Ignoring the Deadlines

There's a lot going on for us. Between caring for elderly parents on opposite sides of the country from each other, and the ridiculous amount of repairs we've had to deal with since we've been home (Can I just get a break from all the breaking, please???) we're a bit stressed. Sometimes I am super productive when I'm stressed, BUT, when I'm stressed, I rarely work on what I should be working on. Of course, when things get to the point with the elderly where you are having the really hard decisions like hospice or long term care options, it's really heavy. 

DH is hosting a scooter rally in October. I should be working on stuff for that. OK, I did get some bags cut out, but haven't sewn a stitch. I had ideas for Christmas gifts, some involved, some really easy. Have I sewn on those? Sort of, I started working on one quilt. Mostly it's a big fat NO. 

So what have I been working on? Well, I am mostly doing my one hour of quilting per day, so I am seeing some finishes, but none of these are deadline projects. I mostly just wanted to piece easy stuff. 

Before I left on that big trip, I had cut out all these blocks from my Civil War fabrics. Are these deadline projects? That would be a no. I have other blocks cut that are nice and neat in project boxes, so I left those alone, but when I came home and saw this big bag, I just thought how nice it would be to have these blocks sewn up. There are enough blocks cut in that bag for at least 3 quilts. I know I cut enough for the Trail Mix quilt I want to make, plus I cut enough uneven nine patch blocks to make another quilt, and I know I cut extra of each of the blocks for Trail Mix so I could pick and choose which blocks I wanted to use, so I'll likely have a second Trail Mix inspired quilt from the leftovers. I do have some leftover bits and strips of Civil War fabric, so depending on what blocks are left after making the two main quilts I have planned, I can either use the extra bits to make more 6" blocks, or evaluate how many strips I have left, and possibly start something else entirely. Any way I do it, I'll be busting my Civil War fabric which is the goal. 

Here are my piles of 6" blocks so far. I have a couple dozen not shown that need to be pressed, and only about a dozen left to sew. That Missouri Star bag is empty now that I'm down to the last dozen blocks, I've just got them next to my sewing machine. 

Am I the only one who ignores deadline stuff when stressed? Please tell me I'm not. I think it's a matter of wanting my sewing to help me de-stress, when deadlines can stress me out when I'm already stressed. When my stress levels are normal, I actually do really well with deadlines. In this case, the Trail Mix quilt has been on my want to make list for years now, and taking the time to sew up something I've wanted to make for years makes me happy. Will I be more stressed later because I'm doing this first? Maybe, but that's a problem for another day. For now, I'll just work on what I can handle working on, and if everyone on my Christmas list gets money this year, that's OK too. At least with cash I'm never guessing at the size 😉

Finish #17

 I'm inching ever closer to my goal of finishing 24 quilts this year!

I've made this block a lot of times, but usually I do a scrappy dark/light thing for an allover pattern on the quilt. This version I'm more thinking of as a Diamond Tile pattern. This quilted up nicely on my new Bernina.

Earlier this year I took some fabrics out of my stash that I no longer wanted in it. Since I have SOOOOOOO many quilt tops in the quilt closet, rather than just donate the fabric, I decided to use them for quilt backings. This is pretty typical of how I've been making quilt backings lately. I didn't have enough of the Peanuts fabric to do the whole back, and my quilt top was wider than WOF. I looked in my fabric drawers, that has fabric up to one yard, and found something that worked with the Peanuts fabric. I didn't need to it to match, sometimes I think contrasting is actually better. I cut the Peanuts fabric vertically, off center on purpose, so I could add in the other fabric. Now I've only got small scraps of both fabrics left, and it's cut to Scrap User sizes, and will get used in a scrap quilt or two. Busting two fabrics out my my yardage is a win, finishing another UFO is a win, and I'll take it!

Playing with Panels

Last year for Christmas, I made DD#1 a quilt with a minky backing. It was a surprise, she didn't know it was coming. I had never made anyone in her family a quilt with minky, and now that they know the wonders of minky, they all want one. 

 There are SIX people in her family, SIX! Can I make six quilts for Christmas that aren't even started yet? The one I made her last year was actually a Christmas quilt, so I do plan on making her a year round quilt, and that's already started, she wants a Civil War Sampler quilt, I've got the sashing and cornerstones done, and about half the blocks done. For the other five quilts, I'm starting with panels.

These are to be quilts to be used on the couch, while curled up with a book, or maybe watching a movie. I'm thinking 48" x 72" or so. I don't want to have to piece the minky, but I could go a little wider, and for the men of the family, I could go a little taller. I've bought extra wide minky before, but for a couch quilt I see no reason to, I bought standard width minky. Most minky says it's 60" wide, but you don't get 60" of usable fabric, and some of it isn't that wide even with selvages intact. I can go wider than 48" though, maybe 54" or so wide. 

