A Little Picking

      I dropped by the local vintage shop last week and this machine followed me home. It is a 127, I think, and dates to 1892 by serial number.  Most of the decals are gone, but the spoked hand wheel sparked my interest and the price was hard to pass up, even to use it for parts.  Although, we have now bonded and parting it out is not an option.  I think she will become a hand crank.  It looks like she started life as a treadle, had a motor and light added at some point and was put in a case.  The case is marked Montgomery Ward and is sturdy, though ugly.  The motor started smoking when we plugged it in, so the decision was easy to make.  The hand wheel turns, bobbin winder works and the shuttle case is there.  She deserves another chance at life.  I will order the hand crank this week and keep you posted.

     I also picked up a couple of new/old pincushions.  That's actually what I was shopping for, not another sewing machine.  Here they are:

I also have been watching eBay for a sewing bird that I could afford.  I don't know what happened, but managed to get this one at a reasonable price.  Of course, it is clamped to the treadle.  Where else?

That same day, I attended the Country Patchwork Quilt Show.  They had a lovely display of antique doll quilts which grabbed my attention.  Here are some pictures of them.

Aren't they great!  I love the blue one on the left in the second picture.  

Here are some of my other favorites from the show.

And there was a Dear Jane, very well done.  

Isn't it gorgeous!

   I have been sewing, too, not just shopping and going to quilt shows.  I finally got the "Follow the Leader" quilted and bound.  It is on the bed, waiting for a label, so it can go to our quilt show this week-end.  I should have kept track of the hours of machine quilting involved.  It measures 96 X 112, so I know it was a lot.  I was really proud of my Viking Mega-Quilter.  After the initial problem with the skipped stitches which was solved by the needle lube, it handled it like a champ.  Here are some photos.

     Thats all for now, but am saving some photos to post after our guild meeting tomorrow night.  I have finished my challenge project, which was "Reach for the Stars".  It was to contain multiple stars and to be a personal challenge.  I chose paper piecing as my personal challenge and finished 10 blocks as well as several Dear Jane blocks.  Paper piecing no longer holds a hatchet over my head.  Thats a good feeling.  Until then, Keep on Stitchin'.

Judy

Quilting Season

     I saw this picture today on Quiltville.com Facebook page and loved it.  That's the way I feel about September.

    I really love summer, but also miss the long days of sewing and the feeling of accomplishment that comes from making real progress on a project in a day's time.  To celebrate, I decided to clean off the cutting table.  Here is the pile of scraps from the summer sewing waiting to be cut into usable pieces.

                      And here is the stack of strips and charms ready to be stored in their bins.

On upper left is strips and squares, lower right is the throwaway pieces from that whole pile and bottom center is some chunks and narrow strips going to someone who uses smaller pieces than I do.  I concentrated on 2 1/2 inch squares to add to the Split Nine-Patch I've been working on, so now have lots more variety for it.

     And finally, I finished row A of my Dear Jane quilt.  Here are the last five blocks of that row.  

It was quite a feeling of accomplishment to put all 13 of those blocks in a baggie.  Now to start on row B.  They don't seem as complicated as those in row A.  Hopefully it will go faster.  

I hope you got some September stitching done today, too.

Judy 

A-10, Dear Jane

A-10 is done!  It was a dandy too.  What is it about the A row?  I should have started this when I was 40.

Dear Jane, A-9

After another hour today, that little block is done.  A little wonky and I had to use a different fabric to finish the outside row, but done is better than perfect, right?  I always underestimate how much fabric paper piecing requires, so ran out of the background after doing the center.  Here it is in all of its tiny glory.

     Have a great Labor Day week-end.  I hope you have time for some stitching.

Judy

Summer's Swan Song

     Summer is coming to a close and even though it still feels like August, September is just around the corner.  It has been a pretty slow week around here.  We had a full week-end with company from Colorado, and had a great time.  Lola and I traveled to Stover and Excelsior for a little quilt shopping, so that was fun too.  Sunday was something of a let-down, as they left Sunday morning, so in the afternoon I went to the sewing room and started quilting on a project that had been sandwiched since May.  It has some mistakes in it, which I refuse to point out to you, so I haven't had much enthusiasm for finishing it.  But once I started the quilting it began to look better, so now I am pretty happy with it, mistakes and all.

