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.

No, I'm not making a silly apron for my dog to wear; I'm sewing an apron because of her. After I moved I started looking for a rescue dog to adopt, preferably a large dog over 5 years old. And I found one - this mostly-Plott (yeah, I didn't know what a Plott was, either), 8-year-old-ish sweetie moved in with me in October. (Many thanks to Brother Wolf Canine Rescue for taking such excellent care of her for so many months while she waited for me to find her.) She has beautiful indoors manners, but...take her outside on a leash and she turns into Marmaduke from the comic strips, pulling and dragging me whenever something grabs her attention. So...we're starting obedience lessons next month, and one of the requirements is a carpenter's apron to hold the 50 mini-treats we'll be using in each class. I have 6 tons of fabric in my house, so I wasn't about to spend money on a plain canvas apron from the hardware store. After digging through several bins (and finding several UFOs) I came across this remnant I've been carrying around for years and years - dogs feasting from the trash cans behind a Chinese restaurant - perfect for this project and just the right size.

This would be a handy apron for all sorts of crafts - painting, drawing, cooking, scrapbooking, and, of course, carpentry. Just be sure your fabric is sturdy enough to support whatever will be in the pockets. This fabric is a bit heavier than most quilting cottons; otherwise I'd have backed it with a contrasting fabric for added strength.

Basically, it's just a rectangle of fabric folded in half, plus a long strip of fabric for the binding & straps (cut on the cross grain). I turned under 1/2" at the short sides of the rectangle, then bound the long top edge with Bias Binder #84, leaving long straps at each side. I made a double hem in the other long edge, stitching it in place with Edgestitch Foot #10. Then I folded the long edges together, aligning the top edge of the hem with the outer edge of the binding. Remember the 1/2" folds at the sides? I lined up the folds at the sides of the apron, then edgestitched them together, again using Edgestitch Foot #10, reinforcing the stitching at the upper corners by stitching back and forth a few times. One final line of stitch up the middle to create the pockets and it's done! Now I just have to find some soft treats that won't wreak havoc on my senior pup's digestion...