A finish!

Accept what is, 

let go of what was, 

and have faith in what will be.

-Sonia Ricotti

I wasn't sure there would be another finish in January but I made it with time to spare! Six Degrees South North of the Equator is finished and in the donation pile.

I wrote about this quilt here last October. Since I really changed the pattern (because I goofed), I decided to change part of the name from South to North.  The quilt is easily 180 degrees different than the original which you can see here.

This quilt is 56" square. I used my Juki ruler foot and oh, what problems I had. I just could not get it adjusted to sew right. After a number of hours and much ripping out, I finally gave up and used my Bernina with its ruler foot. I quilted straight lines using the rulers and then free-handed a spiral in the center of the colored pieces. I used light blue #2715 Aurifil thread for the quilting.

The background on the front is a tea-dyed cotton and the colored fabrics are batiks. I had some problems with a couple of the batiks running when I washed the quilt but it is all okay now. The backing is a light blue cotton.

Now I just need to find time to play with the Juki ruler foot. I'm sure the foot is fine and that all of my problems are of the ID-ten-T type. I'll master it one of these days.

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Ray is making progress. His estimated recovery was changed from 3-6 months to 6-12 months. It seems that his shoulder/arm muscles adjusted to the rotator cuff tear for 18 years and now they aren't too anxious to relearn how they are to behave. He isn't sleeping well yet but he is driving and  doing more. He has pretty good range of motion but he is really missing strength. With time and lots of exercise, he should be as good as new in a few more months.

First Finish of the Decade!

What a wonderful thought it is 

that some of the best days of our lives 

haven't even happened yet. 

-Anne Frank

Crosswalks is done! It is my first finish of 2020 and my first finish of the new decade.

I haven't had much time to sew but now that the holidays are past, we are settling into a routine of sorts and I have spent a number of hours over the last few days quilting. Fun!!! Maybe this will continue.

I used solid fabrics for Crosswalks; all were scraps. Yes, I'm still trying to get my scraps under control and I might be making a little progress. 

Crosswalks is a donation quilt and is about 55" square. The pattern is from Missouri Star Quilt Company. 

I free-motion quilted this using rulers and Aurifil #2600 Dove (gray) thread. I quilted a straight line through the middle of the colored stripes and a star in each white square.

In the outside triangles, the star only has 3 points and extends into the white border. I added a line of echoing around the outside. Do you like the binding? I thought it looked great with the stripes in the crosswalks.

The back is from my stash.

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Ray is making progress. He still has trouble sleeping. The shooting pain has lessened but is still there at times. He faithfully does his exercises and is getting stronger and more independent daily. 

I put some gnomes on a sweatshirt because I like gnomes.

I finished the bowtie quilt top. So now there is one quilt waiting to be sandwiched.

I have a string quilt top together and I need to add borders.

I have a courthouse steps top that needs borders.

This is now sewn together

And then I decided to clean out my orphan and extra block basket as if I could. 

Orphan blocks all in ONE basket

I'm sewing pieces together to make blocks.

Improv blocks made from orphan blocks

I have a plan in my head - we'll see what develops.

Happy 2020! 

What is a ruler foot?

What is a ruler foot? I have been asked that question so let me attempt to explain.

On a sewing machine, a foot is always used to hold down the fabric while it is stitched. 

This is my go-to foot to use on my machine. It fastens onto the machine and the needle goes up and down in that opening.

There are feed dogs under the foot that pull the fabric through the machine while it is stitching.

When a person does free-motion quilting, the feed dogs are lowered because the person guiding the fabric doesn't want to fight with the feed dogs feeding front to back. Fabric can be moved in any direction when free-motion quilting. So the feed dogs are lowered and a free-motion quilting foot is used. Here is the foot I use.

The foot is open so I can see the needle easily. This foot bounces on the fabric so it does not continually hold the fabric like a traditional foot. This bouncing allows me to move the fabric as I am stitching.

A ruler foot is another free-motion quilting foot. It acts like a regular free-motion foot but the bottom is taller. The foot still bounces on the fabric but it is tall/thick enough that it will not inadvertently bounce onto the ruler and shatter a needle.

In the following picture, the regular free-motion foot is on the left and the ruler foot is on the right.

The free-motion quilting rulers are thick usually about 1/4". That makes it harder to accidentally move them under the needle or have the foot accidentally bounce onto the ruler.

Why use free-motion rulers? I can stitch straight lines easier as well as circles and other shapes. My shapes are more uniform. 

I love free-motion quilting and the ruler foot and rulers are just another tool for me to use.

Hope that helps!

Bernina Ruler Foot and Rulers

I'm learning to use the adjustable Bernina ruler foot and rulers. Actually the ruler foot is simple to use - it's almost like using any quilting foot except you adjust the height. Adjusting the height is easy although I may never have to adjust it again since most of my quilts are the same thickness. Even though the toe isn't open, you can see what you are doing. The only weird thing is that you have to lower the foot to thread the needle.

A variety of rulers came with the Bernina Ruler Package. Ignore the blue painters tape holding the pieces together.

circles

ovals

I haven't removed all of the white paper from the backs yet.

I practiced for a while on a practice sandwich and then decided to just concentrate on one thing at a time. I chose the straight edge and a child-size quilt. 

I cross hatched the center, 

did some interesting stitching on the navy border, 

did some in-the-ditch-stitching, and did some straight stitching on the outer borders. Everything was done with the same ruler and free motion quilting.  That interesting stitching on the navy border required a little math to figure it out which was good for my mind!

I had to hold the ruler in different directions with each of my hands. Using either hand to holding the ruler and keeping the ruler from slipping are the hardest parts. Some of the rulers in my set are pretty small and my invisigrip won't stay on them. You don't have to look close to find my bobbles! I did not turn the quilt like you would with a walking foot - I just sewed in whatever direction was needed.

Before I began my second quilt, I was able to get some grips - little sandpaper disks - that work great. I did a second quilt using the straight edge with the grips on it and the ruler held much better.

It was much easier and I think I'm beginning to adjust to using the ruler in different directions.

Can you see the grips on the ruler?

When I finished the center of the quilt and got to the border, I decided to try a different ruler. I had no problems holding it or matching up the ruler to the design.

I'm looking forward to trying all of the rulers and eventually getting more. They are easy and fun to use. 

Do you like my cool purple gloves? I've always worn white Machingers but decided to try the Grabaroos. They work about the same and add more color to my life!