Here We Go Again, Folks: Spinning My Wheels Between Projects, With Fits of Indecision Interspersed With Flu Hallucinations

Well, first off, I'm in a funk because I should be at choir rehearsal right now and I'm NOT.  All because of some obnoxious virus that decided to attack me at the back of my throat with what started out as a bothersome itchiness, progressed to feeling like I'd swallowed a mouthful of broken glass, and ended up as evil laryngitis teetering on the brink of bronchitis -- complete with that lovely barking cough.  I've been canceling everything all week, taking antibiotics and narcotic cough syrup that is supposedly potentially addictive but tastes like snot (WHO COULD POSSIBLY GET ADDICTED TO COUGH SYRUP THAT TASTES LIKE BOOGERS?!!!)...  Did I catch the flu from my son Lars, or is this some other wicked illness?  The doctor said I was too late for antiviral meds to do any good by the time I saw her, but she prescribed the Z-pack as a precaution due to my history of any and all upper respiratory ick turning into bronchitis and laryngitis.  Ugh, ugh, and ugh.  No fever, no vomiting -- THOSE I can deal with!  Instead, I'm like the poor Little Mermaid.  Ursula the Flu Virus has stolen my voice!  

Ursula the Flu Virus Has Stolen My Voice!

And yet, through the Theraflu and narcotic prescription cough syrup induced haze, I somehow managed to start another paper pieced pineapple block, just for YOU, COLLEEN!!  Colleen is one of my readers, and she recently wrote to tell me that she is "very, very old" and she's afraid she might die before she ever gets to see my finished pineapple log cabin quilt.  I have no idea how old "very old" is and whether or not Colleen has reason to believe her days on earth are numbered.  For all I know, Colleen just turned 40 and her friends threw her a mean "over the hill" birthday party.  And yet, I am so susceptible to her artful quilt guilt that I started another block.  You know, just in case.  ;-)

In One Hour, I Sewed 17 Pieces on This Block.  Only 80 More Pieces to Go!

Despite being close to finishing the blocks for this quilt, it's not a top priority for me right now because I want to work on my longarm quilting skills before I quilt this one.  So I decided to set a timer and spend just one hour working on it and see how far I got.  Not very impressive, is it?!  In one hour, I got 17 patches sewn onto this block.  Each block requires 97 strips of fabric sewn down, pressed and trimmed, so that means each one of these blocks takes something like 6 hours for me to make.  Seriously?!  That's discouraging!!  

Maybe I will die first, and Colleen will end up finishing this quilt FOR me!  When it's done, it will be California King size and it will look something like this:

Mockup of Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt Courtesy of EQ Software

Meanwhile, my longarm frame is empty and I need to get something easy on it before I forget everything I learned so far.  Which brings me back to those Tabby Mountain triangles.

Tabby Mountain On My Wall, Perplexing Me With Strange Piecing Instructions

This was supposed to be a "quick and easy" quilt top so I could focus on the longarm quilting, remember?  Then I had the delay when I decided I couldn't live with a couple of the fabric prints and had to swap them out, but once I finally got ready to start piecing the top I saw THIS in the directions, and what with the fog of illness and whatnot, it was just too much for my tired little brain to deal with:

What Kind Of Instruction Is "Jog the Ends Slightly?!"

"Jog the ends slightly" sounds ominous to me.  I had visions of sewing triangles together and ripping them apart to resew them over and over again, trying to ascertain the appropriate amount of edge-jogging required to get the straight edges aligned with a triangle point 1/4" away from the raw edges.  Ugh.  There MUST be a way to line these pieces up properly for the sewing machine so they come out right the first time!

Have I Jogged My Triangles Enough, Or Have I Jogged Them Too Much?

