Stonefields Block 19 "The Oscillator," First of Two

Good Morning and Happy Friday, my lovelies!  It's been a busy week, but I managed to finish another appliqué block for my Stonefields quilt (pattern by Susan Smith).  Behold Block #19, "The Oscillator."

Stonefields Block 19 "The Oscillator"

I deliberately did not crop that photo because I wanted to show the difference between my hand stitched appliqué (the green and blue shapes at the bottom of the photo) and my machine stitched appliqué using the stitch I created with the Stitch Designer feature in my Bernina B990 sewing machine.  The size and spacing of the stitches is nearly identical and with Aurifil 100 wt monofilament thread in my needle and Microquilter 100 wt polyester thread in my bobbin, the machine stitches really do look just like my hand stitches in YLI 100 wt silk thread, even under inspection with bright lights and reading glasses.  I'm glad I took the time to customize that stitch on my machine so that I can switch between hand and machine stitching on the same project without any visible difference from one block to the next.

By the way, even using the sewing machine, this is "slow stitching" for sure.  It's like "hand stitching with a machine needle," as Harriet Hargrave said in a workshop I took with her years ago.  Very slow and deliberate stitching under bright lighting, one stitch at a time, constantly pivoting to keep those swing "bite" stitches perpendicular to the edge of the appliqué shape just as if I was hand stitching.  

Size 60 Microtex Needles Leave Visible Holes on Liberty Lawn, But They Will Close Up

The one thing that distracts me on this new block is that the needle holes are more visible on the machine stitched block than on my hand stitched blocks.  I use the smallest size 60 Microtex machine needle for this method, but my size 12 Bohin hand applique needle is skinnier than any needle that could go in a sewing machine.  The other difference is that the hand stitched block below used Tilda quilting cotton fabrics, and I used Liberty of London Tana Lawn prints for my Oscillator block.  The Liberty Lawn is a much lighter weight fabric with a finer, tighter weave and I think the different fabric characteristics are why the needle holes are so apparent right now.  I would expect my machine needle holes to be more pronounced with a batik fabric for the same reasons.  The good news is that needle holes close up when you wet the fabric yarns around them, so I'm not worried about it (I promise!).  It's just an observation.  Every time I step into my studio, my Gemini brain splits into two personalities, The Artist and The Scientist, both asking "What would happen if I tried it THIS way?"

September Goals: Stonefields, FrankenWhiggish, Inherited UFO + BIG News for Rebecca

Happy Labor Day in the United States and Happy September, everyone!  I have a lot going on right now and my Big News (which I shall reveal towards the END of today's post) is going to dictate which projects and tasks take priority this month.

Stonefields Quilt

First, let's talk about my Stonefields quilt, because I am delighted with this project so far.  These blocks have been such a treat to work on!  All 13 of the blocks from Month One are now completed and on the design wall.  All blocks will finish at 6", but the applique backgrounds were cut oversized and will need to be trimmed down.  Because I use starch and glue in my applique preparation methods, I am thinking I might wash my applique blocks before trimming them down to size.  The serged edges will prevent them from fraying whether I hand wash them in a little dish pan or -- gasp! -- put them in a lingerie bag and run them through the washing machine on the Hand Wash Delicates cycle.  Honestly, that is probably exactly what I will do, because I know the washing machine will get all the glue and starch out very efficiently and I am more curious about what will happen in the washing machine than I am worried about what will happen in the washing machine.  

Stonefields Blocks 1-13 Completed, Appliqué Blocks Need Trimming to Size

My Sawtooth Star blocks were foundation paper pieced on the sewing machine, most of my applique blocks were stitched by hand, but the final Posy Pot block is a mixture of some shapes stitched by hand and other shapes stitched with my Bernina B990 sewing machine:

Stonefields Block 13 "Posy Pot"

I am absolutely delighted with my customized invisible machine appliqué stitch and how closely I got it to resemble the look of my own personal hand stitching.  

Keeping Up With the Gretchens: Hand Stitching vs Bernina B990 Invisible Machine Appliqué Experiment for Stonefields Blocks

Good morning and Happy Sunday, everyone!  After my reckless but ultimately successful experiment on my Deco quilt last week (read about it in this post, which I edited and updated after coming back to the quilt and realizing that all was well after all), I decided to conduct another Mad Scientist Experiment on my Stonefields quilt project.  You may have heard of Keeping Up With the Joneses or Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but I'm all about trying to keep up with my blogging friend Gretchen who is cruising through her Stonefields quilt and leaving me behind in the dust!  Just kidding; I am delighted that Gretchen, Chris, and Hanne were all successfully cajoled into starting or resuming their Stonefields quilts (pattern by Susan Smith available here) as a very informal quilt along with me.  I know it's not a race, but I must be the slowest stitcher ever to have threaded a needle and it can be discouraging to put in so many hours and see so little progress -- especially since there are so many challenging and intense quilts that I want to make (I am thinking of YOU, Star Upon Stars, Down the Rabbit Hole, Simple Folk, and Happy Days!).  Behold my design wall with Blocks 1-12 completed.  Block 13 is another appliqué block that is prepped and ready for hand stitching in the coming days.  (This post contains affiliate links).

Completed Month One Blocks for Stonefields Quilt, One More to Go

Earlier in the week, out of mild curiosity, I timed how long it took me to stitch the 3 1/2" diameter cheddar print circle in one of my Pomegranate blocks.  Wanna take a guess?  

Hand Stitching a Pomegranate Block for Stonefields

It took one hour and seven minutes for me to stitch down that circle.  That was uninterrupted continuous stitching, not including threading the needle, trimming away the backing fabric, and not including stitching the light blue orange peel shape that I've started on in the photo.  No wonder I'm not able to keep up!  I am the snail of stitching!  

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!