For the Bernina Girls ... No. 55 Leather Roller Foot

If you like sewing circles or curves, the 55 Leather Roller Foot is a must have.  I love this foot and use it often.  I don't know if other manufacturers have an equivalent foot, but if you're a Bernina girl, you're in luck.

I like circle quilts.

The 55 leather roller foot naturally likes to sew in a circle.
We were meant for each other.

I use the freezer paper method for piecing circles
and this foot allows me to keep the freezer paper in place while piecing
so my circles are perfecto.

I also like quilting in circles.

Another perfect use for the roller foot.

I do start out with an open embroidery foot when doing circles.

Because the circle is so tight at the start, I free motion whip it around
to start the spiral, and then change to the roller foot.

The leather roller foot is a little difficult to find,

but I think most dealers would order it for you.

This foot was a Happy Birthday to Me present one year. 

I give myself the best presents.

A little video presentation from Bernina on the 55 foot ...

Video Courtesy of Bernina International

Magna Doodle: How to Teach Your Arms a Free Motion Quilting Pattern

Magna Doodles . . . they are not just for the kids!

It's one thing to have a FMQ idea for your quilt, it's another thing to execute it as it is in your mind's eye.

I used to use lots of paper 'teaching' my hand the motion needed for FMQ.  The magna doodle saves me paper and it's an easy erase for starting over.

Tessellating Hearts . . . easy and fast

Practicing helps to figure out what you need to do (or not to do) to turn
the pattern when you come to the edge.  The bottom right turn above is not a good turn.
Need more practice.

FMQ is actually not about the hands, it's about the arms.

When teaching yourself to FMQ, 'draw' with your arms as if they and the quilt are one.  Your hands are only what connect you to the quilt.

If you FMQ from your arms instead of your hands, the stitches will be much smoother and more even.

Flowers and Leaves

Practice helps show you where you may have gaps at the quilt edges,
like at the top and the bottom left corner.

Feathers . . . I find feathers very difficult to 'learn'.

As our penmanship is unique to each of us,
so I think is how we 'write' FMQ feathers.
I would like my feathers to look like someone else's,
but they always seem to look like MY feathers.
Feathers remain a skill in progress for me.

Mark the Quarter Inch Line

Use tape to mark your sewing table so you have a permanent guide for the quarter inch line.

This is especially helpful when sewing half square triangles.

Align the points of fabric squares with the tape and the presser foot and easily sew a 1/4 inch seam on either side.

It is also helpful having that extended 1/4 inch line to align the fabric edge as you feed it through.

More Favorite Quilting Tools . . .

Telescoping Magnet

Easy way to find and pick up wayward pins.

Get these at a guy store (like Harbor Freight)

for a quarter of the price you will find them at a girl store.

Easy Thread/Self Threading Needle

If you do your own machine quilting these are indispensable for dealing with thread ends.  I always pull the bottom thread to the top so there are no birds nests (or eagle aeries) on the back.

Thread snaps in . . .  no needle threading

Insert the needle along the sew line,

snap thread into the needle, 

pull through and trim ends.

The June Taylor 1/2 inch Shape Cut

A great time saver when cutting strips and pieces - you can cut multiple pieces without re-positioning the ruler.  It is easy to nick the rotary cutter blade, but if you drop the blade thru the slots when positioning instead of going up thru the teardrop, you can reduce the nicks.  Nicks and all tho, I use this ALL THE TIME.

Also very useful to square blocks up to 12 inches.

(Circle is my own marking for squaring some circle blocks.)

Thumb PinCushion

When I was working on an applique project I wanted to easily stow little applique pins as I worked around the project and found these instructions for a Thumb PinCushion.  Thank you Annie for your great instructions. http://loopylace.com/anniescrazyworld/?p=709

The PinCushion has become a very handy thing for those projects with lots of pinning . . . matching fabric pattern at seams for quilt backs is one, laying out a tricky pattern on the design wall, and the pinning done to have half a chance of sewing a perfect point.

Just one thing to learn, insert long pins at an angle . . . it's not pleasant going straight in and sticking your thumb.

I haven't come up with a backing yet to keep the pins from poking through that still keeps the PinCushion comfortable.  Leather?

Tip:  To help keep pins and needles sharp, use steel wool for the stuffing of your pincushions.

The Quilting Room

Most of the quilting gets done in the basement on a Pfaff Grand Quilter, the original with the inspira frame.  Although it was bought a bit on impulse, I rationalized that it would pay for itself after 10 full size quilts based on the cost of sending a top out to a pro.  For once in my life, the rationalization proved correct . . . the grand Quilter is not just a favorite tool, but indispensable.

The original setup for the frame has a shelf for pantographs, but I took it off last year as I quickly found that I like free form, free motion quilting.  Pillow shams for mom and dad's anniversay quilt are loaded and ready for quilting.

Hanging behind the quilter is a silk crazy quilt that I found at a garage sale years ago. The foundation backing is cotton feedsacks.  The binding remains unfinished, some of the silks are shredding if not totally disintegrated . . . and I love it.



It is signed, 82 YRs. E.E.R 1911.  I'm estimating she was born in 1829.  Andrew Jackson was president, the first US patent for a typerwriter was granted.  I sometimes ponder what her life was like, but I can only imagine.  E.E.R . . . thank you for your beautiful handwork and I treasure your now 101 yr old quilt.

The embroidery is lovely.  I've read that silk was sold by the pound and was often treated with lead to increase the weight and that is why some silks don't hold up.     

I don't spend much time in a room that doesn't have a TV.  I cancelled the cable subscription last fall (don't miss it a bit).  I've got a Roku box (love it) so I can stream Netflix (love it).  Biography of Dolly Madison is playing.