On the road to India....Land of Silks and Batiks

As I write this, I'm sitting in the airport in Atlanta, GA, waiting to board a flight to Paris which will then continue on to Bangalore, India.  I'm going there on business for a couple of weeks, but I have plans to hit some fabric stores while I'm there to see what I can bring back with me.  Should be quite an adventure!

The Steroids quilt is done...

I finished the log cabin on steroids quilt.  I did a curvy ivy leaves and vines pattern on it to soften up the strong lines of it some.  It measures 60" x 80".  Very easy pattern to do!

New quilt on the longarm - "Log Cabin On Steroids"

I've got a new quilt on the longarm and ready to start quilting on it.  I made this top in one day at the quilting retreat that my wife and I went to this past weekend.  It's made from two honeybuns (1.5" strips) of a fabric collection called "Kansas Winter" by the Kansas Troubles designers.  It's a very easy pattern - basically you just sew the strips together end to end and then start sewing them in an ever increasingly larger rectangle.  I'm going to quilt it using a pantograph design that is some vines and ivy leaves.

"Eternal" is done!

I finished up the wallhanging that I was working on.  It measures 40" x 48".  I decided to name it "Eternal" since that's what the universe makes me think of. 

My new longarm side leaders...

I had been using some side canvas leaders based on the ones Sharon Schamber has on her quilting site.  The only thing that I didn't like about those is that they have to be pinned, unpinned, repinned, etc.  when advancing the quilt and rolling it back.  So I had a thought (see pic).  I just took a couple of paint stir sticks and put one on bottom, one on top, and then clamped it using the two side clamps as well as an additional quick release clamp in the middle.  It works great and keeps the side of the quilt from distorting and is very quick to undo and redo.  Love it!