Meet Mabel

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Although I have watched with interest and admired from afar the vintage sewing machines that some of you collect, I have never had a particular longing or need for one of these antiques. No, I'm a gadget girl, and I love technology.

I do, however, have an appreciation for old things that belonged to people I know (or knew). I don't collect antiques just to have them, but treasure the pieces that my grandparents and great-grandparents touched and used and cherished.

Example: my brother and I used to fight regularly over the "pretty plate", a single dinner sized plate of my grandmother's china that my mother inexplicably owned. The plate is long gone, broken I assume, but I totally win because I now own TWO of the salad sized plates. And once again I'm reliving my childhood by being one plate short of treating all my children equally. Luckily they don't seem to care on this issue.

But the point is, I've never been particularly jealous that my aunt has my grandmother's Singer sewing machine; I'm just glad it has a good home.  I'll take it if no one else feels the need, but I don't have to have it in my possession.

Being married to an only child has it's perks. There is no squabbling (or even passive aggressive martyrdom) when it comes to family heirlooms.  Basically they're all ours, whether we want them or not.  Many of the pieces that belonged to my husband's maternal grandmother, Mabel, are treasured pieces in our home, things I use and love - a table by the front door, a small sofa, some etched wineglasses.  Her sewing machine, though, has been in my mother-in-law's home for years - ostensibly mine as the only sewer in the family, but never in my possession.  Until now.

Sunday my mother-in-law asked the boys to come do some heavy lifting for her, and afterwards had them load up the machine and the cabinet in the car.  I had never before even seen this machine lifted out of it's cabinet, so had no idea what I was getting.

Imagine my delight when I found a Singer 201, circa 1941, and all the feet, instructions, bobbins, and other accoutrements a girl could wish for.

The only thing missing is the plug.

Obviously I will need to get her checked out.  I'm not sure she's seen daylight in a decade, and heaven only knows how long it's been since she actually got to sew anything.  Poor girl!

The Pit Boss expressed his doubts about whether or not she would sew again, and barely believed me when I told him what a workhorse this model is known to be.

Even better, if I use her primarily for piecing, then I will be more likely to leave Rene set up for FMQing...and hopefully do more of both!

Welcome to the family, Mabel! It's nice to have an old fashioned girl like you around.



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In Your Words

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That's my word for 2013, my mantra, if you will.  (I explained why over here.)

When I read about this challenge, I wanted my word to be somewhere I would see it regularly, where it would have the possibility to imprint on my subconscious even if I weren't deliberately thinking about it.

And that's when this idea popped into my head!

I have often bemoaned the idea that I quilt in fits and starts - churning out a quilt in a day or going whole months without touching my machine at all.  I've figured out that inertia is my friend or enemy.  When I am actually quilting, I can hardly think of anything else and hate to stop; however, once stopped, I find it overwhelming to start again.

True confession:  I'm also not the world's best housekeeper.  Not even close.  So frequently, after one of these bouts of not quilting, I have to get out the vacuum and dust my machine.  Not because of the lint or the loose threads, but because of actual dust.

So what could be a more perfect project?  I made a dust cover for my machine that has my word of the year on it!

I've been meaning to make one of these covers for years, although I wondered if covering the thing up would make it even less likely for me to get started.  I'm hoping, though, that the word on the outside will be a reminder to uncover it and rediscover that feeling.  I'm also hoping that I will be more likely to get sewing if I know I don't have to dust first!

For the background I used one of my all time favorite fabrics with words on it.  It was hard to cut into what little I have left, but I'm glad it will be so visible.

And for those days when I'm feeling a little more sassy, I lined it with this fun fabric that I've never been quite sure what to do with.  Kind of like a mood ring for my sewing room!

It's the last day of the hop, so be sure to visit the other bloggers hopping today here:

Quiltin' Jenny  (Jenny- that's me!)

My Collection of Things  (Jeni K.)

Shade Tree Quilting (Judy C.)

(Rosemary B.) at “that other blog”

Pat Sloan, The Voice of Quilting (Pat. S.)

Dachsies With Moxie  (Agnes B.)

Sew Many Yarns (Lyndsey M.)

Tomorrows Treasures Today  (Denise D.)

The German Mom  (Tina S.)

Christa Quilts (Christa W.)

Read, Quilt, Cook, Pray (Aletta D.)

