Creativity

Jus sayin....

Design Wall Monday

A little inside look at what I've been up to!!

Adding the Queen Borders to a Glacier Star Quilt

Stuffing a cat bed with the scraps from a Glacier Star Quilt

Learning to free motion quilt on my Vintage Singer 201

Just a little quilting left to do on my Grandson's quilt!

Red Barn from a Picture Piecing Class taught by Cynthia England. 

You can view what others are getting into over at Patchwork Times - Design Wall Monday

Vintage Singer No 36806 Needle Threader

Being a VSM (Vintage Sewing Machine) collector\restorer\repairer...you get excited about the weirdest little things.

Vintage Singer No 36806 Needle Threader

I picked up an adorable little Singer Model 99 in a bentwood case at a garage sale yesterday.   These little darlings are near and dear to my heart because my very first restoration was a 99 that I accidentally bought a few years ago.  I say accidentally because the internet post was for a $10 sewing table.   They never mentioned that a machine was inside....

Vintage Centennial Singer Model 99

My first Singer 99 I deemed "Susie Centennial".  She was frozen solid, rusted inside and out and had no accessories with her, other than the rusted foot that was bound to the presser bar.   I must've spend 100+ hours gingerly wiping with sewing machine oil on every inch of her before I decided to dissemble every single piece.  I started to research what would REALLY work to bring her back to life.   $10 investment....why not?   I was bored.  LOL  By trial and error, every piece had the rust removed, wires replaced, put back together, timed, tweaked and Viola!  Not a single part was replaced.  Only the bobbin cover was added.

Since then, I have restored, serviced, and in some cases sold about 4 dozen machines (or maybe more, I stopped keeping track).   "Susie" will always stay with me.  She's my go-to machine for every day quilting\piecing.   And when I acquire more Model 99's, she gets all the best accessories handed down to her.   In this circumstance - the Vintage Singer No 36806 Needle Threader.

Hunting for information, I found very little.   One pamplet was in German....but the pictures helped!

When I put my glasses on - I see that there is half of a hook on here.

First, let's get that screw out

Removed on of the little hooks from the key ring and screwed it in place

Now let's take it for a test run...

Now that needle hole was SERIOUSLY easy to find with this...didn't even need my glasses!

Loop the thread behind....oh boy - that was easy to hook on there.....

Oh I am officially in LOVE with my new toy!!

FMQ with my Vintage Singer 201!

So excited! At the quilt show, this past weekend, there was a first time vendor with parts for VSM's. I bought 2 different kinds of low-shank darning feet.

Just tried the first one on my beloved Singer 201 and we are movin' and a groovin'!!! 

First things first - we need attach the foot

Next....drop the feed dogs.

Gently lift the machine so you can see her underbelly.

Right there towards the front is the lever that needs to move.   Gently unscrew the screw (it doesn't come out all the way) and when it's free, pull out gently, move the lever and seat the screw in the hole closest to you.

Next - we set the stitch length to ZERO (all the way down if you can't see the numbers anymore)

Then we pull the bobbin thread up through the fabric 

And AWAY we go!!!

I noticed that when I go really fast, I get a few skipped stitches. Watching the thread come off the spool pin I see that there are times that the check spring doesn't get to do its job. The thread ends up with a little slack because it got an uneven spin off the spool. 

Going to dig through my stuff and find that standing spool holder that I've never used and see how that fairs!!

I can't wait to find my comfort zone with Free Motion Quilting on this beautiful classy girl!!

Embroider This!! Part 3 (Seasonal Sampler)

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Last Month I started posting a BOM series that I am sharing with my local quilt guild.  If you would like to participate too, take a look at where it started here.   The post for Month 1 is here.

What fun it was to see what other people came up with using MY pattern!   So proud!

My Block

Ann G

Kathy C

Marilee - oops!  I helped her fix it

Pam W

Here's the next installment of my Seasonal Special Block wall Hanging series for Month 2!  If you want the instructions that I made for everyone on piecing them together, just shoot me a message!

2015 Seasonal Special Block Wall Hanging Series

Unit 2 (Make 2) Notice Placement difference!

