Quilt Camp, Day #1

Quilt Camp for our youngest grandchild began here this morning. Lynnleigh's been so eager to start her own quilt! At eight, having only just completed the second grade, she's the youngest Quilt Camper that I've had; but, probably, the most enthusiastic by a mile!  (And by no means does that imply that the others haven't been excited, not at all!) Lynnleigh is artistic by nature, she's all about color, value and contrast. Sometimes it's easy to forget that she's eight years old! She knows what she likes. For her pattern we chose a Nine Patch, she's webbing the blocks as she goes. All of her energy and interest in color and design was thwarted, in the beginning, by her reluctance to have a hand at the machine. She's not really sewn on the machine before, that took some time and practice. "I'd prefer to do these by hand" she said. I encouraged her, "I know that you can do this", I assured her.  I told her that I would be right here with her, there was nothing to worry about. She was willing, but still a bit timid and doubtful and, I suppose, intimidated by the machine itself. 

She started out without thread or bobbin, learning to stitch on paper and how to follow a straight line. She learned how to stop with the needle down, raise the presser foot, and pivot. She was ready to go after that!

From there it was an easy jump from the paper to the fabric and she was on her way!

Block #1, done!

And... how she spent the rest of the afternoon! 

She is so proud of her accomplishments after day one; and so is this Nana! For the once-reluctant machinist I have to say that she's the most precise and deliberately conscientious stitcher that seen in quite some time. We kept the sewing sessions short today, had snacks and lunch at the appropriate times and our "breaks" consisted of a rousing game of Uno and story time. She'll be back in the morning for day number two. I hope that she's just as excited as she was today; because I, for one, can not wait! 

Life is Good!

Like Father, Like Son

Two boys, a generation apart, learning machine skills from the same teacher; the tradition continues.

💗

Life is Good!

Move Over, Make Room

For the first time in a very long time I sat down yesterday-- and stitched; on my brand-new, inherited, vintage Singer 301.  After lovingly oiling her this past weekend, and adding some motor lubricant to the teeth of the gears, she purrs like a kitten and makes a most impeccable stitch. It took me all of, hmmm... let's see, ten seconds to get used to the sewing posture for this one. There is a knee-lever which controls the (mounted inside the cabinet) foot pedal; for the last twenty-plus years I have been sewing on Berninas where the knee lever controls the presser foot up/down. I adjusted quickly to the change. There is a handy little cross piece along the inside bottom of the cabinet on which to comfortably rest my foot. I adore this machine, I have named her Ruth.  When it was time for me to bring her home to live here my husband innocently asked: "where will this machine go?" I answered, immediately, "in the sewing room, of course." "Is there room?" he continued. "I will make room" was my reply.  And I did. I have two other cabinet machines situated in the center of the room.

This picture is from ten years ago, when Mr. Goodneedle built this three-part table for the machines and storage. It is well used and much loved.

Ruth and her first real project since arriving at Chez Goodneedle, a pillow case for Ryan's Case for Smiles.

Ruth entered this space quietly and graciously, she fits nicely right in front of the window and gives me a wonderful view of the bird feeders just beyond the side porch. My other machines haven't been one bit jealous of Ruth's arrival, they have deferred to her senior status; there's been no pushing or shoving for top-dog status. This relationship is one of harmony and cooperation.

The comings and goings just outside the window, at the finch feeder on the other hand, are the exact opposite. These pretty little birds are quite aggressive with one another vying for a place of their own at the table. They could learn a lesson from Ruth if only they just peeked inside, there's room for everyone to coexist peacefully, if they would only wait their turn.

...and we just keep buying seed...

Life is Good!

Hand-Cranked Sweetness

I'll bet you thought this post was going to be about homemade ice cream, didn't you? Nope. It's about this Singer model #20, hand crank operated, child's sewing machine. I don't exactly how old this one is, they were manufacured from the 1910 through 1975. I've had mine for quite some time and it's quite old. My husband gave it to me years ago, it was an antique at the time. I set it on a shelf and have displayed it over the years, I honestly never gave a thought to actually using it or even that it might stitch at all! It's only been recently, when Gregory's been visiting (he adores all things mechanical!) that he asked if he could really sew (with thread), as opposed to "air" sewing (turning the crank and running scraps under the presser foot that fall into a heap behind the machine). I got serious about researching the machine and investigating the possibility of actually bringing it back into functional mode. I never had an instruction manual for it, I had the original box that it came in and the clamp that attaches it to a table top, that's it. Luckily, I found a free download for the manual online and printed it out. I ordered some needles specifically for it, it takes a rather rare 24 X 1 needle. Mr. Goodneedle took a look at the mechanism underneath and made one simple adjustment and, just like that, we were off and stitching!

