Just For Fun

Hi everyone!  I've got several irons in the fire, as I like to do.  Les Pensées de Grandma, the Scrappy Not Really A Jelly Roll quilt, the Kansas Dugout quilt are all in line to be quilted.  I'm still thinking on the leftover HSTs project.  I also need to make some new leashes for my girls.  That being said, what have I been doing?  HA - starting to quilt a large wall-hanging I pieced somewhere between 94-96 when I lived in Korea AND started a new project just for fun.

No, this time it's a quick and easy one - just a little basket for a friend.  (I used this tutorial; it's one of my favorites!). I already had loaded some quilting thread into my Bernina to do some practicing, so I thought I'd piece the basket on my trusty, old Pfaff!

It's very basic, but still purrs like a kitten!

It was really fun using it!

The basket is just a sweet, small one, made from scraps from my X Plus quilt.

I just love the colors and the fabric is a delight to work with!

Once I had the parts set, I moved over to the Bernina to do some quilting. Here's what would become the bottom of the basket:

Here it is, all assembled:

Take a look at the bottom:

Isn't that fun? That is the same Aurifil thread I used for my quilt. It's right up there with King Tut.

I love how the basket came out. These are so fun to put together; I hope my friend likes it as much as I liked making it!

Thanks for reading!
KZK

Lattice Rejoice!

HA!  Get it?  Yeah, OK ...

I've been working on several different things lately.  One major accomplishment was getting the lattice sewn down on the Les Pensées de Grandma quilt. As I explained in my last post, now that I hand-sewed the lattice where the fabric had frayed, I felt confident to machine stitch over that -- topstitching along both sides of the lattice. Just to make it all even.

It took a good chunk of time, but I kept reminding myself of two things:

1. It would take even longer by hand.
2. If I hadn't used cheap fabric, I wouldn't have this problem. I mean creative challenge.

Before I could silently complain too much, I was done!

I'm pleased with how it looks, and actually think it's a nice touch.  I just hope it holds, you know?

Thanks for reading!
KZK

Still Going!

Hi, everyone!  I'm still chugging along on Les Pensées de Grandma.  I've now got both sides of the lattice work sewn down where the fabrics have frayed.  So ... not the whole lattice structure, but on the rather "delicate" areas.  Now, I feel confident to run my Bernina over the entire lattice and stitch it all down by machine.  That's where I am with that.

No photos of it yet; I forgot to take my iPhone downstairs while I was working on it yesterday.

I finished sewing the binding on the small Civil War Practice quilt!  Take a look:

I'm really pleased with how it came out. Now that I've had even more time to think about it, I have a feeling I started it in the late 90s.

I quilted it using my walking foot -

My straight lines got better as I went along! Sometimes it just takes me a while to relax and get the feel of things.

Speaking of which ...

I've been watching all these videos of "ruler work" - using a thick ruler to guide your presser foot as you machine quilt. I was totally intrigued - until I saw how expensive the foot for the Bernina is. I mean, seriously? $80-90 for a FOOT?!? I put it on the mental back burner ... then my friend Pam in South Africa showed me a big Bernina sale coupon! 25% off at participating shops! AWESOME!

I flew out to the nearest Bernina shop, came home with their only #72 foot, and started trying to see what I could do. Oh. I did NOT like any of the over-priced rulers they had, so I primed the ones I wanted from Amazon.

I discovered I stink at true free-motion quilting. I only semi-stink with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator), but you can't REALLY use that with the rulers. You sort of can ... but you can't. Anyway, what I found after much practice was that if I get my feel, my rhythm, with the BSR first, then switch over to the 72 foot, I'm not terrible. And if I look closely at the work shown on some of the vids I've watched ... I'm REALLY not bad. At least on small, practice things.

So - I've been working on that. Just doodling. Switching between the BSR and the 72. It's kind of fun!

I also came up with the fix for a hole (frayed fabs) on the pansy quilt. It was a side seam on one of the pansies.  I had hoped that I had some of the sashing fabric - flowery, seed packets, colorful - but no. Too bad. I really thought trying to fussy cut a seed packet would be a good idea. Next best thing? Make my own seed packet! I grabbed some Pigma Pens and some muslin and ...

Not perfect, but I think once I hit it with some tea to subdue it a bit, it will look like it belongs there!

Today I hope to get more of the lattice done, then think about a backing!

Thanks for reading!
KZK