National Sewing Machine Day & Some Finishes!

June 13th is National Sewing Machine Day.  I read that we should share our machines.  I have no idea where I saw it but I thought I'd give my machines a little love and attention. 

So here are my machines from oldest to newest. 

This is my trusty Singer Featherweight.  It is from the early 1950s.  It's a slow workhorse that I take to sewing days and retreats.  Unfortunately it doesn't sew fast at all.  Some day I may see if there is something that can be done to speed it up some but in the mean time it is slow, steady and reliable. 

Meet Ruthie the Nolting Long Arm and her computer.  I've had her for 9 or so years when we traded a smaller one in for her. She's quilting away on one of my 3 yard quilt tops. 

I bought this Viking Topaz in the last 8 or 9 years.  I use it mostly for embroidery. I found I perferred my older Bernina for piecing and some quilting. I keep this one set up for embroidery. 

This is my newest sewing machine, a Bernina B 570. I've only had this one for 8 months or so.  It has way more bells and whistles than I need.  It's been fun to learn what it can do for me.  I want to try making quilt labels with the built in alphabets.  Someday I might buy the embroidery module and then sell the Viking. 

I also have a very old Elna Carina which weighs under 20 pounds. It's also good for taking to sew ins and retreats.  I might start taking it along with the Featherweight and see how it does. 

Now on to the two finishes from earlier this year. First up is the framed 9 patch in blue. The FCQ Equilters made the blocks for me a couple of years ago.  I finished the top last year but didn't get it quilted until this year. (I have a couple of smaller tops waiting to be quilted.) This pic was taken this spring -- note the azaleas in bloom. 

And, a close up view. Below that is a picture of the front and back. 

Next up is Traffic Jam, quilt pattern is by Pat Sloan and a free version can be found on her web page here. She also has a pattern for sale which has 3 additional sizes. You can check out a couple of different colorations here as well as finding the link to purchase the pattern. 

I've made a couple tops/quilts using the pattern. One I decided to use 2" squares since I had a ton of them. But I don't remember if this was it or one of the others I've got hanging around.  I used Susie's magic binding on this one.  

I don't remember the exact measurements but both of these quilts are basic lap quilts.  I'lll have to check my pile of finished quilts to see whether these have been donated or not.  

Please take some time visiting the following Linky Parties.  I used to post often on Fridays and these were my go-to blogs. 

Needle and Thread Thursday 

Beauties Pagent

Finished (of Not) Friday 

Off the Wall Friday 

I'm leaving you with a picture of my friend Sharon's really old sewing machine. She doesn't use it but it is fun to see it and the booklet and supplies for it. 

This is a National Rotary sewing machine that was owned by Sharon's grandmother. Sharon has the Certificate of Warranty dated September 9, 1938. Notice the boxes (tied with string!) and the manual by it. Evidently it had a table it could be set into also.  

Do you have any antique sewing machines in your life? 

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie

Monday Meandering -- 6 - 24 - 2024

It was a great week for sewing. I went to my guild's sewing day before the evening guild meeting on Wed.  I know I can't spend a whole day out and about but I did pretty well getting to the sew in a bit before 3 and getting some string blocks started. I didn't finish them because I usually use half square triangles for the corners and the ones I brought to use were too small. Bummer.  I like the fact that I always have strings and phone book papers cut to size ready to go.  It didn't take me long to pack up and go. Funny that I didn't think to put that on my goals list last week. Nonetheless, it was a great sewing week. 

6/17/24

✅Make 2 more placemats — done and turn into guild. 

✅Quilt a bit more on the seaside picture — done, still have to tie off some threads. Wait, no, I didn't finish the whole thing I just did more quilting on it! 

✅Bind string quilt — finished. 

✅Lay out the blue blocks from FCQ EQuilters and sew into top — the blocks are on the design wall. More are being made before it can be sewn into a top. 

✅Finish the inner and outer border on the stars quilt — done and returned to the guild. 

