Have You Seen My Foot?

My main sewing machine is an old Bernina Nova, circa 1978.  My zipper foot, BERNINA #4 ZIPPER FOOT, seems to have had a mind of its own and has gone walking off on a journey.  I have NO idea where it is, and I use it a lot.  I looked everywhere! 

Not being able to locate said foot, I checked several sites online looking for a replacement.  The best I could find was:

#54 Zipper Foot With Teflon - Fits model number 1630 and Older $79.99 plus S and H.

OMG!  Off to eBay I went and put in a bid.  Don't you dare bid against me!  And if you're wondering why I am still using this old machine, there are two good answers.  Number 1:  I like it.

Number 2:   I am cheap.  New machines are expensive.  I bought a Pfaff Grand Quilter almost two years ago.   When my ship comes in, I will buy another new machine that does fancy things.   I'm not a fancy person.  I can wait.

A Great Link

Take a little time this weekend and make an easy fabric basket!

I love these little baskets. Great directions have been provided at the link above.

Have I ever shown you Stormie's quilt? It's on the bed in our guest room. Stormie uses it more than anyone else. You can tell by the extra warmth provided by leftover fur, spread evenly over the quilt. With Jacob and Samantha spending the weekend at Grammy's house, maybe I better remove that fur. Hmmm.

Have a great day!

Embroidery Enhances Applique'

Do you applique'?  I find that when I do applique', I usually add some type of embroidery to my work.  Whether it is simple veins on a leaf, a stem for a flower, eyes to a person or animal, a short line from a poem or a quotation or textural element - most of my applique' quilts include embroidery.

 

I love adding texture to quilts.  It's not as difficult as you may think. Here, simple straight rows of a variation of red and burgundy thread adds dimension to the piece.  Notice how the look changes with the color of the background fabric?

   It's a simple process... load your needle with 2 or 3 strands of floss, then take small stitches in either a straight line or scattered area.  Repeat... over and over.   NOTE:  This is easy work to do while watching television. 

As a quilter, I collect embroidery thread just like I do fabric, only it is much less expensive!  I try to keep it organized in a little case, and label each card that I wind it on with the number of the floss color.   I stick with DMC so they are all the same quality.

What have YOU embroidered lately?   Share with the Michigan Quilts! readers using the comment section below.  Feel free to include a link to a picture of your own embroidery.   We will love you for it! 

April - Block of the Month Calendar

April Showers...

bring May flowers!

This is a fun block to make... I used the fusible applique' method to secure each little piece, then did a finishing stitch around the edges on most pieces. If you make this block, choose a rainy looking background, then play in your stash for the little pieces of color.

The pattern is available for you, but you will need to enlarge it to fit the 16 inch square, because for some reason the copy machine I used to scan to pdf won't do something this large without reducing it. The pattern is available by clicking here.

In preparation for the May block, you'll want about 1/3 yard of an ombre' with solid areas (not print) in colors suitable for flowers. Here's an example from eQuilter.com showing what I mean... it is one piece of fabric that gradiates to the different shades.