I tried drawing the seam line 1/4" in to try to visualize better how things will line up, but I still think that trial and error is going to be involved.  There is no "jogged edges" marking on any of my quilting rulers, and I am NOT going to be happy with jagged rows and chopped off triangle points!  Which brings me to the next item of concern: The Tabby Mountain pattern instructions tell me to press all of these seams OPEN.  Why???  Am I missing something?  It is so difficult to keep seam intersections from shifting out of alignment if you can't nest opposing seam allowances.  So I'm scrutinizing this pattern, wondering if my flu-addled brain is missing a real reason why these seams should be pressed open, or if I can just disregard that instruction and press all of the even rows to the right and all the odd rows to the left.  Those of you who are NOT sick and DO have your wits about you, please share your opinions in the comments!  

And also meanwhile, despite my resolve to prioritize my projects according to an overall goal of building up my longarm quilting skills -- a goal which DOES require starting new projects, since I don't have a stack of quilt tops waiting to be quilted, but it requires SIMPLE new projects that sew up quickly so I can focus on quilting them...  I committed to starting this applique BOM (Block of the Month) designed by Esther Aliu, and probably bit off more than I can chew.  

Queen's Garden BOM, Designed by Esther Aliu

Since this is a current BOM just beginning this month, I am going to see a lot of different versions of this popping up in the dark corners of the Internet that I frequent -- you know, the places where all the scary applique chicks hang out (hah!).  I'm sure mine won't be the prettiest or most masterfully stitched version of this quilt, but I do want mine to be DIFFERENT so I know it's mine, you know?  I spent a LOT of time perusing Pinterest and contemplating color schemes, brainstorming and browsing and boring my husband to tears with discussions about the elusive, magical background fabric my mind envisions for this quilt...

Behold, My Blueberry Applique Background Fabric!!

And, eureka!!  This is it, folks.  It's neither the typical white nor the common alternate, black.  It's not a print, which would be interesting, but also something that I've seen in a lot of other applique quilts.  I wanted a colored background, something tame enough not to upstage the bright, splashy prints I'm planning to use in my applique, but with its own personality and "something special."  So I ended up choosing Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton in Blueberry, pictured above with a few KF fat quarters in bright colors that may or may not be chopped up into applique pieces.  See how they just glow against the muted purply background fabric?  LOVE!!!

Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton in Blueberry

You can see the subtle iridescence of this fabric in the photo above, which is due to different yarn colors used for the warp and weft.  So it will be crucial to make sure that all of the blocks are oriented in the same direction on this quilt, or else they will appear to be different colors.  That's Challenge Number One, easily overcome by marking the Top of each block with a contrasting thread color tailor tack.

Next Challenge: This Stuff Is Pretty Flimsy!

Next challenge: The Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton isn't like a regular quilting cotton.  It's almost like a cotton lawn.  It's semi-sheer, even in a dark color, when held up to the light, and it doesn't have much body at all.  It's kind of filmy and floaty. These are not ideal characteristics of an applique background fabric that has to support all of those stitches and other fabrics without distortion.  Yet the designer in me has her heart set on this background fabric, and she will not yield to reason.  So...  Can I starch or size this fabric into submission, or do I need to fuse each block background to a really lightweight fusible interfacing before I begin?  I do not want a stiff finished quilt.  

The other quandary is whether I am going to stitch this project by hand or by machine.  I'm definitely doing a turned edge technique rather than fusible, because the soft, dimensional quality is what I love most about applique.  My personal preference, that's all.  This is not a difficult project per se because they are 16" blocks and the applique shapes are huge.  It's the tiny shapes that are the most difficult to execute well with turned edge applique.  However, as I discovered with my 6-hour hand stitched binding marathon this week, hand stitching is a SLOW process.  It is the OPPOSITE of the "quick and easy, get it on the frame so I can quilt it" mantra that is supposed to be guiding my project selections right now. 

On the Facebook group for this BOM I've seen several quilters posting photos of beautifully done machine stitched applique for the center block, and I'm considering going that route.  And I can't make up my mind.

