I’m Late
“I’m late. I’m late for a very important date,” said the White Rabbit. That is precisely how I feel this morning. What is important is making sure I hammer out my weekly blog and get it posted. Once done, I can attend to other items on my to do list. Despite how this might sound, I’m only late in my own mind and I do enjoy participating in the blogging community. Honestly, one of the reasons I am feeling behind is I can’t resist adding to my list of items to accomplish. Oh, and I got up about 45 minutes past my usual wake time this morning.
Secret Mission
Huge progress was made this past weekend on my Secret Mission. Of course, I can only show you a tiny corner of what I did. After all, it is secret.
If you are new to the Secret Mission, you may want to scroll back a few posts to see how I am combining piecing and embroidery. I feel this quilt justifies the purchase of my Bernina 990 last June.
Project Quilting
Another reason why I am feeling late, or at least overwhelmed, is I am determined to participate in all six of the challenges offered through Project Quilting 2026. In the past I have chosen to only do the ones that had instant appeal. However, I have learned if I really want to challenge myself and grow, I should try the ones that don’t grab me, as well.
The challenge this week was to select an era and create something that reflects that era. So, I opted for the late 60’s early 70’s. Those were my coming of age years. The palette was avocado, mustard and tangerine. Psychedelic and Op Art reigned supreme. I made three disappearing 4 patch blocks, one for each of the era’s colors. Finally, I named the resulting table runner after the common salutation of the time, “Peace, Man.”
Rainbow Scrap Challenge
Technically, I did no work specific to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. However, this month’s challenge color is green. As you have seen, one of my disappearing 4 patch blocks was dominated by avocado green. Close enough, right?
Keeping It Reel
I am sticking to my commitment to post a reel each week. This week I shared my set up for stitching down the binding of Peace Man. Several people informed me that they don’t have an Instagram account, but they do have a Facebook account. The reel can be found on both platforms.
Question of the Week
I expect you recognized that opening quote from Alice in Wonderland. So, the question of the week is what is your favorite childhood book and why?
I’m linking up to the following posts:
The tiny peek of Secret Mission is beautiful! You are definitely making good use of your Bernina 990 and your skills are continuing to grow by participating in Project Quilting. Enjoy your challenges!
Every time I stitch out an embroidery design using the Bernina 990 I am blown away. I’m gradually mastering switching up the colors and positioning the design where I want it to stitch out. I swapped out 28 thread changes on this particular design so that it would align with the palette of the quilt. I do love to challenge myself and make it past fear and hurdles. Thank you for stopping by and saying such nice things about my work.
I have no remembrance of a childhood favorite book. But reading to my kids I loved Dr. Seuss and the Berenstain Bears. Your embroidery is spectacular.
Both of your authors were favorites of mine. I loved Dr. Seuss as a child, particularly The Cat in The Hat. I read many a Bernstein Bear book to our children. In fact, it was a Bernstein Bear book that was the first book my daughter ever read to herself.
Glad you like the embroidery.
What do you do while the machine is embroidering? Sit and watch in amazement/fasination? I guess you need to be close by for thread changes. My favourite childhood book is The Secret Garden. I was bedridden frequently with Pneumonia so books relieved the boredom. I liked it because of the friendship the characters had and also the secret part.
Great question. I do have to monitor the machine for various situations, such as a thread change, need for a new bobbin or, in rare instances, some goes amiss and I need to fix the problem. Fortunately, the Bernina tells me how long each thread run is. Some are a few minutes, so I basically standby organizing the next thread. When a run is ten plus minutes, I may replenish my beverage, take a bio break, do some cleanup, etc. I can stop mid run OR let the machine stop naturally at a thread change. This is when I attend to something longer, such as eating lunch. We have a very open, modern home. This allows me to hear the machine running just about anywhere in the home. I can return to the machine if I need to.
Secret Garden is a great classic.
We’re definitely from the same era, Gwyned – my first appliances in our home were avocado green! 😘 We don’t have that color in our house anymore. Your tablerunner is a fun project for the challenge. The embroidery for your secret project is just amazing! My favorite childhood books were Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey twins. I’ve always been a mystery reader.
The first home we owned, the previous owners installed all mustard colored appliances in the kitchen. The kitchen wallpaper had a rooster theme with mustard, avocado and tangerine dominating.
I probably worked my way through 100% of the Nancy Drew series. Like you, I am an avid mystery reader, they can be light hearted mysteries or even dark, serious ones. As someone who grew up in Lexington, MA, Patricia Cornwell’s Kate Scarpetta stands out. PC lives in the next town over from my home town and the Boston area is frequently where the mystery is located.
Three cheers for the Bernina 990 that helps to make my embroidery what it is.
Oh, yes, I have read many of the Scarpetta books over the years! Is she still writing them? I’ve gotten away from that series. Have you read any of the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths? Ruth is a British forensic archeologist, so she helps identify bones for the local police, and of course gets involved in solving the crime. They’re very good!
Patricia Cornwell stopped writing for a while, but resumed the series in 2021. Her latest book was published in 2025. The Elly Griffiths series looks right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendation.
Sounds like we had similar childhoods. I still have my Nancy Drew books and donated the Bobbsey Twins a few years ago.
