Quilted Football

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we're making plans to visit the family back in Tulsa. I saw this pattern the other day, and thought it would be just the thing for my youngest grandson, who is 3 years old. Because quilting is my thing these days, I decided to make it quite scrappy instead of color coordinating, or attempting to make it look "real."  The pattern came from Jinny Beyer Studio (http://www.jinnybeyer.com). It's a .pdf file, easily printed at home. 

Because the printed pattern has some overlapping pieces, I printed it on regular paper, then traced the pieces onto the dull side of freezer paper. After cutting out the freezer paper pattern pieces, I ironed the freezer paper, shiny side down, onto fabric. This is a great way to be precise when cutting out irregular pieces like this, and the paper is easily removed without damaging the fabric. Freezer paper pattern pieces can also be used again several times. Can you tell I love my freezer paper?

I strayed a little bit from the instructions that came with the pattern. I used fiberfill instead of 100% cotton stuffing. I thought the cotton might make it too heavy and firm for a 3-year old. It turned out firm enough for throwing, yet still soft enough to use as a pillow while watching TV.

Sewing Machines

Some people just don't understand.  Years ago, I fell in love with the look of the old treadle sewing machines. Yes, that's right, the old style black machines. So I decided I wanted a treadle machine. I already had a perfectly good Kenmore zigzag machine that I had bought new in the late 70s, but I wanted a nicer cabinet for it. When an estate auction put an old sewing machine in a nice wood cabinet up for sale, I bought it for $20. I was the only bidder, probably because it didn't have the electric cord or foot pedal. It turned out that my Kenmore machine wouldn't fit into the singer cabinet.

So, I took my "new" old black machine to a Singer repair center to see about getting the cord and foot pedal. This was a mistake. They charged me more than triple what I had paid for the machine. Then I discovered it wouldn't sew. Everything seemed to work, but it wouldn't make a stitch, so my auction bargain became extra space to hold my sewing things, and the machine never saw the light of day.

A few years later, I found a user's manual for the machine, which turned out to be a Singer 201, from 1939. After reading the manual, I discovered that I had been threading the needle in the wrong direction. Once I threaded the needle correctly, the machine began sewing beautiful straight stitches. In researching this machine, I learned that it was considered to be one of Singer's all time best machines! And to think it had been sitting unused for so long. Today, it is my favorite go-to machine for everyday stitching. These days it is mostly sewing together quilt tops.

Since discovering what a jewel I had, I was apparently bitten by the vintage sewing machine bug. I finally got not one, but two treadle sewing machines, both of which are in good working order. I still have my original Kenmore, although it has been promised to my son. My mother's White zigzag machine from the late 60s came home with me after her funeral, and it still works fine too. I have another White machine which was originally a treadle, but converted to electric, and is in the process of being cleaned and refurbished.

The other day, my sister sent me an email with a picture of a Singer featherweight she had just bought from Ebay.  Because she thought her Singer 185k was tiny, she couldn't believe that the featherweight was even smaller. To convince her of just how small the Featherweight is, I sent her a picture of 3 of my machines. The Featherweight is in the front, back left is a repainted Singer 99, and back right is my old faithful Singer 201. Something tells me that Sis has also been bitten by the vintage sewing machine bug. She has told me that her little green Singer 185k is her favorite.

Why You NEED That 4th Rail

I got a Bailey midarm quilting machine recently. I was up in Washington visiting with DS, DIL, and DGKs for Spring Break, so my DH drove to pick it up for me. He had it all assembled when I got back, and he did a great job.  Except, he didn't install the fourth rail. The assembly instructions didn't mention the fourth rail, and he didn't know what it was for anyhow. I tried to install it this morning, but didn't have the right nuts and bolts.

Today, I finally got around to loading up the backing, front, and batting for a quilt. I got the top at a yard sale, and I figured since I didn't have much work or attachment to it, that top would be a good one to practice on. If it turns out really bad, I'm sure the dog won't mind sleeping on it. Anyhow, because the fourth rail wasn't installed, the extra batting just sort of hangs there (floats is the quilting term) attached at the top but not at the bottom. So, we went to the local home improvement store to get the nuts and bolts, along with stuff for the vegetable garden. And wouldn't you know, we forgot the nuts and bolts.

