SUCH a lovely day!!!

My new friend Clair has a very indulgent husband. She has pretty much taken over EVERY room in their house with her fabric (puts my stash to SHAME), sewing machines, general crafting paraphernalia and her whopping big industrial quilting machine ....

Clair very kindly invited me over to have a play on her machine and today was the big day.
But before I tell you about the actual quilty bit ... just have a look at the view from Clair's machine. She lives in the most gorgeous leafy part of Melbourne (even if it is a HUGE shlep from my place).

So anyway, I started with a bit of a practice which was an excellent idea because this is seriously different to quilting on a domestic machine. Takes a bit of time to get the feel of it.

Here's my practice piece:

And here I am at the machine trying to look like I know what I'm doing:

(Can you see Clair's husband Kevin in the background? He spent his whole work day putting up with the whir of the machine which is pretty loud. He really is a good'un).

This is the actual quilt I worked on today:

It's Maddie's quilt and I think she'll really like it once it is all bound and finished.

I quilted it with big loopy flowers a-la Oh Frannson but with extra curly swirly bits in between the flowers.

I haven't taken a good shot of the actual quilting yet (it's night time now and the light is impossible) so I'll get it all bound and finished then show off my new found skills.

Thanks again Clair for a fabulous day!! You are a terrific teacher too!!!

Andi :-)