Snow and quilt squares

No cat pictures today.  Instead you get to see some of the snow we were blessed with over night.  

The building in this picture is the back part of my antique shop and next to it,  my husbands workshop.  

It was the first real snow of the season.  About 6 or 7 inches I think.  The roads are clear now and I actually went to the grocery store a bit ago.  No problems walking or driving.

Last night I finished the sewing of 28 of the squares for the quilt.  Still have to sew 7 more I think.  Each square is a different combination of the fabrics.  It has been interesting trying to make it that way but so far so good.  So this is a picture of the 28 squares. 

I hope to start the final ones this evening and maybe finish them off tomorrow.  I have some other projects I need to start so really want the quilt top done by the weekend.  As to quilting it, well we shall see.  Being a bit lazy I will probably send it out to be machine quilted.  In the good old days I would have set up the quilt frame in the living room and quilted it by hand.  But probably not now.

My quilt fabric is being guarded when I am not around.

I am still working on the quilt.  But my cat Spooky isn't too sure she likes me doing it.  Or maybe she is just protecting the fabric.

It really is coming together but there doesn't seem to be much to show yet.    I am hopeful I will have all the squares done by the weekend.  Then I will take a picture before I put them together. There are 35 squares.  Probably the best thing is I am getting more and more familiar with the new sewing machine.  I am feeling quite comfortable with straight sewing.  My next project will have to be something with a little bit of decorative stitching perhaps.

I worked on my quilt, sort of.

q While my cats were napping yesterday I was working on my new quilt project.

     I spent a couple of hours on it yesterday afternoon.    The first thing I had to do was a LOT of cutting with my rotary cutter and mat.  Then I did the next step which was to start sewing some parts together and cutting them again.  Sort of like a puzzle.  I had to go very slowly and measure a lot.  But have to admit it is fun and I sure am enjoying doing the stitching on my new machine.  The first picture here shows the pile of some of the parts I cut and the second shows some sort of put together.  Lots more to do.

During the day it snowed off and on, but since I didn't have to go anywhere it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.   Oh yeah, my antique shop was open  but not so busy because of the weather, so I wasn't interrupted too much.

I hope to have more to show you tomorrow.  Maybe some things actually beginning to look like a quilt top.

The First Project

Yesterday I started collecting up the fabric I will be using for the first project on my sewing machine.  I am going to make a lap quilt using fabric with '50s colors, you know .... pink, turquoise, coral etc.  I found a lot of these at Wal-Mart, believe it or not, awhile ago.To get the rest I needed I went toJoAnn Fabrics.

I found the pattern for a quilt using "fat quarters" and that is what I will do.  In case you don't know a "fat quarter" if a quarter yard of fabric cut a bit differently. To make it more useful they take a 1/2 yard cut and cut it in half. Therefore a quarter yard. That means you can use it more easily in quilting and other crafting projects.

There are 12 different fat quarters.  Today I hope to start cutting them into the required sizes to make the quilt.  Yesterday I ironed them to make cutting easier and more accurate.  I will show a few of the cuts as I make them so you will understand what I am doing.  So tune in tomorrow.

I won over the machine

I am happy to report that I found out how and successfully learned how to thread my new sewing machine thanks to the man at the sewing machine where I bought it, all the way down in Alabama.  He was patient with me and it worked.

Then later I was having trouble getting the reverse to work.  Nothing in the manual gave me any idea how to trouble shoot this.  So.....   this time I called the Brother Sewing Machine company help line.  The lady there explained there was a switch on the back I should check.  It was in the proper place but I decided to turn it off and on and suddenly it decided to work.

So if you decide to buy a Brother Sewing Machine you can be sure you will get help, easily, when you need it.

In the next couple of days I want to start on some sewing projects. Yesterday I did some practice stitching.  There are a LOT of great stitches included in the machine so here is a picture of my samples.  Not too fancy, just wanted to make sure they all worked.

I am much happier this morning than I was yesterday morning,  I still have to learn to use the embroidery part of the machine but that is for a later day.

Out with the old, in with the new... SEWING MACHINE that is.

I gave myself a big Christmas gift this year.  Something I have wanted for ages.....   a new sewing machine and also one that embroiders.  Too bad I didn't have it when my kids were little.  My daughter could have had all those "cute" little outfits.  But in those days an embroidery machine cost thousands....

After spending a LOT of time researching on the internet I determined that I "NEEDED" to get a Brother SE400 sewing machine.  It is an electronic sewing machine and it does nice embroidery.  Every comment I read from users said good things, ease of use, fun to use etc.

WELL......  I have been sewing on one type of sewing machine or another for OVER 60 years and never had such trouble....  I can't figure out how to thread the stupid thing!!!  I am sure I will figure it out eventually....  Since I didn't buy it locally there isn't really anyone I can ask without driving a couple of hours......  They do sell them at my local wal-mart but heaven forbid they would know how to use them.     So for the next little while I will be practicing threading.  I have to tell you that my old machine loaded bobbins easier too.  Don't know why this is so complicated since the result is the same.  I am thinking of keeping my old machine just to load bobbins....  well probably not..... But it is an idea....

Here is the picture of the old machine... a kenmore.  The reason it is going is because it no longer will reverse and the stitches are extremely uneven on the straight stitch.  I just stopped sewing mostly cause of the problems. 

Doesn't it look lonely sitting on the shelf.  I will be giving it away after I make sure the new one works correctly. 
     The new machine is a   Brother SE400.
If you click on that link you can learn all you ever need to know about the machine, except how to thread it.
I shall quit now and go back to the problem at hand.  I hope tomorrow I can report some success here.

This week "Artful Thursday" falls on a Friday

In the past I have made some blog entries under the heading of Artful Thursday.  This week I am a day late.

For some reason I have gotten totally away from crafting and blogging and all those things.  Some of it has to do with the fact that my antique shop is pretty busy these days. And we spent a few days at our daughters house for Thanksgiving.    But more than that I have just sunk into a rut where I can't seem to convince myself to get back to it.

However I signed up recently for a year long series of work shops on the site  ROSES ON MY TABLE.

It is the same site where I was doing a workshop on decorating bottles.  This time I am doing a "treasure box."
Now I didn't completely follow her design.  I sort of designed it as I went along but I followed her techniques. And  then made it my own. The box is really a simple one which I am now using to hold some vintage photos I "altered" awhile back.

After taking pictures of the box I see a few things I must touch up and I have to clean the brass closure.  Also I don't think the pictures really do it justice.



Here are a couple of pictures of the box closed and one open.

 If you want to see close ups of the altered photos Click Here.  This link will take you to the blog entry where I show the photos I altered..