Silk Hearts Quilt

Ready to pin baste!  Basting is  about the only part of making quilts that I really don't like at all.   Some quilters use spray glue, but I don't want to get overspray all over the wonderful floor up here in the studio and don't have another place that might work.  Plus, I am not so sure about all that glue...so, I will just continue to grin and bear it with the pins.  What is this, do you ask?  Well, a little over two years ago I bought the Sarah Vedeler embroidery cd Hearts, which features embroidery and applique.  Along with the designs I bought the tin of gorgeous jewel-toned silk dupioni fabrics. You can Google Sarah Vedeler Silk Heart Quilt to get an idea of what this will resemble once I have the quilting done.  I am going to do free motion quilting, mostly doing feathers and spirals.  I have a Bernina 440 QE that has a stitch regulator on it and really helps keep the free motion stitches more uniform in length.  When I first got the machine, I didn't really like the regulator that much.  I had been free motion quilting for many years without it, and I "fought" what it was trying to do.  Once I relaxed and let the regulator do its thing, I was very pleased with the results.  This quilt hanging is pretty big, almost 48" x 48".  Twenty blocks were appliqued and embroidered.  Lots of hours and lots of thread.  I will show you the finished quilt when it is all done.  Now I have to find a perfect spot in the studio to hang it.  If you go to Sarah Vedeler's website (sarahvedeler.com) you will see oodles of gorgeous designs she has made.  What really attracts me to them is her fabulous use of color.  And, her designs are based on decorative machine stitches that you can find on Bernina machines, as well as others.  I have been on a quest for a few years to encourage sewers to use all those wonderful, fun stitches.  Similar results to some of her designs can be sewn without the help of an embroidery machine.  They may not be as perfectly lined up, but still can be colorful and fun.  Thanks for letting me blab on a bit.  Jerilynn

Too Hip to be Square

Quilt is all done! I still need to make a label for the back. I must confess I have been a bit lazy about labeling my projects lately. I forget how fun it is to look at a quilt and turn it over and see when it was made. I brought my embroidery machine up to the cabin studio yesterday so now I have no excuse about making a label. I also need to sew a sleeve on the back for hanging. I used various dot strips for the binding, and I again made it a single fold binding. Love those. So simple and crisp. For the quilting I used a primary colored variegated Isacord thread in the top and bobbin - the back is a reddish fabric with yellowish polka dots and the multi colored thread looks good. I decided to use my Bernina Stitch Regulator to do a wobbly free-motion "square swirl". I am enjoying the BSR quite a bit! My stitches still aren't completely perfect, but much, much more even with the Regulator. I find the quilting quite relaxing and enjoy just seeing the quilting unfold before my eyes. I will definitely explore this type of piecing and quilting again. There are a couple of small projects in Fresh Quilting (Malka Dubrawsky) that I may throw together tomorrow. I also brought up all my battings and stabilizers,so the batting for potholders is handy for use. Do you remember the previous picture of the empty drawers? Well, there are only three empty ones now. :) Jerilynn