Pottering and Nina

I've been pottering, taking this week more or less off.
First thing I did on Monday was finish attaching the borders on this quilt, design is Double Pinwheel by Eleanor Burns.

I began piecing it a couple of years ago to remember my Nana Mabel Manning who passed away, her garden and her home, choosing a simple pattern I could easily piece and using colours that she liked to wear, grown in the garden as flowers, or decorated with in her house. I was quite upset at the time I began piecing this-intially even borrowing Mabel's beautiful old Elna and piecing on it, and found it a really positive thing to think about all the good things about her life, as I stitched it up. Some of the fabric has favourite flowers and gardening gloves and watering can on it, reminiscent of one of her most passionate hobbies. There are also thimbles, fabric and threads depicted- she was a very keen tailor and made the most beautiful garments at a level I fear I may only aspire to. However, I have been given her dressmaking book which is a treasure, with her handwritten notes inside here and there. She also liked the colour brown abit but it wasn't right for this quilt. And the intense bright yellow of her kitchen counter didn't quite make it in either!! But I am quite pleased with it, it has a nice almost Art Deco look to the design and think she would have liked it herself. I think I'll call it Mabel's Memories.

Whilst I was photographing Mabel's Memories, I found next to it, hanging on a coathanger in the cupboard, this top, which is Starstruck, designed by Quiltville Bonnie Hunter.

I made it a few months ago to use up some of the masses of scraps that accumulate and clutter my sewing space, and to have something totally brainless to sew to relax. Sometimes its nice to sit back and obediently follow someone else's written instructions for a change! The blocks were joined together by treadle on a very thundery day, just before I began work in earnest on Magellanic Magic-it was a stolen day, a day when I really should have been cutting and cutting, but I just felt like letting fabric run through my fingers under the needle...
I am not sure if I will add some borders, I may not as I quite like the way it is. It is truly scrappy but I also cut up some oldies, some uglies and fabric I wanted to remove or reduce in my stash. Certainly the scraps are used up and I can confess only a slight reduction to the very healthy bulge that is the green and blue drawer in my stash. I will probably practice frame quilting with something like this.

Whilst sewing the little bow-ties on the corners, I double sewed the corners and so have many tiny weeny half square triangles awaiting in blues and greens and creams...and am doing the same now with another quilt in pinks and creams. Maybe one day these tiny pieces will come out and play together in a little quilt all of their own. One thing is for sure, I feel virtuous using up every last bit of fabric, abit like Laura's Mamma in Little House on the Prairie.

Virtue does have its rewards, today when I was in the shop (investigating stitch regulated quilting machines) I found this beautiful Jane Sassaman fabric and simply had to have a metre. And could justify it totally by being so thrifty with all those other little bits and pieces.What was most definitely NOT thrifty, but is wise for where I am heading, was putting a whacking great deposit down on a Bernina 440QE! (and I decided to invest my prize winnings and a commission cheque into it at the outset, which has frankly make it far more affordable that would otherwise have been. Something about seeing less an amount remaining to be paid feels better than other way round!) It will be a machine for use in exhibition pieces for show in o/s exhibitions, where the judges have extremely fussy standards and obsess over stitches. To level the playing field, as so many quilters are exhibiting work using this machine. I've had a couple of people, some of whom are accredited judges, tell me that if I want to exhibit o/s, and they think that I really should, that it would be to my advantage to use the same equipment that others are already using. Certainly the husband agreed and his only question was, should it be on a 440 or 820 (bless him!)
I looked into both machines and actually quilted in store on a large quilt. I could fit half of a King size quilt dimension into the 440- there was 1.5m of quilt pleated and tucked inside the harp. I was stitching out 5 inch diameter gerberas quite easily. I think the 440 is misleading in appearance, it looks small because it is boxy in design, but when I measured was only just over an inch less than the width of my Mega quilter. It is not as high though-the Mega Quilter is designed to go onto quilting frames. I decided the 440 is quite adequate for the size quilt I will make to show, up to 2.5m square, and that because the 8 Series is so new, I'd rather wait anyway and see how it is in the hands of quilters...that and the nasty big price tag.. It is a lovely big beast but it is more than I need (but of course, I do lust for it anyway!)
The 440 Aurora is a known quantity and it is affordable.