We came home and went right to work outside in the garden. I came in to get a drink and cool off (don't forget, I'm in SUNNY California) and discovered a very good reason for having that fourth rail on the machine quilting frame. This is Bobbie, who thinks she has found the perfect hidey-hole.

Future Quilt

Last year, I decided to make each of my grandchildren (five and counting) a quilt of their own. Four are done and I am still thinking about what to do for the fifth. I posted photos of these quilts on my facebook page. A friend of mine saw the photos and decided she had to had one too. This is the one she picked. What followed was a discussion about what type of quilting she wanted, and she chose to have it be tied instead of paying a long-arm machine quilter. Of course, I had to remind her that Butch the dog doesn't go with the quilt.

I also told her that she had to wait; I already had other quilts in the queue that needed to be finished before I could begin to work on hers. Well, those other quilts are finished now.

So while I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new quilting machine, I went shopping. I decided to go ahead and get the fabric for Lyn's quilt, even though I won't be able to work on it for at least a week.  Why, you ask? I get to spend Spring Break with three of the grands!  Anyhow, this is what a future quilt looks like.

Starting to Get Excited

My car broke down the other day, just refuses to start. We had to have it towed home. DH has tried to fix it, but can't seem to find the problem. So now he intends to take it to the dealership to have it worked on.  The car is old, and was wrecked last year, although the damage was fixed.  DH has been talking about getting another car, but we have no idea where the $$ would come from.
The other day, I was casually opening the mail, when I got a big surprise: an unexpected check made out to me.  $$ that is not earmarked in the budget! :D So now, we'll be able to fix the car. And get a used second car so I won't be without transportation on days when DH can't ride his bike to work. AND get that long arm quilting machine I've been wanting. :D
There will be a learning curve, no doubt. I've done some FMQ on my vintage Singers and managed to get passable but by no means professional results. One of the problems with vintage Singers is the limited amount of space between the needle and back of the sewing area. This new machine will give me twice as much room to work in and it comes complete with a Grace quilting frame, metal rods (as opposed to wooden ones, which have a larger diameter), laser stylus and quilting patterns, complete instructions, and a Stitch Regulator!
I can't wait to get my hands on this puppy. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town next week, so I won't be able to play with it until I get back. That's okay, though, because I'll be playing with three of the grandkids all week. :D:D:D

FMQ

In quilting terms, FMQ means free motion quilting.  It can be done either on a long arm quilting setup, or on your regular old sewing machine. Since I don't have a long arm quilting setup, I'm using my new-to-me but 90-year-old "Red Head" Singer, model 66, while crossing my fingers hoping that there is a long-arm machine somewhere out there with my name on it. This is a straight stitch only machine, without reverse. Which means no backstitching. When you FMQ, it is necessary to either lower or cover the feed dogs, so they don't interfere with the free movement of the fabric under the needle. This machine didn't come with a feed dog cover, and the feed dogs don't lower. So now the feed dogs are in the drawer of the lovely old cabinet she sits in.
I've begun working on DDIL's t-shirt quilt, the actual quilting (FMQ) of it. Believe it or not, marking the quilting lines takes longer than actually sewing them.

I Couldn't Help Myself

I blame DH. He's been surfing Craig's List for a long-arm quilting machine to go with the quilting frame we got a couple of weeks ago. The frame is long enough to handle a king sized quilt if I ever get that ambitious. Anyhow, while he was surfing, he ran across an old sewing machine that he knew I wanted, and showed me the listing. It didn't come with a cabinet or other attachments, but the decals are nice. I'm pretty sure the motor isn't the original, because it looks new. It does work fine, although I haven't sewn anything on it yet. The colors are dull because I haven't cleaned it up yet.

This is a machine that could either be a treadle or electric, and it shouldn't be hard to change between the two. According to the serial number, it was probably built in 1920, making it around 90 years old. I hope to look so good (and function so perfectly) when I'm ninety.


