Draped to the Ankles

More Quilting Adventures

So I want to know who decided that the "correct" way to do hand quilting meant contorting your hands and fingers into the most unnatural position possible. They always say, "Oh, it just takes practice! Give it time!" Hmph. By the time I might ever be able to make decent stitches in that position, my hands would be cramped beyond recognition and my arthritis would be screaming. No, it isn't worth it. It's not like anyone has ever said what the advantage to doing in that way is. (For those unfamiliar with this technique, it involves using your middle finger as the control finger, and can be seen here.)

Being the rebel that I am, I have decided to quilt the way that feels best for me, and that means the thumb - our strongest finger - is the control. But they don't make thimbles for your thumb. Or at least they didn't. I splurged on this baby, and I have to say I'm lovin' it. It was worth every penny.

Singer 66 Redeye

Here is the result of my latest project. I have restored this lovely treadle sewing machine from 1920. The DH says I have SMAD (Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder), and I'm afraid he may be right. Now I just want to restore more of these things. But, I will resist the urge to acquire more old machines. Meanwhile, I will learn how to use this beauty:

And here is a before and after of the back of the machine (it was quite yucky).

Two More Quilts

Finished two quilts this month. The first is one I had been working on for a while (you can see an earlier stage here.)

I'm calling it "Tribute to Gee's Bend" because it sounds much more elegant than "American African" quilt. It's all machine pieced and quilted. And what did I learn on this on? Don't quilt in purely horizontal stripes. It gets all wonky. There are more tucks in the back of the quilt than on Joan Rivers' face (ba-dum-bum.) Still, it's very pretty, and the boys are fighting over who gets it. (me, that's who).

The second quilt was one made especially for our Valentine's Day event at church. It will be up for auction on Sunday.

This one was made using the antique Free-Westinghouse, until I messed up the bobbin. It's working now, but I had to change over the the Kenmore for a time because I was under a time crunch. Anyway, I quilted this one better, but it still has tucks in the fabric, front and back. The hearts are my first attempt at needle-turned applique.

UPDATE: The quilt went for $150 at the auction. Too bad I can't figure out how to get that for myself :-)

Sewing and stuff

Now that the hardest part of my LAST semester is over, I've been doing fun things (perhaps too many fun things, because it still isn't over :-).

First thing I did was finish handquilting the quilt I started about a year and a half ago. Check it out now.

I call it "Uproar" for no good reason except that's what it looks like. I spent too long working on it to keep it on the bed - three dogs sleep on that bed, and they are not terribly sensitive to the bed covers. The picture of the back really shows the amount of hand stitching that went into it (or it would if it weren't so darn dark).

I'm very pleased. The DH and the Son are already fighting over who gets to keep it. Of course the Son wants to sell it as soon as I'm dead. He's so sentimental.

A couple of weeks ago, the Safety Razor King and I were at the flea markets up on Doniphan. One shop had 4 antique Singer sewing machines, and I kept seeing more at different places. I was strong that day and spent no money, but we went out the next weekend and wound up with not one, but two antique machines.

The first is a Singer that looked to be in terrible condition. I figured I would take it apart and see how it worked - you know, play with it.

It is actually in pretty good condition. No rust, only dirt and grime in the machinery, and the decals are pretty much gone. But the basic mechanisms work. It has a motor which also works, but it was made as a manual treadle machine in 1927 and converted many years later. I may or may not put the motor back, depending on whether I can find a treadle cabinet for it.

The second machine is a Free-Westinghouse from about 1935. It works, so it has taken the spot the Kenmore used to be in: it was starting to misbehave, and I never really liked it anyway. The Free-Westinghouse is purely electric, but it's very simple and smooth-running. Now I just need to get the hang of it.

Lots of quilting ahead.

Quilting News Network

I recently discovered this great quilting website. It has streaming video of quilting projects and instructions from major names in the business. It's perfect for sitting down and watching while you have your tea or lunch and you don't want to do other computer stuff. QNN also has other interesting things, like a designer challenge, and tips and tricks. I even like the advertising, because I am always looking for another fabric store.

My only problem is that I cannot figure out how to make the streaming video screen full size, or at least larger. I'm sure it would be simple on a PC. But I can't figure out how to do it on my VIRUS-FREE iMac. It's still worth watching.

Friday Catblogging

I already thought machine quilting was more difficult than it should be...

But then it got really hard to do.

