Red and Aqua Half Square Triangle Quilt

Finally, it is finished!  It was a long time coming but worth the wait.  Last march, I bought a slew of red and aqua fat quarters while at a quilt show in Lancaster, PA.  Last September, while away on vacation, I made the triangles and assembled the top.  At that time, I had planned to purchase a long arm quilting machine so I thought I'd wait until I bought the machine before I finished the quilt.

I ordered my new machine (a Handi Quilter HQ 18 Avante) in early December.  It was a present to myself in celebration of my 50th birthday.  It took two weeks to ship and two weeks to set up, playing second fiddle to the holiday celebrations.  When I finally had the chance to start working with it, I encountered yet another delay; a manufacturing mishap that called for a trip to the repair shop.  :(

Needless to say, all is now well with the machine.  It will take me a while to get used to it, its capabilities and idiosyncrasies, but for my first encounter, I'm fairly pleased with the results.