sewing 911 - the quilt is back baby (and a little review)!


now that polly the pfaff is home with her new momma harper's quilt can finally get finished!  i had my first lesson on polly this weekend at sawyer's and it was great!  i feel way less intimidated by all it's fancy schmancy features and a lot of the things i've been frightened of, namely buttonholes, have been conquered!  i cannot wait to make something with buttonholes now!  next lesson - zippers!  i cannot wait.


i don't feel ready to give you all a full review of the pfaff ambition 1.0 yet (i haven't sewn enough on her yet) but what i can say so far is that i have never loved an inanimate object sooo much and that's saying a lot cause my camera and dyson vacuum are a close 2nd and 3rd.  there is something about saving, dreaming and wishing for an item for so long and then when you finally get it....sheer bliss!  i've waited 2 years for this sewing machine so i'm in my honeymoon phase with her.  she sews smooth as butter, is so quiet it amazes me constantly, the stitches are gorgeous, she powers through more layers than i have ever been able to sew without a skip or jump, and the features are just...well....wowsa!  i'm a very satisfied customer at the moment and would already highly recommend this machine to anyone looking for a great powerhouse with all the bells and whistles for everyday sewing, layers, quilting and embroidery...you name it, polly does it! 


back back to the quilt.  for those of you who haven't seen the quilt i'm working on for harper this is it.  you can also see my other posts on her quilt here and here and i used this tutorial.  i've decided to go with a red cotton back.  i'm still stumped on what to do for the binding though.  i don't have any left of the "it's a hoot" line by momo from moda that i love so would have to reorder to do that and i don't really want to...lol...i'm lazy that way.  i've thought about not doing a binding and just using bias tape or doing rae's method without it.  what do you guys think?  i could use some help with this. 


i'm also stuck on the quilting still.  i'm drawn to the idea of quilting the rectangle shape inside each box about 1\4" in from the seams.  i thought that may look pretty.  i love the look of quilts with the lines done all over but think that may be way too busy of a look with all the pattern going on that i used.  i like the simplicity of it right now and don't want to busy it up too much but don't want to just  and don't want to knot it.  any thoughts on this too ladies?  any comments are always appreciated :) 


i'm also extremely stumped on the color of the thread i'm quilting with.  i like the idea of the back having some quilting on it so it's not just plain red but am worried that a white thread (which i would probably want to use on the front)  would look ugly on the back.  what color would you use for the bobbin thread to add some pizzaz to it without it looking garish?  phew that's a lot of questions for you all...but i need another pair of eyes.  i've got the scraps of the fabric line i used (the first pic in this post) and was also thinking about doing something fun with those on the back but i'll leave that as a surprise :)


i started working on this quilt when she was a baby so i'm dying for it to be done.  i stare at it all the time wishing we could snugggle up with it already.  i knew i was going to get the new sewing machine so i decided not to even attempt quilting it with my old demon one and to hold off until polly got home.  i know it's going to be so much fun to try on the new machine.

are any of you working on a quilt right now?  do you have any tips and suggestions to give me to help a girl out?  i always learn so much from you guys when we chat quilting.   it's so fun!  i'd love to see what you are all working on so comment below!