Faking It

This is my Juki 98, which is normally set up for quilting. I have so many things in the works right now, I decided to set it up for piecing for a little bit, before I start my quilting marathon. The only thing is, I don't have a 1/4 inch foot for it. Well, I have what Juki calls a 1/4 inch foot, which is a darning foot and it's circular. This would be great for echo quilting, but seems impractical for piecing. To guarantee my 1/4 seam, I had some kids craft foam with adhesive on the back. I cut a piece and placed it at the 1/4 inch mark on the machine bed. I sewed part of a strip, then opened it and measured, and adjusted my foam guide a bit. Since I am dealing with flannels which are a bit thicker, I thought I may need to adjust a bit. This is working out just fine, and the Juki seems to be a great piecing machine. It is so fast, sewing strips together like this is very quick on it. A Janome foot should fit the Juki, so sooner or later I'll probably get a Janome 1/4 inch foot. I already have Janome walking feet for it, because the one that came with the Juki was awful.

Doing some of my piecing on the Juki is helpful, because the little guy I babysit hates the sound of the sewing machine, and I can't sew on the Bernina at all while he's napping. The Juki is downstairs, so he can't hear it, and that's working out fine. I never got a lot of sewing done while I'm babysitting, but even a half hour here and there during naps adds up.

I'm piecing on the Bernina too, but with a darker gray thread. I have a couple of dark quilts in the works right now.


I got the magazine backing boards I ordered, and the corrugated plastic arrived yesterday afternoon. Those are both for my mini-bolt project. I managed to get all the magazine backing boards cut to the size recommended for fabrics 1 yard or less. I bought the Life Magazine sized backing boards, and I figured out you can get five 4x6 1/2" pieces from one board. Using my guillotine style paper cutter, I cut them as shown in the photo. I had three extra pieces. The larger leftover piece at the top right I am saving for bookmarks, and the smaller pieces I put in the recycling bin. The magazine backing boards are like a thick poster board. I'm glad I decided to go with the plastic for the larger fabrics, but I think this will work fine for the smaller pieces.

DH is going to have to cut all the plastic for me. As long as he gets it cut sometime in July, I'll be happy. We have a trip planned in August, and I fully expect to have August be a wash as far as quilting goes. I think fabric rearranging is something I could probably do even with jet lag though.