Sew We Quilt  (Mdm. Samm)

Thanks to Madame Samm and to Linda from Buzzing and Bumbling for being our awesome cheerleader and keeping us all organized. 



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Clean Your Machine!

This is a public service announcement:  Clean Your Machine!

While I was sewing my next Modern Block, my bobbin finally ran out (yay, Aurifil!) so I decided it was as good a time as any to vacuum out my machine and change my needle.

I wish I had taken a picture of the dust in there! UGH! Even though I do this fairly regularly and haven't been sewing anything particularly fuzzy, I did skip the last bobbin refill because the vacuum cleaner was downstairs and I'm lazy.
Also, I'm sure the work going on in my house doesn't help.

P.S.  This is what I use to clean out my machine.  I have been told that the compressed air is not a good thing (nor is just blowing on it!) because that can actually force the dust further into the machine.



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Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. You have to understand that my parents love to entertain, and my dad is a great sport, but Mom does not like to be the center of attention. She does not celebrate birthdays - not because she has any hangups about her age, but because she doesn't want anyone fussing over her. Speaking in front of a crowd would about give her hives.

(I remember the year she was the president of her golf association and had to give a speech at the end of the year party. She made my dad come in and do it for her!)

So yesterday she thought she was playing golf with some friends and coming back to the house for a quick swim. She suspected, much to her dismay, that "one of them got a cake." (They did. It was to die for!)

She was having such a nice, low-key time relaxing with her friends that she didn't even notice the husbands congregating and fixing drinks in the kitchen while the ladies swam and had wine out back. She never looked up to see me carrying in catering from EastSide or setting up the buffet. In fact, her only clue that something was amiss was when Gracie appeared with a gift.

But you should have seen the look on her face when the men came out the back door singing "Happy Birthday to you..." and put that hat and glasses on her! Once she got over her shock, all she could say was, "Next year, I'm leaving town!"

My dad gave her a Kindle for her birthday. The parents had all gone in one for my husband for Christmas, and Mom had been eying it. I remembered a cute tutorial at Moda Bake Shop for a Bookkeeper, and whipped one up. My mom is no ordinary mom, so why should she keep her books in a plain gray case?
I used some of my favorite fabrics from my 1 1/2" strip drawer (thank you Bonnie Hunter!) and had so much fun playing with Rene's decorative stitches.
I love the lining fabric that says "P.S. I love you." It is leftover from Gracie's nursery set and is the perfect touch to those special projects.

The one thing Moda's pattern didn't call for but I added was a closure of some sort. You could do whatever you wanted, but I just stitched on a little Velcro button so the Kindle wouldn't slip out of the case and get damaged.

I hope it works well for the Kindle and that Mom gets many hours of reading pleasure with her new toy. I also hope that every time she opens her case she remembers that

I love you, Mom!

Happy Birthday Teresa!

My wonderful friend, Teresa, turned 50 in May. She is one of the dearest people you would ever meet, with a generous heart and loving spirit. Some of her kids are older than mine, and the nicest kids you could find, so she is great to ask for parenting advice.

She also has a wonderful husband who decided to throw her a fabulous surprise party. I'm talking about an over-the-top, talk of the town, pull out all the stops kind of party. The other husbands were joking that "he took all of my ideas for YOUR birthday, Honey. Oh well!"

Amazing food, live band on the patio, and fireworks off the dock. It was breathtaking.

But what do you get a friend like that who, in the words of her sister, has it all? The only thing I have or do that she doesn't is my crafty, creative side. I didn't have enough warning for a whole quilt (and I didn't want to start a trend that I might not be able to keep up!), so I decided to make an oversized fabric postcard.

Here's what I ended up with:
I love the background fabric. I used lots of bright scraps because Teresa always looks for the bright side of even the darkest situation. I had fun playing with Rene's fancy stitches, because Teresa is usually casual but is stunning when the occasion calls for it. I added a little bling because of her sparkling personality and flashing smile.

I know it's not much, but I hope she loves all the memories that go with it of a special birthday with so many friends and family members.

Happy 50th Birthday, Teresa!

A Stitch in Time

Remember when Holly Anderson came to our guild and I made a vow to put a little more effort into my quilts?

Yeah, well. What a pain.

You might be wondering why you haven't had an update on Orange Crush recently. I mean, way back in January I had all of the steps done, and the top only lacked borders. What the heck is taking so long?