Hand Stitched Block On the Left vs. Machine Stitched Block On the Right

REASONS TO APPLIQUE QUEEN'S GARDEN BY MACHINE:

• I am already up to my armpits with WIP projects that are unbelievably time consuming and take years to complete, including a needle-turned applique project that is languishing and not being worked on at all.  That hand stitched applique block on the left in the above photo is a UFO/WIP/Whatever that is 5 or 6 years old and still not finished...
• Can I even keep up with the BOM schedule while also getting in adequate longarm quilting practice and keeping up with all my other commitments, such as work, family, staying on top of the music for my various choirs, etc.?
• Jeanne Sullivan has instructions for machine stitched turned edge applique in her Simply Successful Applique book, as does Harriet Hargrave in her Mastering Machine Applique book.  I even took a class on this technique with Harriet, and she uses the exact same machine as me (Bernina 750QEE) and I wrote down her tried-and-true machine settings for invisible machine applique.  It CAN be done well, and there's no reason I can't do it...
• These oversized applique shapes that would take an eternity to stitch by hand with neat little hand stitches spaced 1/16th of an inch apart would be a lot faster to stitch down by machine, and because the shapes are so big they would probably be a good first project for putting those machine applique lessons into practice.  

REASONS TO APPLIQUE QUEEN'S GARDEN BY HAND:

• Oh, how I loathed machine applique when I took that class!  I have so much more control when I'm hand stitching.  Even going slowly, I still have stitches where the needle didn't land exactly where I wanted it to.  When a hand stitch looks bad, you can pull out just that one stitch for a do-over.  With machine stitches it's not so easy!  It was stressful.  There was profanity.  That one little tulip block in the photo above was the class sample that I made 5 years ago, and that is is the only thing I have ever done using this method.  You can read all about it here.
• The flimsy background fabric may pose more of a problem with machine stitched applique, which requires stabilizer anyway.  I don't want a puckering, distorted mess.
• I am bored with my Frankenwhiggish Rose hand applique project and feel like playing with different color schemes during my slow stitching spells. But wait, is that a reason to applique by hand, or a reason to applique by machine so I finish the project before I get bored with it???

Ever Have One Of Those Days?

And, needless to say, nothing is getting sewn while I agonize over these decisions.  Nothing, that is, except those 17 strips of fabric that got sewn to a pineapple log cabin block this morning, and that's all thanks to Colleen and her artfully executed quilt guilt.  So, THANK YOU, Colleen, because without you this day would be a total waste!

My fellow quilters, I think it's time for an intervention.  Don't wait for me to hit rock bottom and end up on 60 minutes, screeching like a hyena and chasing people around with my rotary cutter!!  If you've never commented before, TODAY IS YOUR DAY.  HELP ME!!!

1. Any advice on how to piece those triangles quickly and accurately, or the best way to press those seam allowances in my Tabby Mountain quilt?
2. Will starching my flimsy applique background be enough, or will it need to be interfaced as well?
3. Should I applique by hand, by machine, or (gulp!), should I not start this project at all right now?

My Theraflu has worn off and my throat feels like sandpaper again.  I am now slinking out of the studio with my (invisible) tail between my legs and going downstairs to huddle in blankets on the sofa, in front of the TV.  Maybe tomorrow I will be healthy enough and brave enough to make something pretty.

Behold: A Southern Blizzard! "Snowed In" With the Best Beginner Long Arm Quilting Tutorials

Okay, Wisconsin and Minnesnowta readers -- get ready to laugh yourselves silly.  School is canceled today in Charlotte, North Carolina -- in the middle of exam week -- because of treacherous weather conditions that they are calling Storm Three:

Storm Three Pounds My Neighborhood with a Sprinkling of Snow Dandruff

Not only is school closed today, but businesses are closing as well.  My in-box is full of emails from the eye doctor, interior design showrooms, etc., notifying me that they are all closed due to the "storm."  All of my appointments today have been canceled, even tonight's church choir rehearsal, and I have no reason to leave the house at all.  This is clearly a message from the Universe telling me to spend the day with Thoroughly Modern Millie, my APQS longarm quilting machine.

Although I've had Millie since late March of last year, I've only actually loaded quilts onto the frame twice.  The first one was a huge King-sized practice quilt that I loaded in May, and the second one was a printed cheater cloth practice quilt that I loaded back in October, three months ago.  I've spent a lot more time getting a feel for driving the quilting machine around to "draw" quilting designs than I have with the basic process of getting started with a quilt, so now that I'm ready for my first real quilt I've been procrastinating, apprehensive and unsure about how to begin.  I'd walk into my studio and sort of circle around the longarm frame, like she and I were sizing one another up for a bullfight.

