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.
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.
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ours this year was this cute little fabric basket that’s already in use in my sewing room (the safety pins have since been replaced by buttons lol).
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?????
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.
myrtBquilting 