  I can’t say that I have perfected my posting, its gotten better, but I will continue to try to journal my quilting journey.

On my design wall this week is a bench pillow top, a pre-cut kit from Shabby Fabrics.  It was on sale last Monday, I liked the colors and thought it was cute.  It was very easy to put together, as all the pieces are laser cut with Heat and Bond on them.  Just follow the numbers on the diagram to place the parts and iron them on.  I hope I can remember to use it next year, I think I will store it with my Halloween quilts.  This week I’m planning on getting a bunch of binding done and I need a few more backings put together.  I have been resisting making another top, but I just got a cute pattern from JayBird quilts called “Sprinkles”.  It’s a baby quilt, and I think it would be so cute done in 30’s prints.  I happen to have a few (ahem) left over pieces from the Farmers Wife Quilt blocks.

This past week I have been using my long arm system to quilt up a bunch of things that have been in the TBQ (to be quilted) pile.  Now there are 8 quilts in the TBB (to be bound) pile.  Thankfully the learning curve isn’t that steep and I can easily stop and redo the operator errors.  With less than a month until the craft fair, I need to finish things up and get ready to sell them.  Interestingly, the amount of time the computer driven system takes to quilt, is about the same as my speed.  The difference is the precise-ness.  The pantograph I am using now has horseshoes and stars scattered around.  I am sure that the horseshoes would not be as nice if I were hand guiding the machine.  Perhaps with simpler designs, meanders and such, the speed of the automation will increase.  I managed to clean up the sewing area this weekend while watching the machine do its thing.  I am planning on learning the digitizing software soon.  I am using Art and Stitch, it seems pretty straight forward.  Plus they host on line web casts, which I would like to participate in.

Thanks for reading today, I’m linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.