Sewing machine studio

    I know some of you will dismiss what is posted here as excessive, impractical, ridiculous, or laughable. Regardless, this setup works for me and keeps wonderful vintage machines doing what they do better than any new machine- sew straight stitches. All of these combined cost less than the piece of expensive junk lemon quilters Pfaff that I bought new 9 years ago (long gone).
     I have a table my husband made for my most used machines and I have it set up like a woodshop. In a woodshop, different tools have different functions. No one would think of having one saw or one drill. There are circular saws, band saws, table saws, hand saws, radial arm saws, etc. In my studio, each machine fills a role and in some projects I may use all of them as in wall hangings I just finished for a show. This enables me to have a good workflow with minimal set up time and work on multiple projects.

     Each machine has a particular function is set up to do it.

      This LBOW (Light Beige Oyster White) Singer 301 Slant needle is my piecing machine. I have another I use for retreats or travel. The best straight stitch machine ever. The motor is direct drive, no belt, and is incredibly faster than any new one. The slant needle area give phenomenal visibility.

      This Singer 15-91 is also a direct drive machine. I use this for sewing on all my bindings and pockets on the premade tote bags I use for comfort quilt giveaways. Absoulutely rock solid and powerful.

      This is my newest 301. I have a black one, but this mocha 301 works better. It is used for FMQ smaller quilts than put on the long arm. It quilts flawlessly with perfect tension and great speed. The quilting foot is on and ready to rock and roll at a moment's notice. I never name machines, but after using it recently I called it Mocha Momma because it really cooked.

      This Singer 401, another slant needle, direct drive, but a drop in bobbin, is my zig zag machine. I used to use it for blind stitch, but the finer one on the next machine took over. It is a powerful, smooth, awesome machine.

     The Bernina 830 was purchased because I needed a free arm machine for some uses. A friend in Pittsburgh recommended it and I found a great one on ebay from a sewing machine store on the West Coast with all its accessories. This machine makes a tiny blind stitch with monofilament flawlessly for applique. Plus the freearm so I can sew inside things. An all metal machine but for the camstack, it is easy to clean, oil and maintain- a real dream of a machine.
    I also have a Singer 15 treadle that I use sometimes when I just need to get calm sewing, but it is not in the rotation you see here.
    I truly use all these machines and they are a pure joy to sew on. I do my own maintenance, which I love. I am always in awe of the craftsmanship in these machines.  
     There is a lot of help and parts available in using vintage machines- don't dismiss them in favor of fluff features like built in cutters, bobbin winders or knee lifts. For sewing smoothly (no jumping machines), perfectly, and economically, vintage has my full loyalty. My expensive longarm is the one machine that always gives me fits.

Newest member of the Herd

     Yes, I added another machine. My favorite machine is the Singer 301. I have a couple LBOWs. I found out someone locally had one they wanted to sell. It had not been used in years. It came with a case, some attachments, AND a card table. How could I not rescue it? It is a black one which some people think is the best (not me). I don't think the paint is as well applied as the LBOW. It was very dirty inside and the paint was cloudy. I opened everything up, cleaned with Krud Kutter, TR3 Polish, aluminum/magnesium polish and lots of rags. Oiled, greased. Added an LED bulb. New bobbin tire. I was in such a hurry to see how it worked, I closed the machine up without photographing the clean insides, so you will have to trust me. I fired it up last night and after decades of no use, it purred and made a perfect stitch without any adjustment. Wow.
     I have to say this is the best machine for piecing- visibility, direct drive motor, stability, perfect straight stitch, just love, love.
    When I was visiting a sewing machine/fabric store in another city yesterday, I was told by the owner (very nice woman), that I needed to evolve and get a new machine. That sounds nice, but I believe sewing machines have devolved in basic engineering and soundness. I had bought a $2200 machine over 5 years ago and it could not quilt or stay out of the shop which led me to the 301 and my vintage journey. 
   Another 301 ready for use and enjoyment.

Dirty, cloudy

Decades of dust and discolor 

Loads of dirt, grease and muck 

Piecing anyone?

Blue Improv finished

      Well, almost. I just need to handsew the facing on and put on a sleeve. This is going in a Fiber Art show on March 1st. I started this in the Hudson Valley workshop by Rayna Gillman. Had a lot of tears in this because I could not catch on to how to do this. At home, I put it together. I put it away and then a couple of days ago, quilted it on my lovely Singer 301. I added a facing instead of binding. Good thing I had put my tutorial on my blog so I could go back and look at how to do it again.
      I need to block it or something because it is pretty wavy now. It is 35" x 36".

