People Powered Machines

I mentioned yesterday that I am coveting a hand crank machine, but seriously, it's becoming an obsession, and I have been trolling the Kijiji ads to find the right one for me (ie. one that I can afford that is in good condition).
Why am I doing this? 
Heaven knows I don't need another sewing machine! 
But these are so cute and adorable and amazing!
Just look at this video... can you even imagine using a modern 2013 technology to plow a field, while you use OLD 1885 technology to sew! Amazing!

Doesn't this look like fun?
Sometimes Bonnie Hunter sews on her hand crank machine during QuiltCam time... which is live tonight at 9 pm. 
Drop by and see what machine she is sewing on this week. 
I will be treadling along with QuiltCam fans - until I get my "new" hand crank machine! LOL

Quilter's Bucket List

I have been stitching away on my treadle and thinking about how much I love the old "people powered machines" (PPM's for short). Click here to see Missy's hand crank machine post and then tell me if you don't HAVE to have one too!  I have been dreaming about how much I want to have my own hand crank machine, and thought I must put that on my "bucket list". 

On the Quilty Pleasures blog last week there was a post describing a quilter's "bucket list" of 100 things every quilter should do/try. To get the checklist to download, click here. 
I scored 93 out of 100, and I could add 100+ more fun quilty things to that list.
What are the 7 things haven't I done?
Haven't gone to Houston, have no interest in Pinterest or Facebook (I know, I am "old school"), haven't yet made a piped binding, don't have a quilty bumper sticker, have not yet organized my stash (LOL!!!), and have never read my sewing machine manual "cover to cover" (seriously, who reads instructions?!?). 
On that bucket list, there are 2 things I do still hope to do and will put on my own bucket list: 1) go to the Houston Quilt Show some day, and 2) try the piped binding tutorial. But there are lots of other things I want to do someday, which mostly involve quilting, traveling and holidays... go to the Sisters Outdoor quilt show, take a quilt class at Paducah, take an international quilt class (how about a Hawaiian quilting class in Hawaii!?) or maybe even a quilting bus tour adventure or a cruise!
What would you add to your quilty bucket list?

Snow has arrived here and it was minus 10 degrees when I walked the dog this morning, so I'm not planning to do much outside for the next, ummm 5 months! I will have lots of evening hours to enjoy my quilting and dream about what to add to my own bucket list.

Design Wall Monday - Swoon

In between working on little 2" star blocks, I have been sewing some gigantic 24" Swoon blocks. 


Here is the new Swoon on the design wall today, along with some of the spool blocks I am sewing with the scraps. Swoons are fun to sew... the worst part was cutting all the pieces.
I think I might rearrange those corner pieces with the large circles now that I see how it looks on the computer. I really like this block better than the yellow ones and am getting anxious to see all the blocks together.
I have decided to machine quilt these blocks using the "quilt-as-you-go technique" and look forward to some fun machine quilting!
To see more design walls, hop over to Patchwork Times.

From Shaw

Slow Stitching Sunday - Handwriting

I was inspired recently by a really interesting post by Jane over at Jane's thread and Treasures. She shows her unique ideas for echo quilting in empty spaces, and she said that your quilting is like your handwriting and is completely unique to you.  

That made me think about the unique handwriting of my family members on my recipe cards. Each of these recipes is written by a family member that I can easily identify by their handwriting.
Handwriting is making your mark on paper - unique and special and precious. 

Stitching is exactly the same! You are making your mark on fabric - using the threads, thimbles and needles you prefer, the hoop that fits for you (or no hoop!),  and making the stitch length you are comfortable with. Each of us make stitches in our own creative way. 

I wrote about my imperfect quilting stitches here and how I like to "eyeball" without marking the quilting lines, especially on my Journey quilt.  I am filling in the larger blocks with a little bit of quilting and briefly considered the echo quilting idea, but went for something more loose and free. 




I am just quilting wavy lines across the blocks, between the words and around the embroidery stitching.

What are you stitching today? There is no "right" or "wrong" way to stitch. Just do it however you intuitively feel is comfortable for you. And link up your blog post below and share your project with us.

