Finished!

Okay, I finished the traditional mini tumbler made from repro prints. It was a beautiful day to sit out on my park bench and hand stitch the binding. Here is a picture before washing:

And here is what it looks like after washing:

The biggest difference can be seen in the borders. I use Warm and Natural batting which is 100% needle punched cotton. I love the way it softens after washing.

I am really pleased with the free hand feathers in the border but I can see here that I have a lot of work to do when it comes to photographing my quilts. These pics look washed out and definitely not as crisp as I would like.

I have a baby shower to attend on Sunday and haven’t even started the baby quilt yet. I better at least decide tonight what I am going to do!

Until next time….

What is this?

I used to make only traditional quilts, my favorites being scrap quilts with reproduction or real vintage fabrics. I still love these but in the last few years have moved into more of an abstract arty style. Yesterday while surfing the net, I came across some wonderful blogs that reminded me of my roots in traditional scrap quilts. There is a lady named Lucy who lives in the Netherlands and I spent a number of hours (yes, hours!) yesterday enjoying her blog as the rain poured down outside. Here is the link to her site called Quilting the Past. SHe inspired me to dig out some scraps and make a vintage style miniature quilt.

The tumblers are 1 1/2 inches high and the whole top is about 15″ x 20″. This shows machine quilting on my favorite machine, a 1955 SInger Model 201:

I am actually a bit farther than this now. I stitched the tumblers in the ditch and then free handed feathers in the borders. I am using a repro yellow for the binding. I should have a picture of the finished product tomorrow.

It does feel good to start and finish a project in one weekend! That doesn’t happen very often these days. I also knitted half a sock on a trip to IKEA Friday so this is the most productive fiberwise I have been in a long time!

Until next time….

A new little something…….

I spent a little time playing tonight and came up with this:

It measures about 6″ x 10″ and is actually straight. I took the pic with it hanging on my little wire clothesline in my sewing room so it isn’t flat against the wall and wants to twist. I started with a piece of hand dyed fabric and chalked in the tree trunk and moon. Then I machine quilted followed by a bit of Shiva paintsticks on the trunk and moon. Finally I trimmed and finished the edges with a bit of silver acrylic paint. Now I am deciding if I like it enough to frame. It was an experiment. I rather like the tree except for the branch on the left side, way too thick and no idea how to fix it. If I trim it off, the rest of the tree is too far to the left. Hmmmm……. The moon is more golden than I would like but my selection of paintsticks is VERY limited. I went over it with white but it didn’t lighten it much.  Any ideas, thoughts, critiques?

Until next time……

Ribbons!

 I recently entered 5 of my quilts into the Northeast Arts Council Show held in Standish, Michigan every January.  I have entered this show on and off for the last 7 or 8 years. It is not huge but it is well done. The show is held in an old church that is now used as the Arts Council Center. Most of the quilts are pretty traditional. I love traditional quilts and usually enter quilts appropriate to the show. This year I decided to enter a few of my art quilts. I wasn’t sure how well they would be received but I ended up taking home 5 ribbons! Here is a picture of three of myquilts hanging together. You can see the Pomegranate is very traditional, green and red applique complete with trapunto, but the other two are decidedly more contemporary.

The miniatures were displayed on glass shelves in a glass display case so this pic is not great:

And this one was just about to be taken down at the end of the show so that explains the stuff pinned on top:

After picking up the quilts, my dear daughter and I headed over to the local A&W for a float. Isn’t she lovely?

And here is a picture of the dreary Michigan winter that I am quite tired of by now:

It just looks cold, doesn’t it?  I haven’t blogged anything in a while, life has intervened. So I guess this long post with pics is my attempt to make up for neglecting the blog.  It is also cover for the fact that I haven’t gotten much sewing done lately.

I am making some progress at cleaning out the sewing room still. It is very hard for me to work in chaos. I am working very hard at simplifying my life this year and one of my goals is to make a serious dent in all the stuff I have accumulated art/sewing wise. I have a certain amount of cleaning out I want to do every week and for the most part, I have kept this goal pretty well. Although I better get to work now or I will miss it for this week! Until next time…

Which Machines to keep and which to release?

I am downsizing….sounds like something retired people do but I am no where near retirement! I do find it necessary to simplify my life and that includes getting rid of some things. Confession time: I do not even know how many sewing machines I own. I have a collection of old Singers including several Featherweights that I love. I have a couple Berninas, a Singer embroidery machine, several old Singer 128s, 201s, 15s, 301s, 99s, an 1870 something Singer New Family, a Singer 115 with the coolest gold angel wing decals, an assortment of toy sewing machines and a bazillion attachments and gadgets with the Singer name on them. 

I didn’t grow up wanting to collect sewing machines, it just sort of happened. An outgrowth of quilting it seems. I have always loved old things and have a mechanical bent. When I bought my first 1955 Singer Model 99 at an estate sale, I lugged it home  with a grin that would make you think I had won the lottery! She was beautiful and it was love at first sight. I cleaned, oiled, polished and read the manual cover to cover. She sewed like a charm, Much better than the Singer I bought at Sams Club in the early 90s. That was what started this obsession with old machines. It becomes an addiction! A happy one, a fun one, and at least it kept me out of…..well, you know. The concept that they were made to last and did last for 50-100 years and more with only the most basic attention is incredible.

I still love them. The machine I use most of all is a 1950 something Singer 201. It was the Cadillac of the Singer line back then. I paid all of $25 for it. She has some scars but will sew through anything and is never fussy about the threads I use…..my Bernina 155, not so much. I like Berninas, I have owned three but there is nothing like the  old metal gear driven Singers.

But seriously, how many do I really need? A collection takes time to maintain and it is fun to do so  but I want the space and time to make art. So I am back to what to keep and what to sell? Tough question.

To bring this back to quilting, here is a miniature quilt made from vintage fabrics and made on a vintage machine:

This one was made with vintage fabrics from the 30s-40s. It is machine pieced and quilted. Back to cleaning and sorting and selling. Hello e-Bay…….Until next time.