And I Thought a Ruler and a Darning Foot Would be Enough…

The Bernina has returned. It had a thorough cleaning, a check-up/tune-up and, fortunately, nothing was seriously wrong. Something had come loose on the inside on the hand wheel and it just needed to be tightened. It works great and I am delighted to have it back!

The more I read quilting books and blogs (and watch YouTube quilting videos), the more I realize the same tools keep showing up and I get to thinking that maybe I could use a few of them. Now, don’t you worry, I haven’t gone and bought a mid-arm sewing machine, but the following have made their way to me:

• A Supreme Slider free motion machine quilting mat (has a Teflon top to allow the fabric to easily slide across the bed of the machine)
• Machinger gloves (the fingertips have a polyurethane coating to get a better grip on the fabric sandwich as it is being quilted)
• Teflon bobbin washers (placed in the bobbin case before adding the bobbin, they encourage better tension and stitching)
• Pinmoors (easier to use than safety pins to keep the layers together)

I'll let you know how these work for me.

My current strategy has the blocks joined into three strips with each strip two blocks wide and seven blocks long. I am hoping it will be easy to quilt the strips leaving about two inches unquilted on the inner edges. Once the strips are connected, I’ll come back and quilt those blank areas. It works in my head…

While waiting for the Bernina, I put together a new top using a pattern I've been curious about. The fabric is from a FabricMart.com bundle and the pattern is the Style Arc Cate’s Cousin top. Both pattern and fabric have been here awhile – and with winter about over, my timing is definitely off. However, I’d rather have a top waiting in the closet than folded fabric on the shelf.

Next? A free motion quilting experiment involving a block that did not measure up. Stay tuned.