Busy day

I've been keeping to my pledge to work on the Quilter's Academy books and yesterday I decided to work on more than one lesson. The lessons in class 110 are all about tools and since it's not new to me I figured I could easily work in more than one lesson.

Yesterday I'd worked on my quilting space. It really is a small room crammed with way, way too much junk. I'm hoping that as I get moving and get some of the quilts done I want to get done I will make a bit more room in here. But who knows... As I work on more projects it may not clear things out like I hope. I have one project on the design wall that I want to work on in conjunction with the other stuff I'm doing. It's a quilt for my son that I started last year. I don't think I have quite enough fabric to finish it, and so I'm going to have to do some improvising with borders. I've tried to get some more of the fabric but no one has it.

If I can get rid of the boxes of extra junk, that will give me a bit more room. But the room is always going to be smaller than ideal. I guess I should just be grateful that I have a space now.

Yesterday's lessons in the Quilter's Academy started with the sewing machine. When I started making quilts I had an old Singer. I don't even remember the model, it was just a little workhorse but eventually it died. For a long time then I had no machine and when I went back to quilting I pieced by hand. Eventually a friend gave me the opportunity to buy one of her Singer Featherweights and I pieced many a quilt on that machine.

But ever since I first heard about the machines way back when I started quilting I'd lusted after a Bernina. When I split up with my long time lover I splurged and bought one. One of the things stressed in the Quilter's Academy is to buy a good machine. I've been very, very happy with my Bernina. After reading the chapter I took some time to look over my machine and reacquaint myself with the feet I use. Although Harriet recommends using a #13 foot with the Bernina, I don't have that foot and am not sure what difference there is between it and my #37. I've been pretty happy piecing with my current foot and I think I'll continue using that one.

I did purchase a straight stitch throat plate, as mentioned in the book and have found that keeps my fabric from being eaten as easily as sometimes happens with the regular throat plate.

Lesson three talks about rotary cutters and mats. Harriet and Carrie say to try a variety of rotary cutters and find the one that works best for you. I've tried a few brands but I always seem to come back to Olfa. The lesson mostly concentrated on introducing things and didn't get too in depth on how to cut other than mentioning the proper way to hold the cutter. I have not been holding my cutter with my finger on top as per the book, so when I actually do some cutting again I am going to definitely try that. She talks about various mats and again, I've tried a few but always come back to my Olfa. I have the large one 24" by 48".

The last lesson in class 110 talked about rules. I have a lot of rulers and templates but I actually don't have a couple of the sizes that the authors recommend you use. I don't have 2.5" x 12 or the 4" by 12. One thing mentioned is how you should use the smallest ruler you can use to help prevent slippage. Since I occasionally have problems with the ruler slipping, I'm really tempted to buy the smaller sizes and see if that helps my accuracy. When I started this venture I'd vowed to myself to not spend any money if I could avoid it, so I'm still debating whether or not to spring for the rulers.

By now you are saying "This isn't a blog post it's a book!"

In addition to the Quilter's Academy books I have been working on a few other projects. I think I'll save those till another post!

I will leave you with my quilting companions...