It’s Done!!!

                                                       I used white Signature machine quilting thread on the top (which made it hard to see where I had been and where I was going, and try not to cross lines with my meandering), and white Fil-Tec Magna-Glide Bobbins on the back. The magnetic bobbins have become my #1 best friend in machine quilting. I rarely have had any thread problems since I started using them, and the thread is very thin, so I get a lot of quilting out of one bobbin. I used maybe 1 bobbin and a half of a second one to do Louie’s quilt. Click on the photos to enlarge them.                                                             I used a light green sheet I bought from Goodwill for the backing.                                                   There are two fabrics in the quilt that are so light, that you really can’t see them when I take photos. They make the quilt appear like the blocks have sashing, but they don’t.  That was NOT my intent, and I’m not crazy about it, but there’s nothing I can do about it now!                                                       Those two fabrics are the two underneath the black and black and blue blocks in the following picture.                                   In case anyone is interested in how compact my quilting frame is when it is all disassembled, this is it. The wooden pieces hang on bicycle hooks on the wall of the garage, and the poles also hang on bicycle hooks on the wall, so they take up virtually NO space whatsoever. It only takes about 30 minutes to set up the frame, and that includes the carriage, setting the machine on the frame, and plugging in the cruise control, and light I use. It only takes about 5 minutes to take it apart once the machine and everything is off of it. What takes the most time, is getting everything out, and putting it all away, and cleaning up the mess!                                    Here is the binding, cut, sewn together and before I ironed it in half lengthwise. I used this pool ball fabric that Mrs. D bought for Louie a few years ago. It added some nice color to the outside, and brought  the pool ball fabric out in the quilt.                                                               I finally got smart after Louie recessed my Janome in a table, and set one table behind, and one along side my sewing table.  It sure helps with muscle strain from the quilt falling and me ‘pulling it back in’ and wrestling with it to get the binding sewn on.                                   I’ve never used a seam guide before, and today, it’s my new second best friend. It worked wonderfully to sew the binding to the back, and then sew it down on the front. I know, I know, hand sewing down the binding is much nicer, but this was a big quilt, I wanted to get it done, and my wrists hurt when I try to hand sew something this big. My fingers also go to sleep.                                                      Here it is, in all it’s glory! It ended up being roughly 68” x 85”. A weird size, I know, but I really didn’t use a pattern, and I just grabbed fabric until I was happy, so by tripling my coin stacks, that determined the length, and I went from there.                                                      It always feels so good to finish a project. It seems I don’t get much quilting done anymore, but when I get on a roll, get out of my way!

 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Be blessed,                                                   Michelle 

Loose Tensions Quilt Group and Stacked Coin Quilts

Today, our ‘Loose Tensions’ quilt group decided to all start the same quilt together as a group. It was fun, and all the different color combinations sure gave each one a unique look.  Here is the one I started for Louie. This was one set of strips sewn together and ironed.                             Leslie worked in patriotic fabrics.                                                   Jeanne cut her strips from Christmas fabrics.                         Christie’s fabrics were polka dots and ‘I Spy’ fabrics for her granddaughter.                                Patty’s were golds and browns, and they were really pretty!                                                                                    Margaret had 3 1/2" strips already cut, left over from a Turning Twenty quilt, so her’s was a bit different, size wise, but it was very pretty too….                                                                              …and she had her quilt top finished before she went home.                                                                                                Jeanne in the back, Barb (left) and Leslie hard at work.                                                                   Patty (front left), Leslie (middle) and Barb.                                                                            This is what Barb was working on. I just loved her colors. She used black as the background fabric instead of white, or light colors. It looked so rich! This girl knows how to pick colors!                                                Christie (left) decided that Barb’s finished section would make a beautiful table runner! I agree!                                                                This was Louie’s quilt with the first two background strips added. The pictures do not show the true colors. The light blue and green fabrics in the photos almost appear white, and make the quilt look like the background fabric strips go horizontal, but they don’t.                                                          This picture probably shows the colors about as close as I can capture.                                      The top is finished! It turned out to be quite a big quilt! Louie is holding it up, and you can’t see him, so it should cover him and keep him quite warm.                                       I’m hoping to put it on the frame tomorrow, and if I do, you’ll get a full report, complete with pictures.  Until then…….