The machine has no bobbin; it makes a chain stitch, and a very nice one at that! In this photo you can see the stitch on the top side. I turned this practice piece upside down to show the chain stitch as it looks on the backside (as indicated by the arrow), it's a little thicker stitch underneath but equally pretty.  I am impressed by the engineering that went into this machine as well as the longevity, with NO maintenance whatsoever over the years that I have had it, for it to pick up and stitch so effortlessly this morning is a terrific testimony to a well built machine. It still could use an adjustable seam guide, I'll have to order one; it was an original attachment that screws down into a threaded hole in the bed and will be helpful when the grandchildren use it to keep the edges straight as they crank the fabric though.

I needed the assistance of additional lighting to thread the needle, I'm sure a child's eyes could handle that task easily without one. But, the thought occurred to me when I pulled out this flashlight, if we have a power outage in the future all is not lost... now I can still sew! 

Life is Good!

The Right Foot

Yesterday morning I was ready to attach the binding to this quilt, the blue version of the same baby quilt I posted in pink not long ago. When attaching the binding to that one, using a walking foot, I thought I would pull my hair out from frustration; nothing went well! My machine was skipping stitches constantly. I did all the troubleshooting I knew how, to no avail. Finally, I gave up, took the walking foot off and walked away. Later the same day I put the walking foot on the sewing machine I typically use for embroidery and stitched it on, trouble free. Since then I have used the first machine for piecing and have encountered no stitching problems whatsoever. Since the embroidery module was attached to machine #2 I decided to reenact the original scenario again. I threaded machine #1 and picked up the walking foot... that's when I realized what I had done previously. Instantly I knew that I had used the walking foot for machine #2 on machine #1! They are NOT interchangeable!! They sit side by side in the same drawer and the mistake was glaring... in a retro-active way! Do you remember the song: "I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt"? My version could be: "I'm Too Stupid For My Feet"! Do you have any idea how quickly one can attach binding to a quilt when one doesn't constantly need to stop, change needles, pull one's own hair out, and re-do each and every stitch? Let's put it this way: quickly enough to take a picture and blog about it! The correct foot, on the machine it was designed for, makes a WORLD of difference: ask me how I know! Groan.

Life is Good!

Grrrrr!

Yesterday was one of those days; the kind you look forward to, the kind you plan for, the kind where you just KNOW that you're going to get sew much done! I had half a dozen burp cloths to stitch, a pretty pink quilt on Sundance waiting for me and a few borders to add to a baby quilt that is under construction. The day dawned cool and misty, with the promise of more rain, I didn't even need to feel guilty about not going outside and staying home all day! I poured a cup of coffee and carried it into my studio, I decided to work some machine embroidery first thing. I lingered over the design process a little longer than I should have, but it didn't matter... after all, I had the whole day ahead of me! After loading the designs on a memory stick I powered up my machine and hooped a burp cloth for embroidery. I began to stitch... in fits and starts. The bobbin thread continued to fray, snap and break. I worked on the bobbin case, adjusting the tension and ripping out the faulty stitching. I had a LOT of practice with this procedure; repeating it over and over, and over again. I was growling by this time, at noon I still didn't have one burp cloth completed! By the time I fixed the problem and completed the first one I could feel the day unraveling; I knew that I needed to simply walk away, eat a late lunch, and regroup. The afternoon proved worse (from a productivity standpoint) than the morning, my growling got louder and the plan for the day evaporated. My machine decided not to recognize the memory stick anymore. (Luckily, I was able to upload some designs from the stick to my computer files for safe keeping before it quit working entirely!) I hauled my laptop over to the machine and sent the designs directly via a patch cord, I finished the fourth burp cloth at 4 PM, I was still in my pajamas(!) and desperately needed a shower; but, I'm stubborn, and decided to bind the edges and trim out the four that I had completed stitching. I broke two machine needles in a row and found that I couldn't top-stitch a straight line without skipping stitches to save my life. My husband decided to take over dinner duty, he sent me to the shower and fixed me a cheeseburger, just what this growling lion needed! I turned on some music after dinner, it calmed the savage beast; the finishing proceeded smoothly and without interruption. By 9 PM I had four burp cloths done, the pretty pink quilt was still untouched and that baby quilt under construction was, by now, nothing more than a distant memory. Yesterday was one of those days, you know the kind. Grrrrr!

Today is another day,
Life is Good!

