I Love Loops

The binding is on the jelly roll quilt. I’ll be sewing that down over the next couple of evenings. I basted the Correspondence top together with its backing and batting and it is on the Q20. I had only a few minutes last night to try out some quilting on it. I’ve decided to do a double loop pattern—what I am calling “double bubbles”—and I like it so far:

It’s a loop meander with a twist, and it will go quickly.

I started the class sample—a table runner—for the Bernina event. This one is a bit tricky, because I don’t have the same machines that we’ll be using for the event. For example, the instructions call for decorative chainstitching to be done using the L890 serger/coverstitch combo machine. I have the L860, which is a serger only, and I have a Janome 3000cpx coverstitch machine, so I’ll be doing the decorative chainstitching on my Janome. I’ve used the L890 machines so frequently at the store, though, that I know how to set them up for what we’ll be doing in class.

Once the table runner is constructed, it needs to be quilted. The class will use the Bernina 770 or 990 machines with the embroidery module for the quilting portion. I have a Bernina 880 and it does have an embroidery module, but I need to get a quick tutorial on using it from the store owner. I don’t want my first attempt at using my embroidery module to be on a class sample.

In any case, the end result will look the same. What is important is that I can teach the concepts. I am reminded of the interview with Marianne Fons and Liz Porter where they talked about the first quilting classes they taught. The store gave them the topics they wanted covered, so Marianne and Liz went home and taught themselves how to do those techniques.

I’ve had some conversations this week with the class coordinator at Sew Expo. She said that last year, the knitting and other non-sewing classes were really popular, but this year, they are struggling to fill them. Go figure. I think that next year, I’ll submit proposals for a mix of both sewing and knitting.

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Apparently, Joanns had a big sale on patterns last weekend. I wondered why nothing was on sale last Thursday when I stopped in. They usually put one brand of patterns on sale every Thursday-Sunday. One week, the McCall’s patterns will be on sale, the next week Butterick, etc. It sounds like all of the Big 4 patterns were on sale last Friday-Sunday, but I don’t go to town on the weekends so I missed it.

I wonder if this will be the sales tactic going forward?

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It’s been cold here, albeit with brilliant sunshine every day. We’ve been waking up to temps in the negative teens. The husband doesn’t work outside when it’s this cold. Machinery doesn’t like to function at these temps, even if he’s willing to tolerate the conditions. He did a concrete cutting job up at the hospital last week and the general contractor wants him to come back and do a bit more work there, but he can’t do it until after 5 pm today because the equipment makes a lot of noise and vibration.

He put an extra heat lamp in the chicken coop because there was some jockeying by the roosters to see who got to sleep under it. He claims that the two of them behave themselves when he is in there, but when I go out to feed them and collect eggs, Dave chases Little Roo around the coop. Thankfully, no bloodshed yet. I hope it stays that way.