Rainbow rows - finished top

For the past year I've been participating in the quilt along organised by Irene of Sugaridoo, and Bernina Sewing Machines.

This month's assignment was to sew the top together, either completely, or in three sections of four rows each, to make quilting easier. Here are my three sections, laid out as they will finally be joined after quilting.

This quilt is enormous! Too big for my camera lens!

Irene gave the instructions for a new row every four weeks, and included reverse appliqué and foundation piecing as well as "ordinary" piecing. As well as the written instructions on the Bernina blog, she also published a YouTube video to reinforce the instructions. I learnt a lot from doing this and my phobia over foundation (paper) piecing is largely dispelled. 

Speaking of rainbows: how about this one:

I don't think I've ever seen so complete a rainbow. It continued round to the tree tops off to the left, although it was less well defined on the left hand side. There was also a reversed "shadow" rainbow above; something I had never seen before! Unfortunately it had faded before I could take a photo.

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Stay safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

 

               

July: one monthly goal

This is beginning to get tedious, but my goal for July is the same as for May!

To finish my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2016-17 Mystery Quilt, "En Provence" which I had to stop quilting during the second week of May because my machine was playing up! Since then it's been back to the dealer twice, and I've been on holiday.

My machine is now back from the dealer who replaced the BSR section of the machine's wiring. The fault has been ascertained: the wiring in the BSR foot itself. We are now trying to convince Bernina that it was faulty within the guarantee period, even though their technician failed to find anything 2 years after purchase. Rewiring the foot is impossible so the choice is: buy a new one (about €600.-) or learn to quilt with the darning foot (like thousands of others.) The dealer gave me some hints about positioning the BSR plug to give the fewest problems, but I still have to try it.

Now I'm all set to go again!

I'm linking to

just click on the button to see more July goals from other quilters.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Quilting "En Provence": problems!

Finally I started quilting my version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt well over a year after I finished piecing the top. I really love this quilt whose colours remind me of La Provence district of France. 

Layering and starting quilting was my One Monthly Goal for May which I posted about here.

Well, that was done in the first week. In fact I had quilted about two thirds of the quilt and thought this will be finished this month. The photo below of the back shows how far I got.

But then my Bernina Stitch Regulator started playing up. The BSR suddenly lost contact with the rest of the machine. The BSR no longer registered on the display screen and (this is the worst) the machine continued to run, at full speed. As the feed dogs were lowered the needle just went up and down about a hundred times before I managed to switch everything off. I tried to fix it myself: unplug and then reconnect the BSR, unplug and clean the plug with a piece of fabric, twiddle the plug a bit in the socket (you realise I'm grasping at straws here) and yes, there it was again - connection made and off we go again. For about five minutes. Then repeat ... several times!

It spent a week at the dealer's and the result was: a service and nothing wrong with the BSR! OK, maybe the service had fixed whatever it was that was causing the interference.

 No. This morning I tried to continue and after about 10 minutes it happened again. This time no cleaning plugs, no twiddling; first thing tomorrow morning it's going back to the expert.



 
 I met my goal for May as I started quilting my "En Provence". I'm frustrated as I'd hoped to have the binding on by now! 
As I probably shan't be able to post until the middle of June I'm sending a link to this post to Patty at Elm Street quilts, but won't be able to post a goal for June.

To see more May achievements click on the OMG button on my right hand side bar on or after 26 May.


Happy Sewing

Marly.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge week 20: 3½ blocks

Three blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge finished this week

and one waiting for a pale green to make the side pieces. The only pale green I have is too blue to go with the yellowy green I've used for the coins. Just imagine that the design wall, complete with threads, is a beautiful pale green: the colour of the polka dots but without their darker background.

Further this week I have been practising dot to dot quilting, as I mentioned here. 

If I thought it would be easy doing straight lines with free motion quilting I had another think coming! I moved clockwise around this square sandwich, starting at the 3 o'clock position in this photo. The last square I quilted is at the 12 o'clock position, and is definitely the best. This would probably be so much easier with the Fine Line Rulers several fellow bloggers have recommended. Unfortunately I understand they are not compatible with Bernina machines. If anyone knows otherwise, or of a ruler that does fit with the Bernina, please let me know, and no, I'm not going to saw a piece out of my BSR to make it fit the ruler!

I believe, however, even without a ruler, the lines are getting straighter (maybe wishful thinking) but the extreme bumps are where the fabric got caught in the space between the arm of the machine and the top of the table. It's a question of adjusting the height of the platform that the machine stands on so that the arm is a couple of millimetres HIGHER  than the table top, rather than LOWER, as at present. It wouldn't be a difficult operation if it were not that the machine has to be removed first, and of course put back afterwards. That is the difficult part: aligning the the bolt that goes through the platform with the screw-hole in the bottom of the machine.

I'm linking up to:

So head over there to see what other quilters have been making this week.