In Honor of National Sewing Machine Day

 As always a lot going on in the studio this week.  I was pleased to find out that today is National Sewing Machine Day.  

We quilters all appreciate how much the sewing machine contributes to our quilty crafting.  In my last post I had talked about wanting to switch over to my Juki machine but as of right now my Singer 401 is still in my sewing cabinet and the project it had been hard at work on was this one:

I had hoped to have finished these but I hit a snag.  I've put the project in time out for a while and then will try to take another stab at it.

In the meantime, a new project has been started:  

These are blocks for "Apple Crisp", a design that originally appeared in the October 2010 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine and is now available free on their website.  

When I started quilting, "background fabrics" for me were almost always light to dark tans because I worked with a lot of shaded fabrics and Civil War reproductions.  However in recent years as I've embraced more fabrics in the brighter modern palette, I have expanded my use of backgrounds to include more whites and white-based "low volume" prints.  

In the process, the darker tans had been languishing but when I saw this lovely project on the APQ website a few years back, I loved its Fall vibe and thought it a perfect way to cull some of the darker tans from my background stash.  Although I had pulled together the group of tans for it a good while ago, the big push to start it now has to do with an upcoming event. 

 Angela Walters is getting ready to do another of her "Free Motion Quilting Challenge Alongs " this time with the theme of "How Do I Quilt It?".  She will be covering stitching designs on Chevron, Log Cabin, Curved and Snowball blocks.  I have a top ready for the Log Cabin session and realized that this was the perfect time to get "Crisp" started since half of the blocks for it are Snowball blocks.

According to the Challenge schedule, Angela will start showing designs for stitching Snowball blocks on July 16th.  If I can stick to a schedule of stitching "Daily Blocks",  I could have the top ready for quilting by then.  I really look forward to seeing what ideas she has that I might be able to use to quilt this one up quick!

However, having made a schedule for daily stitching I did have one issue:  we are going on vacation next week.  In order to stick to the schedule, that means I'll need to take my stitching with me.  Fortunately that's not a problem as I've already put my trusty Featherweight with the travel stuff:

When I took my Juki on my last two travel trips,  I realized something:  the "Catch-All Cutie" I had made a few years ago and love to bring as part of my "sewing machine travel kit" was colored perfectly to go with the Tutto bag I had purchased for toting my Juki machine.  

Rather than having to move that tote between the two travel bags, I thought about making another one that I can leave in my Featherweight tote bag.  I saw some cute "old-timey" fabric on Etsy and knew I still had a little of the "Singer" fabric leftover from making the Featherweight tote bag:

All of this would be perfect for a new "Cutie"!  Recently I also saw that Gaye at Sentimental Stiches had a pair of scissors that I thought went perfectly with my Featherweight so purchased those too (in the lower left) to go in the new "Cutie" bag.  When we get back, I plan to order one of the Lori Holt Red Olfa Splash rotary cutters to add to it as well.  

So as of right now I've cut all the parts out (although still debating between the handle choices on the lower left) and hope I  can get it made up before we leave on Sunday.      

Because it's that time of the year, the Red, White and Blue quilts have gone up for the "Patriotic Season" (May to September) so I also hope to get back to work on these in the coming weeks:

Two years ago, I got as far as quilting the front and back panels for a cover for a pillow for my living room chair so hopefully this year I can assemble and finally finish it.  I also pieced a Lone Star wall hanging that year but could not decide how to quilt it.  

Looking at a picture of it recently,  I suddenly realized exactly how I want to do that.  When we get back, I'm going to try layering it using a glue basting method from You Tube that my MIL has tried and says works great.  If it works for me too, I can get that quilted and hung up --- hopefully by month's end! 

One of the things that had attracted me to quilting was finding out that all of the construction of a quilt  can be done completely by machine.  Having grown up in the days of Home Ec training in school, I was excited to find a new use for a sewing machine.  Over twenty years on, it is still a thrill to put the "pedal to the metal" and get a quilt out of it, LOL!!  I hope you are having an enjoyable time working with your machine today and if not, pull it out and take it for a celebratory spin!   

