Japanese Kites

Finished quilt top. I picked up this fabric when living in Japan and recently discovered it in a pile of linen that I have. I decided that it would make a cute baby quilt.

Fabric on the back of quilt.


Working on a baby quilt for some future child. This is the top.

New addition!

I went into a thrift store and came out with this forlorn lady. I picked her up with a White sewing machine buttonholer for $26. I hope to sell the buttonholer to recoup some of the money spent for this lady.

This lady is going to the spa for a long overdue makeover. I plan to turn her into my hand-crank machine. She was manufactured in Kilbowie, Scotland, 1914. So, Thistle Marie has a sister!

Dem Bones Whirlygiggle

Finally finish the Halloween quilt. Top was pieced on the Janome (back in February) and quilted on both the Singer 201 (straight stitch) and Singer 15-90 (free-motion).

I went with a scary free motion quilting look instead of the cutesy quilting pattern look. I added a little spider in some of the webs to match my decorative signature stitch.


Back side. Bryan says it is like two quilts and that the spider web quilting goes with the spiders on the back.

Changes to sewing room

A rotation of machines has occurred in such a short period of time. While looking for attachment parts for my machines, I came across the Cadillac of vintage Singer machines (201K), a wonderful wooden box, and yes parts too.

Thistle Marie got moved and this 15-90 (from the $10 purchase) now sits in her spot to do the work. I wasn't planning on using the 15-90 as a treadle; but after much reading and researching, I have decided that I want to use this machine as a treadle too. I took the handle off the machine, Singer 15BG168, that came with the treadle that the 201K now sits in. The 15-90 is name Jasmine.

A loser look at Jasmine.

Her face plate.



This is my 201K which I picked up for $35 with a box of attachments. Since this machine is stellar in her stitch work, I will call her Starr. This treadle is different from the treadle that Jasmine sits in. The font on this treadle matched Starr's font and decal style.


A closer look at Starr.



Yes, Thistle Marie has an honorary place next to Erica's toy sewing machine. I found the box at an estate sale while looking for attachment parts. The box had a 15-91 in it, but I moved that to the Queen Anne cabinet that had the 15-90.

Harvest Moon

A look at the bed runner on my queen size bed,

I made a change from making this into a quilt with squares to a bed runner with stacked coin strips. All was quilted on the vintage machine except for the decorative stitch.


This will be the center to a quilt that I have just started. I was practicing stippling on the Classic Lady with this material when the idea for my quilt came together. I will arrange some blue and cream color rectangles in a checkerboard pattern that will surround this piece.

Sewing room

I somehow deleted two entire posts while adding some photos today. So, I am showing before and after shots on the two vintage machines that I recently purchased and cleaned up, as well as my sewing center (my husband calls the command center).



Cleaned up Thistle Marie and cabinet (No.2). I purchased this 1907 Singer 66 treadle Lotus/Thistle machine from a church bazaar for $80. I spent days cleaning off 103 years of dirt and oil. My husband helped by dismantling the treadle. After I cleaned the embedded dirt and grease from the treadle parts, he reassembled it so that the treadle would run smoothly. She now purrs!

All the before and after cleaning and polishing shots. I had to be extremely careful of cleaning and polishing her 103 year old decals. Read a website that states that this machine has the brown lotus decals which are rare to find in the States. Wow!








The ornate face plate cleaned.



This is a 1955 Singer 15-91 that I purchased for $50; it came with buttonholer. I love the cabinet (No. 72). I have decided to call her Lady Classic.



Before cleaning and polishing. I also purchased a Singer 15-90 (belt driven, not shown) for $10 so that I could use its male electrical adapter part on my Classic Lady since hers was broken. This machine will now go to Erica; she can use it for making beautiful buttonholes.

New addition

I'm now the steward of my sister's old toy Singer sewing machine. She gave it to my daughter as a birthday gift. Since my daughter is at college, I can display the machine at my sewing center and marvel at its beauty. Thank you BIG.

Lauren's Baby quilt

Pieced on Thistle Marie, quilted on Classic Lady, and decorative binding stitched on Janome, Lauren's baby quilt is finished.



I love the cherry theme to this pinwheel quilt.




Front and back.



A peek at the top of the quilt. All of the pinwheels were pieced using Thistle Marie (Treadle), and the prairie points were basted on using Classic Lady (15-91), since that required lots of starts and stops to make sure points were on correctly. Quilting will be done on Classic Lady.




This is the material for pinwheel baby quilt that I will make for Lauren's baby shower.
The cherry theme squares will be used to make the pinwheels for the front of the quilt, and the large fabric with the small circles (that Erica says has a pea theme; hahaha) will be the back of the quilt. The yellow dragonfly fabric will be the binding. I forgot to show off the yellow squares in this photo; they are underneath the block of red.

Japanese Crossings/Anniversary quilt for my parents

Today is my parents 60th Wedding Anniversary, July 29,2010 ( Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad). This is a quilt I made for them to decorate their bed and keep them warm. My mom loves blue and their bedroom has light blue walls. This is the front of the quilt. I didn't realize when choosing fabric that the quilt would have a modern Japanese look. Saw this pattern in magazine at the library and fell in love with it immediately (that one was made of different shades of green with brown). Made this queen size quilt in one week so that it would make it in time for their anniversary (had to get it finish before my camping trip and get it mailed off in time to arrive).


Up close of all the fabrics for the top of quilt.


The back of quilt. Somewhere on the back I signed the quilt (think on red strip).



A look at both sides. Used my favorite decorative stitch on the binding; front side has white thread and back side is red.

Blooming Nine Patch Table Runner

Top of runner

The snake-hose pin that Erica gave me for a decoration on the table runner.

The back side of runner.

Wonky Log Cabin

Years ago, Erica started a log cabin quilt but never finished it. She came across the squares that had been stored away recently and asked if I wanted to finish the project. She stated that she never finished the project since she had been frustrated with her finished blocks being irregular sizes. I told her no problem, that I could make them into wonky log cabin blocks by using her strips that she hadn't used and adding white for the background to square up the blocks. I used the blue and yellow strips that she had cut and additional fabric to piece the back. I just had enough fabric for the back. I'm delighted to say that Erica and I love the way this quilt has turned out.