Now, stitch regulation is something that I've never had and until recently thought I wouldn't even need to have, since I quilt for a part time living on a non regulated machine and my customers are very happy. If I wasn't taking the plunge with o/s work, I might not even have been investigating it. I try very hard, produce a lovely stitch on an unregulated machine, and have won more than one award for my quilting on my own and customer's quilts, but I am sadly not perfect. That's been good enough for local and interstate customers and judges, but would not neccesarily, as I've been told by more than one wise one, be for the o/s ones. I also have eyesight that is less than ideal, and am not getting any younger by the year. What I found to my surprise is that BSR irons out the occasional kinks in my stitching-I mean stitch length here, not the shape of the curved line I am creating- because I already do nice work. It minimises those ocassionally less than perfect stitches. It too is not perfect but it helps. And the biggest surprise of all was how relaxing I found working with it in either mode. I wasn't sure if I'd even like BSR as I've heard both good and bad. Bad comes from those who think that they won't need to learn the skills of FMQ at all, and that BSR will immediately make their quilting appear god-like, negating the need for them to learn to fmq! They probably think the machine will make their coffee and cook dinner too though! I've heard and read much good from skilled and unskilled alike who are prepared to learn to work with the system.
It is not a silver bullet-you have to work with the parameters of BSR to get good results that are consistent. A beginner can learn to fmq and find it improves dramatically with BSR engaged, from what I'm told. What it has meant for me is that I can just think more about where I want to stitch and not also so much about how I am stitching -the brain can relax abit. I think as I age this could be a huge benefit, especially if I am quilting in a somewhat tired state. Which for me with young children, is quite often!!
And how else do I love my impending 400QE, let me count the ways! Beautiful, beautiful straight stitching, killer applique stitches, great quality white lighting (if you ever visit me in my dark dungeon like studio you will know why this appeals), easy to navigate layout, and vertically positioned bobbin that I can get into in case of thread jams and really thoroughly brush out! Of course there's the knee lifter so very well designed and comfortable to use (some knee lifters I've tried require a very awkward hip movement when sitting in front of the needle) and one very strong motor tucked under the hood. It feels really nice and comfortable to use.
I can't wait and in a way, now I've committed to this, there is no wiggling out of the o/s show thing (which if I stop and think about for too long, suddenly becomes big and scary), because Nina will, I imagine, glare at me from her spot in my sewing room and tell me off if she thinks for one minute I might not use her to achieve greatness, lol! I'm excited to join the Bernina family, soon!

The bonus from all this is that I'll be able to put my M.Q. onto the frame for most of the time, unless I am making a truly massive quilt for myself, and even then it may be on the frame. No more getting husband to come and help lift her substantial weight off the carriage and put her into the cabinet, to protect my back. He's already very happy about this! And I shall be able to use some beautiful thick quilting cotton to FMQ in Nina without stamping of little feet as other machines have done.
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What else have I been up to this week? Earlier in the week, mostly of the evenings I've been playing with Jane.
See, here is evidence! Hand pieced and or appliqued.

And I forgot this little sweetie which was made before the three you see together above.

They're such fun to sew and in the case of most of these, very simple to sew in front of the tv by hand, or by machine piecing as in the image above. What I am itching to start on are the wedges in the border of the quilt.

This weekend will be busy, we have sports for the children, a bonfire afternoon/evening and BBQ at Church, and Sunday is full with two classes to teach. I'm not big about working Sundays but sometimes it can't be helped. The classes are two of my favourites to teach, Machine Quilting, and Beginner Patchwork. Our ladies and girls that come are just lovely and I love working at Frangipani Fabrics!!

Dinner smells delicious, and off I go in search of yummy goodness!
Cheers,
Stephanie