Thanksgiving and Stitching, etc.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.  It was just hubby, our oldest son and me for Thanksgiving.  We still ate well.

our Thanksgiving feast

I've been busy stitching even though I don't have much to show to prove it.

The ladies ministry at church hosts an ornament exchange each December.  The lady in charge of decorating decided that we needed matching table runners as part of the decorations for the tables and I was drafted to make them.  She provided the white fabric with the gold ornaments, another lady provided the batting and I provided the red with silver snowflakes fabric for the reverse side.  Thank goodness she just wanted solid fabric on each side.  I did some simple stitching with my walking foot.  Here are the six finished table runners (showing both sides).

red on one side and white on the other side

A special friend offered to quilt both of the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings quilts for me.  I made labels for both quilts, including a separate label that lists the names of the blocks, in order, including the 'extra' block on the back of each quilt.  Both of these quilts have the binding stitched to the front of the quilts.  Now I just need to stitch the labels onto the back along with the binding.

both quilts with the labels listing the blocks

I finished almost all of the hand stitching for the board games (no photos, sorry).  Now to finish the last parts by machine, then stitch the parts together. 

I'm also doing some hand quilting on the 2nd Fat Cats quilt.  I made both quilt tops back in 2011.  A friend asked me to make one for her, and I finished that quilt in 2011.  The 2nd quilt top was made when I made the first quilt top, but I never finished it.  It will be finished before Christmas and gifted. 

Fat Cats quilt (being hand quilted)

Back in September I found a roll top desk at Goodwill.  The roll top desk is MUCH larger than the computer desk that I'd been using for the past 20 years.  We had to take everything out of the computer room and completely re-arrange everything to make it fit.  It took longer than expected to re-organize everything (one of the reasons I haven't had much stitching to show since early September).  I took everything off the walls (mainly hubby's ball cap collection) and we've finally hung some of my quilts in the computer room.  I still have space for a couple more wall hangings.

roll top desk with barn quilt and String Star above it

Elephant quilt to the right

Crazy quilt by the printers

Hubby also hung my wooden scissors above the door frame.  You can see our Christmas tree (lights but no ornaments yet) and our Alaskan Malamute, Ratchet.

wooden scissors

Now to get back to stitching!

Crazy Quilt and New Embroidery

I finished my Crazy Quilt the beginning of March, but never got a chance to take photos (raining too much).  Finally on Saturday, some friends held it up so that I could get a photo.

finished Crazy quilt

The backing is a sari that I found in a thrift shop.  I fused interfacing to the sari so that it would have more stability.  Not only did I add a hanging sleeve, but, I also added loops on the back to hold a wooden rod, to keep the sides from drooping (sorry, I didn't get a photo of the back). 

The Crazy Quilt was made for the challenge for the Camp Tuckabatchee Quilt Show this weekend.   The challenge was to make a Crazy quilt, no other rules.

If you want to attend the quilt show, then head to the Knights of Columbus Hall, 401 W. Main Street, Ottawa, IL.  Saturday, 10am - 5pm, and Sunday, 10am - 3pm.  I'll be there with 6 of my quilted projects and several of my vintage sewing machines. 

Way back in November of 2017 I ordered an embroidery quilt pattern from New Zealand.  I'd seen the quilt on Barbara's blog, Cat Patches.  I finally have started stitching on it.  Here is the first block.

1st block finished

Only 11 more blocks to stitch....

Crazy Quilt is almost done

We've been watching all the Harry Potter movies, since New Year's Eve.  That gives a lot of time for hand stitching. 

First, I finished up the Be Attitudes quilt blocks.

Next, I did some hand quilting on a baby quilt.  Sorry, I don't have any photos of that, yet.  I'll show it when I get the binding stitched on it.  The binding is cut, waiting to be stitched for 2 baby quilts.

Next I started the last of the stitching on the Crazy Quilt for the Camp Tuckabatchee Quilters challenge.  This quilt will be shown in the quilt show the end of March.  I finished the embroidery on it last night.

