Quilting Problems and Other Stuff

I am trying to quilt with the new Bailey's and the bobbin thread kept breaking. I finally figured out that I had threaded it incorrectly. After I fixed that I played around with the tension while sewing through cotton fabric. Got that right, but now, when I try to quilt it keeps breaking. The quilt I am working on is backed with Minkee (or a Minkee knock-off) and that may be the problem. I've been researching online and it seems that for some reason quilting machines are much more touchy about fabric/thread/needle combinations. My Bernina will happily work with just about any combination so I guess I'm spoiled. I'll work more on it tomorrow, and if I can't quilt this one on the Bailey's I'll just finish it on the Bernina. I just called Bailey's and have changed to a quilt sandwich instead of just fabric. It works fine, so the problem is the Minkee....drat.

I've been gone since the 25th. I went camping with some of my family in California. It was wonderful to see everyone, but a little ironic that I drove 17 hours so I could spend time in the mountains: driving from the Rockies, across the desert to the Sierras. Spending time with family was worth it though. Two of my brothers and my sisters were there with their spouses. My two brother's kids were all there with their kids, and my sister's son came for a few days. We had some in-laws there as well, so altogether about 35 people. The weather was nice, mostly in the 80s. It was interesting to leave Colorado early morning at 51 degrees and that afternoon arrive in Las Vegas at 114 degrees. Yikes! People go to Las Vegas on purpose at this time of year, and then they go outside in that heat. Not for me!

Before I left I sewed a shirt for my nephew, an apron for my niece and some bags to share.

 I'm planning two baby quilts. The one with the Minkee on the back is for my niece whose baby is due in September and another for my niece-in-law whose son (after three daughters--daddy is thrilled) is due in November.   I got the top done and it is based on ,A Walk in the Park (it's free but you might have to register to get it.) It's going to have a border with white and one of the colors from the quilt, probably the blue.

I've linked to Judy's blog. http://patchworktimes.com

Airline Seat Back Pouch

 I'm going to Europe next week so I made myself a bag to hang on the seat back hook. I have a space for headphones, my kindle some snacks (maybe a small bottle of water) and passport and a few other things. I saw a design while I was surfing and decided to just make one up. I didn't plan too well, so I ended up adding stiff interfacing after it was together. That was quite a trick. I also added lining afterwards, so I did it kind of backwards, but I think I'll be happy I have it. I'll just put it in my backpack and pull it out as soon as I sit down.

The two zipper pockets on the front are sized to take my passport and a few credit cards. There is an inside pocket for my kindle and a loop to hook onto the seat back tray holder thingy.

The inside was fun because I had already made a pocket for the kindle  and THEN I decided to line it. Lots of hand sewing, but I think it looks OK though it wouldn't win any awards. It is functional and I think it will be useful.

Bags Finished

 Here are the bags I've finished so far. I decided to keep one for myself...it was in the car with Joe when I took this pictures. I found some webbing to use for hands for the rest of the pillowcases I have. It is normally used for strapping down furniture when moving and was only $.26 per foot. The stuff I bought at a local fabric store was about $.60 per foot. The webbing I just bought is a bit too wide, about 2-inches instead of the 1 1/2-inches I used on these bags, but I figure I'll just sew the handles in half where they will be carried. At a sale at Hancock Fabrics about a month or so ago I bought some home decorator fabric to make more bags, and I have some twill fabric I purchased in the summer of last year for some OTHER bags so I guess I'll keep busy until I find out what kind of quilt Daniel wants.