 I used Isacord variegated thread- blue to light blue

Detail of quilting

Detail of quilting

Quilting on back, facing yet to be sewn down

Detail of quilting

Valentine Cards

     In preparation for Valentine's Day, I made about 30 cards. Half of them were little quilt hangings. When I got them all in envelopes, I realized I did not photo them. They were 4" crumb hearts sewing into a square. I learned that I never want to make crumb hearts again. 
     Then, I did a paper piecing card (pattern free from Carol Doak's site) which looks very nice. I finished the edges with the 401 fancy stitches, otherwise all the sewing was on the 301. I had some blank cards with windows that I used for these. I was not making more little quilts to turn inside out and add a ribbon. I hope they brighten the day for the people I sent them to. I mailed about 30.

Card when closed

Retreat Time!

     Hard to believe it is already a week since the Camp Pioneer Retreat! The Camp sits on the edge of Lake Erie. I had some nasty cold virus then until about yesterday, so I am really behind. The entire weekend I spent on paper piecing Sea Urchin by Judy Niedermeyer. I did not make fast progress. It is really time consuming. I still love the fabric, so that is good. I only got the arcs for the biggest circles done minus four. The trusty, robust SInger 301 blew through it all with abandon. I bought one of those teeny irons so I could press right in front of me and trim. It is a nice hot iron and I don't use the steam.

The view from the sewing room window

It only looks like chaos. Can you spot the 301 to the left?

More hours of work than you would think

Rubik's crush Quilted!

     Finally, Rubik's Crush is finished. Binding and all. Quilted on my 17" Bailey. Pieced on a Singer 301.

Front

Back

Front detail folded onto back

Flower detail

Trying to stay warm!

    This isn't news to most anyone, but it is frigid! The sun is shining today, but the temperature is dropping. South of Buffalo got hammered last night with snow and wind and schools closed. I am north of Buffalo, and just got some snow. Makes me all the glad to sew more and those vintage machine foot controllers keep me warm. I am working on a bunch of stuff, as I have 5 machines set up, all with something different going. Hey, woodworkers have many machines set up as they all do different functions. I have a 301 set up for piecing, a 301 that has small comfort quilts being FMQ, a 301 with a large quilt being quilted, a 401 that does zig zag on fabric collages for cards, and my treadle for scrap crumb quilts. These all cost less than my ill bought $2200 P machine that could never quilt well (sold it). Yesterday, I worked on all of them doing a lot of different things.
    I hope some of you visited your local quilt store on Saturday for the national LQS Saturday. I did my part at Pine Grove. I got fabric for my daughter's tote bag and some great grey for putting together crumbs.
    On Friday, I helped my friend, Jan, continue on learning to quilt. We have been working on a dog themed quilt based on the free pattern Patience Corners from http://jellyrollfabric.net/  The plastic guide I bought from Nova Montgomery is a huge help for Jan to keep the seams even; it works much better than the foot with the blade. Here are the blocks on the wall ready to sew.

Blue tape show order of blocks for sewing

    Another quilt I started, You've Got Mail, free pattern and video from the Missouri Star Quilt company, is from a layer cake and 10" white squares cut from yardage. I layed out all the blocks and have 22 out of 42 sewn.The rest are pinned and waiting to be sewn. When they are all sewn, I will put them back on the design wall and break the blocks into two quilts, 4 by 5, for two comfort quilts.

Not in any order, just for pinning

All pinned for sewing

    Since the only kids comfort quilt I had was given away, I started another, because, unfortunately, I will get another request. I decided to do Disappearing Nine Patch, rotating all the kid prints to the center. I bought a pack of I Spy 5" squares on ebay, and am using my own 5" for the other squares. These are how many I have done now.

Needs three more rows

    I don't usually put my paintings on this blog but on my flickr site. However, it is so cold and I thought at least one newer one might brighten the day.

