Scottie Dogs and Scraps

Finally finished the scrappy quilt yesterday! Since I was dragging from getting the flu shot the day before, I didn't feel like doing much over the weekend. So, I finished off the quilted quilt that had been sitting for weeks on the sewing machine waiting for the scrappy binding to be sewn onto it.

The back of the quilt has a Scottie dog and newspaper theme. I made sure all those cute Scottie dogs were well taken care of with the center square being a fabric with newspaper motif.

After completing the quilt, I then curled up in the warmth of the quilt and watched my favorite you-tubers for the rest of the day.

Scrappy Jean Quilt

I been indoors staying cool this past weekend. Way too hot, temperatures were in the high 90s. I started this quilt top a couple of months ago. I then ignored it while I went on camping trips, visited family back East, and worked on some gardening projects. There are 360 small squares and 30 jean squares that I had cut and needed to be pieced. Well, this weekend I felt motivated to assemble the quilt top. I had seen a similar quilt made with jean material on Pinterest. When I saw that quilt, I knew that I wanted to make that design since I could use my scrap materials along with the jean material from my stash.

The backside will be the doggie and newspaper print fabric. Next, I will have to figure out how I want to quilt it.  

1080 Squares

Surprisingly, there are 1080 small squares! It didn't seem like I was making that many squares during construction and piecing. By using Bonnie Hunter's method for this scrappy Trip Around the World, this quilt top came together very quickly.

Next step is designing the back of the quilt. The back will not be constructed as quickly as the front since I'll be cutting out each of the 50 States. My classes start up next week; so, I will only be working on the back design during my free time, which will be weekends.

Jeans and More Jeans

A TreadleOn friend had given me four large boxes of used jeans that she never got around to using. Since I have made numerous denim quilts with that stash, I decided to thank her with a denim quilt. I had picked out the cute bandana fabric some time ago thinking that it would look great as a backing fabric for a denim quilt. The solid reds are the strip fabrics used between denim squares, and the red with pattern fabric is the binding fabric.

This quilt was made using what I'm now calling the Mondrian Denim pattern. I just quilted this one different from the others that I have made.

After all the pieces were arranged and stitched into sections easy enough to handle in quilting, I pinned the back fabric on and then used tape to mark my lines. There is no batting in this quilt.

I like using this tape method, but it was a bit tricky when lining up the lines with the next section to quilt. I left all of the tape on the first section to line up the lines on the next section.

I left a gap of a half-inch (green section of the cutting mat) for the space of red strip and used the ruler to line up the lines. My quilt lines are close to a 1/4 inch from the tape.

Then I slowly transferred the tape and quilted. I did this for all of the sections.

I thought this method would save me some time, but in the end I don't think it was any faster than when I quilted inside each square like I did on the last Mondrian quilt that I made.

This will be my last denim quilt project for awhile since it's time to try other designs and projects that are on my ever growing to do list.

Jean Quilt with a Mondrian Theme

I finished the jean quilt with two shades of brown strips and black binding.

I love the batik fabric that I used on the back.

New Endeavors

On New Year's Eve, I started working on my first knit 2-at-a-time socks project. I finally got brave to tackle knitting two socks at the same time. Since I prefer knitting from the toe up and the book that I own, 2-at-a-time Socks, only demonstrates from cuff down, I had to watch a youtube tutorial on how to get started. Once I figured out that technique, my worries faded. Knitting two socks simultaneously is not difficult at all and very rewarding to see two socks materialize at the same time.

And on New Year's Day, I started piecing the baby quilt that will be for my niece's baby boy that is due very soon. The piecing for this quilt is with my Two Spools.

Mondrian Quilt in Shades of Blue

This blue jean quilt reminds me of Mondrian's work.

When researching quilts made from jeans, I came across this gal's blog:
http://lucysquilts.blogspot.com/2009/12/denim-quilts.html.
Once I saw the quilts, I knew that I had to make one for my daughter's new apartment as a birthday present. Plus, it looked like a fun, quick project. So, my box of recycled, cleaned jeans that has been sitting for months was pulled out, and I busily got started with cutting and arranging 2", 4", 6", 8", 10", & 12" blocks.

The blocks were then attached with 1" strips of brown Kona fabric that were sewn together with 1/4" seams made by using the Two Spools machine. This technique makes for no bulky seams since one isn't sewing denim to denim.



Then I sewed blocks together to form large sections. Those sections were quilted in a diagonal straight stitch that were 4 inches apart to the back fabric with the Davis NVF. It was easier to quilt sections versus quilting an entire quilt since denim is heavy. There is no batting used in this quilt since the denim alone is thick enough and heavy. The back of the quilt shows the best visible view of the sections. The solid black fabric pieces were added to fabrics pieces to form a complete panel or back section.

