Works in Progress, Visitors, and New Toy

I'm continuing to work on some of the Three for September projects (my WIP busting effort working on one project every three days).  I spent a few hours quilting the Medallion Rescue quilt.  Lots of boring stippling around the star center, and then some custom work on the borders, all done on my Husqvarna sewing machine.  

The ribbon effect in the blue borders was done with a scallop stitch on my machine.  I like the way it turned out, however imperfect it is :)  Then I tried to come up with a way to quilt through the white sections of the chain blocks but somehow ended up with a more complex quilting design, simply by trying not to have to bury a ton of threads.  I used my Hera marker for all the lines.  I think the chains still stand out enough against the quilting.  Binding is ready to cut and sew, in the same blue dot fabric. I'd like to get that done this weekend and call this rescue complete. 

Another project on the Three for September list, Jewels in the Curio, still needed fabrics cut for the three borders.  I pulled out the GO! cutter and 2.5" strip die to make quick work of the rest of the necessary pieces.  It was very satisfying to have them all lined up, labeled, and ready to go when I want to piece.

Daughter Elaine texted last weekend hoping I had pumpkin carving tools.  The family stopped by on their walk and I was surprised by grandson Cove while I was digging around in boxes in the garage.  We had a short, fun visit, even though I didn't locate any tools.  

 Cove the Wizard grabbed some driftwood as a broom..

 ...Hunter the Thirsty rejected Mimi's first choice of a sippy cup with handles: "That's for Babies!"  He's rapidly turning into a little boy but his hands are still toddler chubby--love that.

And finally, the New Toy.  At our last guild meeting there was a raffle for a very special prize.  Many, many tickets were sold for this prize; I bought a few.  My sister bought quite a number of chances and ended up winning the prize!  At the end of the meeting she picked up her prize---and gave it to me as an early birthday present.  I was flabbergasted.  Here's a crappy photo of an impressive gift:

This is the Cricut Maker, with a rotary cutting tool specifically for fabric.  The prize package also included two of the large sticky fabric cutting mats, some other accessories and a fabric bundle.  I have watched a bunch of videos and seen some great projects on Instagram, but have not yet cut anything out. It's so hard to decide what to try first!  My sister and I are going to Sewtopia in a few weeks, and I'd like to use the Cricut Maker to do something fabulous with the Michael Miller Challenge fabric.  Wish me luck!