If you count the two sergers, my 'new' Singer makes 15 machines.  Does this mean I'm a sewing machine addict?

A First (for me)

Last weekend we went to pick up a quilting frame.  We plan to build an add-on to enable using a sewing machine with it instead of hand quilting. The first quilting that will be done on it will be one I picked up at a yard sale. It's nothing fancy, and I don't know what to do with it once it's finished, but it will be my practice quilt.  This way, if it gets messed up, it'll be no big loss.

Right now, we're just waiting for the parts we've ordered previously, the parts to build the sewing machine carriage. So, in the meantime, the frame is assembled, sitting in the den. Today, I finished a quilt top for my youngest son. (Shhh, it's a surprise) So, since it was time to build the quilt sandwich, I decided to give it a try, and use it to pin-baste the top, batting, and back together.  It's going to require some practice to get it all straight, but it worked. It seemed a little better than crawling around on the floor. The t-shirt quilt took hours to pin-baste, hours of crawling around on the floor. I was even forced to lock Ginger and Butch in the bedroom while I did it, because Butch wanted to "help." Here is a photo of the quilt frame in action.

Broghetti

It's an all too common problem these days; I, DH, and SS all need to lose weight. We've all gotten a little too "fluffy" for health and comfort.  DH has finally decided to get serious about it, so I intend to help as much as I can when it comes to preparing meals.  DH, however, isn't wild about veggies, so I've had to get creative.

One of my favorite dishes is fettuccine alfredo with chicken, so I experimented with replacing the fettuccine with zucchini. Oh my, was it good!  I had tried this dish at a Mexican restaurant about a year ago and enjoyed it.  This substitution undoubtedly saved a lot of calories, but alfredo sauce isn't exactly low-cal.  So next, I tried a tomato-based sauce in the zucchini/chicken dish. That worked too; you get your protein and veggies, all in one dish. We all like it, including Ginger and Butch, so it has been added to my repertoire of meals.

Butch and Ginger, riding in the car

Then, more recently, I saw a post on the quilter's forum in the recipe section, about healthy eating for diabetics. The person who posted recommended using shredded broccoli instead of pasta.  That piqued my interest, because DH typically won't eat broccoli. So, the next time I went to the grocery store, I picked up some broccoli slaw. It is mostly shredded broccoli, with some carrots and cabbage. All is cut, cleaned, and ready to use in your favorite recipe. Like the post recommended, I sauteed the broccoli slaw in a tiny bit of oil until it was crisp-tender. Then added my usual spaghetti sauce and served it for dinner. I wish I had thought to take a photo, as it looked almost Christmas-y, with the bright green broccoli shreds topped with the tomato-based sauce. This dish got two thumbs up from DH and SS, and of course, Ginger and Butch, who don't really have thumbs, but who quickly polished off the leftovers. The great thing about shredded broccoli is that it is low-cal. One serving, (three ounces) of broccoli slaw has only 25 calories, according to the package.

Next, I may try a light lime-cilantro sauce, with chicken.

Quilt Guild Meetings

Lots went on last night at the quilt guild meeting.  Every meeting they have door drawings, a library we can check out sewing/craft related books, and snacks. Last night there was also a table where they were giving away craft books which covered topics from patchwork quilting to Family Circle's Weekend Crafts.  I looked at the books and chose two; one on patchwork quilting and one on handcrafted gifts and toys. All of the books looked interesting, but I didn't want to be greedy.

The quilt show is coming up next weekend, and the guild is raffling off a beautiful quilt called "Empire Beauty."  It looks like it has lots of appliqué in the border. I hope to win this quilt, but then, probably many others do also.  At the end of our meetings, we have "show and tell" where we get to show off our creations. There were several bunnies there from the class we had a couple of weeks ago; I brought two myself. Every one was different and they were all adorable.