Scrappy Saturday - brown started

It is brown month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 
I just finished machine quilting a brown quilt for a friend, and she is going to share some of her awesome brown scraps with me, so I'm looking forward to that.

I had a cutting frenzy this week and organized a lot of little batik bits for more Alamo Star blocks.

I had a wee bit of time with my brown scraps and so far have sewn 1 brown spool block and 4 Alamo Stars.
And I also finished up all the black blocks I cut last month...7 more spool blocks, and 3 pumpkin seed blocks.

To see what other quilters are sewing with their scraps, hop over to SoScrappy.

Remains

When someone dies, there is a lot of work to do. 
There is the emotional mourning, the painful and invisible grief work, that seems to take much longer than you wish it did. And there are all the decisions to be made about dealing with the remains of a life. 
First you have to decide how to deal with the physical remains, a body or cremated ashes. These are hard decisions and become more complex when the family is a large one with varying opinions.  I think my family did an amazing job of working through these decisions when my brother died. This is the beautiful location of my brother's physical remains. A perfect decision.
But what about all the other remnants of a life...all the things that he owned, collected, saved and cherished? 
What do you do with all the "stuff"? 
You want to have enough to still feel connected to a loved one and to be able to emotionally connect with your memories. But what do you need and what do you do with all the other treasures?!

Pam had a very interesting blog post on mourning jewelry made from the hair of the deceased as a souvenir and reminder of their loved one - click here to read her post.  That is a lost art of being able to turn human hair into a treasured piece of jewelry. 


This is some of my brother's stuff that came to live with me. My brother's canning jars (he loved to garden and make soups and jam) and of course, some of his clothing. I am going to make quilts for his boys for Christmas. 
Notice that I didn't say which Christmas! First I have to be brave enough to open the bag! 

Machine Quilting finished

I finished machine quilting a quilt made by my friend Marg to gift to her loved one who is very sick. I quilted a large swirly design and it went quickly and smoothly. She had picked a beautiful high quality brown flannel backing, and it was such a pleasure to quilt. You can see the quilt top (made from brown batiks) on this post. 

Also, another friend recently helped me to solve the problem of my Indian Orange Peel quilt. 


We have installed a temporary seasonal "cover" for the Orange Peels!!

Isn't this a riot?!

Countdown to Christmas

Production has started here on Temecula's "Countdown to Christmas". I am using some reds from my friend Barb and background scraps from my UFO of the month - 3 Sister's Grace. My "Sweet Baby Jayne" Featherweight is doing an awesome job on piecing these tiny blocks.

I am making my flying geese units in a different way than the instructions recommend because my scraps are too small to use that technique.





These 2" blocks are so darn cute! Good thing that I am enjoying them because I need to make 22 more of them!

Design Wall Monday - November UFO

That darn "Roll, Roll Cotton Boll" just does not want to be finished! I started it in late 2010, and really wanted it to be finished in 2013. I even put it on my UFO list for 3 months of "A Lovely Year of Finishes" - April, August and October. Although it has inched towards completion, it still is not done, and we tired of looking at each other! After reading this post from Audrey, I think it must be stuck in the incubating stage (notice how I cleverly blame the quilt and not the quiltmaker!) so I've decided to leave it there to percolate, and I am moving on to finish something else this month. Hopefully it will be a more cooperative project!

In November I am going to focus on finishing another of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts - 3 Sisters Grace (my version of Orca Bay).
All this needs is some quilting time, and I have the batting and backing all ready.
Should be an easier finish for November, and I can happily start Bonnie's new mystery called Celtic Solstice.
To see more design walls, hop over to Patchwork Times.
And to see more November UFO goals, check out the link up at Sew Bittersweet Designs.

Slow Stitching Sunday - Hand Quilting

Do you know that if you Google "hand quilting", there are over 76 million results?? That's a lot of quilting going on! There is also lot of machine stitching on the web (and I enjoy that too) but to be able to savour the delight of hand stitching is... well, there is just something about hand quilting that speaks to me differently than machine quilting. One of my favorite blogs to visit is the Celebrate Hand Quilting blog. I encourage you to pop by and enjoy the hand quilting tips and projects shared.