Here are some of the blocks that FCQ Equilters sent me on my last turn. I picked out the ones that had some other colors in them and then started making some more.  Does that yellow stripe one bother you?  It screams at me.  I probably will remove it and make something else to go there. (These are made in pairs so I'll probably take out both of them.) You'll be seeing more of these blocks in the future. I probably have enough for another fairly big quilt.  I'm making this the size the guild requested for seniors -- 40" x 60". 

One goal I really wanted to get done was finish the star quilt for Virginia Star Guild. You can read the background story here and here. All I had left to do was to put the borders on, one with mitered corners. Ugh. I used the 6.5" cut borders that the woman who had been making the quilt had precut.  I whipped out my trusty book on making mitered corners to see how to do it. Many years ago I took a class with Susan Cleveland to learn how to do mitered corners. She had a great book, Marvelous Miters, available so I bought it for future reference.  It was pretty much easy peasy using her directions. 

I found it interesting that you can't see the miter because the border fabric is so busy.  Luckily, I will not have to quilt this one.  I can't see doing an edge to edge quilting design over those gorgeous stars. Hopefully another long armer can do a great job on it.  It's good to have this done! 

Here's what I hope to work on this week. 

6/24/24

Finish blue blocks and sew into top

Quilt one of my quilts

Bind one of my quilts

Keep working on seaside top

Cut out a kit for July retreat 

I'm glad I made it to the guild sew in last week because I always take my featherweight (FW) sewing machine since it is very portable.  Although I really like my FW unfortunately it is really slow.  I've compared my FW with friends who have them and, yep, it is s-l-o-w. Which got me to thinking about a very old Elna Carina I have.  I stapled the receipt to the instruction book so I know it will be 40 years old on July 16th. (I paid $909.48 for it.)  Within the last 10 years I had it serviced and put back into working order. Except, when I took it to a class it didn't work. I can't remember if I tried it after that day but I decided it was time to figure out what was wrong and whether hubby and I could fix it. 

Surprise, surprise! It works pretty well. Except, the light didn't work. In fact, there was no bulb in the socket. Except, there was the remnant of the bulb. Took hubby quite a while to get it out. Thanks to Amazon, a new bulb arrived the next day. Light is restored and the machine works. It's a little clunky but it definitely sews faster than my FW. I plan to take both the FW and Elna to the retreat I'm going to in July. Hubby also made wooden pieces to hold up the plastic insert I had for the sewing desk. (Don't cry -- but the insert only cost $9.00.)  Here's what it currently looks like. 

The other bonus to this machine is it is lightweight.  I think it is even lighter than the FW. I'm not sure it will last long as it really sounds like it is old when I sew. I'm happy to give it a try and hopefully it will work well for me. 

Stitching Stuff -- 

Yea me! I again was able to stitch every day.  Here are the latest numbers. 

W/ending 6/23 — 175 days in to 2024. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/June = 23/23 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 168/175 days
• Success rate = 96%

One of these days I'll share some of the finishes I've had since the beginning of the year.  I tend to post only 1 time a week and don't want to spend anymore time.  Ok, I'm reading and sewing and knitting so why would I want to stop what I love to post something else?  To combat my inertia, I plan to write a post earlier in the week and then post it later in the week. (Don't hold your breath, I haven't done well getting a second post done this year, but I will try.)

I'm linking with these parties -- Oh Scrap, Life in Pieces, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Musings.  Hope you find a lot of inspiration surfing this week. 

The bunny from last week has been showing up and perhaps is living under some of our bushes. He's eating the hostas.  Darn him.  Why couldn't he chomp on the little purple flowered ground cover that goes all over the place? Sigh. 

Happy Quiting All! Bonnie 

Something New and Quilt Show Trip

I got an early birthday present last week!  Yee HAW!  I have a new sewing machine with an embroidery unit... (wait, I wasn't going to get into embroidery -- except Pat said, go ahead and get it.)  So I have the 635 -- I'll get a photo of it sometime soon -- the one I took when we were setting up is blurred.  