To give myself a head start, I'm going to be using some panels for at least part of the quilts. One of my grandsons, I was really stuck on, but when we visited, I got a chance to talk to him, and he's really into fantasy books. I can work with that. I read a lot of fantasy books myself. 

The fabric on the left of my design wall is actually two panels from the Wizards and Warriors collection by Quilting Treasures. I have a third one of those panels as well. On the top right is a panel from the Legendary Journeys collection by In the Beginning. In the Beginning has a LOT of fantasy panels, and I've got several of their dragon panels. The bottom right is the castle panel from the Wizards and Warriors collection.

I also got this digitally printed library panel, that looks like it could be in one of those castles. I have a little bit of a couple of the companion fabrics to the Wizards and Warriors collection, and I just ordered the border fabric that goes with that collection, but it hasn't arrived yet. Obviously, this is way more fabric than I need for one quilt, and once I start making some blocks, it will really be too much. That's just fine with me, I had always planned to make multiple quilts with the Wizards and Warriors panels. I donate a lot of quilts, and I know they get more girl quilts than boy quilts, and charities tend to be lowest on teen boy quilts. Fantasy books can easily be gender neutral, but these panels definitely read teen or adult to me. I'll be making my grandson's quilt first, but I am sure I'll have at least two, if not three, fantasy quilts for donation when I'm finished. 

I don't have the whole quilt planned out yet, but I know how I'll be starting. My grandson's quilt will be a medallion style quilt, with a tall rectangular center. I don't have the center figured out yet, but I do have a pieced 12" border planned, and I might use the border fabric around that. I haven't decided which pieces will make the cut yet, but I see some fun quilts on the way. Since I have more quilts to make that aren't started, I may just set the extra pieces aside once I get his quilt top made, so I can start the other panel quilts. I haven't decided how this is all going to work, and every panel I'm using in these many quilts is a different size, so each one will be an adventure for me. 

Sometimes I dread working with panels, because they are so often printed off grain, but at this point, I've done it often enough that I have some coping strategies to deal with that. Overall, I'm really looking forward to this challenge. 

Finishes #15 and 16

So far so good on my goal of averaging two finishes per month. If I can manage to stay home (as in not travel) the rest of this year, I'm hoping to far surpass that goal, but we'll see. Family is more important than any quilting goals I have, and there are things going on that may require more travel this year. 

For now, I'm at home and working away at UFO's. I finished two more quilts, and I realized that so far this year, all of my finishes have been UFO's, which is pretty great. I do have some quilt requests for Christmas, which will all be be new starts, but I'll see how I do on that front. I am starting to plan those out, and even do a little bit of cutting, but time will tell if I actually get those requested quilts finished in time. 

I have some other non-quilt related sewing I need to do this year too, some for DH's scooter rally, some for non-quilty Christmas presents. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about Christmas this year, and it's only August! Sometimes I end up having to ditch my Christmas sewing plans when life gets super busy, and I know that may happen this year. For now I'll just see what I can do without making myself crazy.

As for my finishes?

I made this from a layer cake. I have no idea where I got the layer cake, it's not really my style, but I managed to use the whole layer cake with no background fabric necessary. I think it looks like a picnic quilt. 

This quilt started out from some jelly roll strips I was given. It was only part of a jelly roll, so I added some strips from my scrap user system, as well as some background fabric. I really liked this quilt pattern, and I plan to use it again. You need one 1.5" cut WOF  background strip for each jelly roll strip. If you had a print jelly roll and a solid honeybun, you could do it, but you'd have to find a different border fabric whereas I used the background fabric for my border too. 

I'm already quilting another quilt, and the stack of basted quilts I had to work on when I got home is going down quickly. The quilts I have basted are mostly throws or kids quilts, so they quilt up fast. It won't be too long before I'll need to baste some more quilts!

Time for an Upgrade...Bernina Style

 I am a spoiled quilter, and I recognize that fact. I am very thankful we are in a position to afford some fun stuff for both of our hobbies. That said, DH and I are both thoughtful shoppers. We'll wait for sales, buy used, sell stuff to aren't using to fund what we want, etc...

I think I'm not alone in the search for the perfect sewing machine. I started sewing on a vintage Singer, straight stitch only, that I was borrowing from a family member. I made all my maternity clothes with it, as well as lots of baby clothes and home decor items. I gave the vintage machine back when my parents bought me a sewing machine for Christmas one year. It was a Montgomery Ward badged machine and I had it over 20 years. I made countless items of clothing on it, made my first foray into quilting on it, and so many curtains, pillows and such. When my stitch selector broke, and we had no sew and vac guys around to repair it, I went to a Brother from a big box store. I liked it well enough that when I wore it out, I bought another, but I was frustrated by the plastic gears and how quickly they wore out. I had started seriously quilting by now, and the small throat space was also a problem.