To Do Tuesday: Trip Recap and Plans For the Rest of the Week

It's been a while but I am back again for another:

Hosted by Carol at Quilt Schmilt

My DH and I are back from the trip for the family funeral that I mentioned in my last post.  We wound up staying an extra day so only got back yesterday.  While you hate for a death to be the reason for extended family to get together,  it was a happy opportunity to re-connect with three generations of family and friends we hadn't seen in a long while.  Another plus is that plans were put in motion for a family reunion for next year.  

However, with all the visiting with family, it meant less time than expected to spend quilting with my MIL.  We did get to a few things:  I made up the backing for the "Heartland" 3 Yard Quilt top I had started on our visit to her last Fall.  I had purchased the backing fabric for it during the shop hop we did then and finished the top once I got back home.  

Now having brought it back down with me, I managed to get it loaded on her longarm frame in the hopes of quilting it on this trip.    

The day I did that, I also had the opportunity to show something to the daughter of another of my MIL's sisters.  The last time we were together was eight years ago and I had gifted her mother a quilt while she was in the hospital that I had originally made for myself for Spring decorating.  When her mother passed, the quilt was passed on to the daughter.  Now I have finally used the pretty floral fabric I had leftover from that quilt project to make this new one for myself.  

Once everyone left, I finished picking out an edge to edge design to quilt it with.  The design I wanted to use was kind of dense so I formatted it to be stitched more spread out on the top.  However, that created issues due to the limited experience I have working with the machine and rudimentary knowledge on how to get the design to stitch out.  I spent the rest of the night trying figure out how to get it to work but couldn't.  Knowing we'd be out most of the next day, I ultimately had to pull it back off the frame and initially decided to just bring it back home and quilt it on my DSM instead.  

Because we decided to stay an extra day, we did manage to also load a smaller wall hanging my MIL had pieced.  Once again there was a lot of back and forth and layout changes made to how we thought we could get the design she picked to stitch out.  We ultimately were able to get that one done.  Fortunately that also meant we got to demo the machine in action for her friend, another quilter, who was also staying with her.  It was not perfectly stitched but my MIL was happy with the results.  

The good news is that some of what I learned working on that and from our previous session back in February have given me some insight into how I might take another shot at getting the "Heartland" quilt successfully longarmed.  So I will bring it back again on our next trip down in the Fall.   Like they say, every project is practice for the next one!

Unfortunately, no work done on these two!

I didn't find all the kinds of custom stitch patterns I wanted for the other quilt I brought down (in the Apples bag) that I wanted to longarm so that too didn't get worked on.  Since we were in and out most days, I never got around to doing any piecing on the project I brought for that (in the project bag).  So those two will have to wait as now that I am back home, the machine currently in my table needs a long over do cleaning and oiling session:

And since my 401 is the only zigzag machine in the house, before I take it out of the table I want to work on two projects that need that feature.   

Ever since the pandemic, I've wanted to make a "Jelly Roll Rug" for my kitchen.  I got the pattern and the bulky batting rolls back then and finally caught the jelly rolls I wanted on sale in 2022.  Since I am also trying to Spring clean the quilt space in particular and the house in general, getting this project done will help with both!  

Zigzag Project #2 will be to finally work on Pat Sloan's "Breakfast Club" applique Quilt Along that she hosted from January to March.  

I've had the fabric sitting on my sewing table since then but other projects took priority.  Since this is also planned for the kitchen, getting it done will add to the Spring spruce-up to be done in there.   So I figure those will be the priority quilt projects for this week and possibly the next.  The hope is after that I'll swap my Juki in to the sewing table and try to get in a free-motion quilting groove and work on my "To Be Quilted" backlog until the start of Summer.

