Baby quilt panel, bag, and blooms

    My daughter's friend had a baby girl just before Christmas, but I could not get to a quilt until now. I had bought a panel so it would go quicker. Ria picked out the colors and panel. I am not a panel person, but I can see their usefulness in time crunches. Hate the licensed character ones, but hey, that is just me. I added the borders and used Isacord rainbow thread for the FMQ that I had bought through Elizabeth. It is just wonderful to work with and added that punch to the panel and rather subdued colors. It is all bound and ready to go in the mail as soon as I figure out how to pack it.

I used a gray in the bobbin for the back

The front

      I finished the bag for the Comfort Quilt 4 patch Black and white quilt posted earlier. It is ready for the card, book and waiting for a recipient.

Identical pocket on the inside

    Last week, we had a blizzard in Buffalo. Today 30s and fog. So, I am especially delighted to have Christmas cactus blooming now. The peach ones have just opened, the reddish ones are some reblooming.

Top done, new ideas

    Due to the weather, I stayed in and finished the Rubiks crush top. Now, I have to decide, Does it need a border? The blocks are 12" each. What do you think?

Top on design wall

    I love piecing the scrap blocks on my treadle. I have been making the 6.5" blocks. I was thinking of trying something else. I found a quarter log cabin bento box type online, filminthefridge.com and tried it yesterday with my scraps. I was going to make them each 8.5" and they are not there yet. All sewn on the 100 yr old treadle without a blip. What about a whole quilt with them? Three 16" complete blocks across?  Four blocks down would be 64", and three blocks acrosswould be 48". I usually try to keep lap quilts under 60" for batting size sake, as I split a king batt into four. Or should I make it four by four? Is a square lap quilt 64 X 64 manageable?
 

Not yet the full 8.5" each

    Another block I like is the wonky cross. I saw this on a number of sites, sewmamasew, being one of them. I bought some batik layer cakes from Connecting Threads at the end of the year that these would be perfect for I think. I made a sample to see how it sewed. I think I would make the cross arms thinner. Have to think about this for a lap quilt. Anyone made this? 

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

Surprises and Finishes

    By mentioning surprises, I don't mean the weather- it's winter, it's Buffalo, I accept that. The first couple days of the new year brought some unexpected big delights. First, Quilting by the Lake, a program from the Schweinfurth Museum in Auburn, NY with extraordinary teachers, called me and offered me a 5 day scholarship for classes in July!! By July, I thought I could have scrapped up enough to take a 2 day class with Victoria Findlay Wolfe, but never 5 days there. What it would have cost for an entire 2 days, I can stay all 5! Just the lodging to come up with, and if I had a room mate, it could be even cheaper. So, there is still room for her classes or others, so maybe think about coming. I love scraps and colors and Victoria is a master with both. I never win anything and wow, here it is.
  Second, I have a good friend who is a fantastically talented jeweler. She is an art teacher and a Roycroft artisan jeweler. In the mail, I got a pair of silver angel earring with glass beads that are just terrific. I can't take a picture of myself with my camera and I have a stupid phone, so have to get someone else to photo them for me.
  In the cleaning department, I finished the Kenmore and it is ready to go home. I was going to deliver it at the quilt guild meeting tonight, but it got weather cancelled. It is pretty spiffy and sews up a storm.

In its zipper case, ready to be used. Power cords and pedal in made bag.

    On the vintage machine forums, it has been mentioned about using TR3 resin glaze to polish paint and Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish for metal. Wow, great stuff. I picked up some last week at Pep Boys and used it on an old 66 treadle both the paint and metal. I also shined up my new 15. I used cotton balls just like the forum people said. The old 66 was a real wreck. All the metal was rusted. I read about using cider vinegar to soak the metal. In a bucket, I piled all the metal pieces in with the cider vinegar, and in 24 hours, I could not believe it was all gone. Now with the Mother's, I can restore the shine.

Left side, 1/4 of it polished, rest with rust removed

Right edge with polish after rust removal

Top with TR3 and cotton balls

What the black surface looks like without polish

Great Products

     Comfort Quilt finish- orange jelly roll strips from http://www.jellyrollfabric.net/ and Liz has a great sale right now. I just bought some animal skin prints, plain white, and some gray/blacks. The pattern is the 3 Dudes quilt from Missouri Star Quilt company except I used 6 strips cut into blocks instead of 4. I auditioned colors to make the orange pop and be happy. I never decide my borders or binding fabric until the quilt is pieced because I can make better choices to highlight the center.

Auditioning for the border

Ready for basting and backing

     Another Comfort Quilt, the 4 patch B&W leader and ender, is all quilted and bound. The backing donated by Esta is a lot of fun.

