Busy, busy

I haven’t been posting much, but I have been busy in my studio this week.

I tested some patterns for Joanne at Unicorn Harts.  You can find her patterns on Craftsy. Her patterns are beautiful, and come together very nicely.   These ones are Leader of the Pack and Barmy Bear.  They should be available for purchase soon.  I need to decide how I will finish them.  There may be a rainbow bear quilt in my future.

I decided to have some fun on Wednesday afternoon and started a wrapped rope fabric basket.  My Bernina was fine for a while, then began pulling the top thread down and making rats nests on the back side of the bowl.  I tried normal cleaning and rethreading, and then it was time to make dinner.  Thursday morning I did some more trouble shooting, but after two hours, I have conceded defeat.  This machine will be going in to the shop for repair.
I switched over to my grandma’s Featherweight.  This is the first time I have used it.  It sews very nicely, and did a fine job of piecing Barmy Bear.  It doesn’t zig zag, and I don’t feel like learning how to use the attachment that does that just now.  I’ll pull out my seam gauge this weekend so I can do some traditional piecing.
I’ve been practicing with my Gammill, too.  I loaded two large pieces of muslin and have been doodling.  I don’t find practice compelling, though.  I’ll have to figure out a way to be productive and also practice.  Wasting time, material, and thread just for learning bugs me.  I have to have a better plan for what to do with my practice pieces.
This pattern is from a website someone shared last week.  The Inbox Jaunt has lovely free motion tutorials.  This isn’t my favorite design, but it was good practice.  Circles are a challenge!  I’ve gotten into the habit of doodling while watching the morning news.  I’ve never been able to draw, so it doesn’t surprise me when my sketches are not wonderful.  I do see an improvement, though, which is nice.
And last, but not least, I joined the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild last week.  Getting myself out of the house and meeting up with a group of strangers is a huge challenge for me.  I’m so glad I did it.  They were kind enough to give me a charity quilt top to practice on.  I practiced free motion quilting and ruler work.  I’m happy with the way it turned out.
I also did blocks for Long Time Gone and 52 Weeks with the Quilter’s Planner, but I will share them in their own posts.