So Many Choices on How to Spend the Day

I have been working in the studio all day, but I am not sewing, I am cutting and making kits for our time in Vermont.  I am going to be without my HQ for 9-12 months, so I am going to spend a LOT of time getting to know my Bernina 44QE much better.  I am going to do a lot of free motion using the BSR, play with all the stitches, and do more SID.  I am also going to do more hand and machine applique.  The kits I am making today are fairly simple so that the focus can be on the quilting.  I am not making anything larger than a lap size but each kit will have the back and binding as well.  Batting will probably stay on the roll or be cut to size.  I am not planning to buy much of anything fabric-wise while there, but I will see all the quilt shops I can.

I have already made 3 simple kits that will include embroidered blocks stitched by my FIL, but I will probably go onto EQ and create a few more complex ones to use a few of the more detailed bird sketch design blocks.  I will also make another quilt similar to the Four Seasons one that I finally quilted two weeks ago.  However, it will probably be a lap size.

 Many of these quilts will be given to family members in the future, but  I have also designated some for donations and as comfort quilts for friends.  It feels good to give a tangible hug!

I am also taking along a number of unfinished, but not UFO status, quilts.  I am going to do lots of piecing so that I will be able to hit the ground running when I get back to my HQ.  (My sweet daughter has already offered to babysit the machine.)

How many quilts will I complete?  Well if I think in terms of tops, I figure that I will accomplish 4-6 a month (probably only 4-6 large quilts during the whole stay) with at least 3-4 being quilted during the month. I am also going to work at hand quilting my Christmas applique quilt that has been waiting for just the time. (Long cold winter nights seem to be just the ticket for quilting and snuggling under it while I do.  The big quilt kits that I have will see the tops finished but then they will be packed away for long arming until we get settled in back in South Dakota.

Kevin is going to be busy at his woodworking/furniture building school, but we plan to see New England while we are there.  We lived in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island during his military career, so we thought it would be fun to revisit some of the sites.  Fall foliage will also bring out the camera and the sketch pad (quilt designs).  We will be living near Burlington and the lake resorts, so we will have to take in those sites and sounds as well.  This our transition time and we are going to take full advantage of it.