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Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed making some crumb quilt projects this week using the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine.

Yesterday I showed how to make blocks using crumb quilt strips for borders. I made 3 – 10½” blocks for a table runner, but of course, you can make as many blocks as you like.

How to finish the table runner using 3 crumb-pieced blocks:

• Sew 1½” x 10½” sashing strips between the blocks.

• From border fabric, cut 2 – 5″ x 32½” for side ...

Yesterday I showed how the use the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine to make some crumb quilt fabric cut into 2½” x 8½” strips to use for borders. Now I’ll put it all together.

sewing instructions

• Sew a 1½” x 6½” strip to one side of a 4½” square using a partial seam.
• Press seam toward strip.

• Sew another 1½” x 6½” strip to the next side of the square.

• Sew on the ...

Yesterday I finished my first crumb quilt project using the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine.

Today, I’ll show another project using the same crumb quilting technique, but this time I’ll be using dark-colored scraps. The batiks are so easy to use in a project like this, as the edges don’t fray or stretch. This is really important because of all the bias edges that occur when crumb quilting.

Here are the basics for creating the crumb blocks, but please refer back to the QUILTsocial blog posts on Days ...

Most quilters can’t bear to part with scraps of favorite fabrics and tend to keep them in little bins and boxes for future use. Crumb quilting, although not a new idea, is enjoying a resurgence now as we try to use up all those bits of fabric we’ve been saving. Basically, it’s sewing small pieces of fabric together to make new fabric which can be cut up to make blocks, borders, sashing and more.

This week on QUILTsocial, I’ll be using the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine to do some crumb quilting using ...

Welcome back! I hope you’ve enjoyed making some Valentine themed projects this week using the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine and the Circular Attachment.

I’ve used the laser light for several projects over the last 3 months. Here are a couple of videos that you might like to watch for even more information about this great feature. In Video 2 you’ll see the Brother Dream Machine, but the laser light works the same way on the BQ3050.

Video 1 Laser Guided Sewing

Video 2 Half Square Triangles with laser light

Yesterday I showed how to make 2 decoratively stitched fabric circles using the Circular Attachment and the SA186 open toe foot on the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine. Today I’ll show how to make a simple pieced heart and use these circles to make a border for a little Valentine quilt.

materials

Red heart fabric

2 – 3½” x 6½” rectangles for heart shape
4 – 4½” squares for outer border

Light border and background

4 – 1½” squares
2 – 3½” squares
2 – 1½” x 6½” rectangles
2 – 1½” x 9½” rectangles

Yesterday, I finished off piecing a Valentine table topper using the Brother Innov-is BQ3050. The sewing fun continues as I make another Valentine-theme project today. Let’s go!

Last month in my QUILTsocial posts, I introduced a fascinating attachment for the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine – the Circular Attachment. You can read my post, Endless design possibilities with the Brother Circular Attachment here.

The Circular Attachment can be used on several other Brother machines as well. There are two extra feet with the attachment – a braiding foot and a cording ...

Yesterday I showed how to make the strip sets and add background squares and rectangles to them with the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine. The laser light feature makes sewing those half square triangle corners so easy! Now it’s time to put everything together.

Sewing instructions

• To make one heart block, arrange the strips as shown in the picture below. Try not to have 2 squares of the same fabric next to each other.

• Sew the strips together using either ...

Welcome back to QUILTsocial! This week I’ll be using some unique features and attachments on the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine to create some easy Valentine’s Day projects.

Today’s quilt uses a pieced heart design. I used scrap fabrics for my quilt, but you could use fat quarters or jelly roll strips for the pieced hearts.

cutting instructions

Hearts (red)
16 – 2½” x about 16″ strips in a variety of colors
1 – 2″ square to use in the sashing

Background (light color)
16 – 2½” squares
8 – 2½ ...

Welcome back! I hope you’ve enjoyed making some disappearing blocks using the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine this week. I encourage you to try this technique with other blocks as well. Starting with a large block, like the 18″ ones I made on Monday and Tuesday, makes it easy to use this technique. Choose a block with simple piecing and you’ll have endless design opportunities. Have fun!