The Look My Longarm Machine Has Been Giving Me

But I'm not even the matador in this scenario -- I'm the BULL, y'all!  And I've been like, "You know what?  I'm just going to leave the ring and find a nice cork tree where I can lie down and smell the flowers!  Or cut up the flowered fabric into triangles, or pick out flowers for a new applique project...  You get the idea.

...And I Am Ferdinand the Bull, Who Would Rather Go Smell the Flowers

Ferdinand and I have the same bangs now, by the way.  They look way cuter on him than they do on me.

But no; this is NOT going to be a bull fight!  Longarm quilting is not a violent, barbaric "sport."  No one has to die, the only bloodshed is going to be if I stab myself with a pin, and Millie and I are going to work TOGETHER to create quilty goodness and not as mortal combatants.  I just need to refresh my memory on some basics, boost my confidence, and get over it already! 

"Bullfight: Death of the Toreador," by Pablo Picasso, 1933

So last night I spent some time on YouTube, hunting down the best beginner longarm quilting tutorials.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video demonstration has got to be worth a million words!  YouTube is great, but I wish it was organized better so I didn't have to scroll through so many videos to find what I'm looking for.  There are TONS of videos showing how to quilt various freehand designs, but what I need right now are the basics that a seasoned longarm quilter takes for granted and could do in his or her sleep.  That's why I'm posting these links here, so that I can quickly find them again whenever I need to refresh my memory.  If other beginning longarm quilters find these resources through this post, well, that's all the better!  I watched all of these videos last night and I feel MUCH more confident again.  I plan to rewatch these videos in my studio today as I finish loading my Math quilt today (partial float, I think), thread the machine (variegated thread or invisible?), adjust tension for beautiful stitches on the top AND back side of the quilt, and quilt it with a simple, allover pantograph design.  

Best Beginner Longarm Quilting Tutorials on YouTube:

• ·       How to Load a Quilt on an APQS Frame, Full or Partial Float Methods:

• Sparrow Quilt Co./APQS How to Load (Full Float), Baste, & Quilt a Pantograph: 

• How to Thread an APQS Long Arm Machine:

• How to Fill a Bobbin With the APQS Turbo Bobbin Winder: 

•  How to Adjust & Troubleshoot Bobbin Tension, APQS:

• How to Use a TOWA Bobbin Tension Gauge, from Superior Threads: 

• How to Adjust Top Tension on an APQS Long Arm Machine: 

•  Perfect Tension On Any Model Long Arm Machine, from Jamie Wallen: 

• Using Invisible Thread on an APQS Long Arm Machine, Top and/or Bottom: 

• How to Bury Thread Tails, from APQS:

• How to Unpick Machine Quilting Stitches, from Natalia Bonner:

•  APQS Pantograph Quilting Tutorial:

• Sparrow Quilt Co./APQS How to Align an Edge to Edge Pantograph Pattern: 

• APQS Beginner Tips for Quilting With Long Arm Rulers:

• Angela Walters' Long Arm Ruler Tips:

I plan to update this blog post with additional longarm tutorials as I find them, so please send me links to any great video tutorials that I've missed!  And of course, free to bookmark this post if there's information here that you find useful.

And now, let the quilting games begin!

Today I'm linking up with:

• ·       Let’s Bee Social at www.sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/
• ·       Midweek Makers at www.quiltfabrication.com/
• ·       WOW WIP on Wednesday at www.estheraliu.blogspot.com
• Needle and Thread Thursday at www.myquiltinfatuation.com

New Year's Eve 2017: In Which I Briefly Consider Sewing Goals and Accountability

Once again, here we are: Out with the old, and in with the new.  When I start to see those "year in review" posts cropping up all over the blogosphere, my first reaction is always a toxic mixture of panic, anxiety, and guilt.  Look at all of those beautiful quilts and garments all of those other people finished!  And here I am, with a room full of fabric and a head full of dreams, and precious little to show for myself...  Comparison is truly the thief of joy.

