Four Finishes!

As I've mentioned, I'm in the last few weeks of my guild's UFO challenge and I am making a big effort to get things done.  I've had a pretty good week; I've totally finished four things and am close on a fifth!

I got my new bobbin case for my long arm, so I finished quilting the second Bubblegum Kisses quilt. I did similar quilting on each, just trying a few variations from one to the next.  I had a lot of marking pen on them, so I gave them a rinse and spin in the washer and put them the dryer.  I wish I would have let them air dry because I don't really love the crinkled quilt look. Don't hate me!  I prefer things to look fresh and crisp and new, not wrinkled and used.  

These quilts are both made with Lori Holt's Bee Basics fabrics and the quilt pattern is Bubblegum Kisses from the Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Sampler box.  I did use some modifications to the pattern to avoid cut off points.  Thanks to my friend Katie for letting me borrow her pattern.




Next up is my Cotton Way Bobbin Box mini made with Bonnie & Camille's Basics fabric line.  I attempted to quilt this with my walking foot twice and pulled out the stitching twice as well.  It was really hard to keep the fabric from shifting and pulling out of square, not to mention this was when my walking foot went totally crazy and would do micro stitches and then huge stitches.  I decided to use a larger piece of backing fabric so that I could hook it onto my long arm frame.  I used a small, loopy meander to quilt it.  Sort of like if you drop your bobbin and it unspools into a tangled mess!  Anyway, it's done and I am happy.


Finally, I finished something I wasn't planning on.  I started this quilt in 2009.  It was going to be hung on the wall in my sewing room in the house we had just finished building.  I started quilting it, wasn't really sure how to finish it off, and then we knew that we'd have to move due to my husband's job loss and subsequent new job out of state.  I just didn't really have the heart to finish it at that point.  

I got my sewing machine repaired last week (more in a bit), and decided to try more straight line quilting with my problematic walking foot to try it out.  A few hours later I had everything finished off.  Luckily I still had the thread I'd started quilting it with and had enough to finish.  The pattern is a Miss Rosie Schnibbles, but I don't know which one.  Fabrics are by Sandy Gervais's  Fresh Squeezed line for Moda.  The colors are not my usual colors, but I still really like the line.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this now.


Like I mentioned above, I took my machine in for cleaning and service on Friday.  I also brought in my walking foot so he could test it.  I'm feeling a bit silly since I put off the repair forever, thinking I was going to have to shell out $200 for a new walking foot.  I had broken off one of the clips on the bottom of my straight stitch plate a while back--long enough ago that I don't really remember when it was.  Again, thought I'd have to buy a whole new plate, but it turns out that for $2.49 you can get a replacement clip put on.  And having that clip functional is apparently important because now the walking foot is working as expected again.  I have a Bernina 440QE.  It now has over 4 million stitches  and 1901 hours of use.  That seems staggering, but I've had my machine around seven years now and I do sew a lot (sometimes).
Although I love my Bernina, there is a definite reason for having the long arm!  I used my Bernina BSR foot to free motion this design onto the border of this mini quilt.  I'm pretty embarrassed by how it looks.  I am in awe of those of you who can free motion quilt on your domestic machine and have it look nice.  Mine is always ugly.  I think I may have ruined what was a cute mini, but oh well.  At least it will be done.  Reveal should be next week.

I spent a good deal of yesterday trying to figure out how to quilt a small top.  I think I tried a hundred different things on my plexiglass overlay.  All the blue marker is different designs I was trying. I have part of a plan now.  Hopefully I can carry it out.

The registration window for MQX Midwest opened up on Monday.  I'm planning to go Wednesday through Friday this year and have signed up for classes with Julia Quiltoff, Natalia Bonner, Dorie Hruska, and Clem Buzick.  I wish I could take more classes, or that the ones I'm interested in aren't always scheduled at the same times, but I'm sure I'll learn a lot with these four classes.  I learned a ton from the ones I took last year.  Any readers out there attending?  

Are there any readers at all out there?  My feed burner stats say I have a pretty sizable amount of subscribers, but my viewing stats say otherwise.  Say hello if you are a real person. 😏

2 comments

  1. I love your baby quilt -- it's so bright and cheerful! I am sure you didn't ruin the mini. I can relate to putting off repairs (or any thing) after building up the outcome to something awful. Glad to hear it was an easy fix after all!

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    1. Hi Laura, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I love to receive comments! It's always nice when a repair ends up being much easier than expected, isn't it?

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