Here is the finish.  Don't look too close.

I found this stencil at one of the Mennonite shops Saturday and
it fit perfectly in the big blocks.  It was easy to adapt to free motion quilting.
I had never used this pounce pad, but it worked well.  Messy though.

Here is a close-up of the stitched block.

I always have several things going at once.  I'm still working on those Halloween blocks.  I was given these adorable vintage post card prints a couple of years ago.  I would pull them out and admire them, but wasn't sure how to use them.  

I now have a plan.

Stay tuned for the big reveal.  

    I signed up for a challenge on my Dear Jane Yahoo group, one block a month.  You would think that would be very do-able, right?  Then I chose A-9 for my block.  Two hours later, it still isn't done.  How can one little 4 1/2 inch block take that much time?  Here are the ones that are done, but no A-9 in the group.

If I get it finished tomorrow, I'll share it in a quick post.  You can help me decide why it took so long.

Judy

May Day

    When I was a child, the children in my small hometown celebrated May Day on the first day of May.  
I spent several days before the big day planning my baskets to deliver to my friends, hopefully in secret.  The baskets were always homemade, using whatever container was at hand, decorated with crepe paper and ribbons and filled with flowers.  I no longer make May Baskets, but I still look for flowers on  the first of May.  Here is a dogwood tree blooming in our little town.

Our lilac bush in the back yard is blooming, the peonies are bursting in their buds, and the long struggling pansies are finally happy.  

      I have been getting some sewing done.  I finished quilting the quilt camp challenge/granddaughters comfort quilt and am happy with it.  I quilted it lightly, so it would be soft and cuddly.  Here is a picture of it.

I have a cropped version of the picture somewhere in this computer, but can't seem to find it.  This is one of the Missouri Star quilt patterns, called Garden Party.  I changed it a bit by giving the flowers a yellow center.  It is basically snowball corners on charm squares, then sashed.  

     I have been keeping a notebook in my sewing room with goals and accomplishments since January and find it is very encouraging to review them at the end of the month.  I think we all accomplish more than we think, just don't take the time to document it.  In April, I made 56 total blocks.  Here's the breakdown:  30 Camp Windemere blocks for the Barbara Brackman fabric quilt, 10 Split Nine Patch for the Bonnie Hunter quilt, 6 Dear Jane blocks and 10 Uneven Nine-Patch for the Row by Row Quilt I have been working on for years.  In addition to that, I machine quilted two quilts and machine embroidered 13 tea towels for a local shop to sell.  Also did some clothing alterations for my husband and a friend in town.  Here's my goals for May:  finish the Row by Row quilt, finish Row A of Dear Jane, machine quilt my UFO challenge for Quilt Guild and start the Guild Quilt Show challenge.  The challenge name is Reach for the Stars and I plan to challenge myself to paper piece some stars for it.  I have struggled to become proficient at paper piecing, but working on the Dear Jane has given me more experience and confidence.   If you would like to see what our active guild is doing, we have recently established a web site.  stitchbystitchquilters.org   It also will give details of our Bonnie Hunter visit in September 2015.  

Enjoy your Spring, I certainly am.

Judy 

    

Spring Arrives

 


SPRING!  Spring has finally arrived in Mid-Missouri and it couldn't be more welcome.  It has been a long winter.





     I spent most of last week with machine quilting.  Here is a quick charm square project I will offer (I will offer her a choice of several) to my 13 year old granddaughter for a scheduled spinal surgery this summer.  I want her to have Nana's virtual arms around her while she recovers from this.

Here is a close-up of some of the quilting.  I am definitely still an amateur, but I feel I am improving with each project.

I have one more small one to quilt before I tackle a large quilt.  I thought my arms would fall off after my last day on this one.  I will take my time with the larger one.  

WooHoo!  This week is Quilt Camp at Windemere.  Several members of my guild, (myself included) have reserved a spot at Spring Quilt Camp, sponsored by Fabric and Friends Quilt Shop in Camdenton, MO.  It is in the Lake of the Ozarks area and I am looking forward to seeing hillsides of Redbud and Dogwood blooming during sewing breaks.  Three uninterrupted days of sewing with meals provided, no laundry, cleaning, cooking or errands.  Does it get any better for a quilter?  Here is the major project I am taking.  A layer cake by Barbara Brackman (probably my favorite fabric designer) and a selection of civil war fabrics from my shopping extravaganza at Hancocks of Paducah this past February.

