Life without Elna

We drove to the Burlington area and back on Saturday to deliver my Elna for service.  It may be ready in a couple of weeks.  I was happy to see Lisa minding the shop.  She used to own a shop of her own, quilted a few of my quilts with her long arm, and also taught math at a local high school.  She's now happily retired from all that and was substituting for the shop owner.  

This time without Elna will be spent doing some clean up of the sewing room and, if I get lucky, starting work on my taxes.  I cut out a bunch of Hunter's Star blocks this week and just couldn't resist the slow process of sewing them together on the trusty Viking 100.  It isn't as smooth or precise but the blocks don't looks as bad as they might.  My seam ripper was close at hand, though, as it is wobbly.

I also thought I'd spend more time hand appliqueing some Dear Jane blocks and did finish "Gloriae" (G-12) with all of its sharp angles.  My fingers are definitely not as dexterous as they were ten years ago, but I will keep going with the tiny appliques or add some fusibles.

This week I gathered the state quilt guild's entries for the special guilds exhibit at the Vermont Quilt Festival, including the guild banner, hand appliqued, embroidered, and quilted by a member in 1984.  It is really something to see in person.  The maker even quilted the name of the guild founders in the area with the guild name.  

My machine pieced and quilted wall quilt that mimics the center block is also going in.    It uses hand-dyed fabric by Ricky Tims and was part of a 1999 challenge in the guild.

The other quilts submitted are really beautiful.  I'll share them in a future blog.