First, I decided I wanted to draw a custom quilting design on my quilt. This is totally new for me. Most of the time I do an all over free motion "just go for it" kind of thing. The few times I have done more of a "custom" design I have always just used the seams as a guide. So I pulled out my water soluble marker and my 1" ruler and about 5 hours later (not all consecutive) and a trip to JoAnn's to buy another water soluble marker (the first died out) I was done. The great thing about water soluble is every time you make a mistake just give it a little squirt squirt and you get to start over. (Which I did several times :) (oh, and I will be showing this quilt in a few more weeks, this is your sneak peak until then :)
Second, I gave my "hands free system" a try. While I was up in Salt Lake sewing I chatted with Kati about her "hands free system" and if she liked it or not. I had pretty much just put my little bar aside when the machine came figuring it couldn't make that much of a difference. Kati told me she loved hers and suggested I learn to use my left foot on the foot pedal so I could use my right knee on the bar. So I took her advice and tried it!!! It took about 5 minutes and I was off!!!!! I love it!!!!!! I can't believe how much faster it is to shift fabric, sounds silly but true!! I can't wait to try some applique with this, oh it makes me giggle just to think about it :)