Tag: quilting

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″
2026/07/05 – pieced by my SIL Terry. She began some FMQ and I finished quilting it with a little FMQ and some machine embroidered motifs.
37.75″ x 39.5″

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″
2026/07/05 – Community quilt pieced by one of our Guild members and quilted by me.
62.5″ x 62.5″
2026/07/05 – Community quilt pieced by one of our Guild members and quilted by me.
62.5″ x 62.5″
2026/07/10 – Community quilt pieced by one of our Guild members and quilted by me.
47″ x 70.5″
quilt pieced by one of our Guild members and quilted by me.
47″ x 70.5″
quilt pieced by one of our Guild members and quilted by me.
12″ blocks

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″
2026/05/28 pieced by my sister-in-law Terry and machine quilted ITH on my Bernina 790+.
39″ x 49.25″
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″
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″
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″
2026/05/10 Terry’s HST quilt custom quilted on my Sweet Sixteen – loops & swirls. & lazy meander
54.5″ x 70″
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″
2026/05/10 Terry’s Canada 150 quilt custom quilted on my Bernina 790+.
41″ x 64″

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!

2026/03/16 – Inspired by a wall hanging pattern, Masks from the Past by Lucy Fazely in the April 2001 issue of the Quick & Easy Quilting magazine.


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.

img_2191



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 .

Approx. 5″ coaster, for a friend

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
2026/02/27 playing with the *free* Bernina Artista 730 embroidery machine.


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.
2025/02/05 Fabric basket, our January retreat project.


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.

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


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.
2026/02/25 The beginnings of my soaring swirls quilt.


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/
2026/02/11 Yet another bowl cozy
2026/01/13 Miscellaneous scrappy pan protectors.

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.

2026/01/10 – Community Quilt
42.5″w x 42.25″l
2026/01/10 – Community Quilt
42.5″w x 42.25″l

One last community quilt for 2025…

…and some last minute Christmas projects

2025/12/31

I kept all of my sewing/embroidery/quilting machines very busy in December………and forgot to take photos of some of the projects. The final quilting project of the year is a quilt assembled from blocks I won at HAW (Hands Across the Water – an annual gathering of quilters from several guilds in our general geographic region) in 2024. Because I recently purchased a magnetic hoop for my Bernina 790, I’ve been wanting to try it out and this quilt gave me the opportunity. The hoop was definitely worth getting and with having a Bernina discount and a gift card I didn’t cringe too much at the price lol.

2025/12/31 – Community quilt
FMQ and embroidered motif
48.5″ x 60″
2025/12/31 – Community quilt
FMQ and embroidered motif
48.5″ x 60″
2025/12/31 – Community quilt
FMQ and embroidered motif
48.5″ x 60″
2025/12/31 – Community quilt
FMQ and embroidered motif
48.5″ x 60″
2025/12/31 – Community quilt
FMQ and embroidered motif
48.5″ x 60″
2025/12/21 – 10″ bowl cozies
Christmas gifts for all my favourite ladies!
2025/12/11 – Christmas gift card holder/tree ornament. There is a pocket on the back to hold a gift card. The front has space on which a name could be added.
Machine embroidered on my Bernina 790+
Approx. 4″ x 4″
2025/12/11 – Christmas gift card holder/tree ornament. There is a pocket on the back to hold a gift card. The front has space on which a name could be added.
Machine embroidered on my Bernina 790+
Approx. 4″ x 4″
2025/12/11 – Christmas gift card holder/tree ornament. There is a pocket on the back to hold a gift card. The front has space on which a name could be added.
Machine embroidered on my Bernina 790+
Approx. 4″ x 4″2025/12/11 – Christmas gift card holder/tree ornament. There is a pocket on the back to hold a gift card. The front has space on which a name could be added.
Machine embroidered on my Bernina 790+
Approx. 4″ x 4″
2025/12/07 – Trivet
A free design available here: https://janinebabichdesigns.com/product/snowman-trivet/
8″ x 8″

O the weather outside is frightful…..

Because scraps breed in the closets in this house, I seem to have a never ending supply with which to create scrappy community quilts. This latest one was inspired by a post in the Scrappy Girls Club Facebook group by Betty Buttega.

