Last New Project Of The Year

After Christmas, I always get the itch to start a new project. Of course, there are always UFOs that I could work on, but something new is more fun. I made a few blocks of Scrappy Mountain Majesties, a free pattern on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog. My favourite sister, Linda H gifted me with some new fabric for Christmas, I'll use some of it in this quilt.

Two More "Ten Minute" Table Runners

I needed a few more gifts so I thought I would "whip up" a couple more table runners. I figured out the decorative stitches on my Bernina 350 by watching some You Tube videos. The instructions in the sewing machine manual were vague and my old brain couldn't make sense of them. I selected a fancy stitch, then proceeded to sew down the folded triangle corners on one of the runners. I should have stopped right away, but kept going like a fool. The fairly dense stitching was pushing the layers unevenly, by the time I went across, it looked awful and skewed. Out came the seam ripper and I spent a couple of hours picking out the tiny stitches. After removing hundreds of thread pieces with a pair of tweezers, I was ready to try again. This time I used a walking foot and sewed down the triangles with a straight stitch first. Then I picked a different decorative stitch that wasn't as dense as the original. Even though I've been sewing since I was seven years old, then started quilting in 1987, there is always something to learn. I seem to learn everything the hard way. :)

A Friday the 13th Finish, With A Black Cat For Good Luck

I finished "Crooked Courthouse Steps", a Bonnie Hunter pattern. Changing the pattern a bit, I put sashing and cornerstones between the blocks. The backing is some fabric that I've had in my stash for just about 2 decades. Nice to get that used up. I got a little carried away with the free motion quilting. Glide thread is a dream to quilt with, no breakage or lint. Igor had to get in there and show how black cats go with everything.

Fabric Gift Bags

Here we go again, it's fabric gift bag season. Every year I make some to reduce paper waste and use my Christmas fabric stash. I've made different styles, my favourite is lined and has boxed corners. I used to make drawstring bags, but it's faster and easier to just tie the top with a ribbon or some fancy yarn.

Second Mystery Table Runner

After I made a mistake by cutting the ends wrong on the first table runner, I made another one the correct way. There were leftover fabrics from the botched project, so I used them and added a few others. Now I don't feel like such a failure, haha! Look HERE for some information about the pattern.

Ten Minute Table Runner

I wanted to make a quick hostess gift for when we go for Christmas dinner. I looked up "Ten Minute Table Runner" tutorials on You Tube. There were a few videos on there, one had the centre of the runner measuring 9 inches wide, the other video called for a 12-inch wide centre. I went down the middle and made mine 10 1/2 inches. The outer piece measured 18 inches wide. I put medium weight interfacing between the two layers. There is a reason why my table runner took two hours to make instead of ten minutes. I couldn't figure out how to make a decorative stitch on my machine. The instructions in the manual are vague. I kept pressing buttons and making test samples. The machine would stitch for a bit, then switch to a different stitch on its own. Finally, I got it to switch back and forth regularly, but it wasn't really what I wanted. I was so frustrated, I let it do its thing on the runner and called it a day. There probably isn't anything wrong with the machine, it's the nut behind the wheel.