Deco is Loaded + Stonefields Prep: Overcasting Appliqué Background Blocks

Greetings, my lovelies!   This will be just a quick update to share what I accomplished in the last few days before I head to New Jersey for my mom’s burial service.  No, I don’t have any hand stitching prepped for my trip, but I did get a little prep work done so I’ll have things ready to stitch when I get home.

My Deco quilt is loaded on my long arm machine and my ruler base is on the machine, woot woot!  When I get back to Florida I’ll be ready to start stabilizing this custom quilt project by stitching in the ditch between blocks with my favorite Aurifil Smoke monofilament thread.  This is a big bed quilt, 102” x 102”, and I’m in no rush whatsoever.  Expect to see dribbles of progress over the next few months on this one.

102 x 102 Deco Quilt Loaded on my Bernina Q24 Long Arm Machine

Second accomplishment, I have made some progress on the prep work for my new sampler project, the Stonefields Quilt by Susan Smith!  The pattern instructions told me to cut out forty 6 1/2” background blocks for appliqué.  I ultimately decided to tear my fabric instead of ripping it per the instructions in Jeanne Sullivan’s book, and I tore my squares at a generous 7 1/2” square so I’d be able to trim them with the serger knife when overcasting the raw edges and still have excess to trim after stitching the appliqué.  I think that was a good amount of trimming insurance as the blocks are about 7 1/4” now after the serger knife trimmed the whiskers away.

40 Appliqué Background Blocks for Stonefields Prepped

Did I really need to overcast the edges on these little blocks?  Debatable.  There is definitely a potential for fraying of the raw block edges on larger, more complex blocks that will be handled a lot during hand stitching (like my 19” FrankenWhiggish blocks, still awaiting the final stuffed berries).  These Stonefields blocks are small and relatively simple, so they might have been fine without overcasting.  

New Cabinets, New Machines + Deco Returns to the Design Wall

Good Morning and Happy February, everyone!  My kitchen and bath remodeling that was supposed to be complete by January 20th is still not done, and we've moved into the home we're remodeling in that our furniture is here and we're sleeping here, but we're not really moved in because there is still so much unpacking and organizing and figuring out where things are going to go, in a house that is even smaller than the last one and also most likely temporary.  I took a break from all of that last night to get out my Deco quilt project (dating back to November of 2021) and arrange the blocks on my design wall.

Deco Quilt WIP, will finish at 102 x 102

My main motivation for getting Deco up on the design wall was so I could physically count how many more of these green and indigo checkerboard-like blocks I need to make.  The directions in the Deco Quilt pattern by Lo & Behold Stitchery involve faster strip piecing construction, but I wasn't able to follow those directions because I decided it would be fun to use 12 different colors instead of 6, and I also decided it would just be easier to to cut all the patches individually with AccuQuilt dies and then sew the blocks one by one rather than figuring out how to adapt the pattern instructions to my custom color scheme.  And now here I am, up to my armpits in the consequences of those decisions as the quilt top construction drags out across three and a half years, four different sewing machines, three different sewing rooms, and two household moves.

Let's Make Blocks That Are Too Small On Our New Sewing Machine!

I traded in my Bernina 790 Plus and my embroidery-only Bernina 700E sewing machines for the new TOL (top-of-the-line) model, the Bernina B 990.  (Two reasons: I wanted to reduce the number of sewing machines I own so I can work more efficiently in a smaller space, and I'm looking forward to playing with some of the new high tech features on this machine).  The first thing I sewed with the new machine were two of these Deco quilt blocks, and they both finished too small because I forgot that I need to sew with a SCANT quarter inch seam (vs a true quarter inch seam).  Well, guess what?  I'm using them anyway and I'll fudge them when I join the blocks together.  So there!