From my September QUILTsocial posts, I showed how to make several projects with some Disappearing Nine Patch blocks. You might like to have a look at these posts for more inspiration.

Yesterday I showed how to use the laser light on the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine to make very accurate quarter square triangle blocks.

Now itʼs time to cut the blocks apart, make the original design disappear and create a whole new block. I made several quarter square triangle blocks using a variety of 10″ squares, so I’ll have lots of design possibilities.

• Cut 2½” strips from 2 sides of each block as shown in the picture below.

• Rearrange the 2½ ...

Yesterday I used the laser light on the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 to make half-square triangles. Today, I’ll use the same great feature to make quarter square triangle quilt blocks.

This is a good project for using 10″ squares (layer cakes) or using fabrics from your stash. It’s a very scrappy look, so don’t be afraid to mix and match.

Start with (12) 10″ squares – you can always make more blocks later if you like this design.

• Turn on the laser line by pressing the laser line button.
• Press ...

Yesterday I showed how to use the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 to make a simple, disappearing quilt block. Today I’ll make 2 quilt blocks, rearranging the fabric placement in each one for a different effect.

fabric for 18″ block

• 5 different fat quarters or scraps from your stash. I used leftover Banyan Batiks Island Vibes fabric from my QUILTsocial post Curved strip piecing with the NEW Banyan Batiks Island Vibes – March 2019. Check it out!

cutting instructions

Fabric 1

• (1) 9½” square

Fabric 2

• (4) 2¾” x 9½” rectangles

Fabric 3

• (4 ...

Last month in my QUILTsocial posts, I showed how to use the cord guide bobbin cover, decorative stitches and bobbin work on the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine to make some quick and easy gift bags.

This week, I’ll be exploring the magic of disappearing block designs. In previous QUILTsocial posts, I showed how to make several projects using a disappearing nine patch technique. I thought since this technique works for nine patch blocks, it can probably be used for other blocks as well, so I decided to ...

Thanks for coming back to QUILTsocial as I make another quick and easy gift bag using just a few of the many techniques available on the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine. So far this week, I’ve shown you how to use the cording bobbin cover to add decorative trim, create words to embellish fabric and using decorative stitching with bobbin work.

One of the features on this machine I’ve come to really appreciate is the easily accessible help screen. When I press the? key at the bottom of the LCD screen, this menu pops up.

Welcome back! Yesterday I showed how to use the cord guide bobbin cover to add some decorative trim to this little gift bag on the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050.

Today I’m doing some decorative bobbin work. I had never used this technique before, but now I can see all kinds of possibilities for using it. The bobbin work bobbin case and the bobbin case cover are included in the bundle of supplies that comes with the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050.

To prepare for bobbin work, remove the regular black bobbin case and replace it with the ...

Yesterday, using the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050, I showed you how to use some of the character stitches to make this little gift bag.

Today, I’m using the bobbin cover that lets me add some narrow cording to my project for a decorative finish.

materials

• (8) 2½” x 10″ strips of fabric for the bag. I cut strips from some precut 10″ squares from a layer cake.
• (2) 8½” x 10¾” for the lining
• (1) 16½” x 3½” in a contrasting color for the cuff at the top
• (1 ...

In yesterday’s post, I showed how to use the features of the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 to make a simple, basic gift bag look professionally made.

We often don’t use all the features on our machines, so making these little gift bags is a good chance to use some different features and create a small, useful item at the same time. In last month’s QUILTsocial post, I made a holiday table runner, and used several decorative stitches.

Now let’s start using the ...

Last month in my QUILTsocial posts, I introduced you to the Brother Innov-ís BQ3050 machine. You can check out all the features of this machine by clicking on the Specifications tab on the Brother website.

I’m still finding my way around on the machine, but I’ve learned lots more about some special features I’d like to share with you this week while I make some cute little Christmas gift bags. These are small bags, about 7″ x 9″, but they can easily be made larger.

So gather up some Christmas or holiday fabrics ...