On the cross stitch front, the project I took for stitching on the way down has moved forward some:

Pattern by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle and Thread

When I left, only the "IT", the "D" and part of the "G" had been done and that last letter had to be re-done because I had started the placement of it wrong.  I had thought this would be an easy stitch since it's so open.  However, I am still getting my sea legs on stitching on Evenweave so didn't get as much done while away as hoped.  I also made some last minute thread changes last night, grabbing two colors from other projects (one finished, one in progress) that had what I was looking for.   So now I'll continue with it this week until I get the stitching done.  Hopefully then I'll get the project bag it is going to be part of done next week.   

That should all be more than enough to keep me busy as I expect we'll also need to sign up for shifts in our community garden now that it's open for the season.  Still hoping May will be a little less frantic than the last few months have been.  It helps too that we are all enjoying more sunshine and warm weather now that Spring has fully sprung!   And when you come back inside, take some time to also check out what everyone else has going on for this week over at Quilt Schmilt!

7 Days of New Years --- Day 6: New Year's Eve and All is Well!

I was hoping to finish up the quilting on the Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine-Patch today.  As noted yesterday, all I had left to stitch were parts of the quilt I planned to free-motion quilt.  However, I was nervous about doing it on my Singer 401 as I have never done that extensively on that machine.  

I have seen Karen Miller's articles and webinars on doing FMQ on a Featherweight so figure that if it proves difficult on the 401, I could change over to that machine.  A second fall back would be to put my Brother Nouvelle mid-arm back in the table.  After doing Angela Walter's "Fabulous Feathers" free-motion quilting challenge from late 2021 to the beginning of this year, I am now also more comfortable doing FMQ on that machine.   

So I started by setting up the machine with a (slant shank) free-motion foot and put together a test sandwich.  Good news, it went well!  

The free-motion foot I used.

Tested a lot of different motifs and all went well!

Edited to Add:  It should be noted, that on the Singer 401, although the feed plate can be raised to "lower" the feed dogs (which is intended to allow for darning in a hoop with a darning foot):

...I actually kept the plate down and feed dogs up while doing the FMQ.  This is something Leah Day used to espouse early on in the days when she started doing her year of doing daily free motion designs.  I also found a high top tension -- set at 6 or 7 -- worked best to limit the "pokies" on the back.  

So with the successful test, I moved on to quilting the remaining nine sections I needed to stitch.  I got six of those done before calling it a night.

I only have the two large floral sections and the large red holly leaf print section left.  I'm not sure I like the outlining I started to do on the first large floral section.  I needed a break from it to continue working on it and think I might try just doing feathers on the remaining section.  I was stitching holly leaves and berries on the holly print but the thread I was using kept breaking.  Since I had quilted other sections with the same thread (although with a walking foot), I chalked it up to both me and the machine being tired.    

So that's it for the quilting for this year!  So now we're ready to celebrate the New Year coming in:

Sparkling Apple Cider and "Taste-Like-Fruitcake Cookies"

I hope everyone has an enjoyable time watching the New Year ring in!  May we all get to celebrate 2023 as a year for new beginnings and wishes fulfilled!

It's the First Day of February, Time To.....

 We have already moved into another new month!  Looks like 2022 is going to zoom along just as fast as 2021.  So what's percolating for February?

Carryovers from January: 

Two things I didn't get done in January as hoped was to finish the tops for my "Box Trot" and "Hexie Snowflake" projects.  

I am still going to focus on these two this week and try to get them finished up if possible.

My plan for changing the Box Trot layout is to remove the extra sashing on the bottom right and trim the rows above it to the same length.  Then I want to add a wide border of the pretty fan print from the fabric line that I was able to get.  It is one of the prints in the line that I didn't have in my original kit.  

As a "separator" I also wanted to create an "inner border" by adding scallops in the solid black sashing fabric around the center.  It took me a while to figure out how big I wanted them and whether to do them as one continuous faced strip or individually.  I finally worked out that to get the spacing right without too much futzing, using the individual scallops is the way to go.  The good news is that I lucked up since I had decided on 2-1/2" wide finished scallops and I already had a plastic template for that!

This was the template I made back in 2010 when I did the edge finish on my "Vintage Treasures" quilt.

