Sewing Machine Bonding

 Many people bond with their pets,

bond with their families,

bond  their friends.

I am bonding with my sewing machine.

It was recently updated and partially serviced, 

and we sewed happily together for one whole afternoon.

A needle broke and that was it.

The screen showed a big red X and 

a needle bearing down on on the presser foot!

I collected both portions of the needle and decided to call it

the end of the sewing day.

Then off to retreat,

accompanied by my little featherweight,

for a delightful trio stitching days.

This project UFO  was gifted to me and I finished it up. 

There's even enough scrappy goodness left 

to make another top or two baby quilts.

Influenza and I became good friends the day after retreat,

and although I asked the Bernina community for help,

I didn't check messages until well after a week.

Following their sage wisdom, 

I was able to get Big B back up and running.

It did take me awhile to find the proper keys and settings though.

Sometimes instruction manuals and 

videos are not made for the true beginner.

I am very new to Bernina machines and 

had no idea where to find the settings I needed.

Surprisingly the symbol is a yield sign with a big red "! ".

Then the process was easy and the machine sewed smoothly!  

More in touch with my machine and a bit more confident, 

my next sewing session should be productive. 

Look at all these tops just waiting for a date with Big B!

Stay Safe and Sew On!

Linking up with :

Sew & Tell

Monday Musing

Design Wall Monday

SrSPS

Handmade Monday

Getting Tidy

 Lots of work in the sewing room 

makes for lots of mess . 

It would be nice to have it all cleaned up.

The work table is really quite a tip.

I've become quite enamored with spray basting,

but it does require washing after completion.

The adhesive is a bit fragrant and nobody wants that.

All the cutting backing and batting really loaded 

up the work table.

Some binding was made though so

deifinitely a win there. 

Big Bernina is giving me trouble 

so I think I will watch some Bernina Jeff and

 see if I can figure out why I am getting an impact error.

Then current projects will be organized and

 maybe I'll even finish up one more little I spy.

The first brick I Spy could use the

 column sashing and 

then it would be ready for layering. 

Good tidy complete.

Not a scrap in sight! 

Just a nice cup of hot vitamin C , 

still in recovery mode!

I did complete the double rows of color blocks

for my next RSC top.

They definitely look promising!

Stay Safe and Sew On!

Linking up with :

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Monday Musing

Design Wall Monday

SrSPS

Handmade Monday 

To Do Tuesday

I Quilted This

Put Your Foot Down

Off the Wall Friday

Oh Scrap!

Scrap Avalanche

 Well, it seems my scraps are winning the battle.

They need a little bit more direction and guidance.

I was gifted another box of strips so I'll sort those out,

and file them so they can be used easily.

They are 2 1/2" strips so they are just my size!

The first brick patterned I Spy has made it to the design wall. 

A few of the fabrics are more directional than I 

thought so a quick edit is in order before I add the sashing.

There also be seem to be a lot of those Tweety Birds showing up!

I'll have to find a Sylvester to move in with him!

I preempted myself and made a bunch of binding

 for quilts I don't have quilted yet. 

It will make finishing up easier.

Have a great week!

I'll leave you with a little bit of inspiration.

At a recent coffee meeting, we saw a quilt by a new quilter.

She had quite a pile of scraps and bits

 so she thought she would start with the crumb quilt.

Here is the result!

She also had some more bigger bits so 

shee add those on the back.

Now this first quilt is double-sided!

Here's the inspirational part. This first time quilter,

starting with a double-sided scrap quilt,

is 94 years old!

May we all grow up to be this woman!

Have a great week sewing !

Stay Safe and Sew On

Linking up with:

Monday Musing

To Do Tuesday

Design wall Monday

Sew & Tell

SrSPS

Handmade Monday

Wait Loss Wednesday

Quilting and Patchwork 

Oh Scrap

RSC 2026

Put Your Foot Down 

I Quilted This

Finished or Not Friday

Design Wall Friday

Home Matters

I Spy with My Little Eye

 Wow, do I have a lot of I Spy  fabrics,

or should I say , " I buy fabrics!"

It doesn't really seem like a lot but 

when you're cutting 5 ", 61/2" or even 10"

blocks, you can make a lot of  projects!

I'm currently jonesing on 5" and 6 1/2"  squares. 

There's also the one quilt out of  bricks, 3 1/2" x 7 1/2"

from leftover bits I just couldn't throw away.

Add to that some short bits that were

left over from making the brick quilt,

and I've got a wealth of  I Spy projects on the go.

Once again I enlisted the help of GKs

to lay out blocks. It turned into a few games of I spy

and lots of creativity on their part.

Sharing blocks, adding little bits of blocks to the centers of others 

and adding some appliques made lots of fun for all involved.

I certainly have a lot of stitching to do!

The last thing I did before the retreat was oil

 my featherweight so it was good to go.

Here is the progress report!

The Pretty Yellow

with the floral centre was the first one stitched up.

The centre was gridded to hold down the applique.

The centre got straight stitching 

around the applique pieces anyway.

It always pays to keep your pieces in place.

Then came a 6 1/2" block I Spy. 

Lots of interesting things to see there!

It was bound in dark blue which 

also had little Santas frolicing all around it.