Truth be told, I put the skinny orange border on right away. Unfortunately (there's that word again!) I took the lazy way out and just cut long border strips, sewed them on, and whacked off the ends. Now, for some quilts that might work. For some quilts you'd never even notice. But for this quilt - this scrappy, triangle-y quilt - it was a disaster in the making. This is what it looked like:

So I went to the Wanna Bees and whined and cried and asked for help. They all agreed that my fatal flaw was failing to measure the quilt and the borders and pin it to death before connecting them. They all agreed that I would have to take the orange border off and start again. You know how I feel about ripping stitches.

Jodi said to iron the hell out of it. With starch. Ben wondered if blocking it would work. Lynn mentioned something about interfacing (I stopped listening after that word), and Lene said I needed to stitch around the edge of the quilt before trying to reattach the borders. Jackie confessed that she'd be tempted to do what I wanted to do - stick it in the UFO pile and forget about it.

But no! I remembered my vow to Holly. I carefully ripped out all of the orange border. I pressed the hell out of it. I stitched around the border. I measured the quilt in about 10 places and took the average and measured the binding and cut it carefully. I pinned it to death before starting to sew again. I whispered a little prayer and asked Rene to use the IDT to help me.

You know what? It worked! Even my fellow Wanna Bees were impressed with how flat the quilt lays and that there are no puckers. When I think of the time I could have saved if I had just taken the time to do it right the first time it is embarrassing, but what a lesson learned.

This is what the finished top looks like now:

I am so happy I took the time to fix it. What a feeling of accomplishment! Now I'm off to piece the back and, hopefully, give some of those orphan blocks a home there.

I wish you a sense of accomplishment today too!

Update: Apparently none of my orphan blocks are suitable even for the back of this wild quilt. The Wanna Bees gave them a resounding thumbs down. All of them. I guess they are orphans for a reason. Is there any point when you just throw them away?

Sewing Machine Shopping

I finally got down to the nitty-gritty of buying my new sewing machine. After 17 years with my trusty New Home My Excel, it was a daunting task to find her replacement.

I started by doing research online and by asking my Yahoo group mates at Stashbusters and Mystery Quilters. They helped narrow down the field to Janome, Pfaff, and Bernina. Unfortunately, none of these brands allow dealers to advertise prices online, so I had no way of comparing machines in my price range without driving all over Hell's Half Acre to see them. The good news is that I got to touch and sew on each machine before making my choice.

My first stop was Ashby Sewing Center. They represent Janome and Pfaff, among other lines. They were incredibly helpful and informative! They let me sew on several machines, and even let Gracie try out the variety of decorative stitches on the Janome. Although I really love the Janome machine, the Pfaff has some incredible features for a very similar price, so that moved up to the top of my list.

Right around the corner is the Atlanta Sewing Center where I could see the Bernina. Although the Bernina is a fabulous machine and the hands down favorite in my guild, they are much more expensive. To stay within the budget I had established - which covered the top of the line quilting machines by both Janome and Pfaff - I would have to go to the most basic Bernina with the knee lift option and the least number of stitches. It was missing several key features I was looking for. To get the same features I was looking at in the Janome and Pfaff would cost me more than DOUBLE in the Bernina. I just couldn't do it.

This morning I decided to call around to other dealers to see if the prices were pretty standard across the board. Imagine my shock when I found a Discover Sewing almost 30 minutes closer to my home (I didn't even know they sold Pfaffs until I went online.) who had the same machine for almost $400 less! It was too great of a bargain to pass up, so I got right in my car and drove down to get it. Even better, they matched the deal offered by Ashby to throw in the Fab-u-Motion kit. With her 10" throat, I foresee lots of free motion quilting on this machine.
So without further ado, I'd like to introduce Rene, my new Pfaff Quilt Expressions 4.0, named in honor of my late grandmother.
Gram didn't have a creative, quilty or stitchin' bone in her body - I don't ever remember her knitting or crocheting or doing anything even remotely crafty. No, she was a party girl who loved to celebrate and be with her family and friends. She was famous for demanding a second drink (well into her 90s) with the classic line, "A girl can't fly on one wing!"

When she died in November, she left her grandchildren a small inheritance to be used for something fun. While a sewing machine might not have been fun in her book, this Pfaff with all of her bells and whistles is the ultimate indulgence as far as I'm concerned. So here's to you, Gram. I miss you and love you so much. Thanks for the memories, and all the ones yet to be made.