 I talked about these in the "Edge Finishes" post I did last year for Frédérique's "Quilting A to Z" link up at her Quilting Patchwork Applique blog.  I have eighty-four scallops to make to go around the quilt and as of today, I have about half of them made.

With regards to the "Hexie Snowflake" project, I hadn't taken down the Christmas tree yet because I was hoping to get the "Hexie Snowflake" piece completely done so I could take a picture of it with the tree.  Oh well, taking down the tree is now another task for this week.   

More FMQ Training

Since I had such a good experience last month with using the "Serendipity" quilt project to practice my Free Motion Quilting, I was hoping to do the same again.  When I did the binding on the two quilts in January, I swapped Rhubye, my Singer 401, into the cabinet to attach it.  Now I want to try another FMQ challenge to get some practice stitching with her.  

On Craftsy there is a class called "28 Days to Better Free-Motion Quilting" hosted by Angela Walters and other famous quilters.  I am hoping to spend this month doing that one daily (if possible).  I wanted to do it in big open squares similar to how I was able to quilt the fabric rectangles in "Serendipity".  I found the perfect pattern for that and it gave me another opportunity to use up more of my "Mod" stash.

"Realigned" is from the Summer 2014 issue of Fons & Porter's "Quilting Quickly" magazine and this is the fabric pull I've done for the blocks.  The pattern starts with 10" squares and I'm going to quilt them individually (in effect, "Quilt As You Go") which I figure will make it easier to practice the stitch pieces.  This is the way Leah Day worked when she started her "365 Days of Free Motion Quilting" filler stitch project back in 2009.  Leah is also one of the quilt teachers in the Craftsy class.   

It'll be easier to stitch the little quilt sandwiches in the small harp space of the machine and I won't have to worry about wrestling with the full layered quilt while doing so.  When the individual sandwiches are done, I'll be able to put the final quilt together in sections.  However, what I haven't decided on yet is the sashing fabric and backing I'm going to use for all of this.  So for this week at least,  I'm doing muslin sandwiches and then can later re-do those stitch patterns with the project fabrics when I've worked out those project details.

For Day 1 of the class, all I had to do was set up the machine and a quilt sandwich and just "scribble" to try to get a feel for stitching on the machine.  

I learned that this machine stitches smoothly but like with my old Euro-Pro machine, I get better results if I run the machine very fast and move my hands fast.  Overall though, my stitches are small.  I tried slowing down but there you have to be careful because too slow and the thread breaks.  In FMQ, it's all about finding just the right rhythm with the machine you are using.  

Overall the tension was also pretty good but I found a difference when I changed threads.  I started out using a light Green thread (Aurifil) on top off an almost empty bobbin and black thread in the actual bobbin underneath.  I was surprised that the tension was almost perfect front and back.  When the top bobbin emptied, I switched to an almost full spool of Tan thread on top (also Aurifil).  Now the tension seemed a little off with more of the black bobbin thread pulling to the top.  Hmmm, I will have to see how that goes going forward.  

What's New Pussycat?

I also had to check on a few things:  first of all what's the new APQ UFO number for this month?  

It's #7 and on my list that is my "Modern Twist" project.  I had started quilting this back in 2017 but stalled as this was another quilt that I am looking to create a specific "look" with the quilting and was unsure how to proceed.  This is actually good news because I had already decided that if I was comfortable enough quilting on my 401 after I did the Craftsy challenge, I was going to try to quilt this one.  So APQ and the Quilt Muses were both reading my mind on this one.

Before I went to sleep last night I was reading some Bloglovin' posts and someone mentioned that that the February RSC color was already out and it was Aqua/Teal.   Another good opportunity!

Most of the teal scraps I have are still in my "On Ringo Lake" project box as I had always planned to use them to make a scrappy backing for that mystery project.  So I've brought that box out and before I start the search for Aqua/Teal scraps, I will make that back up which also helps to move that project forward too!  

