Lazy bums, Bernina break down, cranking out a stitch and other things!

On Friday evening I was getting ready for a weekend of quilting on the Lazy Bums second (virtual) global retreat but then disaster struck!   My trusty little Bernina wouldn't go!

I cleaned her out and oiled her and still no joy!   I rang a sewing machine repair man - he picked her up on Friday evening about 7pm and said maybe I could have her back on Sunday!

So much for joining in my retreat then - or was it??

I do happen to have another machine - somewhat dated!   1910 in fact and made in Clydebank Scotland no less!   This baby belonged to my great grandmother and is a hand cranking machine!   

So I did hand crank a bit of quilting just to keep my Lazy Bum buddies company!  My top thread was pink and the bottom thread was lime green - not something I would have risked on the Bernina but the tension on this baby is supreme and there is no showing of the other colour through to the other side!  Just stitching in the ditch round my blocks - half done - anything fancier I need two hands for!

And then great joy a call came at 7pm on Saturday to say my Bernina was fixed!   Yeah I got her back!   And bless the repairman Paul - he is a gem!

So I mini stippled away and did finish off a quilt - albeit a little one!

My mycelium - my first real attempt at modern quilting though a hexy is as traditional as you can get!   My starting point was packs of precut hexies from Simply Solids - produced by Kona in their Bright and Classic range.  

I used Sketch in grey as the background - sadly I had to cut those myself!

The pattern I devised was to mimic those underground "roots" of funghi!   Although they are not strictly roots they are mycelium!   I quilted the background with a mini stipple to also represent those finer "roots"  and to make the coloured hexies pop a bit more!   Must say I'm glad my stippling is finished!  There is also a bit of hand stitched quilting in an indigo #aurifil 28 thread outlining those coloured hexies too.  

And because of the irregular edge I decided to follow Helen's advice (I should always do that she is so often right - it just takes me a while to realise it). I finished my hanging therefore with a knife edge - a nice clean modern (and very traditional British quilt) finish!

Rather pleased with my first modern quilt!

And my fourth finish this month!  I've obviously been slacking up till now but please don't expect four finishes next month - I'm exhausted!