myrtBquilting

Christmas in July?

2026/07/11

Over the past few weeks I’ve been playing with my magnetic hoop on my Bernina 790 plus to to do E2E (end to end OR edge to edge) quilting with the embroidery module. It’s been a game changer as I’ve probably mentioned in other posts. Well, I’m still practicing. Here’s a link if you want to know more about this type of quilting, and it’s non machine specific.

I’ve discovered that if you want to quilt anything larger than a lap quilt on an embroidery machine you really need the reverse stitch version of the design as well as the regular one. With that, it’s possible to work from the mid point of the quilt out to each side so that you never have more than half the quilt bunched up in the throat. More on that in another post…. So far Designs by juju is one site that provides it as standard; you don’t have to ask for it. So of course I’ve been buying several of their designs!

A couple of years ago I won a door prize at a nearby Guild sponsored event – a beautiful Christmas table runner kit. I pieced it quickly, even sandwiched it, and then it sat there in my UFO collection until now. Aha! I thought, an ideal item on which to practice ITH (in the hoop) E2E quilting. Off to Designs by juju I go to find this lovely poinsettia design – perfect for this! Then feeling in the Christmas mood (no, not really lol) I reached for my SIL’s laptop sized Christmas quilt. She had done some FMQ elements in several of the blocks so I did a little of that as well as some ITH motifs. That required more learning! The blocks are 12″ and my machine is only capable of stitching out an 8″ wide design. Fortunately, Embrilliance, the embroidery software I use, has an Enthusiast module and one of its functions is the ability to split designs….so yes…more money out the door! Problem solved; I split the 11.5″ motif I wanted to use and stitched it in two sections in each block (thanks to pinpoint placement on my Bernina you can’t even tell where the two sections join!).

2026/06/27 – Christmas table runner 13.5″ x 45″

More practicing with machine embroidered quilting motifs and E2E quilting in the hoop – a beautiful mauve/purple table runner pieced by my SIL and gifted to me and a couple of community quilts. What fun! Both the table runner and the square quilt are quilted with Design by juju’s Overlapping Swirls E2E design, quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

2026/07/28 – pieced by my SIL Terry and quilted by me.
17″ x 52.75″

Not quilting this time!

2026/06/14

I took a little break from quilting and tackled a project I’ve been wanting to do for some time – make something that would enable me to organize my embroidery hoops & their related accessories. Up until now, I’ve stored them all jumbled together in the travel cases for my Bernina which are nowhere near my sewing room.

I’ve long been a fan of Sweet Pea Embroidery Designs and not long ago they developed a pattern for an embroidery hoop hanger; just what I needed! From past experience, I’ve found Sweet Pea’s project instructions always thorough and accurate usually with accompanying videos and this one was no different thankfully! I certainly wouldn’t call this one a beginner project!

In any case, I finished it today and am very pleased. My hoops are now stored neatly in my sewing room, the hanger makes it easy to find the size I want (metric or imperial) and pockets (scrappy -except for this, who’s going to see them but me lol) on the back store clamps and other accessories I use with them. Funny thing tho…I seem to be missing one of my hoops…proof I guess that my haphazard storage system wasn’t cutting it! I’m sure it will turn up and I do have a duplicate so it’s not a disaster.

The dimensions are approximately 8″ W x 26″ L. Machine embroidered with my Bernina Plus Crystal Edition. I edited the embroidery flap panels in Embrilliance software to add the text for the hoop dimensions and the top panel to add my name.

And the coasters? Well, they were a fun little machine embroidered project for a mature couple, second marriage for both, who didn’t need or want wedding presents!

2026/06/14 – Embroidery Hoop hanger.
Design is from Sweet Pea Embroidery Designs.
Dimension are 8″ x ~26″

And two more….

2026/06/01

So far I’ve quilted six of my sister-in-law’s quilts, all beautiful ones. These two are numbers five and six. The feature fabrics in the smaller quilt followed my SIL home from her trip to Ireland a few years ago, so to complement the shamrocks in the fabric I selected an E2E embroidery design from Designs by juju called Shamrocks end-to-end Quilting Embroidery Design. I love the owls in the flannel backing fabric. Pattern source unknown.

I’m really enjoying being able to quilt E2E with my Bernina 790+. It’s the large magnetic hoop (210 mm x 400 mm) and the pin-point positioning that really makes this possible and practical. Check my Tips, Tricks & Tutorials page for Bernina links dealing with this. It’s a game changer!

2026/05/28 pieced by my sister-in-law Terry and machine quilted ITH on my Bernina 790+.
39″ x 49.25″

The second quilt is a beautifully pieced Christmas themed, sampler block quilt. Again, I used the magnetic hoop. The motif in each of the 12″ blocks is one from Embroidery Library’s A Feather Quilting Design Pack. The E2E is #16 in the Quilting section of the built in embroidery designs on my Bernina 790+ (for those of you with a 770 model I think you have it too). I stretched and widened it to the appropriate size for both the quilt’s border width and the length of my magnetic hoop. This quilt measures 53.25″ x 66″.

