I got my birthday present a couple days early this year, and it couldn’t have come at a better time!
Meet my new Husqvarna Viking Mega Quilter! (stock photo)
my new best friend
Business has been absolutely fabulous lately (thank you, JBQ customers!), and I’ve been quilting like a mad woman. Up until now, I’ve been crafting all my quilts (and everything else) on my trusty-but-basic Janome. The Janome was my Christmas present back in 2002, and has probably sewn itself around the world a few times with the amount of sewing I’ve done in the past 7 years (has it really been 7 years?)
Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE my Janome machine, and will absolutely still use it for fancy stitches and whenever I need the free arm, but the HV Mega Quilter is something else entirely. I have only used it for a day – albeit a day in which I constructed an entire quilt top – but it’s safe to say I’m in love.
It sews like buttah. Honestly! It is just so (sew) smooth and even and fast… I don’t know how I lived without it for so long!
But not only can I sew better & faster, I can also do things I never could do with my standard-sized Janome – I can make full, queen and even king quilts! There is just so much more room in the arm/throat/whatever you refer to it as. I’ve had so many requests over the years for full sized quilts, and I am thrilled to say that I can now do it.
Needless to say, it’s been a great birthday – and it’s not even my birthday yet!
Like any avid sewer, I have an ever growing collection of thread. Some of this thread is thread that I use everyday to make my memory quilts. Some of it is retro thread (note the super-70s rust colored thread in the bottom of the picture) from my mom’s collection, given to me when she realized that she never has the time to sew anymore. And some of it is for myriad other projects that have happened or might happen in the future.
Instead of tucking it away in plastic organizers, I love having my thread openly displayed in my studio, on a shelf right behind my sewing machine.
A small glimpse of my thread collection.
The way the colors line up is really inspiring to me – almost like a giant color wheel that’s always changing as I use a spool and put it back in a different spot, or buy a new color and have to find a home for it.
One of the really fun things about creating my memory quilts is that I don’t have any “standard” fabrics that I use for the backings and bindings. I always use 100% cotton for the binding, and I usually use flannel for the backing unless someone has a different request or orders the minky upgrade, but I don’t actually stock any fabrics.
This means I take each individual quilt top to the store once it’s finished to pick out a backing and binding that complement it perfectly. Sometimes I end up going to 3 or 4 stores before I find just the right backing pattern that reflects the style of clothing in the memory quilt, or just the right shade of purple to bring out a little girl’s favorite shirt.
This also means that I’ve accumulated a TON of thread. No 2 shades of pink are the same, and I hate compromising on details.
Luckily I love thread!
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