A bouquet from last year's Buffalo Garden Walk

Blizzard, New Top, Crumbs

      Parts of the Western New York area has been through a blizzard. Well, I live just a block north of the city of Buffalo and did experience high winds, incredible wind chills, and whiteouts, but this was nothing like the Blizzard of 77, my gold standard of blizzards. Because so many highways were closed, there was little stranding or drama. Actually, today, I have had more snow than during the blizzard. I think the other snow blew into some other county. Because of the weather, most things I had to do were cancelled, so I was "forced" to sew, sure, right. 

My backyard today

   When I looked through my projects, I decided to sew Rubik's crush, a free pattern from Quilting Arts (it was in a free ebook). I bought the fabric  over a year ago and cut the large floral blocks them. Just love the fabric. I needed to sew the 17 blocks that are the small 2 1/2" blocks with teeny sashing, not my favorite. I would not sew it the way they said again. I would not sew 1" sashing to 2 1/2" squares again. It is almost impossible for me to keep them straight. I would sew 2 1/2" strips to a strip of sashing, and then trim them into sets. You can see that even though I tried hard, the blocks are not precise. I decided just to keep going and sew all of them. Today, I put them on the design wall where I will label the block rows and numbers so I can sew them. I struggled sewing them on the tempermental 201 and switched to a trusty 301 near the end for the sashing. 

Block centers

On the design wall, blocks are 12.5"

    When the wind was really howling, I could not concentrate, so I treadled my crumbs on my Singer 15 treadle, which is soothing therapy for me. I sew the scraps, and then trim them to 6.5" blocks for another crumb quilt. I have not decided how to set these. The last one I did in attic windows (not quilted yet). 

Crumbs being assembled

6.5" crumb blocks, each one a little composition

End of year finishes

    Yikes, the Christmas holidays trampled me. My daughter moved from Rochester, NY to Meadville, PA to join her husband at Allegheny College teaching chemistry (two of them are professors now). They got married in May, he moved to Alleghany in August, and she was able to get her PhD work done in December. Organic chemistry in college sunk my destiny in engineering. Go figure, Ria is an organic chemistry PhD. December 20-21st and Dec. 26th were devoted to moving her. Rain and snow added to the mix. I am so proud of my daughter and her husband, but sad to have her move farther away. 
   I was able to complete a couple of things that I can show. I also assembled and labeled blocks for three comfort exploding squares quilts and the orange one previously. I did not photo the assembling, wait until I sew the tops for photos. I got  a "new" Singer 15 sewing machine that appeared to be in better shape than it is. And I have some machine bumps in the roads.
   First, the finishes. Made my grandson a truck pillowcase, taco style.

Bought the fabric at the Ivy Thimble in Fairport, NY

     Finished the Aurora Aura quilt I started in September 2011 at a Karla Alexander class. The quilting was done in the blue areas to relate to water, and the green bands to suggest leaves. Each band has a different quilt pattern. Just finished the binding yesterday.

56" x 82"

Border Detail

     Next, Flippin 9 patch that I started a couple of years ago as a class at Threads of Time. It sat around just waiting to be quilted. My son and daughter in law want it to top their bed as they love these colors. I used Glide thread to quilt; I just love, love it.  I tried not to use a lot of curved lines to keep it not real feminine. Just the borders have curved lines with added leaf shapes. All the quilts free motion quilted on the Singer 301.

Border lines

Quilt Retreat

    Well, I had been closed out of a quilt retreat Thanksgiving weekend, but late on Wednesday, I got a call saying there had been a cancellation. I couldn't stay for Sunday, but I went all day Friday and Saturday. I only knew the woman who had invited me, but it turns out I knew a couple of others and re-acquainted with twins that I had graduated from high school with and had not seen since. What a great couple of sisters and what a wonderful bunch of women to sew with. I was the only one quilting, the rest were piecing. I finished Aurora Aura and am working on finishing Flippin' Nine Patch. I took my trusty 301s with me and was the only one sewing on vintage machines, very happily. The retreat was at a Lutheran camp, Camp Pioneer, in Angola, NY. The weather was spectacular. There had been an early snow, but no wind and sunny skies. I will post some photos here, but all of them on are my Flickr site. The cabins were modern and the staff fed us. There were plenty of snacks to distract. The main room is on the lake and the view is unbelievable. I could just move in.

Deck behind the Sewing Room

Some of the cottages

Friday late afternoon from the deck

Looking towards Buffalo

Too cold to sit on the viewing benches

Back windows of Sewing Room

In the Sewing Room

Saturday Sunset