Bev, sounds like a great trip: you combined all the most important elements--trip with DH, a new sewing machine, FARTing with a friend, and sight seeing. Sounds like a perfect time to me. Enjoy your Brother; I have the same one from Walmart that I use as a back up.
It's been so cold here, -4 in the mornings with a balmy high of 9 in the afternoons so I've been making soup and holed up in my sewing room all week. Haven't spent much time posting, just reading and keeping up with yinz. Hopefully I'll have Pony quilt completed by next week--YAY!!! I just have to quilt 2 more sashing strips and then attach the binding. Question: do you finish your binding by machine? I've always sewn the binding to the back by hand but I just want this quilt DONE so I think I'm going to do it by machine. It shouldn't be noticeable because the fabric is dark blue print very similar to the binding and I'll use dark blue thread. What do you do with the little corners on the back to sew them shut when you do it by machine?
Sorry for so few posts lately but please keep yours coming--makes for such a nice break when I come out of the sewing room. My shoulders and neck are killing me. I was whining about how heavy that quilt is but when I weighed it (yes, I'm that anal) it only weighs 7 pounds. Feels more like 50 at this point.
Have a great day no matter what you do today; will check in later about my binding question. Thanks!