Tis the Season - Noel unit

I was in my sewing room Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday and I now have all the blocks embroidered. I have most of the seminole piecing done too. I was anxious to sew 2 blocks together with the light grey sashing. Even though I was tired, I squared up two blocks and then sewed on the sashing. I am pleased with the fabric I chose for the sashing and really pleased with the overall look of the 2 blocks.

Tis the Season blocks

This week, Sandy, my quilting buddy from Henderson Nevada, came for a short visit. Sandy and I took a 2 day machine embroidery class with Claudia Dinnell held at the Bernina Connection. The class project was Claudia's beautiful Christmas redwork style quilt called Tis the Season. I am not very experienced with machine embroidery and I was excited to learn Claudia's perfect placement multi-hooping technique.

Tuesday, I stitched the Teddy Bear block which is 25 1/2" by 13 1/2" and required 3 hoopings with the Bernina Maxi hoop to complete the design.


Wednesday, I stitched the Ornament block which is 15 1/2" by 24 1/2" and required 5 hoopings with the Bernina Maxi hoop to complete the design. What a great feeling to have all the stitched designs align perfectly which is a testament to Claudia's excellent perfect placement instructions.



I have 4 more blocks to embroider plus 5 word sashing blocks to embroider. I am planning to embroider at least one large block today so I can reinforce the multi-hooping techniques that I learned in class.

I would definitely recommend taking a class with Claudia Dinnell.

Serendipity blocks

I finished stitching 4 more blocks for the Serendipity quilt tonight. Of these 4 blocks, I think my favorite is the daisy block, the bright white, yellow and green wools look so cheerful. I stitched palestrina knot stitch for the daisy stems and cast on bullion stitches for the daisy centers with a variegated DMC thread. I added some cross hatch running stitches for texture on the rose colored fish. Two of the fish are missing eyes, they will get beads for their eyes which will be sewn on after the machine quilting.

Sewing Through the Seasons

Christmas Goose Quilt Shop in Las Vegas Nevada designed an adorable wool appliqué for the 2015 Row by Row Experience. When I saw the cute little featherweights, I just knew I had to make a small hanging for my sewing room. I pre-quilted the background fabric before I started doing the appliqué, I also made some changes to the appliqué shapes. The Christmas tree is decorated with tiny red ornaments made with cast on bullion stitches. The quilt is 36 1/2" by 9 3/4".