Much of my time is being spent at home recently while the dog recuperates after surgery. She needs to be confined for 6 weeks and carried outside at the moment. What better time to work on a few UFO’s.

The quilt on the sewing  machine is a jelly roll quilt which I made several years ago. ( The instructions for making this quilt can be on this blog). Photo of the quilt top here. I am quilting it all over using an irregular railroad track pattern.

Another quilt I found while rifling through my cupboards was this partially machine quilted demo quilt. I started this in about 2000 when I worked for a sewing machine company and used to demo machine quilting at shows. As she can see I never bothered to remove the markings on the unfinished blocks so after being left for more than 15 years they have turned brown. Really not sure what I am going to do about this yet!  I have never had this problem before and know from experience that water erasable pens are excellent so long as you wash the markings out within 6 months.

The close up photo shows what a mess the markings have made… lesson learnt!

I am still exploring the stitches on the 770QE that are suitable for quilting. Most of the stitches are the same as the 820 so not too big a learning curve.

One of my favourite stitches on the 820 was stitch number 4 which is the same stitch on the 770QE.  I have therefore updated the post I did on the blog several years ago.

Not all the stitches on the machine are suitable for quilting. I thought I would try to feature a stitch  suitable for quilting with the dual feed every week on my blog. Not everyone is confident with free motion quilting so these stitches are can be used by those sewers who prefer to work with there walking foot.

Below are samples of variations of stitch 4 and how I stitched them. You can get your stitches to look like this by changing the stitch width and stitch length. These stitches are all 9mm wide.

Draw up either a horizontal or diagonal grid of your preferred  size. I used a 1″ grid for the sake of demonstration but you can use a 2″ or 3″ grid etc on your quilt.

• Put the 20D open toe applique on and engage the dual feed.
• The top row of stitching is the default setting for stitch 4 so no changes have been made.
• The setting for the stitches on the horizontal grid are Width = 9mm and Length is 3.90
• This grid can be sewn either as parallel lines or cross hatched, both variations are shown on the Sample.
• Diagonal grid settings are:- Width 9mm and Length 3, you can see that by decreasing the stitch length the curves have become more wavy.
• This grid can also be stitched out as parallel lines or cross hatched. The choice is yours!

I purchased a set of rulers and adjustable ruler foot 72 when I got my new Bernina 770QE in August. Since that time I have been experimenting with various rulers on small samples. I am currently working on a large quilt, but, I am now feeling this was a bit ambitious to begin with. Time will tell!

The sample below uses Aurifil cotton thread and combines work with straight line and curved rulers ! Very few markings are needed which will be great once I get the hang of things.

I began the sample below a year ago with only the centre of the block being completed. A curved ruler was used to complete the block. I used glide thread in the bobbin and through the needle. I really love it sheen.

Since my last post wayback in January I have got a new sewing machine and my passion for quilting is back.
I have been busy learning all about ruler work using a Patsy Thomson DVD a must for anyone learning ruler work on a domestic machine.
At the moment I am working on a reverse applique project inspired by Angela Waters

http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com/2013/11/04/the-quilt-it-up-cut-it-up-quilt/

I am really enjoying this project, however there is room for improvement as I am finding the overlay is fraying a lot so plan to experiment using a fusible on the back of the overlay. Will keep you posted on how this project goes.

Recently I made a few journal covers and  used many of the fancy stitches on my 820 for the quilting. Not all the stitches on the machine are suitable for quilting. I thought I would try to feature a stitch  suitable for quilting with the dual feed every week on my blog. Not everyone is confident with free motion quilting so these stitches are can be used by those sewers who prefer to work with there walking foot.

Below are samples of variations of stitch 4 and how I stitched them. You can get your stitches to look like this by changing the stitch width and stitch length. These stitches are all 9mm wide.

Draw up either a horizontal or diagonal grid of your preferred  size. I used a 1″ grid for the sake of demonstration but you can use a 2″ or 3″ grid etc on your quilt.

• Put the 20D open toe applique on and engage the dual feed.
• The top row of stitching is the default setting for stitch 4 so no changes have been made.
• The setting for the stitches on the horizontal grid are Width = 9mm and Length is 3.90
• This grid can be sewn either as parallel lines or cross hatched, both variations are shown on the Sample.
• Diagonal grid settings are:- Width 9mm and Length 3, you can see that by decreasing the stitch length the curves have become more wavy.
• This grid can also be stitched out as parallel lines or cross hatched. The choice is yours!

During the holiday I signed up for a Craftsy class with Leah Day as I really enjoy machine quilting and I am always ready to learn more.

Many of the fillers Leah teaches are very different to the type of fillers I have normally used on my quilts over the years. I have started work on my sample, but couldn’t resist adding some of the fillers I have come to love.

I am using Silk Finish thread through the needle which is a Superior titanium 70/10 topstitch needle with bottom line in the bobbin. I work on the much maligned Bernina 820 which I have now grown to love. I must admit I thought I had made a big mistake when I first got the machine 5 years ago and could quite easily have thrown it out the window! Good job it is a heavy machine. It has been a matter of coming to terms with a different way of operating a sewing machine. I now love using a wide variety of various threads on this machine and look forward to the challenge of using different threads on it. I am amazed at some of the machine’s capabilities for quilts with using fancy stitches instead of straight stitch only and will show some of the possibilities in a later post.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope this year brings you all health and happiness and plenty of opportunities to sew. Have you made any New Year resolutions? I have only made one and that is to find more time to sew. Our guild activities have kept me so busy during the last couple years so I intend to make time to do what I enjoy most… machine quilting. At the moment I am having way too much fun, working on a few samples for my workshop in March. My friend Phil Thomas has let me use some of the beautiful fabrics she bought in Bali and they are a delight to work on. I am experimenting and playing around with different thread combinations to see what suits my machine best. On this small sample I am working with I have used Mettler Polysheen and Aurifil cotton 50wt thread with a size 70/10 Superior Titanium needle. The quilt is reversible and I am working on the burgundy side, but must say I prefer the back of the quilt at this stage though I could change my mind once the quilt is completed!  The images above are of the front of the quilt. Below is the reverse of the little quilt. As you can see it is a work in progress which I hope to complete by the end of the week!