After the bunnies, we showed our other creations. I had brought a little green turtle with a quilted shell. He was a big hit. Everyone encouraged me to enter it into the quilt show, which I intend to do. The entry form requires photos, so taking pictures will be on my agenda today.  After showing my turtle, I sat down.  Then suddenly, one of the ladies came up behind me and handed me a couple more of the giveaway books. I thanked her and returned my attention to the others who were showing their handiwork.  A couple of minutes later, the same lady came up behind me again with more books! Now the total rose to six books. All of them seem to be in new condition. I am now well stocked for craft books, at least for now. :)

Maybe next year I'll have a quilt to enter into the show.

On Order

The den has been rearranged to make room for the newly acquired quilting frame. Well, mostly. I still haven't figured out where to put the treadle sewing machine that is sitting in the corner along the wall where the quilting frame will go. And lest anyone should be silly enough to suggest getting rid of said treadle sewing machine, not on your life. I'd sooner give up the 55 gallon aquarium or the television. I made progress, though. Today I opened the box and took out the assembly instructions to look over, carefully re-taping the box back so Butch can't get at any of the pieces. He tries to eat the strangest things. We're always finding rocks and pieces of wood that he has brought in from outside to chew on. When we take stuff like that away from him, he takes it very philosophically. He knows he can always just go back outside and bring in another rock or hunk of firewood.

Today we ordered the parts from here to make the necessary pieces to turn the hand quilting frame into a machine quilting frame. Of course, if we had ever won the lottery, we wouldn't have to cobble something together like this, but considering that a new quilting machine/frame setup can cost around $8k-$14k, I didn't see any way I could make enough quilts to justify spending that kind of money.

I did see an interesting website today that offers "stretched arm" quilting machines for as little as $1,899, and the company is just a hop and a skip from my place back in Tulsa. They take vintage Singer model 201 sewing machines and cut/paste them into long-arm sewing machines. Okay, it's a little more complicated than cut and paste, but you get the idea.

I have a mostly-completed quilt top that will likely become my practice/learning quilt, and depending on how badly it turns out, it could end up in the dog house. Meanwhile, the t-shirt quilt for DDIL is patiently waiting for me to come to sort of decision regarding the quilting of it. Bobbie and Gracie are in no hurry; they think it sleeps very nicely as is.

Hurry Up and Wait

She's excited to see it, but not before it's finished. I'm talking about the t-shirt quilt for DDIL.  DGD's birthday is in June, so maybe I'll get it finished by then so I can take it with me for the visit. I hate not being close enough to visit anytime, and airline travel is expensive and bothersome. I guess it's worth it though, if I get to see the grands.

Anyhow, yesterday we went to Tracy and bought a quilt frame. It came with lights at each end.  It's still sitting in the box on the floor in the den. We'll have to rearrange the furniture to make room for it. (Know anyone who wants to buy a 55 gallon aquarium with a beautiful mahogany base and hood?) The quilt frame is intended to be used for hand quilting, but DH says he can create an attachment to enable using a sewing machine with the frame. This would be cool.

I've been practicing my free-motion quilting on scraps from the quilt, using my trusty Singer 201-2 in it's cabinet. It's obvious I still need a lot of practice. Coordinating the movement of the fabric with the speed of the machine is the hardest part.  Well, except maybe making smooth curves instead of jerky lines. Now I'm trying to decide if I should just use a diagonal grid or attempt a more elaborate design, and if I should mark the lines or just wing it. I'm also trying to decide if I should wait to see if DH will get his quilter invention done in a timely manner. Meantime, Gracie and Bobbie vie for dibs on the quilt as a bed.

Because the t-shirts used to make this quilt are all from concerts attended my DDIL, I digitized a music notes design for my embroidery machine, with the intent of using it to quilt the border.  It turned out fairly well.

Quilted Delay

So, I rearranged things in my sewing room, to enable me to free-motion quilt the t-shirt quilt for my DDIL.  This is a bed-size quilt and will require a lot of room to enable me to quilt it on my machine.  Because I have several machines in cabinets, I decided to set one of the extras behind the machine I intend to use, which is a 1940 Singer 201-2 in a #42 cabinet. I got this machine on a whim, at an auction, intending to put my 1970s Kenmore in the cabinet. Fortunately, the Kenmore wouldn't fit. I say fortunately, because the 201 turned out to be a wonderful machine, a real workhorse and wonderful stitcher.