After I mine the "ORL" scraps, I'll mine the rest of my scrap bins and the boxes of my MIL's scraps that I still have.  Hopefully all three of those sources will fill the coffers enough to cover all the RSC sewing that needs to be done for the month.

So safe to say I have enough to do for the short month of February!

A to Z Quilt Challenge: N = Notions

 For the month of April, I have taken up Frédérique's Quilting Patchwork and Applique challenge to blog daily (except Sundays) on a quilt topic related to a letter of the alphabet.  

* * * * * * * * * *

One of the great things about quilting is all the gadgets and Notions that aid our day-to-day sewing.   A quick look around my quilt space reminded this "Gadget Fanatic" of some of the things I like to use:

Chain Ripper Seam Ripper

This seam ripper is small enough to fit in the harp of my machine so it is always handy for those times when I need to cut apart chain pieced units.  It can also be removed from its base (or not) to "unsew" a seam.  It can be flipped down into the base to keep kids and pets away from the sharp point.

Thread Stands:  I need these for my vintage machines since they were not made to handle the modern cross-wound thread spools.  For my Featherweight, I originally I used a traditional one...

...until I saw this one on the Singer Featherweight Shop site made to go right on my machine!

This one works for my 401.

A Sidewinder Bobbin Winder allows you to wind new bobbins without having to re-thread your machine.  

And when you need to keep track of those wound bobbins, put a Bobbini with your spool to keep the bobbin with the matching thread!

Speaking of thread, when it's time to switch to hand work, Needle Threaders are a god send!  The little red one came from my grandmother's sewing box!

Speaking of hand work:  Often I want to re-size applique motifs and this Proportional Scale comes in handy to figure out how much to reduce or enlarge an image to make it the size I need.

Tote Bags

For store shopping or for project storage.  Appropriately enough, this one is holding all the Quilts of Valor tops I've made.

Lastly, these Timer Cubes are great for when you need to clock how long you have to sew.  They come in many different time configurations so search for one with the increments that work best for you.

What are your favorite notions?  Is there something you've been wanting to get to assist your sewing?

Linking up with Frédérique and the other Challengers at Quilting Patchwork and Applique.  Bonne journée!

August Recap: What A Whirlwind!

In July I made my way back to the sewing machine and then in August, I amped it up a notch.  Well, maybe two notches, Lol!  So much tackled, a few things started and an important finish.  I'm hoping to approach September just a little less frenzied.

First off, my priority for the month had been to finish work on some zigzag machine applique while I still had Rhubye, my Singer 401 in the sewing machine cabinet.  I had hesitated working on the applique at the end of July because for some reason, I was under the impression that I had never done that on this machine before.  I wanted to check the stitch width and how stitched units that are layered underneath other units looked.  So  I did a scrappy test block first.... 

....and when that went fine then did the center applique for "Esther's Garden Box", a Kim Diehl "What Nots Club" pattern. 

I had purchased the "What Nots" kit to provide some extra fabrics for yet another Quarantine project I have brewing.  The good news was that I was able to get what I needed and will still be able to make up the whole kit project as well.  

With that successfully done, I then FINALLY stitched down the stars and word appliques for the "Hope" Quilt Along QOV top I finished back in June.

It was only after that I was reminded that I had actually done machine applique on this machine before!  Back in January of last year, I made a baby quilt for my DH's cousin and appliqued the child's name on it.  Yeesh!  My quilting memory must be shot because of this pandemic!  Or maybe it's just a side effect of project overload.

I was also hoping to get back on track with my BOM projects.  I  managed to bring the blocks for the Joann BOM up to date.  The Joann's were the easiest to do because they are pre-cut so made great leader/enders for other projects worked on this month.  They are now up to date through August.

I only got two of the four AQS BOM blocks I wanted to work on done.  

 In order to catch up on the AQS blocks, I need to make four blocks each for August - November to bring me back up to date.  I'm going to try to get the other two August blocks done by the end of this week and then attempt to stay on track for the rest of September. 

Die cutting the fabric scraps after making the AQS blocks, I also got a few more Spider web units for the tree skirt made up too.

