The Importance Of Consistency...

Brynwood Needleworks - Pineapple Table Runner

You know I've been working on blocks for a bed quilt using these pineapple blocks for some time. (I'm calling it "Birds In The Pineapples" because the white on white design has birds in it.)

In fact, I made the models for my class in these blocks, thinking that I'd have eight more blocks toward my quilt goal. There was only one thing I hadn't considered.

All the previous blocks were sewn on Miss Ellie or Destiny. I had checked the needle placement on both machines prior to making the blocks when I switched from one machine to another, and all the segments sized out just fine.

Brynwood Needleworks - Janome 6500P Sewing Machine

Miss Sophie (my little Babylock) recently moved to a new home. I never used her embroidery capabilities, so I wasn't using her to her full potential. One of my friends does a lot of machine embroidery and was interested in my Sophie.

She and I sat next to each other with our respective machines at our last guild sew-in and were talking machines. Coincidentally, she had been thinking about selling her Janome 6500. It's the machine I had - and sold - when I purchased my first Babylock, and I still missed that machine. After further conversation, we worked out a trade. It was a win/win for both of us.

I tell you this because I took my "new" Janome to class last Saturday in case I needed to use it for a demonstration. She sat there at the ready until my students made their second blocks. I added a few rounds to some of the partially-made blocks, but didn't work on them again until I got back home.

Brynwood Needleworks - Pineapple Table Runner

The result was that I got home, planning to finish all the block sections I had used for class models. Once finished, I could add them to the stack for the quilt. I finished those partial blocks on my Destiny the next day.

When I went to add them to the stack, the blocks sewn on my Janome/Destiny combo did not match the blocks sewn completely on the Babylocks. The white segments were larger by about a 1/2" than the same segment on the other blocks. Four of them, to be exact.

This is a timely reminder of the importance of consistency. I'll be remembering to double check for exact 1/4" sewing from one machine to another from now on. (Or just sew them completely on a single machine in the future.)

As a result, I took those four blocks and made another table runner! I finished piecing the top on Monday afternoon, so all I have left to do is quilt and bind it. When it's finished, I'll be listing it for sale in my Etsy shop. I'll add it later this week along with the blue/yellow one I previously made as a class model.

Brynwood Needleworks Class Project - Karen's Pineapple Table Runner

I received an email from one of my students, too. Karen already finished her class project and wanted me to see it. Isn't it pretty? She has already quilted and bound it. Bravo, Karen! I think you learned this lesson well.

By the way - My Janome 6500P doesn't have a name yet. Any ideas?

A Date With Destiny...

Ellisimo (Miss Ellie)

One of the things I've been working on is a decision to upgrade my machine in the studio. I have loved and been faithfully served by Miss Ellie for the past five years. She's a great machine!

Yesterday, I sold her to a nice lady in Colorado, so I'll be packing her (with Handsome's help), along with all her accessories for the trip out west. I know she'll perform equally well for her new owner.

Crescendo

I've also sold my one-year old, Crescendo. Don't gasp. There's a method to this whole process. Trust me.

Babylock Destiny

I wasn't planning a new machine this year, but I met Destiny. She combines all the features in the Ellisimo and the Crescendo; has a larger screen and a heavier duty embroidery arm; and I got a deal that I absolutely couldn't refuse!

 

I'll be making a phone call today to make sure they have the new machine in stock so I can pick it up. My plan is to go and get her on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to having her in the studio, and for us to get to know each other. I know the new owners of my previously loved machines will be happy, too. I'm pretty sure it was Destiny that brought us all together.

Last Minute Prep...

 We'll be rolling out the Flying Cloud this week, and I'm busy with

last minute projects as we also pack and prep for our upcoming trip.

One of the things I'll be doing while away is attending the baptism

of our sweet, little great-nephew, Jace. His Mommy and Daddy have

planned the ceremony around the dates that we'll be able to attend.