I used a vintage table runner, cut up, for the top and bottom ladies.  To make it easier to applique them, I cut out a circle from non-fusible interfacing, and stitched it to the pieces.

stitching the interfacing to the piece

two ready to be appliqued ladies embroideries

The next embroidery was much harder to work with, since it had been cut roughly, long before I acquired it.  The satin around the lady's head was way too small.  The lace at the bottom of the lady's dress was in bad shape, and needed repairs, too.  I didn't want to change out the lace.  I repaired the lace as I stitched it to the Crazy Quilt.

trying to attach the interfacing to her head

ready to applique to the Crazy Quilt

And here are all three pieces, appliqued to the Crazy Quilt top.

This would have been finished sooner, but, I had to do lots of ripping out of stitches.   Ding dong me wasn't paying enough attention, and stitched the lady not only to her square, but, part of the quilt top was turned under, and it also got stitched to the underside of the quilt, as I stitched part of her dress down.  I'm glad I noticed it only half way thru stitching her down. 

Now to find a backing for this Crazy Quilt, and finish it. 

I also made 5 crazy heart paper pieced blocks for a table runner.  I'll show that later this week.   The table runner is due by Sunday, so I need to get cracking on it.  My time is now very limited, since I started my new job this morning.  It will take me a bit to re-arrange my schedule, and figure out how much quilting time I'll have from now on. 

I'm off to my little quilt guild.  Have a nice evening!

My Week

Last week was not normal.  I was supposed to go sew with friends on Tuesday, but, I was sick.   Sick enough to not only cancel on sewing, but, I didn't sew, or even do anything else for most of 2 days. 

On Thursday, one of my bridesmaids came to town for work.  She only had a couple of hours to spend with us, but, we had fun catching up. 

hubby, me and Sheila

Sheila mentioned wanting to see some of the wedding photos, so, after we dropped her off at her hotel, I took some pictures of the photos.  Our wedding was 30 years ago.

wedding party

my bridesmaids and flower girl

Sheila and me

Sheila catching the bouquet

I did get to sew some the next day.  I worked on my crazy quilt.

stitching down the doily

Saturday morning, we drove to Wisconsin to see friends.  The weather was great (59-63 degrees for the high).

On Monday, I finally got my crazy quilt blocks stitched together, and the basting removed.  I still need to applique 3 of the Victorian ladies onto the cream colored blocks.

blocks stitched together

Yes, I'm going to keep the quilt this shape.  I'm calling it my Crazy Victorian Ladies quilt, so, I like the crazy shape, too.  This quilt is serving 2 purposes, for my 'Library Book Challenge' with my little quilt guild, and also my 'Crazy Quilt Challenge' with the Camp Tuckabatchee quilters.  The finished quilt isn't due until next March, so, it will be put aside for a couple of months, while I work on some other projects.  I needed to get it this far, since the 'Library Book Challenge' was due last night, at guild. 

I turned in 5 quilt blocks at guild last night.  The guild is making quilts for both a boys home and a girls home.  We are trying to get 14 quilts made before Christmas.  I handed out kits, to make blocks for a quilt last night.  I'll show the blocks when I get them back, in July and August.  Here are the blocks I made for some of the other  quilts.

for a girls quilt

for a boys quilt

for another boys quilt

More than 40 blocks were turned in last night for the 'space' quilt and for the 'eyeball's quilt and also for the 'sports' quilt (I turned in my sports blocks last month).

Progress on the Crazy Quilt Blocks

I've been working on the Crazy Quilt blocks.  I finished the first 8 blocks, with the lace added.

stitching down the lace

finished block, with lace

The next blocks were just neutrals, no lace.  I'll be appliqueing things onto these blocks.   Here are the blocks, so far.

setting, so far

I didn't like the top, neutral block, so, I added a different neutral, with texture to the bottom part of that block (no picture).  Here is an idea of what I'll be adding to the neutral blocks.

Victorian ladies

The center Victorian lady will have to be hand embroidered onto the quilt top after the blocks are stitched together, since she overlaps the blocks next to her.  The top Victorian lady has another Victorian lady on the other end of that piece.  These are all vintage pieces that I've found over the years. 

I started on the setting triangle blocks last night.  I'm making 4 over-sized crazy blocks, then I'll cut them in half, to make the setting triangles. 

All the fabrics are 'slippery' and don't want to 'stay in place', especially on the corners.  I think I need to baste the edges before I trim them down to size.  It will be much easier to sew them together that way. 