But wait, there's still more!  Having done Edyta Sitar's Mystery 2020 QAL back in May, I am now officially in a Laundry Basket Quilts obsessive phase!  I am loving everything LBQ I see to the point that I have not one, not two but three projects planned using the scraps from all the blue fabrics I  purchased for the AQS project!  It would have only been two except that I saw another of her quilts that is in her book "Handful of Scraps" and wanted to add it to the Bucket List.  Just my luck,  I found someone selling a copy of that book on eBay along with Edyta's "Patches of Blue" book at a "couldn't pass it up" price.  I shouldn't have been surprised when the books arrived, to fall in love with some of the Blue and White projects in the second book.  A real problem when it's the color theme for this year's Christmas decorating and the AQS project.  So the third project got added from that book.

But it didn't stop there!  The plan is to work on all the blue and white projects through the Fall and finish up before the holidays.  However, the LBQ obsession could not be quenched and called for more immediate fulfillment.  What to make?  How about something small?  Well, I've also been dying to make a log cabin quilt.  That fire was stoked after using my Log Cabin die to cut the strips for the borders of Edyta's mystery quilt.  Then one day I came across her video for her little "Lidia" quilt.  Perfect! 

Even better,  I've been establishing a new mini quilt display space so making this would help fill it.  However, the pieces for it were so small I didn't need to use my stash of log cabin strips,  I could pull and cut what I needed from my overflowing "Crumbs" bins.  Another bonus!  

After joyously rooting around in the "Crumbs" for "Lidia", what should I see on the web but a Carrie Nelson "Schnibbles" pattern named "Gertie".  Who can resist a Schnibble?  It's  designed to use Charm packs (5" squares) for a lap quilt but I realized if I downsized it and used even more "Crumb" bits to make it, I'd get another little mini for the display space.  So this happened:

The blocks for Lidia are pieced and the border print is picked out.  My border will be smaller than Edyta's in order for it to fit the space where I want to display it.  All the HST Gertie bits are pieced and background squares cut so now I just have to sew it all together.

Edited to Add:  And you can see these two finished here.

It was at this point that  I could FINALLY swap out the 401 for a long deserved rest and swap in "Nova" the Brother 1500 mid-arm.  I thought it was going to be for trying to FINALLY  quilt one of my own projects but nope!  The pandemic curve has flattened greatly here in NY and things are opening up more and more.  So it shouldn't have been a surprise to get a call from the troop leader of the Girl Scout troop we had worked with back in December and January.  They were setting up a meeting and she wanted the quilt made from the finished blocks.  Yikes!  I had gotten the top, backing and label prepared back in March right  before we went into quarantine.  As a result, I held off doing the quilting -- or more honestly, switched my focus to mask making and all the quarantine quilt alongs and personal project inspiration that came in.

However, I was more than happy to have a motivation to move something to a finish and out of my quilt space.  So I decided on the final binding choice (picked from an assortment of fabrics that had been purchased for the EPP workshop I did in February) and got to work on that.

The backing fabric is actually 4-H fabric.

I quilted it much simpler than I originally planned.  I limited it to stitching in the ditch around the blocks and the only free-motion done was around the hearts in the fussy-cut sashing squares.  There was a lot of hand work to be done though:  Although I attached the binding completely by machine (sewn to the front and stitched in the ditch to tack it down in the back), I needed to hand stitch two 3-D applique motifs that were applied on top of the sashing and also tack down some of the motifs and trims that had been attached to the blocks so that they stay secured as the quilt is handled.  I also sewed on a hanging sleeve on the back since part of the original plans for the quilt was to make it so the troop could carry it as a banner in a parade.  

So the good news is that the straight stitch only machine now in the cabinet means I can quilt big quilts but still be able to piece things.  I'm hoping there can be a few more quilted finishes for September even as I continue to work on catching up on the BOMs and piecing some more quarantine projects.  Add to all of that two national political conventions and a couple of hurricanes and it really was a whirlwind of a month!