They said that they think it's only fitting that the person who made the  Christening gown be in the chapel as another child is baptized in it. I'm honored that they are making it possible for us to attend, because  I'd love to be there as they bring their child to a life in the church.
Their baby will be wearing the same gown that I made for his older brother thirteen years ago, and I found out yesterday that the gown has been carefully stored in plastic. I think it's better for the gown to be stored in a protective fabric garment bag, so I made one for it. Beautiful, monogrammed, soft, white cotton will work perfectly.
Miss Ellie (my Babylock Ellisimo) embroidered their family monogram  onto the outside of the garment bag, and now it will protect the gown  when it hangs in storage. I think Jace's parents will like this better, too.    I only have to add a small pocket to hold a card that will list the names  of all the past and future children who wear it...a small heirloom touch.
I'll be going back and forth to The Cloud as we dodge the daily rain showers. Tag will be here tomorrow to tell you how he's preparing. We'll be ready in no time at all. This is going to be fun!

The Calm After The Storm...

 Rebecca sits at the top of my new shelf unit. She's calmly stitching away having

witnessed the storm that was "Me", cleaning and rearranging my creative space.

This is the first thing I see whenever I enter through the door of my studio.

 My cutting table is clean and waiting for me to start the next project.

All Most of my laces are arranged on tubes and hang from the tension rods

I placed between the legs on my table. In this place, they're handy and ready

to use without sorting through loose pieces in boxes or drawers. I need to roll

a few more pieces I found while cleaning, but this is what's sorted so far.

 When I'm in the studio, I look to my left and see my machines, ready and 

waiting on their tables. Miss Ellie is set up on a larger table so I don't have

to move her to use the embroidery feature anymore. I just have to add the 

embroidery arm, set the design, thread her up and go. Handsome picked her up

 to move her out of the room during the "storm" and commented on how heavy

 she is. I'm infinitely happy that I can just leave her on the table to use now.

 If I stand behind Prissy (my Babylock Espire), and look back toward the door,

you can see what I see from here. My stand, holding a little more fabric (I know),

my storage cabinets on the right and my cutting table on the left. My acorn ornaments

all hang from a tension rod suspended in the window, and a few of my favorite pieces

of needlework hang on the walls. (Those are my completed "Sweet Stitches" panels

hanging on the door.) You can also see some of my small quilts hanging in the hallway.

 I've organized future projects in their own plastic storage boxes under

the cutting table. This way, they're kept together, clean and organized.

 These are my storage cabinets. I'm not going to open the doors because one

of you might fear for my sanity and call the authorities. I have fabric on bolts

behind four of those doors, and more plastic containers with current projects

inside the last one. Each one has the project name on it so that I can just pull the

one I want instead of having to sort through every one to find what I'm looking for.

 Each shelf on my new wall unit has a display of some of my favorite things.

This shelf has British tins, a small English figurine and, of course, a corgi. It was

a sweet gift from a generous blog friends TerriBoog and her dog, Bittabit, who

sent along a few other corgi things (see post here to see all the goodies she sent).

 This shelf has a watercolor painted by Sharon Chapman; a tiny treasured bear

handmade by a dear friend in Wisconsin (which sits on another gift from a Florida

friend about twenty years ago); a small creamer with beautiful little violets from Mom

(Grace); and one of my two Susan Pilotto creations (Mouse Droppings Fine Folk Art).

 Another shelf holds my own "Harris" the Tweed Rabbit pincushion; another

gift (the sweet, heart-shaped dish) from Terri; the incredible needlework beetle

I won from Lee from Notes From Under The Mountain blog; my own button

heart art piece; a crocheted floral mat from a friend who no longer sells them; and

my beautiful card from one of my family members in England. It's my "sweet" shelf.

 Pincushions and wool animals are front and center on one of my shelves.

That top pincushion with the lace and seam binding was made by dear friend, 

Dawn Edmonds of The Feathered Nest. She really has a way with canvas,

and seam binding. She's creates the loveliest sachets and pincushions.

 Of course, you knew I'd have a shelf dedicated to acorns, didn't you?

The leather case in the back hold a pair of antique binoculars. I hope to

someday create a steampunk piece with an embellished bird sitting on

top of those field glasses. For now, it looks just right with my acorns.