Once all of the five sections were quilted, I attached sections together by using black 1" strips of Kona fabric that were attached to sections with 1/4" seams on one side by machine. The other side of the strips were hand-sewn. Yes, I did hand sew those strips as well as the binding! I did the hand stitching so that there would not be any machine stitching lines showing on the top other than the quilted diagonal lines.

Not even my traditional finishing off of the binding with the decorative stitching was done on this quilt. I wanted to capture the simple, clean look of a Mondrian.

Side One

I love the look of the New Wave Quilt pattern from Elizabeth Hartman/ www.ohfransson.com. Just one of many patterns that has been on my to do list for quite some time now. It's a very easy pattern to follow and assemble.

 

After arranging the layout of the colors, I spent the day piecing with my Two Spools machine. It has been a couple of months since I have sat down with this machine. I love this machine for piecing.

Side One finished; tomorrow I start on Side Two.

Art, Babies, and Bees.

My first donation quilt of the year will be a baby quilt. A friend had given me the bee fabric awhile back. I thought it would be cute in a baby quilt, but I just couldn't decide on a quilt pattern.

 Yesterday, I cut all these five inch squares, 100 of them.

Today, I transformed them into half squares by first drawing a line down the diagonal, then sewing on both sides of the diagonal, and the cutting on the line.

Why I like sewing with the Two Spools is that the feed dogs are the same length so that the fabric travels through evenly.

And the foot is that perfect 1/4 inch for sewing on either side of the line, which I did a lot of today.

If you were wondering why this sewing machine is called a Two Spools, it's because the underneath (where the bobbin would be) holds the second spool of thread. I love sewing with mechanical art.

One treadle, two heads!

At present, my Singer 328K sits in my Singer straight-leg treadle. But before purchasing the 328K, I had a National Two Spools sitting in my Singer straight-leg treadle.

I had my first Two Spools in a modified treadle that my husband did the modification for me (clever man!).

Since the Two Spools machine is narrower, he took a wider portion of another Singer cabinet (lighter color wood shown) to hold the machine on the front lip.

The front and back of the piece that gets switched out in the front. My husband just fixed the wood for the hinge to sit into the wood.

All I do is unscrew the hinges from the wooden front piece and switch the wooden pieces that fits with the correct machine. The older light wood which is wider goes with the National Two Spools and the newer narrower wood goes with the Singer machines.

Both Singer pins can't be use to hold the Two Spools because the pins holes on the Two Spools don't line up with the Singer hinge pins.

Since only one pin will line up for the Two Spools and can only be used, my husband used a metal piece for support for the second pin. The machine rests on the hinge pin and metal plate.

This metal plate can be moved out when using the Two Spools and swing back under cabinet for the Singer Machines.

Location and how the metal plate is attached to cabinet.

I hope this helps others in their one treadle, two heads projects! Have fun treadling!

The Newylweds!

Meet Mr. & Mrs. Two Spools, the Cowboy and Melinda. They make a cute couple. The Cowboy has an honorary spot under Thistle Marie on the bookshelf were he sits watching Melinda work.

Check out these feet!

You are looking at Melinda's feet. Yes, I got myself another Two Spools, an Eldredge, in original cabinet.

While keeping a eye out for a cabinet for Mr. Two Spools, my National, I spotted another Two Spools down in Salinas. She was hiding in Steinbeck country just waiting for me to pick her up. I purchased her from a man who's grandma used the machine. Melinda is so much smoother than Mr. Two Spools. Funny how two machines can act so differently. Mr. Two Spools would always gallop, but Melinda just hums.

Well, I had to rearrange the sewing area; so, Hank got moved into the straight-leg that Mr. Two Spools was sitting in. Mr. Two Spools has an honorary spot on the book shelf under Thistle Marie.

Here is a look at the new setup. Next to Hank on the right under my cutting mat is my first treadle with Jasmine sitting inside; she is my Singer 15-90 free motion machine. I figure that when I wish to do some free motion quilting I will just rotate Jasmine with Hank.

Mr. Two Spools

Meet Mr. Two Spools! I purchased him from a cowboy (and I'm not kidding, DH was there as witness). I stated that Ms. Graybar led to this machine. Well, when I picked up free Ms. Graybar, the lady told me that a Graybar is just a National. After returning home and studying her, I researched National sewing machines. During my research, I came across a quilter's blog on her National/ Western Electric Two Spool machine that she uses. I realized that the decals on her machine I had recently seen on a machine that was listed on CL. So, of course I called the poster to see if the machine was still available since I was fascinated with the use of two spools, one in a can/bobbin. A lady answered and stated that she had posted for her cowboy friend (a cowboy?!). Next day, DH and I take a drive to the wild west of California...and here is my dusty cowboy, Mr. Two Spools.






He'll be real handsome after his mineral bath.