Then came a quilt of leftovers.

 Using up a stack of little nine patches, 

as well as some 5x5 colour blocks

created a lovely stroller quilt.

Then the 5"  squares were up.

First,  a complete quilt of nothing but squares. 

It was very cute and bound 

with some leftover beige from another project

Finally more 5" squares with an alternating 

stack of precut blue blocks came together quickly.

It was pillowcase turned so even more speedy!

Each of these quilts have flannel backing.

They certainly made a dent in the flannel bin!

Stay safe and Sew on!

Linking up with:

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

Weight Loss Wednesday

Design Wall Monday

Handmade Monday

Sew and Tell

SrSPS

I Quilted This

Put Your Foot Down

Finished or Not Friday

Design Wall Friday

Bolt to Beauty

Slightly Less & Garlic is Good

 So I had enough time and space on 

the design wall to lay out the garlic knot blocks.

There are enough blocks to make a good sized baby quilt.

They will get stitched together and get a  bright 

binding to curtail the blocks.  

It can  go off to the Northeast Babies next month. 

It took a few tries to get the right layout.

First, one of the blocks did not play well with others.

Do you see it?

Once I got that straightened out,

 I needed to figure out what

 the design was going to be.

This way,

That way,

and finally blocks dancing across the rows,

like rockettes!

It looks very interesting and 

will certainly delight its new owners!

I can't wait to get it all stitched  together

Stay safe and Sew on!

Linking up with:

Monday Musings

Sew and Tell

Handmade Monday

SrSPS

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

Wait Loss Wednesday

I Quilted This

Put Your Foot Down

Finished or Not Friday

Off the Wall Friday

RSC 2026

Patchwork & Quilts

 Oh Scrap

Retreat Success

Oh,  retreat was good to me!

Lots of stroller tops are done up so I can get quilting this week.

The mini vacation for me is coming up,

so I'd like to have them quilted and ready for binding

before I head off to the woods.

Here's a little show of what was finished last weekend.

Found pale blue  5" squares paired with I Spy blocks,

and this little stroller quilt was the result.

Cute as a bug and fun to look at.

Next up was a visit to New York to see the

 Rockettes march across the stage!

Just a few misplacements and 

the garlic knot quilt top was complete.

It's just spicy enough to be fun and should be great to quilt .

The salmon were sewn up quite nicely

 although one setting block did get lost in transportation.

As luck would have it,

a perfectly good triangle was found in a scrap bag

given by a friend. Spring spawning was saved!

Not be outdone, 

some 6 1/2" blocks got into

 the mix and went together in a cutesy

5 x 7 arrangement of I Spy fun.

Just look at those happy pigs in the corners!

I will be swapping out one of reds in the 

top row.  Those dancing cats just didn't behave!

There was also an interesting little floral block.

Paired up with even more leftovers from other projects,

it turned into a sweet little quilt that is sure to delight.

The fused centre will be 

grid stitched quite tightly so 

there's no danger of the applique lifting

Finally, there were bricks of two sizes 

waiting to go into column quilts.

These were leftovers from the I Spy block cutting frenzy.

These will be paired with some interesting fabrics and 

make some fun quilts for gifts or donations.

Just a few more blocks for equalizing the 

 length and they should be ready.

The smaller bricks ( 5 1/2") will find 

their design this coming week. 

Till then, happy stitching!

Stay Safe and Sew on!

Linking up with:

Sew & Tell

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

Handmade Monday

Life in Pieces

Wednesday Wait Loss

I Quilted This

Put Your Foot Down

Home Matters

Finished or Not Friday

From Bolt to Beauty

Design Wall Friday

RSC 2026

Patchwork & Quilts

Oh Scrap

Stitching Stuff

Retreat Season

Retreat season is upon us. 

Just like hunting season or ski season, 

we pack up our bags, 

all our equipment and off we go.

 

 I'm gearing up for the 3rd and last retreat of 

this spring retreat season.

I still  have projects that I can take.

Obviously, I'm either well prepared or 

I just have too many projects.

So let's see what's in the works for the next retreat.

I've got quite a few more rainbow scrap 

blocks to  put together for the 

next strip quilt. 

It is still lacking the remaining colors.

The bags of strips and scraps are ready to go

except for the red .

 I am going to harvest some chunks

and root thru the scrap drawer 

to make a goodly bag for the red squares. 

This is some of my chunk storage. 

Lots of red in this one.

I hope to have a number of baby quilts 

ready to bind,

and a few more I Spy quilts ready to stitch together.

Surprisingly, there are still lots of interesting 

fabrics in my stash, so I had another bit of fun

cutting out more I Spy blocks. 

Remember all those big ziploc plastic bags

I was gifted?  They are perfect for retreat projects and 

making up kits to take.  They are more space efficent 

and keep me a bit more organized!

These will certainly certainly keep me busy

 for another weekend in the country.

Two of last week's stoller quilts are

still waiting, so they will go back into the mix. 

The last retreat was at a lovely hotel 

within the city but the next is out in the country 

so it will feature a few walks

 through the woods 

in springtime.

Right now I'm going to pop outside

 enjoy some 18 C/ 64 F weather.

Stay Safe and Sew on!