Snowballs, anyone?

     Here are my snowball flannel blocks. They are definitely the only snowballs I'm going to get here in Tucson. They will be combined with the nine patches I posted a couple of days ago. I am hoping to get the centers  of all three quilts done tomorrow, and maybe cut the borders if I have time.

     What I am stuck on is the quilting part. I can stitch-in-the-ditch and get them all quilted in a week, or I can wait, and quilt them on my new quilting machine! I just bought a Juki 98QE with a Little Gracie 2 frame. It's a smaller set-up than I wanted, but much more affordable. I have NO experience with frame quilting, and I don't know exactly how long it will take for me to get the hang of it. From what I've read, it takes 400 hours of practice to become proficient, but most people don't wait that long and start quilting real quilts before that. I really just want to do pantographs (all over designs) or maybe some meandering at this point, and since a couple of templates came with my machine, I'm hoping that after a couple practice quilt sandwiches, I can at least be good enough to try using the templates or following a pantograph on a real quilt. I am impatient, I know. Since I have no drawing talent at all, I don't know that I'll ever attempt anything fancy. A copy of QuiltCAD came with the package deal too, so I can use the computer to print out pantographs, and even design my own. Of course, I don't know how to do that yet either. My machine has been shipped, and will be here soon. I need to get these three quilt tops finished, and hopefully start a couple more before my new toy gets here.