Cinderella

My new baby! Guess her name will be Cinderella!  My husband is replacing the wiring now so that hopefully she will be a useful member of the family. I'm a little skeptical on her abilities noting that she only has one feed dog, but she was so cute I couldn't resist her.  I read up on these machines, although there is not a lot of information, she is a post WWII machine from Japan. At that time Japan was recovering from the war, producing and exporting tons of these. The records from these manufacturers are gone (as are the manufacturers), but they would put any name the buyer wanted on them ie. Macy's, Gimbel's, Woolworth's. They are supposedly expertly built and are reported to run smoother and quieter than others of the same era.   The parts are suppose to be interchangeable with Singer parts of the time and the carrying box is covered wood. All-in-all she is in great condition and I got her for only $35.

Here it is, Friday, and I haven't finished with the quilting on "Kathy's Quilt" yet.  I'm all excited about part 4 of Easy Street but I'd like to finish this quilting!   I did progress a little further and this morning when I was quilting (at 6am!) inspiration struck!  I quilted both names of the recipients in one of the quilt blocks along with the year.  Also, last night I tried "pebbling" for the first time...I believe that is the term.  Ok, here are some pics.  Again... this is all free-hand and free motion on the largest quilt I've done.

The wool batting, also my first time using, seems to give the quilt more loft and added dimension.

Hide your stash!

Enjoy!

Today I worked on free-motion quilting a sampler.  The only spot in my house large enough to layer the quilt was in my living room (I have a small house!  LOL) It was pretty funny, I was all over the floor, spreading, smoothing, folding, spraying, smoothing, cutting...It was a workout!

 I used my vintage Singer 201 Gear driven sewing machine.

I had some trouble with the fabric I picked for the back. I thought it was cotton but it was so slippery and the basting spray didn't stick as well as it usually does.  It felt a little like the 400 count Egyptian cotton sheets I sleep on!!  I pushed on and was able to quilt about 1/2 of it before I had to call it a day.

I'm not very good at straight lines...and its harder on this machine, but I always feel that however my quilting comes out... it's mine. It's part of me and I did it.  This quilt is probably the biggest quilt I've done on one of my home machines, almost a queen size.  The 201 has a very large throat, and plenty of space to quilt in. I want to be clear, I do send some of my large tops to LAQ's, especially when those tops start piling up and the ones that just cry out for perfect quilting!  We do what we need to do, right?!!

And THAT was my day!  Tomorrow I'm going to finish quilting it, and later this week I'll bind it.  I'd like to be finished by Friday so that I'm free for part 4 with Bonnie!

Yay!!  I finished my geese today but sorry to say, still not a pro. :)  Here are some examples

I did enjoy using the rulers to make the geese and I had a lot of success for my first time using them. Although Bonnie didnt need to need to trim...I certainly did my share of sliver-trims. 
I was even able to cut up the 64 pieces of 3" by 2 1/2" of black on white we need next week.
I was sort of driven to finish these today because I don't want to fall behind and I have some other projects that I need to work on as Xmas presents. Now I will have a couple of days (actually nights, since I work days) before next clue to work on other things!
 

Them Geese!

Those geese are still giving me trouble!!  I was able to get to work on them today, using Bonnie's method with the easy angle ruler and the companion angle ruler.  I really like the idea of being able to make these geese using the 2" strips, but my problem came when I didn't trust in my cutting so I sewed an 1/8th instead of the 1/4", pushed up the points...figured I could cut and fudge. But after taking apart one wing of my first goose several times...I decided to trust in my cutting and trust in Bonnie and just see what the outcome would bring.  I put on a few right wings and then stopped and sewed on the left sides.  When I measured them up they were almost perfect, I still had to trim them a bit.  I figure by the end of 128 geese I'll be a pro.

oh no flying geese! My nemesis!  I watched Bonnie's video and I'm going to give it a go.  I'm headed to Joann's tomorrow to purchase one of the rulers...I have the easy angle ruler...just never used it. I still have 25 more 4-patches to do from last week and I'm determined to keep up.  

This weekend is going to be rough...I'm trying to decorate for Christmas...tonight I took out all my christmas quilts! What fun to look at them again.  My favorite is my tree skirt...its my first log cabin  You know the feeling when something gives you such joy to look at it...this does it for me.  I hope the picture does it justice....

 
 

Easy Street Fabric

These are the fabrics I chose for Easy Street.  Most are batiks because I just love the vibrant colors!

On top are the 4 patches...that I'm still not done with...I think I'm up to 140 something. ::pant::  Tomorrow is another day!  And can't wait til Friday's next clue!!!
 

In the Beginning

In the beginning there was fabric, thread, tools and patterns...lots of patterns. I love to quilt and for the past four years I've been learning the ropes...or should I say "threads".   Yesterday my husband threatened me that he was going to hang a towel in the bathroom and call it art!  You're kidding me right!? He said that he's been waiting for me to decorate this one blank wall for years now and since I haven't he wants to hang a towel...A TOWEL!   Well, that got my juices flowing...I went into my Quilt Cave and started looking at my stash.  
I knew that I wanted something tropical...fish or butterflies...a sunset, lots of color.  So I started picking colors for my sun...I wanted the feel of  radiating and gradating...I will add pictures later today...I'm fairly new to this blog thing and getting it all together is going to be a challenge for me.
I picked shades of green for a palm tree and blues for the sky. Today I will start to add "Wonderunder" and cut my pieces. And maybe I'll try to make a video of some of it!
Towel! I don't think so!!