What's wrong with this picture?

Day 20

The main thing wrong is this is where my Bernina lives.  When it's home.  It's been in the shop for almost three weeks and I really miss it.  Did it have to pick this time of year to quit?  Apparently, a board was bad.  Or more than one because one has been replaced and it's still not working so another was ordered but has not arrived yet.  This is the Kenmore that I got when my oldest daughter was an infant and luckily I've kept it cleaned and oiled.  It has a little something that goes in the bobbin case and then does a one thread chain stitch which is wonderful for basting.  Flat bed only, no free arm but I don't use that feature very often anyway.  I didn't realize, though, how often I use my knee lift because I still find my knee going for it after three weeks.  No needle up - needle down button.  No needle threader.  I feel like I'm living in the dark ages but at least I have a machine that sews.  I didn't get out my Featherweight because I needed to zigzag and this one does do a very nice stitch.  You can see the little flip light I keep behind it for extra light - I'm so glad I put that there!  

One thing I did (that maybe I shouldn't have but it worked!) is use my Bernina bobbins because they were already threaded with the right colors and I only have three for this machine that I can find.  I figured it was worth a try!  I'm not recommending it to anyone else just in case it doesn't work in yours but I'm really glad it worked for this one. 

Family Day

I've been going to my daughter's to help with the children, cooking, and anything else she needs for several weeks now.  She's sleep deprived and since she had a C-section, she's not to lift the older children for another two weeks so her in-laws and I have been taking turns helping out.  Trying to think up activities for a toddler and a pre-schooler can be challenging!  I decided it's time my granddaughter learns to sew so I made a trip to JoAnn's and got some plastic canvas and plastic needles.  Be warned if you decide to do this that the blue plastic needles are just a smidge bigger than the holes in the plastic canvas and need a good tug to get them through.  Luckily, she has a good grip!  She said this will be a blanket for one of her dolls.

Sewing is serious work!

Her brother wanted to show me his Elmo socks but wouldn't pull his pants up enough to see the picture.

Aren't these great stripes?

And of course here's Abigail - one month today!

Baby sleeping - rarely seen!

Celebrate Hand Quilting

Click on the Hand Quilting button and have a look at the blog post celebrating hand quilting.  I've always liked hand quilting so much better than machine.  I know, I know - there is some good machine quilting done these days but I prefer hand quilting - the process, the look, and the feel.  Caron has a blog post where any of us with hand quilted pieces can put a link to our post for everyone else to enjoy, like Amy does for the online quilt festival.  So, go have a peak at what's been posted and then add a link of your own.

Salinda Rupp quilt

AKA Completely Insane and now I know why!  I was looking back over my posts and couldn't believe how long it's been since I posted about a completed quilt.  

I made this last winter and just realized I've never posted pictures.  I started it in January and completely finished it in June.  I left off the border that's in the book because I want the quilt to fit this bed and a border would have made the quilt too big.  

One of the things I learned is I'm never going to make another quilt with blocks this small and with so many pieces in them because it makes the quilting so difficult.  I hand quilt and stitching through five or more layers in the seams isn't a whole lot of fun.  I did a narrow cable in the sashing with a little flower-like thing in the blue setting squares.  The quilting in each block is different, depending on the design of the block.  (Click on the photos for a better look.)   

The blocks aren't set in any particular order so this doesn't exactly match the original but I did try to stay close to its colors.  It was obvious that Ms. Rupp used scraps so I did, too.  I kept a box on my cutting table and tossed in everything that was at least 3/4 inch wide.  Some of the pieces really do finish at 1/4 inch! 

Flower Basket quilt

First the whole quilt ---

Flower Basket, Vintage

Quilting close up ---

Flower Basket, Vintage, close up

Notice the quilting lines aren't exactly evenly spaced.  Synthia (no blog) met me at the show and pointed out this was probably so the maker wouldn't have to quilt through all the layers of seam allowance where the diamonds come together at the basket.  Clever, yes? 

Three pictures!

 

 The quilting is a fan design that goes through all layers of applique.  I love the colors and the plaid that was used.

 

Carson's Neighborhood

I had a computer update waiting for me that I installed - maybe that was the only problem because these seem to have loaded without a problem.  See the post directly below for a slideshow of the rest of the pictures.

Aurora Colony Quilt Show

Another slideshow design by Smilebox  I just finished writing a nice long post about the quilt show, but Blogger ate it.  Anyway, the show was fabulous!  My favorite quilt was Wreath with Sunflower, Antique, near the beginning of the slide show.  I loved the fabrics, the way they applique was done (I tried to get a close-up of the stitches) and the way it was quilted. My goals for this show, besides just having a good time and enjoying it, were to get photos of all the quilts without using a flash and to get a picture of the tags on them to identify the makers.  I think I may have put a few in the slide show twice so just ignore the duplicates.   The red and white blocks are part of a challenge which closes, I think, on Friday.  Selected blocks will be displayed Sat and I think those are the blocks to be made into next year's raffle quilt. Mary Doak was the featured quilter this year and she does awesome work!  She had a whole cloth quilt that was spectacular but I think Carson's Neighborhood was my favorite of hers.  It was happy and cheerful and made me smile every time I looked at it.  She has a picture of her baby grandson in one window as well as something cute in each of the others.  (I'm trying to add a couple of pictures to the body of this post but Blogger doesn't want to let me.  I hope the slide show works!)