Tag: Bernina

Posted in quilting

Finished Object Friday – Quilting

Posted on by Laura Kate

After three months, I have finished the pet-friendly quilt that started with this fabric.

Inspired by Rayna Gillman’s improvisational piecing technique and using a combination of log cabin and strip pieced squares, I designed a pair of blocks I call Dog House, Cat Barn.

The blocks finish at 12 inches square. But how can they turn into a bed quilt? After mulling it over for awhile and making several sketches on graph paper, I found that I could fit four blocks across five rows to come up with a twin-size quilt. To create balance, I staggered the rows by four inches with a spacing strip, alternating between left side and right side every row.

I also felt that the balance would improve if the center row was different. Thus was conceived the Pet Condo construction project in “mid-town,” (if you will permit my flight of fancy.)

Four inches of sashing in a grey polka-dot fabric between the rows made a “street,” giving the animal neighbors a nice boulevard for walking over to visit. With my concept complete, I re-named the quilt Animal Friends.

Oh, another group of animal friends were introduced via the background fabric: Our hardworking and very dear bees.

The Animal Friends quilt measures 57 by 84 inches. It was quilted with a combination of walking foot “stitch in the ditch” and free motion stitching on my Bernina.

Posted in quilting

Taking a Brief Pause from SAHRR 2021

Posted on by Laura Kate

After working out the details of Challenge #5 SAHRR 2021 (the wonky stars border) I paused before completing that border. My quilt is currently 39 inches square, and dangerously close to being too big to quilt on my Bernina. Therefore, I decided to start quilting the completed sections before adding any more fabric.

First task is cutting and layering the quilt sandwich. Getting the backing and batting smoothed out was a tricky chore since the quilt is too wide for my worktable. After I had managed it, I proceeded to hand baste every three or four inches – just enough to keep the layers from shifting while I sewed.

Yesterday I got about 1/2 way done with parallel rows of quilting. It looks like this on the back side.

I chose to hand embroider the central square, which emphasizes the shapes.

Still undecided on how to quilt those batik triangles.

The gray spokes were quilted in parallel lines about 1/2 inch apart.

Image showing machine quilting and hand basting.


I’ll continue to quilt until the section is finished. Then I hope I have time to sew on the wonky star border before being faced with Challenge #6.

Posted in quilting

Abstract Sunset Progress

Posted on by Laura Kate

By the end of Monday’s work, I had finished the piecing the fabric to my abstract. Rummaging through my spools of trim, I found some bronze colored satin cording. I couched it into the location of the sun, making this round object disrupt my perfectly angular image.

The next step is to decorate the surface. I always have to take a long pause at this stage. There are just too many options available to me – paint or embroider, hand or machine quilt, add more trims?

And how about all those embroidery stitches on my Bernina?

While I ponder my options, I will just enjoy the wonderful geometry and colors of my work in progress.

Posted in sewing

Stitch Bible

Posted on by Laura Kate

No, friends, this is not a publication by a religious group. This is an exercise in making a reference guide for your own sewing machine.

Yesterday I took a few hours to document all the stitches that are programmed into my Bernina 1080 Special. I would have done this sooner but for my own impatience to get on with my making.

Basically, you just make a column of stitches, move to the next button and repeat until you have a sample of each stitch. In addition, I changed length and width as I stitched along, making notes in permanent marker along the way.

It wasn’t as boring as I had imagined, mostly because I listened to podcasts while I stitched.

Even though my Bernina only has 28 different stitches, I worked my way through several bobbins of thread. The payout of this exercise is getting to play with different combinations of the stitches that I discovered. My favorite setting is the mirror-image button. This allows me to highlight nice sections of my fiber objects with mirrored embroidery stitches.

I also learned how to couch cord, ribbons and yarn.

If you haven’t made a stitch bible for your sewing machine, I suggest that you give it a go. It may spark in you some creative ideas for future fiber play.

Posted in quilting

Fun with Free Motion Quilting

Posted on by Laura Kate

Yesterday my Bernina and I spent some quality time together. I used my Autumnal Equinox square to practice free-motion quilting techniques.

One of the things that gave me more confidence is the discovery of the 1/2 speed button on the Bernina. So far, I have mastered wiggles, loops, lazy eights, dot-to-dot and circles. I still can’t do meander.

I had fun drawing with thread on my reverse applique picture. Oh, also a few birds and a squirrel were added by hand embroidery.

Many thanks to Christina Cameli for her class on bluprint.com. https://shop.mybluprint.com/quilting/classes/free-motion-quilting-essentials/40670