Going back through my posts of 2017, I realize that I finished more projects than I remembered, and I've made significant progress on other projects that are closer to completion today than they were at the end of 2016.  So, here goes not-quite-nothing:

My first finish of 2017 was the Pajama Choir Concert Dress:

Burda 6911 Modified, in Black Rayon Jersey

I really love this dress, and I need to make another one with a shorter skirt so I can wear it more often.  

I also made a baby quilt sample for a beginner quilter class that I'll be teaching at my local Bernina dealer in 2018:

 

Beginner Quilting Class Sample

I'm happy with that project, too, and looking forward to teaching new quilting students.

I also made a set of oven mitts this year, which came out cute but too small:

Ha Ha Ha, These Oven Mitts Are Too Small

In retrospect, that project was a big waste of time.  They aren't even getting used, and store bought ones are so inexpensive.  Sewing projects take so much more time than you think they will, and I should use what little time I have for sewing to make things that can't be found in stores, like that Burda pajama dress.  I could have finished one of my UFO quilt projects with the time I spent making oven mitts that no one is going to use...

I also made a Killer Rabbit costume for Halloween this year:

Behold, the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog!

That came out pretty successfully, and it was much better than any of the costumes for sale at Party City.  However, I wore it for just that one costume party and I'll probably never wear it again.  Again, I could have used that sewing time -- and the pajama pattern I used to make the costume -- to sew something that I would get more use from, like actual pajamas.

I also finished the Burda 6911 top that I made as a test garment for my comfy choir dress, and was able to wear that for Thanksgiving.  Like the dress, it's a win -- I love the way the V-neck is snug to the body so there are zero wardrobe malfunctions when bending and reaching!  I'm definitely going to make this pattern again.

Burda 6911 Top in Green Rayon Jersey

The gathers are doing weird things in that photo because of the bra I was wearing under it.  It looks much better with different undergarments, but this is the only picture of it that I could find.  

The only other sewing project that I finished this year was the Christmas tree skirt that I made for my mom last week.  I am very happy with that one:

Mom's Christmas Tree Skirt

So that makes a total of SIX finished projects for all of 2017.  Let's reflect on that for a moment, shall we?  An average of one finished project per every two months.  Am I satisfied with that, or will I resolve to be more productive in 2018?

In addition to the finishes, I did make progress on several other projects this year.  I made 8 more pineapple log cabin blocks for my California King bed quilt in 2017.  I still have 8 blocks to make before I can assemble the top and quilt that one:

Pineapple Log Cabin In Progress

These blocks are tedious to piece, but I absolutely love how they are coming out.  I'm still excited about this project and look forward to (maybe) finishing it in 2018.  It will be huge, but nothing my 12' long arm frame can't handle!

I also worked on my Frankenwhiggish Rose applique blocks off and on throughout 2017 (more off than on, truth be told):

Finished Applique Block 1 of 9

After finishing that first block, I pieced eight more block backgrounds and have gotten the flower centers, stacked petals, and stems stitched down on all of them.  I'm currently working on the reverse applique tulips and plan to combine the applique blocks with some pieced blocks or pieced sashings eventually.

We bought the APQS Millenium long arm quilting machine in April of 2017 and I've completed two practice quilts on it so far, although I don't count them as finished projects:

First Practice Quilt on the Long Arm Machine

Second Practice Quilt, Cheater Cloth

Although I'd hoped to have quilted several REAL quilts on my long arm machine by now, I do feel like I've learned a lot with the practice pieces.  That was time well spent for sure.  I have my first real quilt top loaded on the frame now, ready to go, as soon as I 1. decide for sure how I'm quilting it and 2. screw up the courage to JUST DO IT!

It's On My Frame, Ready for Quilting...

Most likely, this Math Quilt will get a very simple allover pantograph design.

