My favorite quilt

Over at Sew Mama Sew she's having a contest where you talk about your favorite quilt that you've made. It seemed like fun.

Tell us about your favorite quilt. When did you make it? What pattern did you use? What fabrics?
My favorite quilt is my log cabin rainbow quilt. It took a long time to make because it was my project in between other projects, the thing I took to quilt guild sew days or worked on when I couldn't move forward on another quilt because I needed more supplies.  I love it, though. I used a traditional log cabin block, and the quilt is made almost entirely of scraps. I did have to buy a green fat quarter and an orange fat quarter to keep the colors balanced, but everything else is remnants from other things.

 Have your shown it at any quilt shows or entered it in any contests?
Nope, my skills aren't that great. Plus I make quilts that are functional, not show pieces.

 What memories or people does the quilt make you think of?
When I was doing the quilting portion of it, I wanted to fill it up with whimsical pictures that were free-motion quilted into it. At the time my grandparents had passed away, and my mom was in the process of dividing up the estate. I had gotten some things my grandmother had sewn, and it made me realize that when I pass away, my quilts might be the only things left of me. So I included messages written out to my kids, pictures to represent people in my life (a robot for my son, an anchor for my grandpa who was in the navy, etc), and stuff like that. Someone in my quilt guild pointed out that the quilting wouldn't show on such a busy background, but the kids can see the pictures when they curl up with the quilt, which was exactly the point.

 What do you like best about the quilt? 
The thing I like best is that my kids love it. They like all my quilts, but they refer to this one as "the rainbow quilt" or "the beautiful quilt."

 If you could make this quilt again, what (if anything) would you do differently?
Maybe I would have waited until I had enough green and orange scraps to make it entirely out of scraps, so I wouldn't have had to buy those two fat quarters. Whenever I explain how it was made I always feel like I have to mention the fat quarters, just to be honest.

Where is the quilt now? 
 It's on the floor in front of my couch. One of the kids took it to bed and then brought it back out this morning and put it on the couch, but they kicked it off while they were playing with the iPad. Like I said, my quilts are very functional and I like it that way.

Oh, sweet Davis

My poor old Davis Advance. It's my oldest machine*, manufactured in 1896. I so, so, so wanted to sew on a pre-1900s machine. But the thing just won't sew.

I've tried threading. And re-threading. And using different needles in different orientations. And the results are always the same...it sews a couple stitches, and then stops.

Yesterday it occurred to me that maybe I'm threading the shuttle wrong. This is the Davis shuttle.

When I bring the thread down under the spring on the side, it hangs limply along the shuttle, like this.

It's really loose, and maybe as the machine sews it slips along the shuttle. When I take the shuttle out the thread is often coming out of the back end, instead of the front, like this.

The pictures are fuzzy but there's a little metal finger in the center of the shuttle. I feel like the thread should maybe go under it, or something...is that right?

Any ideas?





* Oldest machine that I can accurately date. I have a German hand crank machine that has a fiddle base and a transverse shuttle, and it looks positively ancient. I have no idea when it was made, though.

Last Project

I finished a quickie project last night. I bought a clearance-priced gray and white striped shirt for my daughter. It was from the boys' section, but it was pretty gender-neutral, and I thought maybe I could applique something on it that she would like. When I got it home, though, I found it was way too big for my daughter and just barely right for my son. So I let him wear it for a few months until she could grow into it.

Unfortunately after my daughter saw it on my son, there was no convincing her that it was a girl shirt without some modification.

Easy peasy.

I didn't even sew it...it's just wool felt and Steam-A-Seam. I had intended to sew them on to provide some extra security, but I wasn't sure that a ball point needle would go through the felt. They seem pretty secure as-is.

This is my last project for spring break. It's been so nice to have a week off and get some sewing done too. On Tuesday I go back to work, and it'll be tough to go back!

Repurposed denim quilt

I really love the quilts that are made by the ladies in Gees Bend. They're so colorful and creative, and made without buying extensive lines of matching fabric.

I also read a book about the modern clothing industry, and it included a bit about what happens to donated clothing. Apparently only about 10% of what we donate is ever sold. Some of the remainder is recycled, and a lot of it ends up in landfills.

Given both of the above, I decided to try to make my own quilt out of repurposed fabric. I bought six pairs of jeans from a thrift store, added another pair that my husband wore out, and used a flannel sheet from the store for the back.

