My Quilting Adventures ~ Day 1 ~ Happy, Happy

My quilty day started early while the sky was still gray.

My quilting room windows face west so they get afternoon sun.

My 1st stitches on my new Amara 20.

Little pebbles for the center of my flower.

I did not do a "practice piece" of plain fabric.

I jumped right in to my first real quilt. 

I chose this 

Dream Big Panel by Hoffman Fabrics

This is also my first "whole cloth" quilting.

I do not have a computerized Pro-Stither.

I have the basic regulated stitch touch screen panel

and will be doing hand-guided, free motion quilting on all projects.

This is what I love to do. 

Then I defined it with easy tapered tendrils and added my first feathered petal.

This is fun!

I am making it up as I go along.

I do not have a plan.

I am just trying to let my muse talk to the fabric 

and am trying to stitch what I think it is saying.

In the afternoon, I opened the door and let the kitties in to be with me.

I opened the windows to the afternoon sun

and put a favorite basket on the back of my table.

Katniss was very good and settled right in.

Nutmeg enjoyed the window for awhile.

Maestro found an open space on the table and played with the bungees a little.

Things were going well.

The machine was in motion and I was concentrating on the feathers in the small petal when all of a sudden my machine lurched forward and back.

I was so surprised!

At first I thought the machine jumped on its own!

No ... no problem with the machine.

I looked up and there was a large black cat with a playful grin

standing with her back feet on the table 

and her front feet on the back part of my machine on its carriage.

Maestro had rocked the machine forward and back! 

See the small loop in the middle of my feather stem?

That was added by Maestro.

I am not picking it out.

So Maestro is officially a "quilting cat." 

I gave her a stern talking to.

Then I finished the small feather and then went to the back to roll my quilt
to work on another section and all of a sudden

 the batting roll on the bar underneath moved and unrolled!

You guessed it ...  another cat.

Nutmeg decided the batting roll was her new tent.

I decided it was time to usher the kitties out of the room.

The first of the stitches on my backing have emerged on the back bar.

I am very happy with the tension.

This is where I ended on Day 1

... unless of course, I am quilting in my pajamas at midnight.

It is a learning process, but I am happy with my progress so far.

:-)