Today, I'll be in the studio. I have a little catching up to do, now that I'm all

reorganized. I have two class models to make for the shop in Venice. It was

nice to enjoy the calm after the storm, but no time to sit around on my laurels.

You'll want to be sure to visit tomorrow. 

I'll tell you all about my 1600 Post Giveaway!

Hurricane Dee...

 I really never realized just how much "stuff" was crammed into my sweet,

not-so-little armoire. Boy, was I surprised as I moved things around and 

tried to straighten up the studio again. Half of the room still looks like

Ground Zero for Hurricane Dee! I'm exhausted, but still have all of this to go.

 This is where one of the Lack Wall Shelves from Ikea was installed. (The other 

one is in our living room, and it looks fabulous in there, too!) I've placed all the 

special things that were scattered around the room onto these shelves to clear 

my sewing tables for those things that have to be close at hand when I'm working.

(I'll share close-up photographs of my shelves when I have good (no-rain) daylight.)

 So, this side of the room is cleaned up. I now have a table wide enough for 

Miss Ellie so that I don't have to move her when the embroidery unit is attached.

I also moved the television lower on the wall. I haven't been able to camouflage

the cables attached to it yet, so lowering it leaves less cable showing. I also put

acorns on the corners of it. They were created just for me when I had my shop.

 I still need drawers for some of my ribbons, tapes and fabric and these are perfect.

Many of the contents are set to be used in the near future, so they're visible and 

close at hand when I'm ready to pull them to sew. They're also pretty to look at

through the clear plastic drawers and inspire me to start sewing them right away!

So, even though I still have a way to go, I can see the end of the storm.

I think I might just have to sit and look around for a while when I finally finish.

Hurricane Dee will pass and it will be smooth sewing from now on!

 I just realized that this is post #1600. I think it might be time for a
giveaway for my faithful followers friends this week. Stay tuned!

Button Floozie Ornament Exchange...

I'm a Button Floozie. No. Really. I've been a contributing writer to the weblog, Button Floozies for some time. It's a great place to read about all the different kinds of buttons and meet new bloggers who share this interest, too.

For the past couple of years, our administrator, Laurie has organized an ornament swap for our members. Each of us belongs to a group of five and we create ornament sets to share among our group. In my group for this swap are two old friends, Denise and DeeDee, and a couple of new friends, too - Debbie and Renee.

Our deadline to mail our hand-made ornaments is today. So, guess how I spent yesterday? Yup. Making ornaments!

I had help. Miss Ellie (my Babylock Ellisimo) was all too happy to help me create the base for my ornaments, and she stitched out her work in record time.

After she was finished, it was my turn. Sewing, stuffing, stitching, detailing with vintage buttons and making the cording for hangers all went into the creation of each ornament.

They're all finished and in the mail...right on time. I'd love to show you a picture of them, but I really have to make you use your imagination. There's a chance that one of the Floozies in my group might peek at this post, and we can't have her seeing her ornament before she opens her package, now, can we? Thank goodness for Photoshop and their special effects feature.

I'll show you the actual photo some time next week, after I'm sure the ornies have been received. Today, I'll be making the November mini quilt for our monthly QAL at Sandy's Quilt Shop. I'll be taking it with me to the shop on Saturday, but I promise to share it with you first.

Happy Friday, y'all. I hope you have a creative day, too.

I Really Like Paper Piecing...

This is my first attempt at paper piecing and I am really happy with the way the block went together. I had a little trouble with the "reverse" thinking at the beginning, but quickly "turned my thinking around" (I know...narf!) and this Friendship Star block was my first paper pieced block.

Loreen (my friend and our class instructor) shared a joke with our friend, Will. They had all of us laughing. Will is quite accomplished with his machines. He's got more than two Babylocks and was sitting at his Janome for the class. He told us that he earned three ribbons at the Venice (FL) Quilt Show a few weeks ago. We were all duly impressed, even though we didn't get to see the actual quilts.

There were five of us taking the class, but most of the gals were camera shy. That's my Sofia in the foreground, and she was quite happy to help me create my block(s). I like the fact that, unlike Miss Ellie (my Ellisimo) and Prissy (my Espire), Sofie only weights about 12 pounds. It's a truly portable machine, so I don't have to worry about lugging around something heavier.