2025/12/08

Environment Canada tells us we’re experiencing an ‘atmospheric river’, which really means very windy with lots of rain; there’s a high stream advisory in place right now. I know after being out running errands earlier this morning that I’d much rather be inside, even tho it’s relatively warm – +8.9C. So….quilting time…or machine embroidery time…definitely not outdoors time!

Because scraps breed in the closets in this house, I seem to have a never ending supply with which to create scrappy community quilts. This latest one was inspired by a post in the Scrappy Girls Club Facebook group by Betty Buttega.

Most of the scraps that went into this one were my own, but a few came to me via the Guild. I prewash all my own fabrics, but it’s not always practical to wash gifted scraps. Usually, that’s OK, but NOT THIS TIME! I usually wash any quilts I make before they go out into the community and that’s for two reasons: 1. They have spray adhesive in them and I have no idea if the quilt is going to someone with allergies or sensitivities and it’s best the quilt is squeaky clean (altho I’ve never heard a quilt squeak lol). And 2. What if any of the fabrics bleed when washed? It’s better I find out than the recipient.

And so this time, that’s exactly what happened. That purple print (not my fabric!) bled. I even used colour catchers in the wash, but obviously not enough. So there it is, soaking in the bathtub in a mixture of hot water and Dawn dish soap. And yes, that really does the trick; I’ve had to do that once before. See the pale mauve water? I highly recommend Susie Quilts tutorial if you have this misfortune befall you.

2025/12/08 – Soaking the quilt after colour bleed…Sigh….

In any case, here’s what the quilt looks like when it’s dry and no colour bleed and ready to go to someone in need in our community. Pieced on my little Husqvarna H/Class and custom ruler quilted by me on my Sweet Sixteen. It’s approximated 56″ x 72″.

2025/12/07 Another scrappy Community quilt done.
Pieced and free motion quilted by me on my Sweet Sixteen.
2025/12/07 Another scrappy Community quilt done.
Pieced and free motion quilted by me on my Sweet Sixteen.
2025/12/07 Another scrappy Community quilt done.
Pieced and free motion quilted by me on my Sweet Sixteen.
2025/12/07 Another scrappy Community quilt done.
Pieced and free motion quilted by me on my Sweet Sixteen.

And just to have a little fun, here’s a little machine embroidery ITH (in the hoop) 8″ x 8″ trivet I whipped up yesterday just for fun. It’s a free design from Jeanine Babich Designs, comes in two sizes, and can be found here: https://janinebabichdesigns.com/product/snowman-trivet/

2025/12/07 – Trivet
A free design available here: https://janinebabichdesigns.com/product/snowman-trivet/

What’s under my needle today?

2025/11/01

It’s been awhile since I posted anything but summer is a slow (or non-existent) time for quilting for me. But here we are in late Autumn and I’m now neglecting most other activities except quilting!

A few weeks ago I picked up a couple of the Guild’s sandwiched community quilts to quilt. They were both folded with the backing facing out so I had no idea what I was getting. What a shock when I discovered one of them was a very colourful quilt from a Judy Niemeyer pattern! I’ve not quilted one of those before and I’m having a difficult time resisting quilting it to death, but I hope to do it justice without spending too much time on it! I have no idea who made either of the quilts I picked up but they’re both lovely.

Community Quilt

Finished Projects

The other community quilt is done, laundered and ready to go to our Community Quilt coordinator for distribution to those in need in our community. We have many talented quilters in our Guild and it’s always a treat to quilt something they’ve pieced.

Community Quilt 52.25″ x 53.25″
Front border-Community Quilt 52.25″ x 53.25″
Back -Community Quilt 52.25″ x 53.25″
Community Quilt 52.25″ x 53.25″


One of my sisters-in-law trusted me with one of her quilts last fall and it took me until this fall to quilt it! It’s from a pattern, Almost Houndstooth, that she’s pieced more than once and she always does a lovely job. This one took awhile to speak to me, but when I knew they were coming for a visit I made is speak a little faster! I’m waiting now for a photo of it once she has time to bind it. All the time I was quilting it I thought of it as the batman quilt; I wonder why?!! lol.

