I did indeed get the three quilts I had been quilting on finished. Two were made from my fabric birthday cake my sister gave me a while back.
This pattern is Carolina Chain. I re-sized the blocks and straight set it, but the blocks are the same.
This quilt was made with Bonnie Hunter's Triple Treat pattern.
Again, I re-sized the blocks, but the inspiration pattern is Twirling at the Disco.
All of those patterns are free, and they make good use of scraps.
I fell behind on my Greek Murder Mystery, mostly because I was stuck on June. I wasn't in love with the block we were supposed to make, and it was a paper pieced pattern. I know how to paper piece, but don't enjoy it so I kept putting off doing it. When I hit the last week of July and I hadn't done either June or July's blocks, I knew I had to deal with it, or I would fall further and further behind.
Celtic Pieced Illusions by Karen Combs is one of my very favorite quilt books, and I've made several quilts in it. I like that it teaches a bit about design, so you can also design your own quilts using her piecing techniques. Rather than do the paper pieced block I wasn't excited about, I decided to make a replacement block in the same size.
This is the block I made instead, and I'm quite happy with it. It also got me "un-stuck" and I finished July's blocks as well.
The July blocks aren't quite the way they are supposed to be. My templates printed out at the wrong size, and rather than wasting more paper and ink, I decided to use the Accuquilt Drunkard's Path die I already had. The die made units 1/2" too large, but I just went ahead and trimmed them down. There's still too much background because the proportions were way off compared to what I was supposed to make, but I'm saying it's good enough. Now I'm caught up and the August blocks don't come out until the 14th, so I'll be caught up on that for a couple weeks.
I'm dog sitting for about a week, and this dog is super smart and can find his way into so much trouble. Just like I did for DD#2's puppy, I blocked off most of the house, and am limiting the dog to the living room and kitchen. To keep an extra close eye on him, I'm sewing in the living room this week.
I've got a couple projects already cut out and ready to sew, and another I am cutting because I don't have enough blocks made. If you've been following my blog for a while, you may just think I moved my Bernina 440 upstairs. I've done that before, it makes sense. BUT, this is actually a new-to-me Bernina 440.
My old Bernina is doing just fine, but it's very high mileage. I've often thought about what I would do when/if my Bernina dies and can't be repaired, and I really just wanted another one of the same machines. Bernina accessories are not cheap, and by getting another of the same model, I knew all the accessories I have would work on another 440. The only problem was they don't make this model anymore. In fact, I got my original 440 for half price because it was already discontinued when I got it.
I decided to start looking for used 440's online. I lucked out and found one with only 26 hours of work time. Mine has about 800 hours of actual working time. By work hours I mean the time the needle is actually going up and down. These models break down the time the machine is on, the standby time, and the time the machine is actually running. It also has embroidery hours but I've never owned the embroidery module and I still don't so that is 0 hours. This machine has very little use, and it had just been serviced prior to sale. It's sewing great, as all of these models should. This one didn't come with as many accessories I already had, but with most things I don't need duplicates. Since I always have multiple projects going, multiple machines makes sense for me. I am very happy with the purchase, and I got a great deal on it. Berninas hold their value very well, but I got this one for less than half of what I paid for my first one. If you really love a particular machine, finding a used one may be a decent solution for you too!
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