Setting the two cabinets together, one behind the other gave plenty of room spreading out the quilt for machine quilting it.  Only now, Gracie seems to have claimed the quilt, and she isn't going to give it up without a fight. I still have some practicing to do before I am brave enough to work on the actual quilt, so Gracie (Lily Grace) will have a little time to find a new perch before she gets evicted.

Quilted T-Shirts, Part Two

Click photo to enlarge

DDIL's T-shirt quilt top is all pieced together. It turned out rather large.  I really liked the fabric in the outer border, and it seemed a shame that there weren't more of it, so I decided to take some of the flowers from the leftover fabric and scatter a few across the top as appliqués.  If you click on the photo you can see it a little more clearly.

My sewing room is tiny and crowded; could this be caused by the presence of 10 sewing machines, four of them in cabinets? And don't forget the two sergers...Anyhow, this is the reason the quilt was laid out on the floor in the den, (don't worry folks, I vacuumed the carpet first) as it was the only place in the house with a large enough flat area to do this. Pinning the quilt "sandwich" together involved several hours crawling around on the floor. I felt like I'd been working!

The next challenge will be to get this top quilted. I've only actually machine quilted one or two small quilts myself. Usually I send it out to have it done by someone with a long-arm quilting machine, but I have the urge to learn to do it myself. This will require plenty of preparation and practice, but I gotta learn sometime.

Dolls and Quilts

Or, How I spent my Saturday...

I belong to the Manteca Quilter's Guild, and, as a relative newbie to quilting, I like to take advantage of all the classes that the guild offers. The first class was called "Batik Blast," and we all made a lap-size quilt. I finished mine in good time, using my embroidery machine to do the quilting. The fabrics I chose didn't go so well with the pattern, and the quilt wasn't one of my favorites. However, it does help keep me warm while I'm sewing, so it wasn't a wasted effort.

The next class was all about tile quilting, with the blocks designed to look like mosaic tiles with grout between the tiles. I made two of those; the second one turned out better because I used freezer paper instead of doing needle turn as the instructor taught us. That one may turn out to be a pillow. It was done in Christmas fabrics, so I have plenty of time to finish it.

Yesterday's class involved making stuffed rabbits out of felted wool. I used wool felt rather than spend $25/yard for wool suiting. Anyhow, you can see the result at right. He turned out okay, I guess.  I'm tempted to make another bunny, using the argyle print corduroy left over from this bunny's jacket.

I'm also working on another turtle, like the one I designed for Piper to enter into the doll show. It should be appropriate, since it has a quilted shell.

The quilt guild is hosting its 32nd annual quilt and cloth doll show on March 5th and 6th. There will be a display of these bunnies, and mine may well be there too. Remember though, it won't be just bunnies. There will be a wonderful quilt raffled, as well as a doll. I have raffle tickets to sell if anyone is interested.

Quilted T-Shirts, Part One

(Click photo to enlarge)

Here's the deal; I've committed to making a t-shirt quilt for my DDIL. She went with me to pick out fabric for the background, borders, and sashing. That was the easy part. Because the designs on the t-shirts are all different sizes, I now have various sizes of blocks to work with.  As I cut the shirts apart, I noticed there was lots of leftover fabric, not to mention some 'holes' that would need to be filled.  My embroidery machine came to the rescue. I found some musical designs at Embroidery Library that will help fill in the blank areas.  This photo is the actual stitch-out of the designs I found, on some of that extra fabric.

T-shirts, as you know, are made of stretchy material which can be challenging to sew, when combined with non-stretchy fabric. The steps I took to help prepare the blocks for sewing and/or embroidering were:
1. heavily starch and iron, carefully so as not to stretch the block out of shape.
2. apply iron-on interfacing to the backside of the block, again careful not to stretch the block. I used a lightweight interfacing so the resulting quilt top would still be soft and snuggly.

Now comes the hard part; putting all those blocks into an attractive arrangement.