Detail

Back

Detail

Finished Quilt

   Wow, that was a lot to get through, but I hate taking pictures off the camera, naming them, putting them in folders, so I tend to do it all at the same time. I did not photo my machine disasters lately, so I won't be sharing those!

2014 Goals

    Every year, my husband and I sit down and go over the goals we set the year before. He keeps them in a folder by year. We also list the top 25 things of the year for each of us. We look over our datebooks to refresh our memories. We read them to each other. To do this, we go someplace else rather than home so we don't get interrupted/distracted. Spot Coffee is one of our favorites. Yesterday, the sun was shining on us as we worked through them. We then write goals for the new year in categories. Here, I want to list my goals for quilting/sewing/machines. I was inspired to do that by Sarah from Confessions from a Fabric Addict. I am one of those people who have a lot of projects going at once. I think it is from a career in graphic design and teaching art to many grades each day in public school. I log every quilt into a sheet I made and printed out. I have separate sheets for my comfort quilts. I keep all my sheets, a list of comfort quilts given, quilt patterns, and ideas in a very large binder. If this sheet is any use to you, it is a Word document that I can send you. You can tweak it for your own use. It could be better, I am open to input.

Red dots and cross marks mean the quilt is done.
I write comments in pencil so I can change them.

 I have another sheet, hand done, that lists all open work in three categories: Comfort, regular, and art. 

      I list the progress so I can see where I am. For example, I saw I had a lot of quilts that just needed binding, so I worked on those. 

I remade this today for a clean copy

     I also have a wish list, ever expanding of quilts I want to make.

Twenty one  goals for 2014:
1.   Make more comfort quilts. I would like at least one complete with bag per
      month. Ideally, I would like to have others join me somehow.
2.   Make a paper pieced quilt. I love New York Beauty, but anything like that.
3.   Get a lot better at Free Motion Quilting.
4.   Blog- regularly with information to help others along. Gain more readers.
5.   Attend quilt retreats- one scheduled for the end of February.
6.   Take at least 4 classes.
7.   Go to Houston for the International Quilt Festival in October.
8.   Quilting by the Lake in July, class with Victoria Findlay Wolfe. Find a roomate.
9.   Teach people some quilt related skills, techniques.
10. Cut out, sew, quilt my daughter's choice of wedding quilt. Fabric is bought.
11. Equipment changes: one new large sewing table for machines, better lighting   (ceiling), better way to photo quilts, more fabric organization (did some scrap organization recently- photos to come), treadle cabinet refinish and machine installed, new large cutting mat.
12. More fabric- scraps, batiks, strips
13. Serve my guild.
14. Learn at least 3 new techniques.
15. Sew purses/tote bags. I did a few, but want to expand.
16. Do denim art quilts. One started on design wall.
17. Make more scrap quilts.
18. Do a challenge.
19. Treadle more.
20. Do more art quilts- incorporate fibers, landscapes.
21. Keep my machines maintained and help others with vintage ones.

      What about you? Write 'em down!

Machines, machines, oh my!

     For Christmas, I got a "new" Singer 15. Elizabeth convinced me to get one with a belt, so it could be used in a treadle. I got in on ebay, and it was packed very well. It looked great until I started to clean it. The wiring of the new power cord is not great, and a split in the wire to the light needs repair. Now, wiring is just not my area. I am begging my busy husband to connect these properly so I can sew with this. There is a little more rust than I like on the tension knob. It came with a button holer, so I need to learn how to use it. It is an older 15 with the fancy designs on the metal plates which I like. I cleaned, polished, and oiled it. Now, it is just sitting there.

Pristine box, one of the best delivered

Removed top styrofoam panel to see machine

Before cleaning or polishing, an after photo will come when the wiring is fixed.

OMIGOSH, what a poor job!

    My lovely 201, refurbished, is my piecing machine. It had been running flawlessly. In the last couple of days, the motor is slow, it will not go fast. The more I sew, the slower it gets. There is no laboring sound. The machine moves freely. I don't know how hot the motor is supposed to get, but when I touch the backcover, it is hot to the touch. I assume all the wires are connected because it runs. I tried another foot controller and it was exactly the same. I do not know what to do next. Again, electricity and me have no symbiotic relationship. Last night when sewing on a binding, it got so slow, I sewed the binding on the treadle which was able to sew much faster. Even if I took the motor off, I have no idea what to look for.
   The 301s are behaving and so is the 401. I still have to somehow fit the wires in the foot controller for my friend's White. I can't find one of those stoppers that fit in the hole to stop the wire from pulling out and there is not room enough to tie a knot. The Kenmore needs the tension finessed and it can go home. It never got warm enough here to strip the treadle cabinet as it did just south of here, so it waits. It is snowing and very cold, so I just want to sew, sew, sew. I need to do one more post to list my goals and I will be caught up.

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