And my Bear Paws quilt is coming along, too.  In 2017 I made the sawtooth corner stones and set the bear paw blocks with sashing, and added two of three borders.  This one is really close to being ready for quilting now.  I just need to add another outer border in solid white:

Butterfly Bear Paws Top

This one wants some custom quilting in all that solid white background fabric, don't you think?  I think it's a good candidate for experimenting with those acrylic rulers...

Of course there was more to 2017 than sewing projects.  My husband had SEVERAL unexpected, major heart surgeries.  I sang with two church choirs, a semi-professional community chamber choir called VOX, and caroled in costumed a cappella quartets with the Charlotte Holiday Singers.   I took a fascinating class on Martin Luther's legacy at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, attended Music Week at Lutheridge over the summer, and worked with several new interior design clients as well as hearing from a few repeat clients who were ready to refresh their interiors.  And all this while raising two hooligans rambunctious teenage boys who keep my hairdresser busy hiding my gray hairs...  I kept the fridge stocked with groceries and the bureaus stocked with clean underwear.  I paid all the bills on time, played with my dogs, and even managed to exercise fairly regularly.  I wasn't featured in any embarrassing news stories or reality TV shows, we didn't go bankrupt, no one got arrested, and no one is suing us.  Considering all of that, I'm going to call 2017 a smashing success!

For 2018, I'm hoping for another year like 2017 (except, hopefully, without all the scary medical stuff!).  I'll be focusing on personal, professional, and spiritual growth rather than perfection, prioritizing health and family above keeping up with the Joneses, and enjoying the process of my creative pursuits more than worrying about whether I'm finishing as many projects as other people are.  The only change I'm thinking about for next year is that I may want to spend less time writing about what I want to do and more time actually DOING it...

But all in all, I feel like I'm in a good place on the cusp of the New Year.  I hope you do, too.  I don't need to make a list of sewing goals to try to live up to next year.  The one and only sewing related resolution I'm going to make is to give more priority to creative time, since playing with fabric melts stress away and makes all kinds of craziness easier to deal with.  I think I'd like to make sure I get at least 2 hours of sewing time in every week.  Does that sound reasonable?

The sentiment of the above meme is appropriate to this post, although I have to say, the little dude looks like she's running for her life in a blizzard more than she's finding joy in her journey...

Happy New Year to all of my blog readers, especially to those of you who take the time to reach out to me with your comments, emails, suggestions and advice!  

That Left Turn at Albuequerque... Excuses for Neglecting Thoroughly Modern Millie

Ah, I KNEW I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuequerque!! 

Bugs Bunny in "Bully for Bugs" (1953)

So I don't have great things to show for myself today because I've been lost in rabbit holes, like Bugs Bunny in "Bully for Bugs."  I've been taking care of my husband, running errands, attending school orchestra concerts, overseeing drapery installations and specifying paint colors for my interior design clients, and doing lots of other things that really do need to get done.  But I've also been avoiding that left turn down the hall to my studio, where Thoroughly Modern Millie (my recently acquired APQS Millenium longarm quilting machine) has been waiting patiently for me since Bernie set her up for me on April 18th.  I still haven't plugged in the machine, let alone turned it on and started quilting. 

My Naked Millie, Waiting to Play

So, aside from other responsibilities, what's standing in my way?  Well, right after we set up the machine, my husband went into the hospital for a week for major heart surgery.  I was barely home at all that week.  And after that, I was trying to be disciplined about finishing my reorganization of the studio before I started playing with the new machine.  That involved going through my hoard of garment patterns and fabric, ditching outdated and unflattering patterns and fabrics and matching up the patterns and fabric that remained so that there's actually a chance of making some of those garments one of these days.

But I have to confess that there has also been a bit of -- well, if not fear, then at least trepidation.  We were in a bit of a rush when we swooped in to pick up the machine from my APQS dealer, and I arranged to postpone my full day of training until after Bernie had recovered from surgery.  In hindsight, that was probably a mistake, because I didn't have a chance to get familiar with the parts of the machine, how to load a quilt onto the frame, and the very basic details of how to operate the controls.  Don't get me wrong -- my dealer showed me all of this stuff when I first came to look at the machines a couple of months ago, but there's a certain amount of information overload when you are still in the phase where you haven't decided which model machine you're going to buy, let alone which model.  I wasn't paying attention to those specific operating details, and I expected that information to be in the manual.  And it IS in the manual, some of it...  Sort of!

