Crazy Quilt Sewing Machine Cover--an Island Batik Challenge

The theme for January's Island Batik Ambassador challenge is scrappy.  I love scrappy!  The first idea that came to mind is something I've been wanting to make for a while: a sewing machine cover.  And my vision was always to use scraps and play with some of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine to make it crazy quilt style.  This challenge was the perfect excuse to finally make it.

To make a cover to fit my machine, I used this youtube tutorial from The Crafty Gemini and took my own measurements as directed.  She uses fusible fleece but I wanted more body to my cover so I used Soft & Stable from ByAnnie's.  Her method involves three pieces: two sides and then one long piece that becomes the front, back, and top. I cut my pieces out of the Soft & Stable a little bigger than my measurements because I knew I'd want to trim when done.

cut and ready for the fun part!

Then I got out the Island Batik scraps and started to play!  Some folks like to stick with one color palette or even one collection when they go scrappy.  Me, I'm an "everything but the kitchen sink" kind of scrap quilter!  (My dream is to find fabric with kitchen sinks on them so I can make a scrap quilt with everything AND the kitchen sink!)  I wanted lots of bright color and variety. I chose fun scraps that made me happy--easy with Island Batik fabrics!

This was my first project of 2020.  I started by putting a brand new needle in the machine--a schmetz super nonstick universal 80/120.  Then I just let it happen organically.  I put two fabrics next to each other, stitched them down, then "pressed" with my roller.  Then I picked out a decorative stitch on my machine and Aurifil thread that contrasted with both fabrics. 

You should have heard my cheer when I found this rooster scrap!

Wake up!  It's time to sew!

And my buddy the octopus left from last year's Octopus's Garden quilt was fun to add, too.

The only part I planned was the hand embroidery.  I've had my current sewing machine for almost five years now.  She's a Pfaff Ambition 1.0 and she was a HUGE upgrade from the super simple machine I had before.  I named her Willa the Wonder Machine, and I felt that her name needed to be on the cover.  I used the crayola tracing board that my family gave me for my birthday to trace the pattern onto fabric (Island Batik basics in Petal). The letters in Willa came from the book A Rainbow of Stitches--I combined two different alphabets.

I used a total of 15 different colors of Auriful thread (4 different weights) and 39 different decorative stitches. Once I did all that stitching, I trimmed to the measurements I needed.

ready to assemble

I didn't use a backing fabric but I did want to add binding to the bottom edge.  I was mulling over binding options when I realized that this is a scrap challenge!  I should use scrap binding!  So I pulled out my Island Batik binding leftovers.   I ended up using three of the four--perfect for a scrappy project.

binding choices

 I love my finished cover!  And here's an action shot, so you can see it really fits over the machine.

 Materials used in this project were given to me by Island Batik, Aurifil, and Schmetz.

This was my first finish of 2020!  My goal is 52 completed projects in the year; this is #1.