These are quilts that I took with me on a boat ride last weekend? Can you see that they are hand quilted? They are just the most beautiful, softest, warmest quilts to snuggle up in. Love 'em!


This is what is in my hoop today. I am hand quilting my Accidental Quilt. 
I haven't worked on it for a while and it is close to being finished. Maybe I am procrastinating the finish since I have enjoyed this project so much?!?

I am quilting the last rows on one end, and just have a few more to finish on the other end. And then I will quilt all around the outside of the quilt in the white triangles.


What are you hand stitching today?

You are all so awesome to take the time to share your projects and post your challenges and delights. I soooo look forward to Sundays when I can see what you are working on.  It is such a highlight of my week to make a pot of tea, fire up the computer and see your stitching. Last week there were 13 wonderful postings to enjoy and I hope there will be more today!

Working on Brown

The colour of the month for the Rainbow Challenge is brown. That's perfect because I have been quilting a brown quilt for my friend Marg. She is making this as a comfort quilt for a sick friend and I volunteered to machine quilt it for her. Here it is during the pin basting stage. The simple pattern is large squares and alternating 9 patch blocks made from brown batiks.

In this photo you can see the lovely brown flannel backing.
Instead of batting, the center layer is flannelette, and it is the perfect combination. 



It has been such a delight to quilt this... like quilting through butter, not that I have ever quilted butter! LOL
I will start organizing and cutting up my brown scraps as soon as I finish this quilting. To see more brown scrap projects, hop over to SoScrappy.

Halloween treats

From Quiltville

Did you have a fun Halloween? 
The weather here was miserable - cold, pouring rain, windy. We hardly had any trick-or-treaters, which means lots of leftover candy for us! 








My daughter dressed up Miss Molly as a bumblebee for Halloween. It was hilarious for us, but Molly was not amused. However she did enjoy her treats!

With all the candy treats I have to take care of, I will have lots of energy for my fabric treat - preparing for the new Temecula mystery!

Startitis

Yep...my raging case of "Startitis" has flared up again.  
*I convince myself it's just a wee project to fit in between everything else that I am working on. 

From Quiltville

*Plus, it will just be a quick little project like my Pumpkin Seeds quilt. 
*And besides that, I can give it away for a Christmas gift.
*Plus it doesn't take much fabric, so it is basically a FREE project from your stash!
Have I convinced you yet?!?
What are you waiting for?!?! Hop over to Temecula Quilts and get the fabric requirements and cutting instructions for the "Countdown to Christmas" Sew Along!  
Sewing starts tomorrow.

I'm starting with these reds from the "Mama Said Sew" fabric line. Will I be all cut out and ready to sew? Or will I actually work on the 2 wedding quilts I need to finish, or the 2 quilts I have agreed to machine quilt for my friend, or the UFO that I have not even worked on this month, or the Swoon blocks that I have imperfectly sewn?!?!?  Hmmm...

Treadle Vacation

What a beautiful morning to treadle! 

As I treadle away feeling the sun on my face, it almost seems like I'm on vacation on a sunny southern island. Until I walk outside and discover that it is ONE degree! 
Nope... I am still in Canada!
But I can enjoy my mini-vacation moment!

Healthy Striving or Perfectionism?

I am working on my Swoon blocks this week. 

They are enormous 24" blocks and I feel like I am in a distorted "Alice in Wonderland" quilting room where I am a little mini quilter working with gigantic pieces of fabric! It is really strange.

But even more strange is the many weird and wonderful ways I am finding to incorrectly sew these blocks together! 

I have been thinking a lot about perfectionism lately and wrote about it last week (click here to read that post). Perhaps these Swoon blocks are just helping me to work on my perfectionistic tendencies and encouraging me to "put my money where my mouth is"!  Brene Brown says: "When perfectionism is driving, shame is always riding shotgun. And fear is the annoying backseat driver." 
I don't want perfectionistic thoughts to be affecting my quilting fun, but my fear right now is that I will hate this quilt! I realize that yellow is quite an overpowering colour... a little goes a long way.  I sure hope I like this imperfect quilt in the end, and will focus on enjoying the process of sewing pieces together, unsewing them, and re-sewing them again!

