"City Blooms" Patchwork Pillows
July 3, 2009
Here's the last of the three projects I made for my Bernina University class this summer. The instructions are from Pat Sloan's I Can't Believe I'm Sewing - I made the blocks exactly like she did, except that when they were done I added batting and quilted them.
I used Patchwork Foot with Guide #57 for the piecing - the little guide on the side of the foot ensures that all of my seams will be exactly 1/4". The fabrics I used were three different colorways of the Benartex "City Blooms" collection.
For the quilting I did three different styles. On the first one I used the regular presser foot (Reverse Pattern Foot #1) and stitched meandering lines from side to side - I think this is one of the easiest ways to quilt, as you don't have to follow any lines or worry about running out of room to stitch. I wasn't using a backing, so didn't have to worry about layers shifting. If I'd had a backing in addition to the batting and patchwork I'd have used Walking Foot #50 or BERNINA Dual Feed to keep the layers from sliding as I stitched.
For the second pillow I used Edgestitch Foot #10 to stitch-in-the-ditch. The guide in the center of the foot made it easy to follow the straight lines of the patchwork.
For the final pillow I dropped the feed dog and attached Freehand Quilting Foot #29. Then I did big stippling over the entire surface. By "big stippling" I mean that my lines were about an inch apart - usually stippling lines are much closer, about 1/4" apart. I could also have used my BERNINA Stitch Regulator for my freemotion stitching - it helps me keep my stitch length consistent, speeding up or slowing down according to how fast I move the fabric.






Here's another of the projects I've been working on for my Bernina University class. It's the Smashing Smock from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing. I made mine just like the one in the book, except that I used French Seams to sew the sides so the raw edges would be hidden, and I added a pocket to the front. To sew the French seams I used
I also embroidered a dragon on the front before I stitched it together. It was so simple to embroider while it was still flat - no need to worry about catching the back in the stitching! I used the artista 630 to do my embroidery - check out the new
The dragon is design FB290_48 from
It's time for
To cover the cord I first cut 2" wide bias strips and pieced them to form one long strip. Be sure to cut them on the diagonal so you have true bias strips - if you cut them on the straight of the grain they won't curve around the corners. I wrapped the strips around my filler cord (about 3/32 diameter) and stitched them with
I immediately knew that I could give a similar gift for a fraction of the price...with the help of my mom's stellar
I chose shades of blue and silver to use on my mom's
My
Not just our grand daughters but our grandsons have all stitched at my BERNINA. They each have made a mini quilt.






