Waste Not Want Not

I continue to use the pieced quilt blocks my sister made as it seems they are just too good to throw away. It also seems I keep getting better ideas for how to use them, too, but that just practice, practice, practice. At first I simply sewed the blocks together, added a layer of cotton batting and backing, a bit of free motion quilting, and it was fashioned into a sewing machine cover:

Cover for a Bernina

 Then I figured out how to sew them together with sashing between the blocks and free motion quilting on the sashing:

Free motion on the sashing

Not bad but I really stink at free motion: how much practice does it take? Maybe I'm impatient (just ask DH) but after hours of practice I"m still very much a beginner. For my next project, I got out fabric for sashing but decided since I wanted a cover for my Viking Designer 1, maybe I should use some of the features available to highlight what it could do. On the horizontal bands I added decorative stitching but on the vertical bands I wanted to make the stitching fill the space. This entailed downloading designs, copying to a 3.5" floppy via Sew-What-Pro software, setting up the embroidery arm, and trying to remember how this all works. It was so much fun!

Here's the front panel (that became the back when it wasn't centered):

Oops, a little to the right

Back panel that is now the front (live and learn):

A little low but much better with different colors

Now I needed to make the side panels and here was a blank slate to fill and two of them to boot. Looking at the free to download patterns wasn't quite what I wanted but $5 downloads didn't seem right either. I found a site where there were many $1-2 downloads and hundreds of sewing themed designs, too. Here's the first side:

Scissors, tomoato pincushion, thread: it's all there!

It was fun to pick colors (glad I bought spools of embroidery thread from several ads and offerings) and watch the machine put it all together. The fabric is fairly stiff but in my naivete I put it in the hoop with batting and backing, too. That could have been a disaster but it actually turned out fine. I had something similar for the other side but it seemed like overkill and would take several hours to complete so I opted for a simpler design:

Pink letters with green leaves

Reminding myself to check the bobbin, I promptly put the hoop in the machine and started stitching away but forgetting to reload the bobbin. The pink words were all finished and halfway through the green leaves I get a broken upper thread symbol and a stoppage.  I rethread the top thread but the message doesn't go away. I'm pretty sure this has to be an empty bobbin but it's not the bobbin symbol so what do I do now? To get to the bobbin I need to pull off the embroidery unit...and it turns out that's not a good idea. Although I get the bobbin changed when I put it all back together it starts all over again. That's right, from the very beginning. No, no, no... I reread the manual (not covered), check the files and conversations on the D1 Yahoo group, but can't seem to find out how to advance to the spot I left off. I took my own advice and walked away, hoping for inspiration.

Help came from another Viking D1 owner who has given me help before: Virginia came to my rescue! I sent off a tearful email about what I was trying to do, what happened, and pleaded for guidance. After shoveling snow and checking on dinner Virginia sent back detailed steps on how to get back to where I needed to be. It was right in front of me but I just didn't understand and her instructions made it so clear. I was back in business, finished up the panel, and got it all together with the help of a serger for the seams. Overall it's pretty good, fits perfectly, used up more of the blocks, and will keep my sewing machine clean when it is idle. It's never idle? Of course it has to sit and wait while I work on other sewing machines or tend to projects that do not use such a fine sewing machine, such as the hot mitts and jean repair.

So many sewing machines, so little time...