If anyone needed to cut their fabrics, the main cutting table in the front of the shop was available. It's also where we gathered to watch Loreen demonstrate layout or other paper piecing techniques. There may have been money and merchandise exchanging hands, too, although I was sworn to secrecy so I couldn't possibly comment.

This was as far as I got on the second block yesterday. It's called Kansas Troubles. I used the same fabrics that I've been using in my Farmer's Wife blocks, so I can add it to the blocks to go into my Farmer's Wife quilt when I complete them.

All in all, I think the class was a great success for me. I now understand the concept of paper piecing, and have completed one block, with patterns for three more from the class to finish. They meet every week, so perhaps I'll go back over again. All I can say for now is that I'm happy I took the class, because I've found that I really like paper piecing! If you haven't tried it before, get thee to a class and learn. Who knows? You might like it, too!

My First Project of 2012...

I've been itching to get back into the studio to create something. Yesterday, I finally managed to steal a little time to go and play.

I belong to a monthly mini hanging quilt QAL at my favorite local shop, Sandy's Quilt Shop. We have a different person designing a quilt for each month, and we got our first design right after Christmas.

It's a really simple design. 12" wide by 14" long. The designer chose a bell as the focal image, and she showcased her ribbon weaving talent for her bell. We can choose any fabric we want to use, and can modify the bell into our own style.

I started by choosing my two main fabrics and getting out Miss Ellie to sew the machine embroidery of a Father Time design. You can see my fabric choices in the first photo. I didn't get it all assembled and quilted today, but I'll finish it next week and show you what it looks like all done. (Remember, Tag is coming home today and our friends will be staying overnight. I'll be spending time with them instead of in the studio this weekend!)

I'd like to finish out this week by sharing a video of Handsome playing the spotlight solo for Ravel's Bolero. I can't tell you how much I enjoy watching him play. My recording can give you just a glimpse into my view from the balcony. I am one proud and blessed wife.

 

For those of you who might see this post on my Facebook page, this is the link to watch the video: http://youtu.be/Oj8_EGA8UB8

Ellie's Back From Rehab...

When I owned Stitches in Wisconsin, the girls and I used to take the same approach to anything mechanical that didn't work. If it happened to be a car, we all agreed that it was best to just leave it in the garage until it "felt better".

Sometimes, that only took overnight - especially in the winter - when the problem might have simply been that something froze up. You'd be amazed how something could thaw in the garage overnight and result in a car that worked fine the next day (but, usually not). Nevertheless, our philosophy was always good for a laugh.

Now that I'm more mature and wiser (no laughing, please), and I don't leave things of a mechanical nature to simply heal themselves. I'm more proactive these days.

I noticed that the last time I asked Miss Ellis (my nickname for my Babylock Ellisimo) to help me with a project, she seemed to be under the weather and falling a little behind on her tasks. I decided it was time to send her to Dr. Bob for a checkup.

She only went away to "rehab" for the weekend, but it was long enough for Dr. Bob to get to the bottom of her "issues"...also requiring that I put off a task that needed the attention only she can give.

I'll be picking her up from the clinic this morning. Dr. Bob has given her a completely clean bill of health and has written a note approving her return to full duty. I'm glad to hear she's completely recovered because she's got a lot to catch up on in the studio. I can't wait to show you what she and I have planned!

I Can See Clearly Now...

Two days of singing...performing a Soundsations show on Monday morning, followed by a Chorale rehearsal Monday evening, and then a Soundsations rehearsal yesterday afternoon. No time to sew until today.

I can hear them calling now. Miss Ellie, Prissy and Evvie beckoning me back to the studio. They're anxious to feel my hand guiding fabric beneath their feet, longing for a new spool of thread and a project to create.

The wait is over girls. I have two days where you'll have my undivided attention. A camper table quilt to assemble for surface quilting, two commissions to create by the end of this month, and a few other projects waiting their turn.

I also have a table mat and potholders to sew together for our quilt guild's fund raiser boutique that I want to take to next week's meeting.

I'll be back in the studio today. It's gonna be a bright, sunshine-y day!