It's not my favorite quilt design-wise, but I love the concept. I also love the fact that I turned waste into something functional that my kids love. As usual, I showed it to them and there was a scramble to see who would curl up with it first. My son said it looks like something from his favorite computer game, Minecraft. I can kind of see that.

There's no quilting on it, so I suppose that makes it a blanket and not a quilt. I used my Singer 27 for most of it, but I also used my Free a bit. I love that machine.

My last couple of quilts have featured a lot of straight line quilting, so my Singer 115 has been pretty neglected (I use it exclusively for free motion quilting). I'm thinking my next projects will be a quilt for my cousin, and a small whole-cloth wall hanging featuring a ton of free motion quilting. I can't wait.

Hello, Free

I heard a theory that if you tell the universe your wishes, the universe's energy will bring the things you desire to you.  I don't think it's legit...however, I do believe that when you write down your goals you act with your goals in mind, and your actions are more likely to bring you closer to your goals.

I look at Craigslist every day, mostly to ogle the sewing machines.  However, since I wrote out my list of machines that I want I've been keeping a special eye out for those machines...and for the price I want to pay.  When I saw a Free listed I wanted to jump...but it was listed for $100, which is more than I want to spend on a sewing machine.  I kept watching and when it went down to $60 I went for it.

The cabinet is near-perfect...just a couple small nicks.  The machine's decals look new.  It's so pretty that my husband persuaded me to let this be an "upstairs machine," instead of living in my sewing area in the basement with my other machines.

So, it's upstairs.  It didn't take my daughter long to cover it with her dolls.

The handle pulls are so beautiful.  Also, the drawers on the right side of the machine are locked in place when the machine is in the cabinet, so I can keep scissors and needles in them without worrying about the kids getting them.

Auto-lift technology!  The machine comes up when I open the lid.

The low light in these photos don't do the machine justice...the decals are in great shape.

Peacocks!

So pretty.  Why can't things look like this today?

It came with a whole box of attachments, plus extra bobbins and a tucker.

So fun!

And this was in the box too.

I'm so thrilled.  I still have to get my Davis Advance going (I just got the needles in the mail yesterday) and then I'll start working on this one...and maybe I can get some actual sewing in too!

Welcome home, Advance

It's been about two months, but I finally found time to get out to my parents' house and get the treadle base for the Davis Advance.  Welcome home, old girl!

It looks pretty good for 118 years old.  It was manufactured around 1896. 

I love the tray with the little holes where the bobbins go...or they would, if I had more than just one bobbin...

The finish on the top of the cabinet is in rough shape, but the finish on the sides and back is still beautiful.  And I like the design of the irons better than Singer irons.

This is the bracket that holds up the little table on the side of the cabinet.  Even this bracket is pretty.  Everything about these old machines is just beautiful.

The front plate isn't as pretty as my Singers, but I kind of like its simplicity.

The decals are pretty worn on the front, but on the back you can get a better idea of what they looked like.  I bet they were beautiful on the day they were made, and again, they're in pretty good shape for 118 years old.  Nothing else that I own will be in this shape in 118 years.

It's my only coffin top machine.  I wonder what was set on top of it to make that weird grid shape in the finish.

I need to order a belt and some needles (it takes extra-long industrial needles, not regular domestic needles).  I can't wait to start using it regularly.

Of course, that brings my herd census up to:

Three treadle machines
Two hand crank machines
One electric machine
Three machines that are missing parts or are just homeless machine heads

I have four other machine heads that I listed for sale on Craigslist.  It kind of hurts, but really, I need the space for machines that are at least close to functioning...not to mention fabric and all of my other hobby stuff.  Hopefully they'll find a good home, and not someone who will turn them into lamps or tractors.

Robot!

I saw a great idea on this blog and it's been kicking around in my head for quite some time.  You could turn your child's drawing into a stuffed animal!  Since my son loves to fill up pages and pages of paper with robot drawings, I asked him to draw me a robot to sew for him.

He drew a pretty complicated robot, but I gave it my best shot.

He adores it.  I still have to sew blue stripes on the legs, but then it'll be all done.  The proportions are off, but not bad for my first shot.

My son was glued to my side through the entire process.  I think it really sparked his interest to see his idea turn into something real.  He was full of questions about sewing and my sewing machine, my trusty Singer 27.  I love to model a maker mentality for him...I hope to encourage him to be creative.  I sew and my husband builds electronics and plays music.  I hope my kids pick something up that gives them a creative outlet. 

In the meantime he has a cool new robot to cuddle up with.