Finished Block Size is 7” x 10”

“Special Block Size” = 5 ½” x 7” finished

Cutting:

a) Using 1 ½” Strips – cut 8 squares You could also sew two strips together and cut two patch units to save time

b) Cut 2 small rectangles 2” x 1 ½” The center of that row needs to be just a tad bit bigger to fit!

c) If you are doing a “special” block in these squares, they have to be trimmed (allowing for seam allowance) to 6” x 7 ½” to fit here.

d) Cut 2 pieces to 2” x 8.5” (I fussy cut a fun fabric here!)

e) These spots get just a little piece of filler.  Cut 4 pieces at 1” x 2 ½”.

f)  Using whatever method you prefer, make 24 Half-Square Triangles at 1 ½” x 1 ½”.  These finish at 1” when sewn in, and can be hard to get just right because they are so small.   Either make them bigger and trim down, or use 1.0 Finished Thangles like I did!!  Love these things!

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with next!!!  

VSM's Adopted Out - Singer 301 Restored

One of my favorite things about restoring old sewing machines is seeing the excitement from the new Mommies (and sometimes Daddies) that adopt them!  

Two of my girls went to a new home today along with a sweet little Singer 221 Featherweight that came in for service!  A Vintage Singer 301 and a Vintage Singer 201!

The stellar Singer 301 Long Bed was my first 301 restore some time ago. I've done several since then and it's one of my most popular models and one of my favorites to brag about!  Amazing machine!   It's been sitting on my shelf for a while waiting for its new owner.   After a year long wait, I decided it was time to look for a different person to adopt it.   Denise, one of my quilting friends, didn't hesitate... SOLD!  LOL  

It was an amazing learning experience.   When I started this fascination with old machines, each new model I acquired became a long experiment.   There was no rush, I wanted to learn.   I experimented with cleaning methods, bought new tools, learned about dremels, screwdrivers, wiring, you name it.  I was that kid that took all of her toys apart.   Drove my mom nuts.   When I got into my 30's, I started to actually put things back together.  (grin)

Here's the auction photo that started this girls journey....

When I saw it in person, it looked even worse.   But I figured, let's see what it goes for, small investment, HUGE learning opportunity.

After 100's of hours of removing every single part, cleaning each one and putting it back together, a beautiful machine emerged.

Singer Model 301A (Long Bed) - Serial # NA213934 Born 1953 Anderson, SC (Start of 301A)

As much as I'd like to give you a documented journey of the 201 in the photo, she left almost as fast as she arrived, LOL   Same new owner!  

Embroider This!! Part 2 (Seasonal Sampler)

Don't forget to join us on Facebook!!

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Sometimes the best way to get a planned project done...is to involve other people!  LOL  So THEY can make you truly commit to a project!

6 Months ago I had one of those surges of energy that came out of nowhere, put my head down and converted a graph paper sketch of a wall hanging into EQ7.   You can see that post here. The idea was to create a wall hanging design for some Machine Embroidered Block designs that I spent a weekend stitching out EONS ago!  I felt all KINDS of accomplished.

The intention was to take a BIG bin of fabrics to a "sew weekend" with my local guild, choose fabrics, cut them up, and stuff them into manageable bags to have a "grab and run" PIB (Project in Bag).   I mentioned my productivity at the January guild meeting and several asked if I would host a "Block of the Month" (BOM) with the group for my design.   Well SURE I said! They put me on the calendar to begin in May.

We have quilters of ALL skill sets in our group, so my simplistic graph paper cut outs probably weren't going to work for everyone.   So I spruced up the directions and began to share!  For those that might like to participate - here is Month 1!  If you want the instructions that I made for everyone on piecing them together, just shoot me a message!

2015 Seasonal Special Block Wall Hanging Series

Unit 1 (Make 2)

Finished Size is 10” x 10”

“Special Block” = 2x4 finished

Cutting:

a) You’ll need a total of (72) 1 ½” x 1 ½” squares (36 for each block). You could cut these from strips, scraps or you could also sew two strips together and cut two patch units to save time

b) You’ll need a total of (8) 2 ½” HST’s (Half‐ Square Triangles) (4 for each block) . I used Thangles to do these. So easy and quick! You use the package that says 2” Finished. Cut 2 strips 2 ½” long, pin together, and sew on the lines. Cut and press!

c) You’ll need a total of (8) 2 ½” x 4 ½” Bricks (4 for each block). These can be cut from 2 ½” strips!

d) You’ll need a total of (4) 1 ½” x 4 ½” Bricks (2 for each block. These can be cut from 1 ½” strips!

e) This spot is for the SB1 (Special Block 1) Unit ‐ 2 ½” x 4 ½”