Jelly Roll Quilt Top in an Hour

I always wanted to know how to use a fabric "jelly roll".  Hope you enjoy this video clip!

 Jelly Roll Quilt top in an hour!

Funny Friday: Quote

Happy Feet!

Although I have been taking a Block-of-the-Month Quilting class for the past several months, my daughters tease me saying it's really the "Tool-of-the-Month" class.  I suppose I have to admit it.  I have been learning how to use many new tools and feet - and have purchased several that I never had before.  I am amazed at how important sewing machine feet are to the successful outcome of a project.  I have learned so much about "feet" and technique in this class.  I have learned that my machine can do things I never thought possible. I have already posted about the amazing walking foot, used to feed several layers of fabric without pinching and bunching.  I have used this for every quilt block and several other projects as well.  It is really indispensable in my opinion.

 I have also posted about the clear foot used for intricate applique work that must be precise.  It allows you to see through the foot and exactly where you are stitching.

Below are several more feet I purchased this past month.

This foot is a cording foot, which I also used for couching.  Bernina does sell a couching foot as well, but I thought I would try to be thrifty and let this one do double duty.  It worked well.  I don't know how I have gotten by without this one for so long.

Foot 7 is used for tailor tacking.  The special techniques which this foot is used for will be demonstrated in one of my upcoming blog posts.  It is pretty cool, though!

This is the button foot which I featured in my last blog post.  Love it!  Enough said.

Sorry this picture is a bit blurry, but this is a five row pintuck foot.  This foot will be used for my next quilt block.  It is used for sewing perfectly straight rows, or pintucks, in fabric, adding visual detail to garments, quilts, etc.  You can get them with more or less rows, depending what you want to do with it.

 Below is a picture of free-motion sewing of a monogram!  I am so excited because I never knew I could do this on my machine, and I didn't even buy anything new for this.  I already had these tools - the embroidery hoop and darning foot (#9)

Below is a quilting template I bought to practice some free-motion sewing.  I first traced the line with a pilot frixion heat-erase pen.  As soon as the ink is heated, it disappears!  I use it for almost everything now.  The pictures show my progress,  It is harder than it looks, so be gracious, lol.

Below are some fancy cords and trims I purchased to practice some couching techniques with the cording foot.  Embroidery floss can also be used as well as many other trims.

 There are several different stitches that can be used to attach the cord or trim.  Invisible thread can also be used.  I didn't have any on hand, so I just tried to match the trim color

Bernina sells a three volume set of "Feetures" books, which feature each foot made for all their machines, and what they are used for.  Although you can see a brief tutorial video for their feet on their website, this book goes into a lot more detail and gives many other ideas for beautiful techniques the feet can be used for other than their primary use.  They were updated from the original printing, so be careful if you buy them used.  The older ones may not include feet for newer machines.  The new books, however, include all the feet for both the older style and newer machines.  Volume One covers feet 0- 30 something.

Wordy Wednesday: Sewing Class

While my daughters were on summer break, I thought it would be fun to take a sewing class together.  We found our local Bernina Dealer, Sew Many Ideas, (http://www.sewmanyideas.com/), had a class for a super cute hipster purse.  It is just the right size for necessities, and fits my Kindle perfectly!  So I signed us up, and off we trudged.  We all had a wonderful time together, learned a lot, and ended up with a wonderful keepsake of our precious time together.  My oldest daughter had to work and could not come with us, so I decided to make one for her.  It is pictured below.  Everyone picked out colorful coordinating fabrics that suited their unique personality!

Rebecca Pearl loves her bag!

Hannah and her pretty bag.

This is Mollie's bag.  She has not put her shoulder strap on yet/

I decided to make mine blue and white.  I have always loved that color combination and it matches my Kindle.

Me and my girls with our super cute hipster bags!