American African Quilt

Just a note on the progress of this quilt. I finished piecing the smaller blocks, and I have to say, it looks very different from what I had envisioned. However, it is still exactly what it should be. Here is a shot of some of the pieces on my "design wall." Each block is 7.5 x 5.5 inches, and there is a black strip set between every two blocks.

If you are interested in my sources of inspiration, take a look at the quilts of Gee's Bend, quilts by elderly African American ladies in Alabama, and these wonderful African textiles (Warning: MANY pop-ups). I think I have succeeded in creating something that is somewhere in between the two. I'll post the finished product, but don't hold your breath. Once classes start on the 17th, I'll disappear into a hole again.

5 Quilts

So, I finally finished the 5 memorial quilts. They were made using some of my mother's dresses. Each quilt has the same design, but different colors and different quilting techniques. There are 5 for her 4 grandchildren and one childless son. I'm kind of proud of them, especially the red on on the end. That's the one that had such intricate hand quilting that I was still working on it the day I shipped them off (and it cost me an arm and a leg to get them there for Christmas because it took me so long to finish.) My son and I chose the purple one as the most reminiscent of my mom. The other children will have to fight over the other four in Connecticut. And yes, that's me.

Quilt #4

This is the quilt top that took me about 7-8 hours to place on my "design board" - a.k.a. my bed - and put together in rows for sewing. It looked better before I sewed it all together. I still like it, but I'm hoping it will come together more once I quilt it. I'm going to use a dark blue thread on the dark parts, and a peachy-pink color on the light - all in concentric lines and circles. We'll see.

It was hard to photograph because it's a queen size and there was a lot of shadow in the yard that day. In case you can't see, it's bordered with black on two sides and white on the other two.

Quilt #5

One would think I do nothing but spend my time quilting. One would not be far from wrong. Below is the quilt top I finished this weekend. Funny how you don't see mistakes until you have a big old picture staring you in the face. But I'm not telling you where it is. You'll have to figure that out on your own (it's not that hard,unfortunately.)

The picture is a bit washed out, so imagine the colors more intense. It's a queen sized, traditional double Irish chain pattern, but instead of making the chain dark, I reveresed the color scheme. It came out a little pinker than I had hoped. That's why I added a yellow border. You can't see it in this picture, but there are bright yellow accents in both the black fabric and the center chain fabric. It works in real life, trust me.

I'm also working on five quilts that are a surprise for some people, so I don't want to say more about them. Let's just say I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Quilt Blogs

I've been spending a lot of time on Blogshares and quilting, so let me share some quilting and fiber arts blogs with you.

A Stitch in Time

Creative Passage

Fiber Fantasies

Fibermania

Forget-Me-Nots Quilts

High Fiber Content

Well, you see my dilemma. This is just through "H". Maybe I'll post more later.

Do you have any idea how many Knitting blogs there are out there?!?! You would be amazed. And these people are dedicated - no idle fillers, just knitting and knitting supplies. However, I'm not interested enough to post any of them here. Just go look on Blogshares if you want to know about them.

Irish Lace Plaid

Quilt number 3 is below. The pattern is from "Irish Lace Quilts," a pamphlet by Doreen C. Burbank, published by House of White Birches. I don't know if it's still available - I got it at my used book store. It's my first true strip-pieced quilt. It didn't take long to sew.

Actually, this is only the quilt top - batting and backing will have to wait. And really, it's quilt #4. I'm still working on piecing #3 which is a queen sized quilt consisting of 2 inch squares, no strip piecing. Yeah, it's time consuming, but it's going to be stunning, if I do say so myself.

Navy Hospital Ship Quilt

Quilting has a long tradition of commemorating people, places and events, and it's still a vibrant practice. Navy Hospital Ship Honored with Commemorative Quilt . I found this rather inspiring.

The Green Quilt

My second quilt is finished. It's made for my son's bed, so it's smaller than the first, and I learned from mistakes I made on the first quilt. Here it is.

My First Quilt

Way back before I went on hiatus I started making a quilt. Now, conventional wisdom says you should start with something small for your first quilt, something you can finish. I, however, have never been known for following conventional anything. So I decided to make a Queen Sized quilt for my bed. Alex wisdom says if I could finish that, I could finish anything. 8 or 9 months later, I did.

The top was pieced mostly on the machine to better my chances of actually finishing before the next millenium, but the quilting was entirely done by hand. Lots of it. It's just a basic 9 patch, again to keep it simple enough to finish. I am quite pleased with it. And now, I'm almost done with a quilt for my son's bed - a twin this time. I decided to go easy on myself and made the quilting pattern a lot simpler. I'll show that when I'm done with it. Hope you like green.