2026/06/02 pieced by my sister-in-law Terry, machine quilted ITH on my Bernina 790+ by me.
53.25″ x 66″

The labels are designed in Embrilliance (I have Essentials and Enthusiast) and machine embroidered on my 790+. Tomorrow I’ll do the hand stitching part of the labels (two edges are stitched into the binding edge of the quilt) and they’ll be all done and ready for delivery!

Three more quilts done…

2026/05/10

I’m still busy quilting my sister-in-law’s quilts and loving the work she does and admiring her skill in choosing fabric and colour; it’s such a pleasure quilting her quilts.
One of the quilts is Shimmering Triangles, a pattern by Jenny Bowker, and it’s as beautiful to view from a distance as it is close up! What a beautiful quilt, and the lucky recipient of this one is going to love it.

2026/05/10 Terry’s Shimmering Triangles quilt custom quilted on my Sweet Sixteen
56″ x 64″

I absolutely love this next one; a scrappy HST (my favourite, lol) bordered by applique. It was more fun that work quilting this one.

2026/05/10 Terry’s HST quilt custom quilted on my Sweet Sixteen
54.5″ x 70″

And now for the third one……. this Canada 150 themed one has been tucked away for a few years and was just the right size for me to experiment with an E2E quilting embroidery design. It had to be a maple leaf design, right? What else would you put on a Canada 150 quilt!

This design came from Pramukh Designs on Etsy and stitched out beautifully on my Bernina 790+ with the large magnetic hoop. I’m getting to really like that hoop!

I nearly had a disaster tho. I needed to mark guidelines on this quilt and did so as I often do, with my water soluble marker. After working a little late one night to finish quilting, I laid the quilt out on the table and started spritzing the lines with water….eeeks! The red parts started bleeding immediately!

2026/05/10 Ooop! Fabric bleed on the Canada 150 quilt

This isn’t my first rodeo with bleeding colours, so I’ve had to use the technique in the link on my Tips & Tricks page more than once & it always works for me. I soaked the quilt as directed and the water turned red immediately. I left it overnight, rinsed it twice in cool water the next morning until the water came clear, ran it through the gentle cycle in the washer & dryer & voila, true colours & no bleed. Thankfully, this happened to me and not the recipient of the quilt.

2026/05/10 Terry’s Canada 150 quilt custom quilted on my Bernina 790+.
41″ x 64″

And…it’s done!

2026/04/25

The quilting is done, the binding is done, the label and hanging sleeve are on so the only thing left to do is stitch down the lower edge of the hanging sleeve and it’s ready to go! There’s over 99,000 stitches and quite a few hours of FMQ & ruler work on this quilt and all of it was so much fun! Thanks to my SIL who provided me with this one to play with.

FMQ and ruler work was done on my HQ Sweet Sixteen and the channel quilting on the outside border was done on my Bernina 790+.

And the coaster? Well that’s a gift for a good friend with a sense of humor and we know he’ll love it lol. It’s machine embroidered on my Bernina 790+ and designed in Embrilliance Essentials. The bird is Grumpy Bird from CarrieEllenDesigns on etsy. The coaster is about 4.75″ square.

And that’s enough for today! DH (Dear Hubby) picked up takeout so thankfully no cooking tonight! I think there’s a movie in our evening while I do the final stitching on that hanging sleeve.

2026/04/25: Terry’s Sampler quilt custom quilted on my HQ Sweet Sixteen. ~41″ x ~57″

Under my needle today…

2026/04/22

I have very talented quilty sisters-in-law & periodically I get to quilt their quilts. They are excellent piecers: no lumps, bumps or wavy borders, the seams match and the points are points! This sampler row quilt belongs to one of them and begs for some custom FMQ so I’m having some fun. Will I finish it tomorrow? Maybe…..I think takeout has to be on the menu for dinner 🤣.

And it’s done!

2026/03/23

This African mask quilt was fun to make and fun to quilt. It will be given to one of our daughters and her husband; after all, those applique mask blocks are theirs from a previous quilt!

I pieced most of it at an in-house Guild retreat at the end of January using up the orphan mask blocks and a medley of African themed fabric from my stash for the background. The backing is two pieces of snuggly fleece; I only wish I’d had enough of the leopard fleece for the entire backing! I free motion and ruler quilted it on my Sweet Sixteen and it recorded almost 10 hours of quilting time and 145,000+ stitches. It measures 56″ x 79″ before laundering.

It was inspired by a wall hanging pattern, Masks from the Past, by Lucy Fazely in the April 2001 issue of the Quick & Easy Quilting magazine.

2026/03/22 African masks quilt. 56″ x 79″
Inspired by a wall hanging pattern, Masks from the Past by Lucy Fazely in the April 2001 issue of the Quick & Easy Quilting magazine.

Under my needle…..

2026/03/16

I think I get distracted too easily….I bet that never happens to any other quilter lol.

At the moment I’m quilting (on my Sweet Sixteen) this Masks from the Past quilt with a soft & cuddly fleece backing. So cuddly, in fact, that I’m loathe to give it up! So far I’ve echo quilted 26 of the 36 masks and if I weren’t sitting here typing this I’d probably have at least two more done. I love that leopard fleece backing!