Be blessed!                                                Michelle                      

Penncraft Swing and Sew Sewing Machine

Woo Hoo!!! Louie found a new toy for me!!!!  Well, it’s not really a toy…it’s a real sewing machine, but it is SEW CUTE!!! Please forgive me for the massive amounts of photos, but I just have to show you EVERYTHING! Here is it, all closed up.                                     Left end (needle end).                                                                         Right end (hand wheel end).                                                  Front panel dropped.                                             This shows the magnet which holds the panel up.                                        Left end panel dropped                                     Magnet                                                             Back panel dropped                                                  Magnet                                                                This machine is fashioned after the Elna Lotus, in my opinion. The panels are made to wrap around the machine, hence, Lotus, like flower petals. I also believe it was the competitions solution to trying to make a smaller sewing machine when the Singer Featherweight came out and was such a success. JCPenney copied Elna. This machine was made in Japan.                                                            I haven’t been able to find much on the internet about this machine, but I do know it was sold by JCPenney, and the brand name is Penncraft. There are no dates on the box or instruction manual (which I forgot to photograph), but I am making an educated guess, just by the design and colors of late 60’s to early 70’s.                                                                          These photos show that I have removed the front and back panels.                                                                                                  This is the little vinyl ‘bag’ that the foot control came in, and the little box of accessories.                                                       Here is the original box, in not such good shape, but original.                                                                   I walked by this box a couple times, and didn’t even see it. At Goodwill, the electrical aisle is usually a madhouse, with too many people who crowd the aisle and won’t move,  and sometimes I just want to scream, ‘GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!’, Grrrrr!!! Before we left, Louie asked me if I saw the sewing machine in the box. NO! (I said with eyebrows raised and escalating curiosity!) I scooted right over there to see what it was. He thought it was a toy, and I don’t normally buy modern toy sewing machines, but this wasn’t a toy! Boy, am I glad he asked me!!!

I did spend a couple hours cleaning and oiling it, as it has sat for many years, I am sure. At first, I couldn’t get the zigzag to work, but I oiled, and pushed parts back and forth, back and forth, oiled some more, examined a lot, and just when I was about to give up and show Louie that it wasn’t going to zigzag, thinking it must have a defective part, IT TOOK OFF!!! WOO HOO!!!

Someone I used to know once, called me the ‘Sewing Machine Whisperer’. I usually can.

Here is the top of the sample piece I sewed (on a paper towel)…                                                                                                   and the back                                                                                        Here it is sewing!

Thank you for letting me tell you about my ‘new’ (old) cute little sewing machine!

Be blessed!                                                       Michelle

Friday Night Movie

Louie and I don’t usually leave the house when we watch a movie. Lately, we have been picking up a lot of DVD’s at Goodwill, but the movie we watched tonight was one I bought through eBay. It is a movie we enjoyed years ago on HBO, and laughed our heads off. It happened again tonight. Louie said it was the perfect cure for his stressful day.  Here is what we watched.

Walk Like A Man, starring Howie Mandel, Amy Steel, Christopher Lloyd, Cloris Leachman, and Colleen Camp. The movie came out in 1987. It’s a good one!

Click HERE to see the movie trailer.

What did you do tonight?

Be blessed,

Michelle

^{Psalm 143:8} 

⁸ Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.

Nothing New

                               I thought I’d just drop in to say that there’s nothing new…. no junkin’ treasures, no quilting projects, no good news, and no bad news….only that I am still here, continually blessed, and thanking God every day for taking care of my every need.

Until next time…..

 

Be blessed,

Michelle