I'm actually quilting...and a new machine!

 I've been working on quilting a top! I know...it's amazing, but it's true. I took a class from Craftsy and decided to put some of that new knowledge to work. I basted this quilt with 505 Spray and Fix following the method from the class, and then quilted around the border and then within the quilt to make blocks that I can quilt.

The blocks ended up being through the hexagons which I continued to the borders, but they work.

The quilting is very simple in the stars as you can see. Just starting in one of the points and echoing in to the middle. It was very hard trying to decide what I should quilt in the octagons. I came back to this design a number of times before I decided to just go with it. You can't see the quilting on the front of the blocks at all. As you can see in the picture to the right, they just don't show it at all, but the back looks pretty cool.

The back is pieced so may not look too bad when it is finished as a quilt. My right shoulder is really sore from moving the quilt through the small harp of my Bernina. I have had some problems with it for a while and it is getting better, so this is now muscle pain. It is hard moving the quilt around in such a small space. I only have  4 1/2 inches high at the highest spot, and 6 1/2 inches at the widest spot. This quilt is about 70 x 100 so hard to move in that space.

I have been looking at mid-arm sitting machines for years, but have never been able to justify the $4,000-$6,000 they cost. I was looking and drooling again today. Thinking about how much easier it would be to quilt with more space. I found a "deal" on one of them that allowed for monthly payments of about $90 with no interest. I almost bought it but came to my senses. My husband told me to go for it, it is a small amount per month and we can certainly afford it. But $90 per month for 48 months is still more than $4,000. I just couldn't. I quilted some more, rubbed my sore shoulder some more, looked some more and found this machine from Bailey's Sewing Center in New York. I talked to my husband again, and he finally convinced me that is it going to be used, so just DO it already!

I purchased a classroom machine and the table and it was less than $2,500. I'm still a bit anxious about that much money, but I know I'll use it.  I think I got a good deal. The machine was used as a classroom machine for less than 10 hours. It will be cleaned and tuned if necessary. Shipping on both the machine and the table was free and I should get is some time in a week or two.

I decided on this one for a couple of reasons. It was much less expensive, it is modified by the folks at Bailey's from a machine that is similar to my Bernina, so I feel like I'll be able to clean and oil it; the bobbins are the same size as my current machine so it's not totally foreign.

Yikes!

I'm linking to Judy's blog at Patchwork Times. Go see what other's are doing.