Christmas in July

Those of you who do sew (in any fashion) recognize the importance of having the correct tools. I have a very nice tool - my machine - which I love. It's a Bernina 750 QE and it is really wonderful. I received excellent advice from my sister-in-law before buying, but also did my due diligence with research. Bernina owners are very loyal it seems! And it also seems that with proper care a Bernina machine can have a good, long life span. So I am happy with it! I've had it since February, when I traded in my previous Bernina, a small 350 Special Edition. I loved that machine, it just wasn't quite big enough for doing the quilting I wanted to do.

So here is my current tool.

This week I was over joyed to receive a care package from my sister-in-law that was stocked full of Bernina presser feet! Seems she and a friend both traded out their machines and have not replaced, so decided to donate their extra feet to me. My oh my, it did feel like Christmas in July!

This handy quilt calculator was also in the box. Sweet!

But that doesn't get into what I'm working on as of late. 

My churn dash quilt is coming along. I have all 30 blocks made and put in proper order, and one row completed (sewn together, sashing and corner stones in place). It is looking good! The order looks something like this:

I'm excited to finish work on it, though we have been busy as of late. Late summer has been beautiful in the Lou. We had a chance to enjoy a Cardinals victory last weekend with these lovely ladies.

Summer Interruptions

Summer interrupted my best laid plans to post regularly. I'm sure autumn will do the same. But that said, I have been working on things.

I had in mind the desire for a black-white-grey quilt and it is coming to fruition. Not exactly what I initially anticipated, and in all honesty, probably better. I'm excited. I'm using churn dash blocks for it, 30 in total, few repeats. I laid the quilt out yesterday to get the blocks in order and have one row sewn together. No pictures yet - I want to have a bit more done before I do show-and-tell on this one.

What I did complete was another baby quilt, this one for my nephew and his wife, who are expecting their fourth child, a girl. But I couldn't go all girly-girl, so compromised with this cheery fabric. I was pleased with the result! Since I didn't make quilts for the older three kids, I made them custom pillow cases. The other daughter received one to match her new little sister's quilt. For the boys, one was a football theme and the other cammo.

 

Other than quilting, we did sneak in some travel to eastern Tennessee. It was beautiful! We traveled by bike and enjoyed much time exploring and checking out some fun roads.

My carriage for the week!

Home again and I am back at my machine. Among other things. :-)