Sewing with Bertha

Bertha and I have been quietly working away today putting strip sets together for Rachel's Postage Stamp Quilt Along.  I am playing a little bit of catch up because I was very indecisive about what fabrics I wanted to use for what.  I love the new Sunkissed line and apparently so do a lot of you.  Corey is using that line for her Birdie Block of the Month, Rachel is using it for her Postage Stamp Quilt, and if you haven't heard Block-a-palozza is going to feature the line as well.  I'm holding out to use it for Block-A-Palozza and I'm thinking I will be using Nicey Jane for my Birdie Stitches Blocks but I haven't completely decided yet.  For the Postage Stamp Quilt Along I finally decided on Anna Marie Horner's newest line Innocent Crush and I am pairing it with White.  I struggled with this one too because I was thinking about using a darker solid like espresso or raisin but in the end I went with the white for a couple of reasons.  One because we I hate cutting and using one of those colors would have required me to buy yardage and cut the strips myself.  Second my mom had already ordered the white so I had it on hand today and I really wanted to get started because I am determined to stay on track with this quilt along.  I finished up my A Sets today and I am working on the B sets now but I don't think I will get them done tonight since it is already 9 and there is still laundry waiting to be folded.

Now you know I have told you a ton of times that I don't like cutting so precuts seem like a good idea, especially for this project.  Bertha (my machine) however I do not think agrees.  She just returned for her annual cleaning and I was looking forward to lots of great sewing time with her.  But before I even finished the A sets she started squeaking so I opened her up and cleaned out the dust.  Funny how when I started sewing today she didn't have a speck of dust on her and after only a few hours of sewing she was as dusty as when I took her for her cleaning.  Bertha is a hand me down machine from my mom (but I named her) and she is a Bernina 1230.  A bit of an older model but I love her.  I could never afford to by a Bernina on my own so I am very grateful that Bertha came to live with me once my mom got a new machine.  When I went to pick her up from the repair shop I said "Come on Bertha, let's go home."  The lady looked at me at first like I had 10 heads and then started laughing.  What doesn't everyone talk to their machine?  Then she told me most people name their Bernina's "Nina" and I laughed.  I very politely told her my Bertha was a work horse and needed a good strong name.  I'm not sure what she thought as I left but I love Bertha and I like her name.

PS-I call my mom's new machine "Birdie" because she hasn't named her.  But Birdie is a much lighter newer machine so I think the name works for her.