sideways quilting and more

Quilting with my machine turned sideways worked out super fantastsically! 

(For those of you who missed the first post, the video is here.)

I had way better control of the quilt, as the bulk wasn't fighting me as much.

I did 42 circles, inside and outside, in just a few hours.  (No photos yet...)

It was a pretty far reach to the knob to move the needle when starting (I don't have a needle-up or -down function) and rewinding bobbins required me to get up, but those are minor problems.

I attached the table that came with my machine and it gave me a bigger area to work with.

And I would suggest having a good-sized table to put your machine itself on.  Having it hang off one end of the table caused a little trouble when the quilt started pulling itself down.  (I moved the machine to the center of the table!)

All in all, a very, very good and useful technique.  I wish I'd known about it sooner.  And I know I'll be using it again.

You should all go try it.

And now, since I have no photos today, let's review the to-do list:

1. Hubby's new bed quilt (Christmas deadline)  still no progress :(
2. Makayla's I Spy quilt (November deadline)  done, needs label
3. Ethan's I Spy quilt (January or Christmas deadline)  needs binding hand-sewn and label
4. Alora's sports teams quilt (if I can find all those I want - Christmas deadline) can't find fabrics
5. Kim's hand print quilt (as soon as possible)  need hand tracings still...
6. Erik and Jennifer's quilt  done, needs label
7. Make Life Charm Squares quilt (needs borders - no deadline, it's for me!) DONE (top)
8. Amanda's twin quilt #1 (babies due November)  done, needs label
9. Amanda's twin quilt #2  done, needs label
10. Julie's 3rd baby quilt,still waiting on gender (she finds out Sept 23rd), due Feb 13th, pattern selected
11. Birdies on a Wire quilt (for me, no deadline, just want it done!)  still no progress :(
12. extra June dolly quilt  DONE!
13. July dolly quilt  DONE!
14. APQ swap quilt (borders only) DONE (top)
15. Baby quilt for T's little one  done, needs label

So what do you all think I'm going to be doing in the next few days?  If you guessed labelling quilts, you're right!

And I think that brings the list to just 4 more quilts needing work!

I want to show photos, but since these are pretty much all gifts, I feel like I should wait until they've been given to show final pictures.

But let's see if I can find something fun to end this with...

For Theri! 

Don't ask me what this bird is.  A hawk, I think...  I work at a university.  In the vet school.  They have a wildlife ward and rescue birds and stuff.  Every year the vet school has an event where they show off all you can do as a vet for kids.  One exhibit is these birds.  I have no idea how I got such a good picture.  I have the side of a barn owl and the other side of another owl...this guy must have wanted his photo taken, though I did crop out the dead mouse below him for those of you who are a little squeamish...

Happy quilting,

Katie

PS I was hoping for a more fun photo, but most of them are people who might not want to be featured online.  And the photo of milking a cow wasn't so good.  And you've seen the quilts...so the hawk got the spot!