Day 3 - My new sewing machine!!

This year I really want to get more into my sewing. At the end of last year, my very basic machine decided to break down, and it gave me the impetus to finally invest in a much better machine. So, I am now the proud owner of a Janome. It has plenty of decorative stitches - but what clinched it for me was that it came with an extension table, and a package of quilting presser feet - including a walking foot, free motion embroidery foot, 1/4" foot, and a ditch foot! Plenty enough to keep me going. 

Today's image is one of the first things I have made with my new machine. The cushion was for my youngest niece for Christmas. She loves pink, so this will go well in her bedroom.

The block pattern is called Card Trick - and I used the instructions from McCall's Quilting. The finished block size was a little too small to make the size cushion cover I wanted, so I used an app called QuiltSandwich which has a little function on it whereby you can put in the finished sized squares, and it tells you the size of the half and quarter triangles to cut! Very useful! The fabric is from a fat quarter pack from Hobbycraft - with plain pink cotton used for the envelope style back. I used some of my new fancy stitches to quilt the cushion front onto thin 2oz polyester wadding - with a plain white cotton backing. 

I have made very simple square patchwork cushions before - so this was a step up for me. But what I am most happy about is the corners. I didn't like the way I ended up with very pointy corners before, so I found information on Craftsy (How to Sew Perfectly Plump Throw Pillow Covers) on how to avoid this. And I think it was fairly successful.

Back tomorrow!!
Cxxx