FNSI with the Stars

Hope you had a great Friday Night Sew-In (FNSI)!  I decided to work on my stars quilt.  (Star Struck or Map to the Stars -- star quilt-a-long by Melissa at Happy Quilting.)

I started my night by gathering up my assistants.  Katie clearly knew something exciting was about to happen in the sewing room.

Sammy wasn't far behind in snooping.

I spent most of the time making flying geese for the five stars that I am working on with Block 1 instructions (picture from this morning).

I managed to complete two stars!!  This first one with the blue and yellow might go down as a practice block.  Between the color combo not really working and the points not being very good... I guess I was just rusty and needed a block to work out all my kinks on. 

This one however was much better and pretty cute if you ask me!

The stars are made from vintage sheets and the background is a cocoa colored flannel.  I wish you could reach through the screen and feel how amazingly soft this quilt is going to be!

 Here are all three of my blocks so far.

FNSI was just what I needed to get my sewing mojo back... and with this being the view from my sewing room today I think I might just keep sewing. 

This is the next star up for sewing.  I'm on a roll!!

Hope you are off to an amazing start to the weekend and yes of course my assistants are with me again this morning.  They can be so cute when they aren't fighting or barking.

Meet my new Sewing Machine

I enjoyed a nice long weekend disconnected mostly from technology and chores!  I have over 200 blog posts in my reader and am slowly connecting back in and reading about your lovely weekends and projects!

I also got a new sewing machine yesterday.  The one I had been using will always have a special place in my heart (it was my Grandma's), but I have to say that I should have made this upgrade sooner. 

It runs so smoothly.  It's so quiet.  It has amazing tension control.  I am in love!!

I have spent a lot of time pouring through the manual to learn how to wind my bobbin, thread the machine, and change stitches.  I was up and running in a matter of 15 minutes.  I really like how intuitive this machine seems!

And I got it just in time for the next Friday Night Sew-in this Friday with Hand Made by Heidi and Crafty Vegas Mom.

It's all about committing to some sewing time.  Don't have to twist my arm.

1. Go here and enter your blog info below. **If you don't have a blog - you can enter the Flickr group link as your URL.

2. Make a post on your blog - letting everyone know about the sew-in.  Spread the word..

3. On Friday – 4/15/11- Get your house settled, put on your comfy jammies.. maybe make a cup of tea or pour a glass of wine.. and sit down to work on some of those projects.  Can't wait!!

4. Then, sometime on Saturday - publish a post about what you worked on or show a picture or two on Flickr. There is a FNSI group on Flickr if you haven't already joined. Totally optional.

And finally - on Sunday 4/17/11, all participants are entered into a drawing for the GIVEAWAY!!
Sounds fun doesn't it? 

I am sure I will be playing with my machine all week, but I can't wait to see how it holds up to a long happy night of sewing away!

日本のための多くの愛
Much love for Japan