The Doctor Is In

He's not a medical doctor of human patients, but rather a doctor of fixing things... he's quite skilled at that and has years of experience successfully repairing and rebuilding items in and outside of our home . I mentioned a few days ago that my almost-seventeen-year-old Bernina had become ill and was going to need to visit the local dealership for a service call. I should have known what an irresistible challenge this statement would become. "Let me take a look at it first" my husband replied. He has disassembled the machine and cleaned and oiled it. He has timed it. He has vacuumed out every nook and cranny with the micro-attachment and stitched out a few test samples. It's better, it's quieter, but it's still not producing an acceptable stitch. This fix-it Dr. won't give up though, he'll keep thinking and pondering and return to the machine a few hours later to make yet another adjustment and test it again. That's the way he is and one of the traits that I love about him, he is determined. There may still be a visit to the certified Bernina repairman, that's not been ruled out, but it won't happen until every possible solution has been explored at home first. And, if it does end up going to the real sewing machine clinic, I guarantee that it will be the cleanest machine to come in for repair! No doubt about that.

Life is Good!

Be Happy Tip #3:

Hang around positive people - Having happy people around you will make it easy to learn happiness. Happy people have fun around them and their ability to overcome challenges is higher than that of unhappy people who tend to lay blame and feel victimized. Choose the people you hang out with to suit your needs.

Where's The Switch?

"Mom" hasn't been sewing at all lately, maybe she forgot how to turn the machine on. I'll try to help. So, where's the switch; here?

No, it's not on this side...


Up here? Nope.

Under here? Nope, no switch here.

No wonder she's been crabby lately, the switch fell off! Uh-oh.
Life is Good!
... and it will be even better when Mom can figure out how to turn the machine back on...

Troubleshooting

I had the weirdest thing occur the other day while machine quilting, it might be more accurate to say while "attempting" to machine quilt. I couldn't quilt farther than 6" before my upper thread would snap and break. This became completely frustrating fast! I had constructed a small quilt sandwich and "warmed up" there with my BSR engaged before stitching on the baby quilt I was free-motion machine quilting. As soon as I switched to the actual quilt, of course, the trouble began! I had paired a 30 weight sulky Blendable thread on top with a 60 weight Superior "Bottom Line" in the bobbin. I was using a Schmetz quilting needle, a new one. The batting was Quilter's Dream Blend, I had flannel on the back. I started trouble shooting each item, one by one. Removing each "variable" like we did food items when my son was being tested for allergies 27 years ago. I changed the needle. That wasn't it. I adjusted the tension. Nope. I rethreaded the machine, twice. No change. I moved my top thread from a vertical spool pin to the horizontal one. No change. Finally, deciding it was the Bottom Line thread, I switched to a 6o weight cotton thread, Mettler, in the bobbin; I've used this thread combination successfully many times. If possible, it snapped and broke even faster! I turned off the machine and walked away. I later took the machine apart and cleaned out each bit of fluff and lint I could find, I oiled above the bobbin case and rethreaded, I couldn't even take ten stitches on the practice sandwich now! I returned the top thread to the vertical spool pin. Worse. By this time hours had been wasted and I was becoming unglued. My husband suggested checking the troubleshooting check list in the owner's manual. Since my machine had been retro-fit upgraded to the BSR feature there's nothing in my book about that but I did find a list for general thread breakage. I ticked through the list... I checked the placement of the spool pin holder and decided to turn the spool around, end over end. Instead of the thread spooling off under it was now spooling off over the spool, placed horizontally. That was it! I was a little skeptical at first, I quilted for a short time now expecting an all too familiar tug, snap and break... it didn't happen; at all! I finished the central portion of the quilt in record time, making up for the hours lost. I hope to post a picture of the quilt soon, the baby shower is at 4 PM on Sunday. When all else fails for you, when you're having one of "those" days with your machine, try turning the spool over! It's the very first thing I'll check next time. In the meantime, I have binding to apply...

Life is Good!

No Flight Without A Sewing Machine

The Wright Brothers could not have made that maiden voyage from Kitty Hawk, NC without a sewing machine! No, they didn't take it with them! They borrowed one, from Mrs. Tate, the postmistress in Kitty Hawk at the time. They were staying with the Tates when they built their first experimental glider in 1900. The brothers Wright, from Dayton Ohio, had established communication, by mail, regarding weather conditions in this remote North Carolina coastal village and thus became acquainted with the North Carolina couple. It was in the Tate's yard that the first glider was assembled in 1900. Concerning this Orville Wright wrote the following to Mr. Tate on 30 November, 1927; as they prepared an anniversary statement to be published years later:

"All of the parts were built in Dayton and shipped to Kitty Hawk, excepting four spars, which were made and shipped in from Norfolk. The ribs, struts, hinges, and end bows were all built complete at our shop in Dayton. The wing coverings were also cut and sewed in Dayton, but on account of Wilbur's inability to get 20-foot spars at Norfolk, a change was necessary in the coverings."

These changes were made using Mrs. Tate's sewing machine, pictured here. My husband thinks we may be the only people who have visited the Wright Brothers Memorial and museum and came away with only a photo of a sewing machine! Maybe we are. But the way I look at it, isn't that the most important part of this story? Seriously, where would we be today without it?

Long live the sewing machine!
Life is Good!