Happy New Year! And, a Finally Finished!

Yes, dear readers, today is only January 2, and I have a Finally Finished to reveal. And some thoughts about learning curves.

Happy New Year! I know I already said it, but it feels good to say it. 2020 is SO LAST YEAR as the kids say, and I think we are all grateful that it is.

Who knew a year ago that when I may have mentioned how awful 2019 was, that 2020 would be worse?

But more about 2020 in another post. I know it's been a while since my last post. There are many reasons for the lack of my attention to this blog, but, again, more in a later post.

On with the reveal and the story behind it:

With the pandemic came many struggles, and many sewing machine and quilt shops managed to create a tremendous amount of online content in order to draw in customers and keep them entertained while keeping themselves afloat, and also to teach people various techniques to keep us hungry for more. 

One thing I've learned about myself this year: If left unsupervised for any amount of time and I see something that I "think" I absolutely have to have, I will instantly click the "Buy Now" button. I've been clicking it since April, but think I've finally exhausted that urge.  

Anyway, I signed up for a class with the Bernina Sew n Quilt Studio of Chattanooga (NAYY). They offered various classes for the Bernina 7 and 8 Series models, including quilting via machine embroidery. I was drawn in by the lure of a promise that I would be able to do the SAME THING on The Beast (my Bernina 770 QEE) that you can do on a 790 Plus with regard to using pinpoint placement (at least, I could have sworn they said it). So I plunked down $29, talked my girlfriend Cindy into doing the same, and off we went making a simple nine-patch top that we would use in our class. Here's my top:

It's a little wonky, but most all of my quilts are. It is what it is. Fabrics are from a Moda line by Jan Patek (Hemming House?) from maybe 10 years ago? I selected these from my stash because I wanted this to be a table topper--the fabrics go with our dishes we purchased last year. I thought it would look great on our dining room table that I was staging for the sale of our home. More about that in yet another post.

The class was held online through Zoom. The shop provided the two machine embroidery files for the quilting, both from Tula Pink designs. One was used in the center of the nine patch, while the other was used in two of the outer patches that are the same fabric as the center patch. The rest of the quilting was straight diagonal lines using the walking foot in the black print patches, and I free-motion quilted straight lines in the red striped patches. 

In the class I managed to get as far as using the embroidery design files to quilt the center and two outer patches, and started the walking foot straight line quilting in the black patches. The next day we put the house on the market and I had to pack away the project because we had 10 showings within 3 days. 

In 30 days, we had 24 showings, and an offer. The little top stayed packed up in Project Bin #22 until a few weeks ago when I brought the bin out of storage in our new home and said, "I am finishing this!"

I purchased the Bernina 71 foot a while back. I watched a video by Shelly Fitzgerald of Sew Shelly Quilts where she thoroughly explains her process of binding a quilt using the foot. I am quite pleased with the results, but I wouldn't use it on every quilt. I think this particular technique is best for small, thin quilts. 

About the learning curves: Everyone learns at a different pace, and some teaching methods aren't always the best for some people. What I find with online classes is if everyone is allowed to speak, little teaching happens because, as mentioned earlier, someone can't find the button on their machine, or asks everyone to wait while he or she fiddles with the needle threader, blah, blah, blah. I have experience with Zoom and typically experience no difficulties using it. But many other class participants have little to no experience with Zoom, and a lot of time was spent helping students in the "classroom" with their technical difficulties. The teacher had issues with her camera. It was a bit chaotic and, by the time the class had ended, nothing had been said about making my 770 do pinpoint placement like a 790 Plus, and there was no more time for questions. I thought to myself, "I took vacation time for this." I was going to sign up for another class, but never had time. My learning curve with that particular instance was that I tend to grow impatient in such a situation and I may want to avoid future online classes, but I did take another one in August or September which was a much better experience, and I'll discuss it in the future.

The other learning curve is about the binding technique that I learned from Sew Shelly Quilts. Shelly is a Bernina ambassador and, giving the number of videos she has uploaded to YouTube, has a clear command of her machine's abilities and how to use the equipment she demonstrates. While this wasn't a classroom setting, I love her presentations. She has the camera focused on the machine bed clearly centered on the sewing path, gives in-depth descriptions of the equipment (in this case, the 71 foot), what it can do, and gives you several minutes of instruction, explaining each step. I watched that video twice before attempting it, and had it ready to watch again when I sat down at my machine. I won't go into great detail because you can see the video here, but I daresay that this is probably her most viewed video. She provides content frequently and is always extremely informative. I bet she's sold lots of Bernina machines because of her videos. Thanks to her clear instructions, I successfully used the 71 foot to attach the binding to the front of the quilt, then used it to do the finishing sewing of turning the binding to the back and stitching it down. She also teaches you how to cut the binding pieces to perfectly join the ends without tears. (Note, it's the same way I've been joining my binding ends for several years, but she did something just a bit different that I may do in the future.)

And this leads me to my point: Teaching a quilting or sewing class can be a boon or a bane. Having taught classes in my quilt shop years ago, I fully appreciate the well-prepared teacher who can answer all the questions and patiently guide the student(s) to the right button to push, the right way to thread the machine, etc., while keeping control of the class and attending to the other students. It's not easy. My experience in the online class has made me gun-shy of taking additional online "live" classes. The great thing about YouTube videos is that you can re-watch them over and over until you "get" it. The only disturbances are what's going on behind you in your own home that distracts you.

Here's the finished quilt which is now residing on our new-to-us dining table:

Center block with Tula Pink design; I free-motion echo quilted around it.

Outer corner blocks; another Tula Pink design. I really liked this one.

Black print patches with straight diagonal lines using the walking foot.

Free-motion quilted "straight" lines using the BSR.

One of the mitered corners; I really enjoyed this technique. 
Please don't mind the stray threads.

The table topper in its new home. 

Thanks for reading. I have some more blog posts coming soon which will share a lot of what happened during 2020. There was ONE quilt completed (start to finish) that I couldn't mention because it was a Christmas gift (I started it in October and finished it in early November). Some smaller makes happened, and I'll show those soon.

I hope your new year brings you great joy and great plans--GO MAKE!