Bonjour and welcome 😎! Thanks for dropping by. The weather has been so lovely here. My favourite part of the day is a morning (not too early) having coffee outside in the backyard. I've been able to do this almost every day. Evening are often in the studio. I'm happy to say that the scraps from my retreat are all put away. There is hope yet for a tidy studio!
Scrappy Improv Sewing Machine Cover
It's done! The improv sewing machine cover that I worked on during my quilting retreat is finished. I like the pattern because it used ties to close the cover. This makes it reversable and easy for those of us who are accuracy challenged!
Sides 1 and 2 were created years ago to make a scrappy fabric bag based on a lesson from Craftsy. It never got passed the stage of sewing two scrappy panels for the bag. Before leaving for the retreat I sewed them together to make sure that they would be big enough for the sewing machine cover. I just added a couple of inches on each side using wonderful fabric that looks like patchwork. I knew that it was too wide but that gave me wiggle room when trimming everything. I also used that fabric for the binding.
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| Side 1 of the machine cover |
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| Side 2 of the machine cover with orange ties |
Sides 3 and 4 were created at the retreat on the Featherweight. There was only one spot where the tension problem showed up. I just FMQ over it - no problems here 😁
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| Side 3 - lots of 2" blocks! |
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| Side 4 - I got bored with the 2" blocks 😂 |
You may have noticed that the cover seems quite wide. I did trim it but probably could have trimmed it another 3". I wasn't going to take the chance that it would be too small. There's nothing wrong with some extra room - it might grow into it!
I used a variegated thread to sew the binding on. I sewed it by machine - not great but good enough. The other thread in the photo is a pale pink InvisaFil thread used to FMQ.
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| Machine cover with threads used on the project |
Here are a few images of the FMQ.
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| FMQ sewing machine cover |
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| More FMQ |
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| The scrappy sewing machine cover with ties |
June's One Monthly Goal (OMG)
I've been trying to start quilting my Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL flimsy for a while now. Making the quilt sandwich was my April OMG. I forgot to put it as my May OMG and would have made it since I sandwiched it on May 31st. Quilting the Rainbow Neighbourhood project is now my June OMG. I've started quilting it in-the-ditch. The goal is to do all of the in-the-ditch quilting by the end of the month although I hope to get it done quicker than that. I need this lovely finished by the beginning of August for our friends' 40th wedding anniversary.
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| The day and night skies have all been stitched-in-the-ditch |
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| Using the walking foot to stitch-in-the-ditch. The quilt is 68" x 65" |
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I also joined our local quilt shop's, Quilty Pleasures, Summer UFO Challenge. This is one of my three UFOs/WIPs on the list.
What I learned
- I'm very happy to say that I didn't have to make the orange ties for the cover. When I was gifted my friend's hand-dyed scraps she had included at least a dozen ties that she would have used to make masks. I'm so grateful because I really, really dislike making these!
- I had a difficult time FMQ anything that went left. I know that my machine doesn't like it when I sew in the left direction but it was a little ridiculous. I ended up doing more squiggle lines than I usually do. FMQ forward and backwards is fine. I'll eventually get the machine cleaned and checked but for now, there are no left turns allowed!
- For the machine binding, I used a 2" strip but didn't fold it. Again, I'm always afraid to make it too small but 1¾" would have been better. I'm happy to report that my corners were awesome 😊
- The Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt will be mostly quilted using my walking foot. If I need a few swirls in the sky, I can FMQ them, probably very, very slowly!
Related links
- Projects in Progress and I Quilted This!, May 27, 2026
- Baby Quilt, Upcoming Retreat and I Quilted This! May 21, 2026
- A Orange Scrappy FMQ Finish, April 02, 2026 (April's OMG)
- Final Rainbow Neighbourhood Quilt Top, June 28, 2023 (all of the project details are in that post).
Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun quilting parties, including the
June OMG. You may want to check some out before linking up below😊
Monday Musings,
Sew & Tell,
Put your foot down,
Off The Wall Friday,
Finished (Or Not) Friday,
Beauties Pageant,
TGIFF,
Patchwork & Quilts,
15 Minutes to Stitch 2026,
Oh Scrap!,
I Quilted This!
Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it!
Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and consider grabbing the button.