I  am currently taking a wonderful e-course online with Brene Brown called "The gifts of imperfection". I really liked her book and like the course even more. I have learned that I must have compassion for my mistakes, demonstrate courage by taking risks (by posting them on my blog), and establish connection with others (only those who are not perfect quilters!)
What are you sewing today? Hopefully you are making some mistakes too and enjoying your times of unsewing.
To see the perfect and not so perfect design walls of other quilters, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Stitching Sunday

I am enjoying some hand quilting on my Journey quilt today, and I will be enjoying the last days of fall weather. Nothing is as soothing (for me) as quilting by the water. It is truly heaven!




This is the block I have just finished on the top right corner of the quilt. I am "working" on the last two blocks.

The leaves have mostly fallen down now, so it's time to start raking. But that's a job for another day... not today. 


It's Slow Stitching Sunday! 


Today it's all about relaxing, being in the moment, moving slowly and taking my time.
What are you stitching by hand today? Link your blog update below and share your project with us.

Scrappy Saturday

I have made a bit of progress on sewing my 1" black scraps this week for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I am sewing the blocks on my little white Singer Featherweight, which does a great job of making these tiny blocks for my Omigosh quilt. (You can see my great Canadian Fall quilt hanging on the wall in the background of this photo. It was a row-along project with a group of quilting friends from about 15 years ago. I enjoy hanging it up every fall!)

I decided to make the tiny 9 patch block backgrounds all scrappy neutrals, and thing it's working well so far. Black is an easy colour to work with in these blocks because of the contrast. 
To see what other scrappy quilters are stitching with their black scraps, hop over to SoScrappy.

Another machine?

Are you kidding me?
Who needs another sewing machine? Certainly not me!
When I was at my brother's house this summer, there was a little second hand shop beside the grocery store that had a pretty blue sewing machine in the window. I went in there to visit the machine a couple of times over the summer. As my brother got sicker, I thought more and more about that machine. 


Why? I have no idea!  Perhaps a happy distraction?
I decided that if it was not sold by the day of my brother's funeral, it was meant for me and I was going to buy it. 
And so I did.



It is such a pretty blue White machine, don't you think? I have never seen one like it before. And in such pristine condition!  It came with the original manuel, box of accessories, and a cute little oil can.
I have no idea how old this machine is. It is hard to find information online about dating White machines. If you have any leads, please leave me a comment. 

I am sure my piecing will improve immediately with this new Precision Super Deluxe sewing machine!







Good things about her:
-she is so pretty and blue and shiny!
-she only cost $50!

Bad things about her:
-she weights a ton and I can barely lift her. No plastic parts on this baby! Just look underneath this machine. She is meant to live and work hard forever. Maybe that should be under the category of "good things about her"?!?
We are currently negotiating about what project she wants to be all hers to sew. I plan to assess her abilities and decide what kind of a project would be best suited for her.

New Mystery Quilt

 From Quiltville of course! 

I am still swooning away in my sewing room, and am enjoying sewing along with the new QuiltCam episode.
I am just popping in quickly today to ask you.... did you see that Bonnie Hunter has posted the fabric requirements for the her upcoming mystery - Celtic Solstice?  I think I have done almost every mystery that Bonnie has posted on her blog, and am looking forward to sewing this one too. My Swoon scraps are going to be in it for sure.  We have lots of time to collect the fabrics as the mystery doesn't actually start until the end of November.

Swoon Procrastination

I really wanted to work on my Swoon quilt over the summer.  I collected all the fabric and finished one test block but kept procrastinating working on it. There was even a Swoonalong to help me out. The link up is posted until mid November, so I might make the deadline yet.





The problem was that I don't like to cut a whole quilt at once. It's boring.  And I needed to cut a total of 600 pieces! If you like math, I needed 75 pieces per block x 8 blocks. That's a lot of boring figuring and cutting!
I had all the fabric chosen for each block, but just couldn't convince myself to get that cutting done. I guess that's the part of quilting I like the least.

From Rock My Roll

But I finally forced myself to get it done, and I have all the pieces cut out for the remaining 8 blocks and I am ready for a marathon sewing session.  If you're looking for me, I'm at my sewing machine!