Category Archives: ETC

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Exciting news

The winners were announced today for the Quilt Alliance “Voices” quilt contest and auction.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Quilt-Alliance-Contest-Winners-Announced.html?soid=1101594196900&aid=YEV7Wd8Q-jw

My quilt came in second place.

and I won a new sewing machine.     I am excited to learn to do quilting on an electric modern machine.    I will still be a treadle quilter but want to become proficient at electric as well so I can be a better teacher.

All the quilts will be auctioned off in November to help fund the Quilt Alliance.    Here is the link to the auction site to see all the quilts. http://www.benefitbidding.com/auctions/listings/index.cfm?auction=318&resetcategory=1

Happy Quilting

Tim

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Butterflies and machine

I have had many butterflies in my garden the last few weeks and I took some photos a few days ago….which will serve as quilt inspiration at some point soon.

I bought a Singer 31-15 quite a while back and it is finally in good working order

Here is a video of some free motion work on it .

I went to see the physical therapist and I have some exercises for my shoulders to do for my shoulders…..and the therapist wants to see me two times a week for 3 weeks to try to get it worked out.   the arthritis on my hands and knees is a different story but one thing at a time ….and forward progress.

Don’t be afraid of change, change can be a beautiful thing said the butterfly.

Happy Quilting

Tim

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Coneflowers

The coneflowers are blooming away in the garden.


It inspired me to start this quilt.

I worked on it a little more

I have a lot of background quilting to go and I want to do a bit more painting.

I worked on the sewing machine top….here is the before


and after

Not perfect to be sure but I hope I look that good when I am 130.

Now I can clean up a bit and re-organize to find a good place to put it ….it sews beautifully so I do plan to use it .

Happy Quilting

Tim

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1887 Singer

I went antique shopping today and even though I really didn’t plan on another sewing machine project I came home with one.

This was made in 1887 and it really is not in the best shape, but for 18 dollars I had to save it.

At some point in its life someone decided to re paint it ……you can see all the black paint on things that should not be painted.

The paint didn’t stick so well to the decals so a lot of it rubbed off, but the decals really are pretty much destroyed and trying to get the paint off without further damage is not easy.    I have done some work on it.

I think I have it in working order (I need to put in a needle and give it a test) but it still needs a lot of cleaning.    I am thinking about doing a total refinish since it is in such bad shape.   That would include striping and repainting and new decals.    I have not done that before because I usually thing it is better to embrace the age.   What do you think?

 

I did some of the quilting on the tree but needed to take a break to rest my hands.

I’ll get back to that soon

Happy Quilting
Tim

Save

Save

Save

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Snow etc.

It has been snowing a lot.

When the snow is deeper than Teddy’s legs I really have no choice but to shovel it 🙂

I have been busy making blue denim bags to fill orders but I took a break from that to do a white bag.    here is a video.

I finished it and listed it for sale.

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It sold within 5 minutes.

still hand quilting every night…..I’ll get some pictures of that soon.

 

Happy Quilting

Tim

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Decorations

I got the decorations on the tree today.   Mostly Santa ornaments that I have collected over the years, and most of them were gifts.  (click on pictures to enlarge)

I think teddy is waiting for Santa to put some presents under the tree.

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My Christmas tablecloth quilt ( it is a vintage tablecloth that I added a red border to and hand quilted)  made a good cover for the tree base.  I had planned to add one of my quilted tree skirts but I don’t think it needs it.

I have several more Trees and I might put up a few more. I think I will do one with a sewing/quilting theme…..I have a huge bag full of wooden thread spools that would be great ornaments .    Not sure if I will get that done this year, but I think it would be fun to do.

For now I feel happy to have this one done.    It looks small up on the table but it really is 7 feet tall.
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I think I’ll spend the next few days quilting…….but there is a lot of end of the year cleanup left to do in the garden.   If the weather is good tomorrow I think that is the priority.

Happy Quilting

Tim

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Sometimes you get distracted

I had great intentions of getting my tree decorated today.   I got the tree set up and the lights are on but I didn’t get the decorations on it yet.

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I decided to use a smaller tree this year….this one is 7 feet but I have really high ceilings so I put it up on a table.

A Singer sewing machine is the reason I didn’t get more decorating done.  A Singer 31-15 arrived today.    I know it was in really bad shape but it got even worse in delivery.  The balance wheel/hand wheel broke in delivery.

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It is missing its needle plate and feed dogs, now has a broken hand wheel, it is VERY rusty and I love it!

It was made as an industrial machine so it is heavy (55 pounds) and huge!    There is 10.5 inches between the needle and the column, by comparison my favorite Singer 15 is 7 1/2 inches ….when I get it cleaned up and functioning it will be great for quilting….all that space in the harp will be a real luxury.
So I spent some time working on getting the first layers of rust and gunk off of it.

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I have a lot of cleaning to do yet but I have ordered the parts I need to fix it up.  It will be a while before they arrive but I am excited about it.   Now that I have the machine I can work on getting a top made for a treadle base to fit it.    It will need a much larger opening than a standard Singer machine.  I’ll take a picture soon of a full sized Singer 15 next to this one so you can see how large it is.

Teddy is really not that impressed with it….but he is always ready to pose.

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Next time pictures of the finished tree 🙂

Happy Quilting
Tim