My very first quilt, 1992

Patching up my great-grandma Two's nine-patch (below) made me realize that my very first quilt must have been inspired by that very same quilt.  I do remember thinking I wanted to do it all by hand like Two.   

This little nine patch took ages, and was such a learning experience.  I didn't have gear.  I cut patches out, sitting on the floor, pieced by hand, quilted by hand.  I was pregnant with my first baby, Noelle.  And now she's going to have a baby in December with the same due date I had with her.  Massively full circle!

I pieced a top for new baby girl:  

... and then a second, darker top, from the scraps.   Quilting will happen after our family vacation.  

This week I also made some basic little "quiet" photo books for my three little grand daughters - nothing fancy and so fun to make. 

My sour dough journey continues...  I ordered some local NC rye flour, and it is wonderful. 

And, I snapped up this itty-bitty sweet machine from Facebook marketplace.  Bernina Activa 220, circa 2010.  Super basic and perfect for travel, and/or for granddaughters who might want to learn to sew someday.  Bonus was that I met a lovely quilter in the process!  She was upgrading to the same machine I have already.  Fellow Bernina folks... well we do love talking "Bernina" ! 

In the evenings I'm really enjoying my EPP hexie flower project - no deadline.  Lots of "warm" colors, all Liberty.  Eventually to be made into a small throw quilt as a twin to my first hexie quilt. 

That's all for now... summer flying by. 

x 

Cynthia   

Bernina 740 Stitch Book

I've had my Bernina 740 (which I call "my desktop" or even "the behometh") for three years but only recently did I finally make a stitch book.  I just really wanted to better know/appreciate my machine.  I saw a good tutorial here on Bernina's We All Sew blog, and I did something very similar - just simpler.

It was the kind of busy work that I actually find quite satisfying and relaxing.  Just stitch after stitch, methodically trying them all out and arranging them into a binder.   I was the kid who would rewrite my notes after school, so, ya.

I used a lightweight stabilizer, and sheet protectors designed for playing cards - I like the vertical layout.  I inserted between the back-to-back samples, to eliminate show-through.  This way, I could put 18 samples in each sheet protector.

I cut the stabilizer and the cardstock 3.5x2.5 inches.  I cut the fabric pieces narrower, so that some stabilizer was visible.   I used 40 weight thread, and just whatever solids I had around.

I wrote the stitch numbers directly onto the stabilizer.

BERNINA LOVERS aside:  My machine (740) is the base model of the 7 series - so I don't have as many stitches as the 770QE or 790, but, this is plenty machine for me, and I didn't pay for features I don't want (I have no interest in the embroidery module, and don't need the stitch regulator, having learned free motion quilting back in the 90's, the old days.)  Do I like the 9mm?  Sure.  However, I will get birds' nests if I'm not careful to use a leader, or hold my threads, and this is something I never ever had to worry about with my 5 mm 153QE.  I would just pick up and sew and didn't even know the concept of a "leader" or "holding threads."  So I'm not crazy about piecing on the 9mm (even with the 97D foot, it bugs me that part of the feed dogs aren't engaged - and yet, on the other hand, isn't the dual feed wonderful?)... pros and cons.  On balance this is such a gorgeous workhorse and I love it.   It's a dream for machine quilting, for sure, with the large harp space.  I am saving my $ to buy a second, small, portable machine, because this thing is a beast.  Maybe a 330, or one of the new 4 series coming out soon.  I have my grandma's 830 Record which is a thing of beauty... and I will piece on it sometimes, but I'd love a little 3 series for portability.  OK, end of aside!  I could talk Bernina all day long, ha ha. 

Anyway, stitch book finished and I highly recommend this exercise!

And, I used some of these awesome decorative stitches to mend a pair of my brother's jeans.  He's a carpenter and hard on his jeans.

Talk about fun and fast!

A stitch book on denim!

I used a pair of my own old jeans for the patches.

And how often does this happen???  Finished just under the wire - weirdly satisfying:

x
Cynthia

more this and that

Just a few odds and ends to share this week...

Millie - my late Grandma's best friend, who has had such an influence on my quilting, sent me this sweet yo-yo fragment:

It is wabi-sabi for sure...

A new-ish Bernina dealer in my area (Daley By the Yard) did a beautiful job fixing the 153QE (after this calamity), and it has never sewn better.   Daisy still hasn't stepped back into the sewing room - poor gal, but it's just as well - she sheds so much!

While my machine was in the shop, I obsessively researched new sewing machines, "just in case"... and the long and short of it is that yes, a new machine (Bernina 740) is on order!  I am going to give my niece Alyssa the 153QE.  I hope she will love it as much as I have through the years - it's been a GREAT machine.  But..... I look forward to the bigger throat space and the huge bobbin of the newer generation Bernina.  (This feels a bit like buying a car, in more ways than one!)

Meanwhile I've been catching up on some Stars in a Time Warp... here are two using vintage katazome indigo -

Two more with indigo print reproductions...

Lapis blue (barely, maybe?) ... and the light blue star below also counts as a "floral trails" I think:

More of what might be floral trails:

Finished up today sewing the borders onto this year's Stepping Stones quilt:

Have this little one to baste, too:

And meanwhile this 18 year old has big plans for his bedroom:

Some creative chaos going on but that's how we like things around here!

xo
Cynthia

Machine woes... and 25 years

Week before last, this happened.  I had been sewing away on the next Stepping Stones quilt*

 ...when.... Daisy got all tangled up (circling, shepherd-style) in the presser foot cord, and she panicked.  I made things worse by trying to hold her foot and untangle her.  With all her strength, she beat a path under the table in the other direction, and dragged my machine across the table and it FLEW off and, caught by its own cord, fell like a 1000 pounds onto the floor.

Daisy was so frightened, she ran downstairs and I found her here by the front (back) door, poor gal:

Assessing the damage, I found that the machine runs, but I couldn't re-thread it - the whole threading mechanism is warped and bent and just totally messed up:

I wish I'd had the presence of mind to just unplug the presser foot cord!!!  It all happened so fast - just like a car accident.

I took it to the Bernina doctor, where it is still waiting to be seen.  Long wait in the emergency room.  Now of course I'm trying to imagine how much it will cost to repair.... what would the trade-in value be.... should I "go for it" and get a newer machine.... WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Meanwhile, out comes my Grandma Mary Lou's 830 Record - purchased in 1974, and meticulously maintained through the years.

Isn't this just the simplest prettiest machine?

 It is so quiet and sturdy.

 And gets the job done.  It took a bit of fiddling around to find a good 1/4" seam but once I got that,

... it was a pleasure to finish these blocks...   The sashing is incorporated into what are essentially 9-patch blocks.

The student I am assigned is named Yuu and she would like a light green quilt.  Now to piece these blocks together and figure out borders.

*The pattern is called Sticks and Stones by Bonnie Hunter.  You can find the pattern here.  We call it Stepping Stones.  A variable group of Japanese and American quilters have been making these for several years now, for 18 year old graduates of several orphanages in Tokyo.


Meanwhile this summer marks our 25th year together.... my how time flies....

Here's the snapshot I texted to my daughter, of my new ring, three loose interlocking bands:

Boy, my hands look older.  Where has the time gone?   For the first 25 years I wore a beautiful vintage ring that was David's grandmother's, which needs to either be reset, or kept for sentimental value (I'm choosing the latter).

What will the next 25 years bring?  We know enough now to not try to predict!  What we can expect is more sunshine and shadow - LIFE!