The pattern is designed for a layer cake, so it should go together pretty easy.  I will also take some uneven nine patches and my leaders and enders, if I get the cutting done for them.  

I attended a symposium in Arrow Rock this week-end focused on the African-American experience in 19th century Saline County.  The stage was decorated with a collection of African American quilts.  This is one of them, not sure about the age of it, it looked newer than that era, but it was fabulous.  

Last, but not least, here is the progress on my Dear Jane.  I'm very slow, each block takes me quite a bit of time.  I'm very happy with them, though.

They finish at 4 1/2 inches, 5 inches unfinished.  Some are paper-pieced, not my forte', but I have been machine piecing some of them.  I am using the website "thatquilt" for guidance.  I actually spend more time petting them, rather than sewing on them.  They are very sweet.  

I'll try to post pictures from quilt camp next time.  Stay tuned.

Judy 

A little pickin', a little stitchin'

    I haven't posted much about picking lately, not that I've lost interest, but the weather in Missouri has not been conducive to antiquing.  There's always antique malls, but I have never found a lot there.  All of our local shops have been closed and the weather discourages road trips.  I did receive a wonderful item for Christmas.  When I found my treadle machine in a local shop, I also saw this adorable doll trunk, complete with bisque doll and handmade clothes.  It was about three weeks before Christmas and I knew I wanted to buy the treadle, so I disciplined myself to merely talk about the doll trunk, rather than buying it.  Much to my surprise, it appeared under the Christmas tree, through a joint effort of my husband and daughter.  Here's the pictures:

I love how the lucky little girl to receive this put Christmas stickers on the inside of the lid.  What is truly amazing is how it has remained intact through the years.  

All of the time spent inside, in my case, leads to lots of web browsing.  If I could just limit myself to other blogs, Facebook, email, etc. it would be ok, but there is always eBay calling my name.  First I shopped for a vintage 301 Singer, which I found and bought, but has not arrived yet.  I will save that for another post.  Then I started browsing sewing accessories and look what I found!  

I believe it is called a puzzle box.  I don't think that is the original name, I think that is a modern day interpretation.  It was an accessory box for some of the Singer treadles.  All of the metal pieces you can see are clips to hold the accessories and they are all numbered.  The little shuttle spools fit perfectly in the clips in the upper right corner.  My spare shuttle fits on the clip on the lower right.  And….when folded up, it fits perfectly into any of the drawers in the cabinet of the treadle.  It is made of oak and the corners are dovetailed.  The stamp on the front says "Patented 1889, February 19".  The inside is lined with brown velvet.

    This last item was given to me by a friend after I did some alterations for her.  She brought it home from Russia several years ago.

It is a silver needle case.  It has lots of engraving which is hard to see in the picture.

It resides with some of my other collectibles in the room with the treadle.

   I have been doing some stitching, mostly quilting on the QOV that I'm making for quilt guild.  That took most of last week.  I bought a used Viking Megaquilter and feel like I can finally make some progress on this front.  Here's some examples of the latest efforts.

    I have long admired the Dear Jane quilts made by other people, but thought it looked pretty overwhelming.  A couple of months ago, in one of my browsing expeditions, I ordered the book so I could really admire it in detail.  Then started reading the posts in Kathleen Tracy's yahoo Dear Jane group, which led to a challenge issued by Sheri Lesh, one of the moderators, to make one block.  So I thought, I can surely make one block.  Here is the link to that;  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/DearJaneSQT/info

So here it is, all 4 1/2 inches of it.  Yes, those strips finish at 3/8 in., as well as that little square in the corner.  I hand pieced it, mostly because that little corner square scared the heck out of me.  I knew any of my sewing machines would eat it alive.  Sheri is challenging us to one block a week, I may soon have two blocks on a journey to 227.  Who wants to volunteer to finish my Dear Jane?  I don't think I will live long enough.  No one in my family has lived to 150.  

Keep on stitchin'

Judy