I’m loving your sneak peaks! I don’t have a favorite childhood book. My mom’s mother loved to read. In my early years, we spent a lot of time together. She ALWAYS read me a story before nap time. She hooked me in to the characters every time. Sometimes, I’d get an extra listen during the day. That was a super great day! Every book was my favorite.
I am enjoying sharing sneak peeks. Reminds of the blind men exploring an elephant. Difficult to comprehend the whole piece from only seeing a single section.
Being read to is such a treat. It was my mother who read to me. We read to our children and I continued to read to my grandchildren. It never gets old.
I love your embroidery piece and, yes, that does certainly help justify the 990! I have a 570 and every time I use the embroidery, I am just tickled. Great project for Project Quilting and I checked out your reel, quite fun! Those colors were everywhere in the 60s and 70s. We had a yellow oven growing up!
Of course my justification comment was a bit tongue in cheek, but the Bernina 990 truly is a remarkable machine. Glad you enjoyed the reel. That was experiment #2 teaching myself how to film and post a reel. Yes, the runner colors are truly iconic for the 60’s and 70’s. Nice to hear you enjoy the embroidery feature on your machine, too.
I continue to be delighted by how much you’re using and enjoying the machine embroidery features on your B 990! Can’t wait to see the Final Reveal on your surprise project when you are able to share it fully.
I had no idea of how I would use an embroidery machine. I am surprised by how many uses I have already found for it. The big reveal is getting closer. Fingers crossed it will be 8 weeks from now.
Secret Mission embroidery is quite simply stunning! And how you have elevated simple 4 patch blocks here to make them look so arty and beautiful. Such a lovely finish. Always a treat to read your posts, Gwyned.
The embroideries that come preprogrammed with the Bernina 990 are amazing. This particular one was on display at the sewing center when I was shopping for a new machine. Like you, I thought it stunning. I’m thrilled to have the perfect project for it.
Good to hear from you, Jocelyn. Your posts and comments always brighten my day.
The embroidery secret project looks beautiful from that sneak peek.
Thank you, Daryl.
I grew up in the same era. My mother loved avocado green and had all harvest gold appliances. Oh the memories that table runner brought back. I was a big fan of Nancy Drew as a child and all the James Herriot books as a teen.
Darn, I forgot the official name for the color was harvest gold. You know I loved Nancy Drew. Herriot was another favorite.
I’m a novice quilter; this is my second year of reading your posts through the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link, first time commenting. I admire your growing mastery of your new machine! My 50+ year old Singer, which my parents bought used for my high school graduation gift, “died” last August and I have been struggling to learn how to use it’s replacement. Love your table runner ~ my husband and I married in 1976 and the carpeting in our first apartment was avocado green shag with yellow and orange highlights. As a fellow mystery fan, you may want to check out Tess Gerritsen’s “The Spy Coast”, set in Maine. Our mystery book group read it in 2024 and it is now Book 1 in a series of three.
I’m touched that you have been following me for two years. We have several things in common. My MIL bought me my first sewing machine. She was a phenomenal knitter and sewer. In fact she made my wedding dress. I selected two different patterns I wanted combined because I liked the neckline of one and the sleeves of another. It fit to perfection and looked great. I was VERY intimidated by that sewing machine. It was a Huskavana Viking with cams. The several of the cams could be removed and replaced. This is what gave you more stitches and alphabets. The Bernina 990 is only my third sewing machine. Everyone has been a significant upgrade and the latest is the biggest learning curve yet.
Like you, I was married in the 70’s – one year ahead of you. Still married to SEDOSO.
Thanks for the book recommendation.
Your Secret Mission machine embroidery is gorgeous! I can’t wait to see the reveal!
Thank you, Nancy.
Peace man… hes so cool….
Love it! what a fun challenge and a great way to use those colors
Since the time to complete a PQ challenge is exactly 7 days from announcement to finished artwork, I need to design something I can execute quickly. This fit the bill. So happy it appealed to you.
You nailed the 60s/70s vibe with that color palette!
Happy to hear it worked for you.
Hi Gwyned, your Peace, Man table runner is lovely, and it sure is green also 🙂 I can’t wait to see your secret project – piecing and embroidery has so much potential. Thanks so much for linking up to I Quilted This!
Thank you Andree, both for your kind comments and for providing a place for me to link up.
Peace! That color combo works for RSC & it definitely took me back to the 60’s & 70’s. And my fav childhood book was the (series) of Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Little House on the Prairie is a favorite of many. Nice to hear I could transport you to “our” era.
Your Secret Project is growing nicely and intriguingly! It’s very satisfiying to have a great use of a new machine. Peace, Man is a treasure, I love the runner and all about the era, the name that is still and even more relevant today.
Good question about my favorite childwood book, I don’t remember one more than the others children’s story, but I read, reread, and reread again a book that had a profound impact on me, the story of a child and a wild horse (Crin-Blanc). I still have it, somewhere 😉
Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous projects and linking up.
Crin-Blanc sounds like a great book. Perhaps an equivalent favorite of English speaking young girls would be Black Beauty.
Yes, I’m quite happy to have been able to put my machine through its paces and found it up to the task.