I've Been Busy

   I finished the polyester quilt refurbishment.  It took me about 6 hours to quilt the darn thing.  It was super thick and I didn't want to break a lot of needles doing this one so I took it slow.  I finally figured out that I would do better to use my dual feed foot instead of the flimsy walking foot quilting this baby.  So with about 5 rows left to quilt I changed my presser foot and the last little bit of quilting went a lot more smoothly.  I followed the seams and did a grid quilting.  I stayed away from the puffy centers of the string blocks.  I didn't want to crush those pretty polyester blocks.  I also didn't square this quilt up when I trimmed it for binding.  Some of the rows ends were quite wonky, but I wanted to keep as much of the quilt top as I could so there is one bit that is seriously curved.   This whole project took me about 19 hours to complete over the last 2 1/2 weeks.  The quilt measures about 52" x 50".  Here's a picture of the front and the back.

   After I finished the quilt top I made my daughter a couple of items.  One was a padded tablet sleeve with button closures and the other is this cute, cute drawstring pouch using the tutorial here.  I really like this tutorial and the pouch is a nice big size.  Perfect to carry the cords and accessories for a tablet.  I think I'll be making a couple of these for me.

Finally, The Vinyl Project Is Underway

       I finally got going on my vinyl pouch project.  I made this huge vinyl pouch.  I don't know why I made it so large, but it's perfect to hold the fabric for a future quilt project I'm planning.  My favorite part of this pouch is the ruffle.  This was fun to make and since I have never sewn with vinyl before it was a new experience.

       I used my new teflon presser foot (fits the Singer XL 3400) to make this pouch.  I bought the teflon foot a few weeks ago and I'm glad I spent the $6.37 for it.  I was really worried it wouldn't work as well as I needed it to because it doesn't look like much but it worked fine.  The process isn't perfect because you still  have to put tape or something on the metal of the needle plate to keep the vinyl from sticking, but the scotch tape helps a lot.  I did have a few instances of the scotch tape coming off the needle plate and sticking to the vinyl and the machine coming to a dead stop, but I was able to work that problem out.

      I have a little bit of vinyl left to make a couple of smaller pouches and I will also be making the Gadget Girl Tool Kit pattern which includes vinyl pockets with zippers in the future.

All Ready to Make Vinyl Pouches

   I pulled out my zipper stash (15 of them ranging in size from 6" to 16") and some fabric choices to make vinyl pouches.  I probably won't use all of these right away, but I have a nice variety of colors and sizes.  These are my selections:

       Last Saturday I bought some 8 gauge vinyl to make my pouches.  I have never sewn vinyl before.  I know that you should use a teflon presser foot or a roller presser foot to sew vinyl and leather, but I don't have either one of those presser feet.  I did look for a snap on teflon presser foot in JoAnn's Fabrics while I was there, but they did not have any.  I'll be using this tutorial from the Make It and Love It blog that has a great tip about how to prepare your presser foot and needle plate to make sewing vinyl a little easier if you do not have a teflon or roller presser foot for your machine.  The simple instructions for making the pouches are also at this link.  I'll be changing my pouches up a little bit.  I will be attaching my zipper to a fabric top and the bottom half of my pouch will be vinyl.  I'm also thinking about making the pouch with a fabric top and bottom and the middle will be a cool vinyl window.  There are so many possibilities.  We'll see how these come out.

Pretty In Pink Quilt Finished

   

 I just finished hand sewing the binding on the back of the quilt and I'm calling it done.  It's not perfect, none of my projects are, but it's perfect for me.  This is the front and a close up of the back showing the blocks I pieced into the center of it.  My Bernina walking foot worked great. The stitching was easy and the stitches were very nice.

   Now on to other projects.  I have to do a few small ones before I start my Christmas quilt.  I have to make my ironing board cover, sewing machine covers, pillowcases for my bed, and the harness for the dog in blue.  I have more but I can't remember them all right now.  And I want to play with the embroidery machine next weekend.  Plenty of sewing and crafts to keep me busy in the new year.

    See you soon.

Happy New Year!

    Here's to a happy and healthy New Year to you all.

    I spent New Year's Eve with my pets and my projects.  I set up the embroidery machine, which runs great right out of the box.  My testing would have been complete if I had stabilizer for my test.  The doubled cotton fabric did not work.  My upper thread broke twice and I think that was the machine's way of telling me it was not happy.  I turned it off and I'm waiting for stabilizer supplies before I test her again.  She needs a name and a home.  I can work out those two questions while I am waiting for supplies to use her and finishing quilting the Pretty in Pink quilt.

   The Pretty In Pink quilt is pin basted and ready to be quilted.  Here is a sample sandwich I did with the Bernina 1530 and her new walking foot.  These are pictures of the both sides, but for the life of me the stitching is so sweet, I can't tell the top from the bottom.  I should have used different fabric or thread for one or the other.  Oh, well.  All in all, I'm very happy with that Bernina walking foot purchase.

 

   I'm off to finish cleaning my oven (I sprayed cleaner in it two hours ago and it's time to wipe it all out) and then I can start quilting.  See you soon.
 

Testing, 1, 2, 3, Testing

    I bought a brand new walking foot for my Bernina 1530 a few weeks ago and I'm just getting around to testing it.  I want to use the walking foot on the Bernina to straight quilt my Pretty In Pink quilt when I get my batt.  Here is a picture the pretty little walking foot installed on my machine and a picture of my the front and the back of the sample I just stitched.  It's perfect.

   One note about the walking foot and why I wanted to test it.  Last year I bought an off brand walking foot for my Bernina 1530 from an ebay seller.  I was saving over $100.00 and I thought it would be fine.  The motion of the off brand walking foot was not smooth and although the stitches made using the foot were fine, I wasn't happy with how the machine was running.  So I had some extra money a couple of weeks ago and decided to spring for a Bernina brand walking foot.  I am so glad I did.  There is a world of difference in the two walking feet, the Bernina brand foot runs smoothly and you can see how even the stitches are on both sides.  I'm glad I bought it.  I do a lot of straight line quilting and will probably get a lot of use out of this beauty.  

   One other test I did was to make a 5 Minute Block (the pattern is from Suzanne McNeill).  I'm thinking about using this block for a scrappy Christmas quilt, but I couldn't decide if I would like making it, so I had to try it.  Still not sure about it.  But here is my test block.  It was a fun block to make, I probably need more contrast in my fabrics.