I started a new quilt, Soaring Swirls, a few weeks ago and am slowly progressing on that…slowly because I work on it only on Tuesdays when a group of Guild members gather to stitch together.

But then…. our Guild decided we’d make toiletry bags (and fill them with necessities) for Grace House (a transition house) & Child & Family Services. So far I’ve made 12….sigh…. and still have a few more to make. I’m thinking they’d also be a good thing to sell in our Boutique at the next Quilt Show in 2027 so the plan is to make even more.

2026/02/27 Boxy toiletries bags for donation by our Guild to Child & Social Services and Grace House.

And then…. I found a meme that is so perfect for a good friend of mine so of course I had to use it on a coaster for her! One of the joys of machine embroidery is making personalized gifts; I’ve collected some of them in a gallery here .

And now…. I dared to look under the coffee table at the dust bunnies congregating there (they’re not even trying to hide any more!) so I guess tomorrow sometime I’ll have to deal with that….instead of more quilting.

Sew busy!

2026/03/02

Since life settled down since Christmas I’ve had time to play in my sewing room….with piecing….machine embroidery….quilt sandwiching….boxy bag construction…Canada Round Robin project….and very little actual quilting!

In January I acquired a Bernina Artista 730 that was destined for the trash heap…still in working order but experiencing random issues. The embroidery unit had never been used so the first thing I did was test it; no problems! I’ve since sent it off to our nearest Bernina tech wizard at Huckleberry’s Fabrics who has never before seen the one error message it displays at times when stitching; hopefully he’s been able to work some magic on it. Because of its age some replacement parts are not available, but he’s tuned now it and when I get it back home I’ll give it a good workout again. It’s eventually going to find its way to one of my quilty SILs as long as it’s in working condition.

2026/02/06 Bernina Artista 730 and all accessories

I joined the Canada Round Robin event last year & what fun that has been! I have row 1-5 of 7 ready to mail this week and eagerly await the flimsy coming my way to see what I’ll make for row 6.

2026/02/20 Row 5 of the Canadian Round Robin Quilt project.

At the end of January our Guild held an in house retreat and I pieced a quilt out of some African mask applique blocks left over from a quilt I completed in 2012 (the blocks, forgotten, had migrated to the bottom of a tote and I just rediscovered them). Combined with some other Africa themed fabric (yes, from my stash..), and voila! another flimsy. I sandwiched that yesterday so there’s hope it will get quilted soon lol.
All retreats have a project and ours this year was this cute little fabric basket that’s already in use in my sewing room (the safety pins have since been replaced by buttons lol).

2026/02/05 African masks flimsy. Inspired by the Masks from the Past wall hanging pattern in the April 2001 issue of Quick & Easy Quilting magazine.

In January/February our Guild decided we members will make boxy bags that we’ll fill with a selection of necessary toiletry items (toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush, etc.) and give them to Grace House (a transition house) and Child & Family Services for distribution to those who need them. I, of course, immediately got carried away and have made eight so far. Links to several construction techniques for this type of bag can be found on my Tips, Tricks & Tutorials page.

And in-between all of those creations I’ve started cutting/piecing this beautiful soaring swirls quilt, and yes, all fabric are from my stash.
Pattern available here: https://sugarstonequilts.com/product/soaring-swirls-pdf-quilt-pattern/.
And now after pulling fabric from my stash for all the these projects why or why does my stash seem to not get smaller?????

2026/03/02 soaring swirls by sugarstone quilts.

Other than that, there’s been random little machine embroidery projects or stitching projects that have caught my eye and I decide I can’t live without! That’s all until next time.

2026/02/19 Machine embroidered tea wallet and ear bud purse. Both are designs from Sweet Pea: https://swpea.com/

First Community Quilt of the new year

2026/01/11

A couple of months ago a Guild friend passed along to me a panel & backing that had been given to her to make a community quilt. In the back of my mind I thought it would be a perfect candidate on which to practice E2E (edge to edge) quilting using my embroidery/sewing machine and the magnetic hoop I purchased way back in September and have not used for E2E yet. The panel isn’t too big (42.5″ x 42.25″) so wouldn’t require an overwhelming number of rehoopings.

That, of course, required a trip down the rabbit hold finding & viewing YouTube tutorials (there are many helpful ones) and finding the right digital design with which to quilt it. I had no idea there were so many available for embroidery machines! urban elemenz has a huge selection of free ones of various sizes (I downloaded most of them…for future projects you know..lol) and decided upon Bean Sprout.

I like this method and would use it again on smaller projects. It’s certainly not as easy as using a pantograph with a long arm, but works nicely if you don’t want to FMQ a quilt. The more I practice, the faster it will go! The magnetic hoop is what makes this work!

Here’s the beautiful African animal themed panel with a fleece backing that’s perfectly suited to it! The quilt measures 42.5″ w x 42.25″ long and I can imagine some child loving to snuggle under it.

E2E quilted on my Bernina 790 Crystal Edition using the 210mm x 400mm (8.25″ x 15.75″) magnetic embroidery hoop and urban elemenz Bean Sprout digital design.

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