Hi Jacque - OK, confession time for me...
Before i joined this site, I thought that machine quilting was pedestrian, soulless and only for people who couldn't be bothered to learn how to quilt 'properly' - ie by hand... OK, OK, don't all scream at me! I did say, 'before i joined this site'!!!!
BUT - your work and the work of others here (Patti is another machine quilter whose work springs to mind) has changed my mind entirely, as has the work of a friend here in France who introduced me to this site and whose machine quilting is beautiful, and which I'm lucky enough to be able to see in real life.
I now see that just because the actual stitching is done by machine, doesn't mean that there isn't immense artistry involved in the work. So thank you all for getting rid of my prejudice!
I can't believe you did that FREEHAND!!!! It's beautiful, I love it! I'm only at the FMQ stage, my machine is only a basic one and I may never join the long arm club (I said 'may'! LOL) but now I see that there's room in my life for both types of quilting, hand and machine and each is equally an art form and equally 'valid' (horrid word, can't think of a better one!)
As for the paisley sperm - I just bought some blue and red paisley to make a One Block Wonder - can't WAIT to see how THAT baby stack n whacks!!! :mrgreen: :lol: