Things I've Learned Lately.....

These past few days I have been working on different things

and have been trying new and different ways to do them.

First,

I finished two more pair of children's socks to be donated.

I am a double pointed needle sock knitter,

but decided to try the Magic Loop that I've read about

and a friend uses.

Well... I don't know if it's because I've used dpn's for so long

or if there is a step I am missing with the magic loop,

but I am not a fan of the magic loop at all.

The cable would get twisted around my hand,

it took longer to get the stitches back onto the needle

after moving the cable around

and it felt very cumbersome.

Back to the dpn's I go.

Second,

I am quilting my Bible book blocks quilt myself.

This is the largest quilt I've quilted on my sewing machine.

 After marking, manipulating, sewing,

manipulating some more, etc.

it became obvious to me that I should have used

black batting in this quilt.

Look at all of the batting fuzz on this black fabric!

 It will get washed after I'm finished,

but it would have been better with black batting.

Never thought of it.

 

Onward I will go, though.

Third,

in quilting my Bible book blocks quilt,

I decided to try using some rulers in the quilting.

While I am definitely a rookie in this area,

I am enjoying using the rulers and will do more of this.

I have a stitch regulator for my Bernina (BSR)

and have quilted with that for several years now.

When using the rulers,

I have to use the ruler FMQ foot,

which requires using the foot pedal to power the machine.

I have found that I have much more control using this foot

and the foot pedal as opposed to the BSR.

The BSR is powered by moving the fabric....

the faster I move the fabric, the faster it quilts.

The problem for me is to turn the BSR on and off,

a button needs to be pushed.

To push the button, I have to let go of the quilted piece

and it almost always moves on me.

I also realized when using the FMQ foot,

I have more control over the movement of everything.

It isn't as "loose" as it is with the BSR.

When doing meander or loops,

the BSR is great because of the speed of which I can quilt.

Otherwise, I may be a FMQ foot girl from now on when quilting.

So,

sometimes an old dog can learn new tricks

and other times, not!

Hopefully I'll have a quilted Bible book blocks quilt to show soon.

It's coming along!

Happy Quilting!

(and learning!)