Marj’s quilt – pieced by her and custom quilted by me.
Marj’s quilt – pieced by her and custom quilted by me.


And, of course, there’s always a machine embroidery project either underway or finished. My daughter and I both needed new mini oven mitts and when Kreative Kiwi posted this pattern for $1 that was the incentive I needed to make some for us.

In the Hoop oven mitts.

What’s next?

I purchased a magnetic hoop earlier this Fall for my Bernina 790 plus that I haven’t played with yet. I’m yearning to experiment with E to E quilting with it…..

And I have have two beautiful quilt patterns just begging to be started….. and Christmas is coming……

Quilt show and coasters and bibs and scrappy quilts and more …..

I should be gardening this morning, but it’s raining….

Where did the time go since our Guild’s quilt show in March? If you haven’t already checked that out, be sure to click the link and have a look at the fabulous entries by our members. I entered several items this year but my favourite was, of course, another HST quilt. This one was totally scrappy as is much of what I make these days. Other than the white, the fabrics are almost all from a friend who is only too happy to give her scraps to me and I’m too foolish to say no! She has such good taste in fabrics and colours that her scraps are a total joy with which to work. Thanks Kathy! Pieced by me and custom machine quilted (straight lines and feathers) on my Sweet Sixteen (8 million+ stitches on it and counting!). And if you come to stay with us, you’ll likely be sleeping under it.
Size: 78.5″ x 92″.

Once the quilt show was over with, I could move on to other tasks. A friend asked me to make some novelty machine embroidered coasters so on a welcome change from quilting, I whipped these up. I haven’t heard yet what the reaction was to the last one lol. Machine embroidered ITH (In The Hoop) on my Bernina 790 Plus and custom designed by me.

And then the mini oven mitts…..I tried a new design and enlisted my daughter to test them. We are both going hmmmmmm…shouldn’t they be a little smaller? And the answer is yes, but I haven’t had time to modify and make the second pair; other more fun projects have preempted that one. In the meantime, my old ones are almost falling apart…..

And then there are the bibs…..full body ones. I’ve been making bibs from this pattern for at least 20 years. The pattern is “Overall Bib” by Pieceful Expressions and is still available online. I prefer to make them with flannel on one side and rip stop nylon on the reverse side so moisture doesn’t soak through onto baby’s clothes. Moms love them. And even tho the pattern calls for a Velcro closure at the neckline I was soon advised (probably by the first recipient) that that didn’t work well as once the child was old enough a good tug would result in the bib coming right off! The closures of choice are either buttons/buttonholes or heavy duty snaps. Ha, ha! let them try to get that undone! I like a button the best as Mom can reposition it to control the size of the neck opening. Never let it be said I can’t outsmart a baby!

These bibs are for a charming little man who is almost 10 months old and I’m told he is always happy. Mom loves anything dinosaur themed so when I spotted this fabric at a sale, I knew it had to be mine even if it meant begging a quilting friend to put it in my hands instead of hers. Lucky for me, she could be coaxed. There are two sizes here, 12 months and 18 months, and he shouldn’t outgrow them for a little while.

And now for the last two quilts…… If one of my sisters-in-law is reading this, she’ll be wondering ‘but what about my quilt???’. Last fall she gave me one to be quilted and what with the quilt show and some of these other fun projects, I just haven’t worked my way around to it. And I did have to leave it on the table for awhile waiting for it to ‘speak’ to me……lol. But now it’s next; I promise!

Our Guild provides quilts to people in need in our community. As examples, some go to Oncology at our hospital and others may go to fire victims. Annually, we have a quilt sandwiching bee where we assemble the tops, batting and backing and our Community Quilt Coordinator hands them out to members who quilt them. Well, we just had one of those sessions and I took a couple of the quilts, one I’d made and one another member pieced, and I just finished quilting them. Our supply of Community Quilts has run low so this will help top it up. Both were custom free motion quilted by me on my Sweet Sixteen.

And now the sun is shining and yard/garden work is calling me!

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