Block of the Month Carrier

Today I finished the BOTM carrier.

Since I didn't have a pattern, I had to figure things out as I went.  I wanted to make the cover stiff, so I had to put the insert in before I quilted which also meant I needed to quilt just the cover and batting, not the backing.

Then I wasn't sure how to quilt it.  I finally decided to do some echoing.  It was the first time I've done this and it was pretty easy.  It's not perfect but not bad for the first time.  I was considering using Timtex for stiffness, but it wasn't quite as thick as I wanted, so just used some cardboard.  So I put two pieces in and left one end open to do so.  I was able to machine sew it shut adding a little enclosure tab.  The pages are fleece which I tried to add with the machine and quickly found out there wasn't room to do so.  So I added the brown spine to the pages and then hand sewed it to the book.  Then I found the perfect button to sew on the front cover.

Now I have no excuse for not finding my blocks of the month!  I think I will also use this when I am doing applique projects.  The fleece will hold all those tiny pieces.  Some of which I have had to re-do as I had lost them.  No more!!

Quilted Book

Today I worked on my Bernina project for the month. Nancy, our instructor, demonstrated a wonderful sweet wall hanging and cute Halloween bags.  I decided to do something a little different but using the techniques we learned.

I need something for keeping my blocks of the month I'm working on, so thought I'd make myself a carrier to keep them.  I did a little research online and ended up designing my own.  I started with the front cover.  Here's a pic of it in the beginning.

We all have these wonderful sewing machine feet and very seldom take full advantage of them.  Nancy encourages us to use them and finds us lots of different ways to do so.  I was switching feet like crazy today.  I used the #37, 1/4" foot which I love in my quilting.  The #1C I sewed the rick rack down with, 10C is my new favorite, just love that one!!  I used #12 for zigging the beaded thread down and  #23 applique and piping foot. I also used some decorative stitches on the wide stem.

She also demo'd "Piping Hot Binding".  There is a book and"ruler" (not really a ruler but...) for this which I've had for over a year but never used.


Today I had success.  I used it as an accent, not in a binding, but it worked out very well.  And I really like that little pop of color.

Three of the flowers are 3-D.  I topped then with a tiny button which I tried to use with my #18 foot but had no success. The holes were just too small.   Dang, I had to hand sew them!

I have the cover done as of this afternoon and ready to put my BSR to use.  I'm dreading that.  I haven't used it much.  We'll see how that turns out next week.