berni's work wear...

With my craft space all decked out, Berni [my Bernina 1008] has a new home sitting flush with the my sewing table. This means that the on-the-go cover that I made is now too long. What can a girl do but stitch up a fab new cover?

This one is kind of special. The patchwork is actually a little quilt top that was rescued from the trash before my grandma's farm was auctioned. I just added a few more strips of fabric to make it the appropriate length. It is so fun to look at some of the colors and patterns and see how modern they look. I layered it with a warm and natural scrap and a fun repro print, quilted it, then bound it and used some twill tape/rug binding to make ties.

Don't look too close, this is my first time using a walking foot - I felt like this should be soooo simple, but tackling the walking foot is a bit of a challenge to me. Some stitches are super tight while others are really long. A skill in process for sure!

One of the great things about it is it fits over the back of my chair when I am working in there. Handy - one less thing on my sewing table is ALWAYS a good thing :)

I woke up to a white lawn this morning! Last night I did some baking and couldn't resist putting on some Christmas music; there must have been something in the air!

btw: I am still in need of a couple of pattern testers for Berni's New Digs sewing pattern... Let me know if you are interested and I will send you the pattern!

mon espace de création...

Amazing how translating a title into another language makes the post seem so much more interesting :) I wanted to show you around my newly improved creative space. If you have been following me for a while [that always sounds like a stalker to me], you may remember the crafty disaster that I posted here. I am happy to say the mess is gone, and in its place a space I truly want to create in!

Take a moment to 'oooh' and 'aaah' over my table - my wonderful husband made it! The sewing machine sits on a shelf held on with carriage bolts [that made it easy to achieve the perfect height]. I borrowed my mil's extension table [until I save up enough to buy my own] and took off the legs. Sewing with a nice open surface really spoils a girl! It was also built to accommodate a large cutting mat - goodbye 18"x22" cutting mat! [of course I actually throw nothing away, even if I should - the little mat is 7+ years old and I am beginning to see daylight through the back]

My two caddys, one with patterns and one with crafty bits, fit perfectly under the table with a little space on the top for my rotary tools/rulers. I love the 'x' cross beams on the sides of the table. ooh, there is my ikea jules chair - a swivel chair makes it much easier to move from sewing to pressing. And, yes, that is a design wall with a project on it in the background. I used blue insulation board and two layers of white felt to construct it. The lint roller has found a new home in my craft room for cleaning the wall in between projects.

Colorful spools really brighten up the table, and I am surprised how much a $6 investment can save me time. I had a little vintage spool bag, it meant searching through tangled strings with each thread change. I also keep necessities handy: a scrap bowl, a little trash can, pins, basting supplies, bobbins, seam ripper, labels, etc.

Search around flickr and you will come to the conclusion that you simply cannot have a craft room without an expedit bookcase from ikea. Why? Because they are affordable, BIG, and a great storage space for fabric. We actually have two of these in our house and, get this, the other one actually has books on it - go figure!

In this corner I store my scrapbooking supplies in the cupboard on the right and all of my stamping supplies are in/on the green tin. It's actually a holder for flour, sugar, etc. that was my grandma's we found it in one of the outbuildings when we auctioned her farm. Lots of wonderful memories, I am glad I was able to use it somewhere I see almost everyday.

Now my only problem is I really can't spend all day in this space [even though I want to]!

berni's new digs...

Ever since Berni got back from her day at the spa, she has really turned into quite the diva - requesting her cover on when she isn't in use, the diligent use of the little dust brush she came with, and even demanding the use of a denim needle when sewing through 8 layers of fabric and a layer of peltex stabilizer. She has been sewing like a pro, so I can't complain. She has been content with the plain-jane vinyl, generic, red and white cover she came with for her whole life. The girls over on the ORBC discussion board started chatting it up about making new covers shortly before Christmas. I am proud to say that Berni is now sporting new digs - featuring some really lovely fabrics by Art Gallery [lining], Amy Butler [main panels and sides], and even some designed by the hub's mom, Marlene [polka dots on the pockets]!


I came up with the pattern on my own, modeling it after her plain-jane original. It's completely lined and has an opening for the handle. [most of the patterns/tutorials I found online left out this important detail!]

I am a little impressed with myself - I printed out the logo for Bernina, transferred it onto wonder under, ironed it on, then free-form outlined each of the letters with the machine. I am not real adventurous with machine applique, but this was fun and easy and turned out like I envisioned.

The back shows off my love for those ticker tape quilts that have [seemingly] been showing up ALL over Flickr and the blogosphere - I would love to do a bed sized quilt with all my scraps, but haven't found the time or energy to take on this pursuit [yet!] Really they're everywhere: here, here, here, here, and even here...

Look for a tutorial for the cover coming to a post near you!

berni & row...

This post is dedicated to my two beloved friends, Berni and Row. Berni and I have been friends since 2001, while Row and I just met in June. Row is a slick piece of quilting and crafting necessity. I truly enjoy ironing now that my Dollar General-$10-Proctor/Silex-goo encrusted-leaky iron has been kicked to the curb. Lovely Jordan was SO kind to gift Row to me as a wedding present.

Berni and I have whipped up more than a few projects together. Recently she got a new foot - 12c to be exact. Now [hopefully] I can make pretty pillow cordings with ease! I never can sew close enough to the cord when I use my zipper foot. Incidentally, when I was paying for the foot at Chestnut Ridge Sewing, I thought to ask the kind sales lady if they did cleanings for the machines. As the words, 'There is really nothing wrong with it, but I have had it for about 10 years' slipped out of my mouth, she cringed, 'You've not had it cleaned?' I told her of my diligent use of the tiny brush that came with my machine, but that was not sufficient. Apparently one should have their sewing machine cleaned once a year as opposed to once a decade. Berni recently got back from a day at the spa and is good as new :]