The printed spiral bound manual that comes with the machine only covers the setup and assembly information, which is kind of silly, IMO, since the APQS dealer handles that for most customers anyway (my husband is "handy" and wasn't inclined to pay the setup fee, and he needed a project to get his mind off the upcoming surgery anyway).  The information about loading quilts as well as operating and maintaining the machine is only found in the digital version of the user manual, which I received loaded onto a flash drive.  I finally got around to pulling that up on my computer yesterday and emailing the PDF to my Kindle account so I could read it on my iPad upstairs.  That was a little annoying.  I think I'm going to have to print out some of those pages so I can highlight, take whatever notes, and refer to them more easily.

And one really weird omission?  The APQS Millenium user manual neglects to tell you how the controls work to run the machine.  In the Appendix there are instructions for the old style controls on the pre-2012 Millenium machines, but no instructions for how to work the controls on the current models! 

APQS Millenium, Adjustable Handles with Toggle Switches and Touch Screen Controls

I was able to find a YouTube video explaining that last night, and it's really simple, but it would have been nice if that information was in the user manual!!  There are toggle switches on the right and left handles at the front and back side of the machine. 

Each Toggle Switch has a White Dot on Top

All four toggle switches work in the same way, so you can easily quilt with either hand.  If you push up towards the white dot, the machine takes a half stitch up or down.  If you push downward, the machine will start or stop sewing.  Oh, and whatever needle position you have when you start quilting is the needle position the machine will stop in.  So sink your needle before you press the start/stop button, and the needle will stop in the down position as well.  The touch pad controls on the front and back of the machine for turning on and off the Stitch Regulator, Quilt Glide, Low Bobbin Indicator, adjusting stitch length (in regulated mode) or machine speed (in manual mode) are all pretty self explanatory as well, and I like that the operation of the machine is so well thought out and user friendly.  However, it would be nice if all of that was on a "getting to know your machine" page in the user manual.

There are step-by-step instructions for different methods of loading quilts onto the frame in the digital manual as well, so now that I know how to load a quilt and how to work the machine, I feel like I have the information I was missing to get started.

I bought an 80/20 cotton/poly King sized batting from JoAnn's for practice, so I'm going to piece together some bright colored "positive energy" solid fabrics for a giant practice quilt and get that loaded onto my machine.  Hopefully that will happen TODAY!  Wish me luck, and no more rabbit holes to get me sidetracked!

Taking It Easy: Farmer's Wife Block 39, "Friendship" and That Skirt Again

Well, that Prudence block was a bruiser, so I decided to take it easy yesterday.  I flipped through my Farmer's Wife book looking for a block that would come together quickly and painlessly, and came up with Block 39, "Friendship."

Farmer's Wife Block 39, Friendship

The most difficult part was picking out the fabrics.  So now my collection of 6" sampler blocks looks like this:

6" Sampler Blocks as of 8/8/16

But I'm not making another block today.  It's Monday and I do have some work to get done and then, instead of starting a new quilt block, I'm resolving to clean up enough work space to finally cut out that skirt.  You know, the one I barely started in June of 2015.  Ugh.  Procrastination, anyone?!!

The Fabric: Pretty Potent Echinachea in Preppy, Cotton Voile by Anna Maria Horner for Westminster Fabrics

The Pattern: New Look 6708 (OOP)

After spending about $78 on the pattern, fabric, lining, interfacing, thread, and notions, and fretting about the waistband yoke thingy that was weirdly shaped (or else I'M weirdly shaped!), I ran out of steam AFTER redrafting the waistband to fit me in muslin, but BEFORE cutting out the skirt from the real fabric.  I set the project aside almost exactly a year ago, the week before Anders' 12th birthday (he turns 13 this Saturday) and then got caught up with back-to-school, and then it was Fall and this was a Summer skirt...