Gretchen from
Gretchen's Little Corner used up tons of her scraps, even the ugly ones, to make these two quilts, that are not so ugly! Gretchen FMQ diagonal lines in the white blocks and borders. I'm sure both of these compassion quilts will be loved.
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| Look at all of the details of the quilting by Terry |
Diann from Little Penguin Quilts made this
lovely orange placemat. She used larger squares so that the lovely elephant fabric would show up nicely.
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| The back and simple quilting of Diann's placemat |
Melva from
Melva Loves Scraps finished her Pieces from the Past quilt. She used some traditional looking quilting designs for the blocks and the sashing.
Brenda from Songbird Designs has finished embroidering, piecing and quilting her
Sunshine Cove quilt. This is the centre medallion. What a beauty!
It's now your turn 😍
Thank you for highlighting my ugly quilts. They'e been delivered to the hospital and hopefully are being used for quilty hugs.
ReplyDeleteYour machine cover looks good, isn't it a great feeling to use something that was just setting around for a practical purpose? Happy stitching!
Thanks Gretchen, someone's ugly quilt is another's hug - they weren't ugly, just not your favourite colours :-) The machine cover is getting lots of use in between quilting.
DeleteI love to look at pieces where all the scrap shapes and colors and used. Your sewing machine cover just inspires you to sew more.
ReplyDeleteYou're correct Kat. It's just too bad that after a few years we don't need many more useful projects!
DeleteSewing machine cover - interesting - clever and cute - but who keeps their machine covered ? You just have to take it off every day - - -
ReplyDeleteVery true! but every once in a while, it gets a break and should look good too :-)
DeleteYour Rainbow Neighborhood is adorable. Happy quilting and sewing this week.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Kate :-)
DeleteLove that machine cover, so colourful. Good luck with quilting in the ditch on your Rainbow Neighbourhood, looks like you are well on your way. What a lovely gift that will be.
ReplyDeleteThanks Edith, the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt is now mostly stitched in the ditch, well as much as it's going to be. The majority of houses have been quilted but there's lots to keep me going.
DeleteTa housse de machine est très réussie, gaie et colorée, j'adore ! Parfait pour les liens déjà faits, ça aide bien ;) Bises
ReplyDeleteMerci beaucoup Frédérique. J'aime bien la voir protèger mon moulin à coudre de la poussière :-)
DeleteThanks for the feature. LOVE your sewing machine cover. I need to make one for my B990. But she's been too busy to cover up lately! LOL Have a great week. Thanks for sharing with us at Monday Musings.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Brenda. I'm not surprised that you won 2 prizes for that beauty! See you soon.
DeleteEnjoy that new cover! It's so cheerful. Best wishes on completing all the stitch in the ditch on your quilt this month. It's going to be such a lovely gift to your friends.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Anne-Marie. I'm so late in replying that I've already posted to your end of the month post lol It's coming along very well but I can't get over-confident or it won't get done!
DeleteAndree, you are so kind to feature my little orange placemat finish! I love your scrappy sewing machine cover - that is the perfect use for scraps. Fun to see your Rainbow Neighborhood out and ready for quilting, too. That is one of my all time favorite QALs!
ReplyDeleteThanks Diann, your little orange placemat was very cute and useful. Did you make anything for the pastel yet? I haven't visited the Quilter's Cove link up yet - I want to get caught up with my comments. :-)
DeleteYour cover looks great. It's so bright and cheerful. Good luck with your OMG :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Janine. It's taken me so long to reply that I did get my OMG done. The rest will be done for July's OMG. Have a great weekend.
DeleteYour sewing machine cover looks great! I love how you used the fabric from another project and made it work!! The quilting looks fantastic! Thanks for linking to TGIFF!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Gail. I've been trying to leave comments on your posts but I don't think that they're working :-(
DeleteLove your FMQ and your finished machine cover, Andree!!! So colorful and full of joy!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Nancy. Colourful scraps and FMQ bring me joy :-) Take care.
DeleteYour sewing machine cover is fun - despite being *Accuracy Challenged* you made me laugh at that!!! Good luck with your quilting for your June OMG - you can do it!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alycia, it seems that I'm also very slow at replies, so yet, I got my June OMG done. Yay! Have a wonderful day :-)
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