Izzy wizzy, let’s get busy!
Who was it that used to say that? Sooty, Sweep or perhaps it was Sue?
That certainly dates me… and firmly places my growing up years in front of the TV in England…
I have spent a busy week in my sewing room. I started by cleaning a space around the machine! This is my BERNINA 820, almost ready to go. I completely cleared my cabinet top apart from that pink bowl of safety pins and the handy dandy door opening tool.
I needed to clean and oil my machine. I clean out the lint often, especially when I’m quilting. This is the lint from about four hours of stitching!
I use the best quality of threads but the lint still builds up. I think it mostly comes from the batting being pushed through the needle holes?
I can’t show you what I was working on in its entirety but here’s a sneak peek. Not just straight lines any more!
Next up for stitching was a medium sized log cabin quilt. My friend Kathy (read more about her on Riverwalk Quilters Guild web site) pieced it for me. She made a lovely job of keeping it square and it was almost a pleasure to pin baste with Quilters Dream Request cotton batting and lots of safety pins.
I started sewing with some straight lines and then added some free motion flowers
before adding more lines…
Most times when I machine quilt my quilts I’m not quite sure where it’s going to go… sort of like my life? This quilt was no different. I gradually filled in the spaces with a mixture of organic walking foot curves, flowers, border designs and a continuous feather. I mixed up the threads to complement the Kona Solids in the top with some Sulky 30 weight Blendables, Rowan 40 weight solids and Aurifil 50 weight cotton. I keep 50 weight thread in the bobbin and alter the top tension as needed.
It’s never a quick process but I made sure to enjoy the journey as I listened to Radio 4 on TuneIn. I am mindful of taking regular breaks these days. There’s always laundry to fold or a dishwasher to empty…
I had a bit of a problem with skipped stitches and decided to switch to my BERNINA 530. It has a smaller throat but with a little judicious arrangement of my quilt it went through with no problems. (see featured image at the top of this post)
And here’s a little look at the finished article…
That’s all I can show for now. I hope I’m building some anticipation for the reveal. I think it will be worth waiting for!
Meanwhile I have somehow made a new mess in my sewing room. I see some more tidying in my very near future.