It is SO NICE to be able to come back to this blog and use the search feature and key word tags to refresh my memory about where I was with the skirt project and what my game plan was.  Before I had a blog I would have jotted down notes on scrap paper or Post-It notes, and they would be long gone by the time I came back to the project; I'd have to start all over from square one.

Ah, well -- I had planned for this to be a short and sweet post this morning.  Whatever.  I'm linking up with:

·       Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times www.patchworktimes.com

·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/

·       Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/

Happy Monday, everyone!

Lederhosen Procrastination and Fabric Auditions

This is Not Lederhosen...

The first dress rehearsal for the school play is Tuesday, just three days away.  You would think that I'd have finished that lederhosen costume by now, wouldn't you, or that I'd at least be putting the finishing touches on it?  Nope -- I played with fabric and cut out all the pieces for the next pieced block in the Jingle Block of the Month quilt instead.  Do you like how I fussy-cut the little corner squares?  You would not believe how much time I spent mulling over fabrics and auditioning them together, and trying to decide which snippet of this glorious Christmas print should be featured on the corner squares of the block.  I can't wait to sew this block together -- but NO!  I have to make a lederhosen costume.  Ah, regret soaked in procrastination...

 Some helpful folks on the Yahoo Bernina groups alerted me to Burda's lederhosen patterns, but unfortunately the children's pattern does not go large enough for this actor, who wears a size 12 husky in ready-to-wear, but the men's pattern is way too large.  Also I have waited until the last minute, and now there is no time to order a pattern anyway.  My husband has been making helpful comments like "why don't you just buy a pair of brown shorts?"  He does not understand that I TOLD PEOPLE I could MAKE them out of fabric that I already own.  If I just went out and bought a pair of shorts, that would be like Bernie hiring someone else to fix a hole in the dry wall or put up crown moulding.  Plus, the little button flap front of the lederhosen is what makes them look authentic, and they do NOT sell any shorts that look like this at Gap Kids!

So I turned Bernie's old lederhosen inside-out and carefully traced off a muslin pattern along the seam lines. 

Since this is just a costume, I'm ignoring the pockets.  I carefully added an inch or so all the way around, trued up the seam lines so the pieces would match up and fit together properly, and then added seam allowances to that.  I basted the muslin pieces together and brought them to play practice for the little boy to try on.

Well, somehow I goofed because the legs flared out like an A-line skirt, but the waist was WAY too tiny and the boy couldn't close it!  I think I forgot to add back in the bulk of the darts in the back pieces or something.  Now that I look of that picture of my pattern piece for the back of the shorts, it's obvious that it's all goofed up.  I mean, LOOK at it!  So, do you think I went right back into my sewing room to fix the problem on the muslin and get busy on the real costume?  Of course not!  My ego was bruised, and I needed to do something that I'm good at to restore my confidence. 

I'm good at picking out fabric.  ;-)

I cut a 1 1/2" square out of an index card to create a little window for selecting which part of this big, busy print I could feature on the corners of my block:

Isn't that fun?  It's called Florentine Something-Or-Other and I've had it in my stash for years, just haven't found the right project for it yet.  The hardest part was finding a motif that fit into a 1 1/2 inch square, and the next hardest part was finding one that I liked that had the right colors and value, and that I had four repeats of in this piece of fabric. 

Anyway, back to the wretched lederhosen, which I have decided NOT to embroider.  This is a costume that will be worn only three times, and it isn't even for my own child to wear.  It would be crazy for me to slave away over this too much.  Especially since just making a pair of shorts that are shaped somewhat like a human being is proving to be such a challenge!

So I made the legs narrower, made the waist wider, and cut the pieces out of the microsuede yesterday.  I started sewing them together today, and now I'm working on the button flap thingy for the front.  Tomorrow is a busy day -- Anders has a friend sleeping over tonight, then Lars has Chinese tutoring in the morning and they both have piano lessons in the afternoon, but I hope I manage to drag myself back into the sewing room to finish the lederhosen costume.  My quilt block pieces will be flirting with me from across the room the whole time...