I did a bunch of research, and I bought a Bernina 1080 used. That was a quality machine! I used the heck out of that machine, and that was the machine I started quilting my own quilts on. Up until this point I was tying them. 

In the search for a larger throat space, I bought a Juki TL98. I tried it on a frame first, but I had nothing but tension issues. Sold the frame, and the Juki sewed just fine. I crosshatched a lot of quilts with the walking foot at this time with that machine. The thing is, I hated the Juki walking foot, and I found changing the bobbin to be quite awkward. I still had the Bernina 1080, and I just liked it better. 

I started researching a Bernina with a larger throat space, and I decided I wanted a Bernina 440. I didn't want to pay for a Bernina 440, so I kept putting off the purchase. Then I found out they were discontinuing the Bernina 440, so I went and bought the floor model at my local Bernina shop. I got it for half price, and I sold both the Juki and my Bernina 1080 to help offset the cost. 

As kids moved out and I had more space, I discovered I really preferred to have more than one machine set up at all times. One to piece on, one for the actual quilting, and if I can have three, one for everything else, like garment sewing. I started collecting vintage machines, larger throat, best for accuracy in 1/4" seams if it's a straight stitch only machine.

I make a lot of big quilts, and although I have quilted king sized quilts on the Bernina 440, it's still a bit of a wrestling match. In the search for a larger throat space, I bought a Tin Lizzie sit down long arm. The throat space was fantastic, the machine, meh. I traded it in for the Janome M7. It was my first and only Janome. I LOVED the dual feed, and the amount of accessories that came with that machine was crazy! The fact it came with two walking feet, a regular one and a 1/4" one, was amazing. I had the Janome for 6 years, and for five of those years, it did great. This last year it's been in the shop more than not. This last time, I told them do everything to it, because I'm going to sell it. I don't want to sell a bad machine, so I had them fix everything that was even questionable. 

What was I going to replace the Janome with? I decided I really wanted a larger Bernina. After all, I loved my 440 so much, I bought a second one used so I'd have a backup. I was looking at Berninas, and decided I wanted a 735, but you know what? They are discontinuing that model, so I went to the store, bought the floor model, and saved about 40%. I sold the Janome with the cabinet it was in, because that cabinet was too tall for me, and ergonomically just didn't work. I had that cabinet for about 8 years, and every time I used it, my shoulders hurt. 

I looked at cabinets, decided on the Christa cabinet by Arrow, which is the same height as the other cabinet I have that I do like. I found the Christa cabinet on sale for about 40% off. I didn't realize it was backordered when I ordered it, so it actually came while I was out of town. Thankfully, I managed to have it delivered to my daughters house, and she and my SIL assembled it for me while I was out of town. So now I am back home, and can quilt on my new Bernina 735 in my Christa Cabinet!

With all the extensions up, I've got a ton of flat surface to support the quilt. If I drop all the extensions, including the back extension it's footprint is drastically reduced. I've already been quilting on it, and I've already noticed I get better results with poly thread when FMQ, though if I use the walking foot or bind, it likes cotton thread just fine. The cabinet height is working much better for me. 

Could I have purchased a Bernina with a larger throat? Yes. Did I think I needed one? No. I have a few queen/king quilts already started, and those I do plan on quilting myself. The throat space on this is smaller than the Janome, but still more than adequate to quilt a large quilt. The main reason is, I've already decided than any queen/king quilts I start from this point onward, I will pay to have longarmed. If I can't pay to have it longarmed, I won't be making it. My RSI really acts up when I'm quilting the huge quilts, and I've decided the pain isn't worth it anymore. My RSI doesn't really bother me on twin sized and smaller quilts. 

Besides the price break on the 735 since it's being discontinued, the other thing I really liked about it was all the presser feet I have for my 440's will work on it. I didn't have to start buying new presser feet, and Bernina presser feet are expensive. If I had gone with a 900 series machine, I would have had to buy all new presser feet, which added to the increased base cost really wasn't in my budget. 

I never thought I'd be brand specific quilter, but after sewing on several other branded machines at this point, I really do prefer Berninas. I still love my vintage machines, though I have thinned the herd of those due to space. Vintage machines, the heavy, all metal, weigh as much as a boat anchor, are almost all better than the cheap plastic stuff you can get from a big box store, but for higher end modern machines, I've discovered I am indeed a Bernina girl.