I've been fighting with Ruthie still... I think the thread may be the issue but I'm not sure.  This afternoon I got the last 18"done.  But I ran out of bobbin with about 2" to go... guess what will be hand quilted at the end?   I am so ready to have this quilt done.  Tomorrow or Monday I'll make and apply the binding.  


I spent yesterday at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show with Diana and Jennie.  Great fun but boy we were tired when we left and then there was a huge rain storm on the way home.  Yuck.  Weird weather -- it was in the low 80's!  Less than a week ago we had 4 to 5" of snow.... go figure! 

I was in awe of the quilting on this particular quilt.  It was amazing.  Heck, a lot of the quilts were amazing.  


There must have been as many vendors as there were quilts.  We spent a lot of time checking out all the new gadgets, fabrics and the like.  I thought I was pretty conservative.  I only bought 2 fat quarters, a roll of wool felt and 1 pattern. (well, and a few pieces of jewelry... )  And, I did get some thread for Ruthie.  


I feel like it will take several days to recuperate from walking on cement for that many hours.  Some year I'd like to actually stay overnight there and spend more time with vendors and the quilts. 







Wouldn't Sophia look darling in a little dress like this?  It was on display at the Bernina booth.  I had to have a picture to remember it ... the flowers are embroidered. There is a line of decorative stitches where the green meets the pink.  Too cute.






I got a call on the way home saying my embroidery unit had arrived.  I'll pick it up Wednesday when I go up for my owners class.  YEAH!  Then I have to learn how to use it! 








Jennie was really taken with this quilt and bought the special ruler to make the rhomboid units.  It was a really cool ruler so I think I'm going to borrow it.


There were a lot of X Rulers being shown and patterns.  WHERE is my X ruler?  I have a plan for it and I can't find the darn thing!  


Happy Quilting All! 

Bread and Bernina and Finding "Stuff!

When last we chatted I was going slightly crazy looking for a tin of accessories for the Baby Lock.  YEA! I found it.  So I packed everything up to go to the quilt guild meeting and the lesson on the tree skirt. 


Boo!  I changed the foot, threaded the machine, wound the bobbin and put it in and tried to sew some batting together.  Key word there -- tried.  ARGH! A veritable crow's nest on the under side. So, I figured the bobbin was a mess -- ie maybe in backward.  Turned it around, begged a piece of scrap fabric cause I hadn't brought any extra and tried again.  And again, and again.  Everyone else was well on their ways to getting the first section sewn and I wasn't able to sew a stitch. Double ARGH.  I gave up and came home quite frustrated as I really wanted to get the darn thing started, heck done! So, yesterday I decided to take the rest of the day off. 


I decided I need to look at the directions.  But, where are they?  When I finish here I will go up and look through my filing cabinets. (Not holding a lot of hope for that as the movers took everything out of all the drawers and evidently didn't pay any attention to the order things were taken out.)  My hunch is I put the directions in there.  


Alternate plans if I can't work on this Christmas Tree Skirt:  I could cut the borders for the Million Pieces Quilt.  I might not sew them on until after I get my Bernina back.  I need to piece some blocks to make the backing of the table runner from a couple of weekends ago.  I could unpack another box of books/papers.  


Pat of Silver Thimble Quilt Co. wanted to know about the Focaccia Bread from several days ago.  The flavor was good but it was too dry.  Here it is ready to go in the oven.  I think it could have been a bit thinner and that would have helped also.  I am going to try it again but I'll watch as the dough forms in the bread machine and add some extra liquid if needed.  You can find this recipe here, from Allrecipes.com .  I get a daily email from All Recipes with about 5 featured dishes.  It has sure helped me expand my choices.  Some we love, some we hate.  It is easy to try something new with so much variety.  


I'm off to the studio to look for those instructions for the machine.  Who knows, I may need to take another machine in for a spa day.  


Happy Quilting All!