2015 - My birthday tree planted about 5 years ago.  Fortunately, it grows faster than I do!  LOL

In case you don't remember - I MQ on a DSM, currently a Janome MC 6500.

Below is one border edge on my huge "Cowboy Up", aka Tumalo Trails, from Quiltville.com.  I am practicing these swirls, and I think the end result is quite passable!  8-)) .  I had originally thought this design would be very time consuming, but NO, I did about 60 inches in one sitting.  I was careful to match the light blue thread to the border color, so hopefully, the texture will show, not the thread. 

 OK, I keep showing it - but hey, I LOVE it! 

I'm getting ready to take a driving trip and frequently dig in my quilting stash for gifts that might be suitable.  I love ALL of my quilts but they don't do anyone any good in the closet.  The Rocky Road to Kansas (blue string) that I call "Stringing my Blues" is one of my favorites. The quilting in the white area was done in a variegated white and pastels - turned out really nice, but kinda feminine.  Next time I will quilt something more masculine in style. 

The hourglass turned out nice as well.  This is an easy quilt with strip piecing.

Below (left) is my "Handsome Log Cabin" - I had a man in mind but then remembered he is from Canada!  Uh ohhhh, WRONG colors!!!  

LOTS of Machine Quilting on Tumalo Trails/Cowboy Up

I have been machine quilting on my Janome MC6500 every day, for 20 minutes or so each time, several times a day for the past month or so.  I change positions, so as not to strain shoulders and neck.  There are 48 blocks in this quilt, by Bonnie Hunter/Quiltville.com.  She calls hers Tumalo Trails, and I call mine Cowboy Up, because I think it looks like cowboys, big skies, plaid shirts, etc.  It is HUGE, over 86 x 106 or so.

I MQ'ed each block separately in the entire row with the same motif.  Sashing will be quilted simply and separately.  This first photo below was done using the Janome Convertible clear plastic foot, with the red guidelines.  This is the first time I've been successful - it helped tremendously to have my machine cooperating again.  Since I am also in love with scrappy multicolor quilts, my "backtracking" shows in many places.  The thread is a soft muted cotton medium blue/grey.  There is NO thread in the world that would blend with all the lights and darks.  However, I am reasonably happy with the end result. 

This one (below) has a charming floral posey-like motif.  It can be resized, reformed, pulled pushed to whatever space available.  This idea is from Christina Cameli, author of one of my new best favorite books. 

 I used 3 or 4 of her ideas in this quilt.  She also has several other ideas on YouTube, a web site called A Few Scraps  Her designs are fresh, casual, and the ones I liked best are friendly, outdoorsy, and informal, especially suitable for this project. 


I LOVED this motif - so versatile!