Another Season

My mom asked me if I could make a mini quilt like the one I gave her for Mother's Day. She wants to give this quilt as a thank you gift for receiving free organic veggies from friends whose kids own the farm mentioned on the mini quilt, One Straw Farm.

Since I no longer have some of the same fabrics, I changed most of the fabrics. I like the background fabric for this project since the vegetable/fruit look like little, round, red peppers. The paper-piecing was done on my Singer 201, quilting and binding on Davis NVF, and the decorative stitching on Singer 224.

Zippers

Normally it doesn't take me six hours to install a zipper.  The longest on record for me is two hours to correct sloppy stitching, but this dang zipper took me hours. Since this zipper sits on the fabric as part of the decorative design, I had to conceal the raw edges of the zipper first before installing. This task shouldn't have been so utterly grueling, but today it was for me. I did this same procedure the other day in less than a half hour. Well, at least the sewing of the zipper onto the bulky material was a breeze- all thanks to my Singer 201, bless her soul.

What's This?

A secret! I used my Singer 201 to make that bright orange piping and sew it into place. I also sewed that almost perfect orange 90 degree corner. I've been busy helping my daughter sew a line of clothes that she has designed for a college fashion show. Her work is avant-garde. She loves to play with fabrics, colors, and textures. So while she creates innovative designs, I get to sew some of these modern looks with my vintage machines. Yes, I'm treadling that Singer 201!  While the plastic Janome sewing machine that my daughter uses keeps struggling and coughing to sew through some of the thicknesses of fabrics and seams, my Singer 201 effortlessly rides over the thick seams. Not bad for a machine that's around 70 years old, and the treadle irons are even older.  I swear that machine is smiling. I can hear it hum. That hum brings serenity to me, the reason why I love to treadle vintage machines!

Countdowns

For Christmas this year, I totally surprised my son.  He had been interested in a designer hoodie that was priced at $200. It's too high a price for his or my budget. So, he asked me if I could make one. Well, that was months ago, some time late summer. Just before Thanksgiving, he said "You have all these sewing machines, and you don't use them for sewing."  Man! Nothing like a major meltdown from a kid as a reminder that Christmas was coming quickly.

He didn't know that I had saved the image of that hoodie so that I could copy the pattern. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas while my son was in school, I had my countdown to producing "the hoodie".   Monday-Friday daily for two weeks, 2:30 P.M. became my alarm. I would clean up all materials and vacuum up all the threads. At night, I worked on socks for my dad and daughter. I didn't want a nosy kid discovering my gift to him.

On Christmas, he opened a huge box with a pattern sitting on top of tissue paper, under that was "the hoodie". My son looked at the pattern in total  surprise. A "what's this" look came over his face. I told him to look under the tissue. An astonished kid stated, " And here I thought you were just knitting socks all this time. I thought you were the slowest knitter...which would make for the most expensive socks."




















Yes, I'm not the fastest knitter, but who really cares since it's my time, my countdown.

With that, I leave you with a countdown that I can't control, a new year.
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!  May 2013 be peaceful, healthy, and prosperous for all.