Another MMBB Block Completed + Best Tricks for Binding Breakthroughs

I finished the last sampler block that was in progress on my cutting table, clearing up the space I needed to finally get my Sermon Scribbles (nee Spirit Song) quilt trimmed up and ready for binding!

That makes a total of 12 out of 48 blocks finished for my version of the Moda Modern Quilt Blocks sampler.  

The blocks are laid out on the design wall now according to where they will be positioned in the finished quilt.  I've completed 25% of the blocks, but I predict smooth sailing with the remaining 36 blocks.  Those enormous blocks were a bear to cut and piece with taped-together templates and foundation paper piecing patterns!

With the MMBB blocks done and off the cutting table, I was able to trim my Spirit Song Sermon Scribbles quilt, attach the quilt label, and start on the binding.

With this quilt's fairly flat Quilters Dream Select Cotton Batting, I cut my binding strips 2" wide and sewed them to the front of my quilt with my walking foot and a 1/4" seam allowance.  Found a new use for my favorite Omnigrid Glow Line Tape, by the way.  My Bernina walking foot has quarter inch reference lines etched on the toes, but they are difficult for me to see easily when the bright LED lights are reflecting off the shiny metal surface of the foot.  I slapped a little piece of yellow Glow Line tape on that right toe to help me keep the raw edges of the quilt and binding perfectly aligned for a 1/4" seam around the perimeter of my quilt.

Tuesday To-Do List: Finish All the Stuff I Didn't Get Done Last Week

Good morning and Happy Tuesday!  My post for today's Long Arm Linky party got awfully long, so I thought it would be best to put my To Do's and Ta-Done's in a separate post this week.  Without further ado:  

Last Week's To-Do List:

Stay on top of the linky party and continue to spread the word to other machine quilters.  Get the linky post written and scheduled to publish in advance.

Finish the three remaining in-progress blocks for my MMBB quilt before I clear off my cutting table.

Trim excess batting & backing from Spirit Song

Digitize, machine embroider & attach a label to the back of Spirit Song

Make & machine stitch binding to the front of Spirit Song

Start hand stitching binding to the back of Spirit Song

Order a new ruler base for my Millie (because my current ruler base will no longer fit, once the thread cutter has been removed)

Well, I got SOME of that stuff done!  My linky party post was finished and scheduled for publication by mid-afternoon yesterday (you can find that post HERE if you'd like to link up with us!).  I finished two of the three in-progress blocks for Anders' MMBB sampler quilt, and I got well into the piecing of the third block last night:

I also got my 2" binding strips cut for The Quilt Formerly Known as Spirit Song (binding strips are at left in the photo above), decided to rename that quilt Sermon Scribbles instead, and digitized and machine embroidered my quilt label:

A few words about that: I know some of you will be disappointed that I changed the name of Spirit Song, but it just didn't feel like the right name for this quilt.  "Spirit Song" sounds like there is some deep, lofty meaning to the quilt, but it's just a lot of HSTs and a LOT of custom quilting.  It's not some crowning achievement that speaks to the world about any song in my soul, it's just a quilt I made to practice long arm quilting, a quilt that happened to be in the colors that our contemporary choir at church (Spirit Song) wears frequently.  However, I did furtively sketch out the quilting designs for this quilt on my iPad over the course of several weeks' worth of sermons, while sitting up at the front of the church with the rest of the choir and fooling no one into thinking I was taking notes on the sermon...  So the new name "Sermon Scribbles" feels like a better fit to me, since this one is really all about the quilting designs -- my sermon scribbles -- anyway.  

Those little Saran Wrap-looking bits inside some of the lettering are washaway embroidery stabilizer, by the way -- they will dissolve in the first washing of the quilt.  I used 60/2 cotton embroidery thread to stitch the design, same hot pink thread in the needle as well as in the bobbin, with one layer of water soluble stabilizer on top and one layer of tearaway stabilizer underneath.  I used my Bernina 750QE's hoop basting feature to stitch that rectangular box of basting stitches around the label before embroidering the text, and then I trimmed 1/4" away from the basting stitches so I could use them as a guide for the edges of my label.  

This Week's To-Do List:

• Finish that 15" orange block with the flying geese for Anders' sampler quilt
• Trim the edges of my Sermon Scribbles quilt
• Applique my label to the back of Sermon Scribbles
• Make binding for Sermon Scribbles, machine stitch to front of quilt & hand stitch to the backing
• Wash Sermon Scribbles and take that quilt out for a photo shoot!
• Piece backing for tumbler outreach top (next in line for quilting!)

My new acrylic ruler base was shipped from APQS in Iowa yesterday and should be here by the end of the week.  It looks just like my old one except that it's not quite as wide and it's designed to fit machines without thread cutters:

I'm also planning to order a different type of ruler base from Donita Darlington's Lakeside Quilting that I found out about through the APQS forum, one that is designed like an extended aluminum stitch plate that screws into the needle plate holes of the machine and has beveled edges that are supposed to slide under the side clamps better without getting hung up on them, but the small business that makes them needs me to mark my machine's needle hole on their cardboard template so they can drill the hole in my ruler base plate in exactly the right spot.  I still haven't gotten their template in the mail yet, so it will be awhile before I actually have that RulerMate base for my machine.  

I'm looking forward to trying both ruler base styles to see which one I prefer, and I suspect that there are going to be certain quilts where I want the Hartley base that goes on and off quickly, and others where I prefer the low profile, smaller footprint, and stability of Donita's screw-on RulerMate design.  By the way, Donita quilts on Gammill machines herself and she sells versions of this ruler base for most major long arm machine manufacturers.  

Alright, that's it for today!  I'm linking up today's post with To-Do Tuesday at Home Sewn By Us.