This is for 2 different 'challenges' that I'm participating in. The first one is due June 4th.  We'll see if it is finished by then, or just a quilt top.  I also have 5 different blocks to make, also due that night, for the quilts that we are making for the boys/girls homes.  My kits for blocks are also due that night, and I haven't even started cutting any of the fabric.  Busy, busy!  "Too much time, and not enough to do!  Stop, reverse that....."  (from Willy Wonka). 

How is YOUR week going????

Sewing and a bit of cleaning

I've been sewing this week, but, it's been slow.  Here is one of my finished blocks (haven't taken pictures of the others, yet).

Crazy Quilt block

Instead of doing all of the embroidery work on a regular crazy quilt block, I'm adding decorative laces instead.  It is MUCH quicker.  It still takes a long time to make each block.  I made this one first, to see if I liked this method or not.  I did, so, the next 7 blocks are almost finished. 

These blocks are foundation pieced, kinda like paper piecing, so, I have to trim, iron, then I can add the next piece.  I have to add the lace before I can add more fabric.  I'm stitching the lace down by machine.

Stitching the lace down

stitching down both sides of the lace

These blocks are for 2 projects in one, a Crazy quilt challenge, and also a 'Book' challenge with my little quilt guild.  Hey, if I can kill two birds with one stone....

I couldn't work on the new sewing machine this week, since I needed a third hand to get the wiring removed, so that I could get the machine removed from the cabinet. Hubby has had meetings every night this week, so, I finally snagged him this evening.  The machine is out of the cabinet.

Singer 15-91

I've learned a lot since I last posted about this machine.  It's sub model is 15-91.  It has to do with how the motor is mounted.  I also found out that it CAN be turned into a hand crank.  Woohoo!  If I remove this piece (where the screwdriver is), then it exposes the motor mount.

place where the wiring was held in place, motor mount is under this piece

I'd  have to change out the solid hand wheel for a spoked hand wheel, but, that is easy to do.  I've done that several times on other machines.  There is a drawback, though.  If I take the motor off the machine, then I also lose the bobbin winder, since it is connected to the motor.

see how the bobbin winder is connected to the motor?

That really isn't a problem for me, since I usually use a sidewinder bobbin winder to wind all my bobbins. 

I'm still thinking of getting this machine rewired, so that it can be electric.  When I clean the machine (and remove the motor), I'll see how hard it would be to switch back and forth, from electric to hand crank.  I might be able to have the best of both worlds.  We'll see.

The machine and cabinet were stored in a barn for quite some time.  Lots of dust, etc.  It didn't help the woodwork any.  The veneer is coming off on the back and one of the sides.

veneer coming off the back of the cabinet

Hubby is going to try to glue this back on.  It will take some time and patience.  We need to find a long syringe, to pump the glue thru. 

The dirt is in every crevice of this cabinet.  This bracket is where the wiring went down into the cabinet.  See how much dirt has collected?

dirty!

I did a good wipe down of the entire cabinet with Murphey's Wood Soap.  It really helped, but, it still needs lots of cleaning.

before cleaning

after first cleaning

The bobbin and thread holder on the other door is rusty and pitted. 

before cleaning

I soaked it in Evaporust, then dried it and used the rust eraser on half of it.  Can you see which side I worked on?

half rusty, half cleaned

I used the rust eraser on the dirty side, and then put it back in the Evaporust.  With all the pitting on the metal, I'm hoping this helps.  I'll use the rust eraser again, and get this shinier.  It won't ever look really nice, since it is so pitted, but, it will look so much better than it was. 

A member of Treadle On has the hinges I need for the cabinet lid.

missing a hinge

I found out that the front and back hinges are different.  The back hinge has a spring, that controls the support arm on the cabinet.  Without that spring and hinge, the support arm won't stay inside the cabinet.  I want the support to stay in the cabinet when the lid is closed.  Kay had all the parts, and she's already mailed them.  This project is getting started!  It will take time, with all the woodwork that needs to be done, plus cleaning the machine before I can get it rewired.  I even know who can rewire it for me.  I had him work on another machine for me, a few years ago (I don't mess with zig zag gears). 

Have a fun weekend!  I am so far.