A Blast from the Past

The other day my Viking Designer I had to go to the shop for a small repair. Therefore, I was without a sewing machine which puts a real cramp in my ability to quilt. I decided to cut out two table runners and enjoy what they looked like on the design wall.  That took all of one hour..............what to do next?

My mother-in-law came to the rescue with an offer to have my daughter for a sleepover of two nights and to loan me her Singer Featherweight, similar to the one seen below!  WOW!

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This little machine from a bygone era has a fascinating history which can be found here: Featherweight Info.   It was introduced at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair as a "for family use" machine which makes a "lock stitch." Although it looks like an antique that you would experience in a museum, I actually made use of it to fill the void from my missing machine.  (It's amazing how dependent we get on our "stuff"!)  After a brief lesson on how to thread this machine, I was off and running.

My table runner looked like this initially. Three simple 12 1/2" blocks made from fabric I inherited at my small group this month. It's winter blue poinsettias with silver accents.

Then I decided it was too square, so I did a little ripping and it became this.

Finally, it was complete by adding the silver to the corners and therefore, finishing the secondary pattern.

So, with an antique machine and my own "Rip, Reorganize and Resew" design method (not ideal), I made a lovely little table runner. FUN!

Much thanks to my mother-in-law for keeping me sewing with this lovely loaned machine!

P.S. The second table runner never made it off the design wall. Maybe it will today!

*Photo from Google Images

Happy Birthday!

AND THE WINNER IS DEBB!
Congrats!!

 The fat quarters to be included in my birthday giveaway drawing on Friday, February 10th.
Tell your friends and comment with a sewing room organizing idea below. Thanks.


Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.

Sammy Hagar

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Voltaire

February marks many firsts in my life.

The most important is my birthday. Not a significant one this year, but simply the odd year right before the next big birthday (ending in a zero!).

The second is the first anniversary (or birthday) of my blog. This Quilting Mama blog has provided me great joy and the added discipline of thinking and writing about my quilt art. It has been a lovely year and only the beginning of this journey for me. I hope you all have enjoyed my small contribution to the world of quilting as much as I have enjoyed putting the pieces together and sending them out into cyberspace.

This year, however, I've decided to get organized. The concept of "A place for everything and everything in its place" has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I hope, however, to conquer some spaces in my home this year, as well as those ever multiplying "important" papers. The little book "Organize now!" by Jennifer Ford Berry (purchased at Lowe's) is my guide. (Link: Organize NOW!)

It helps the normal person to organize their entire life and space in a 52 week plan. Naturally, I skimmed  and skipped weeks 1-4 Organize your Mind, Schedule, Cleaning Schedule and Priorities respectfully deciding that those are life-skills and will take much, MUCH longer and went straight to the doable Week 20: Organize your Entryway or Mudroom. 

Here are the first attempts at this work:

 The foyer. You'd think we all had six or more feet!

A seemingly useless space in the kitchen which now houses a cork pin board for all the childrens' school work, papers and reminders.

Finally, this 3-6 foot closet system was used to help get a handle on our laundry room, seen below.

Behind the photographer is the washer and dryer and a window.  Now I can hang things to dry. Someday, I will have a horizontal surface for drying sweaters, until then, the top of the dryer will have to do.

Now most importantly, the little cupcake quilt seen here was created from Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland's book "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks: fun with free-form piecing." (See description and link here: Out of the Box ) This is not a book I would usually buy, but instead have enjoyed the free nature of the piecing and the 'no errors' method to fun wonky quilt blocks. Won in a free giveaway, I love this book and am glad to have been the lucky winner.

 

I'm celebrating this month of birthdays with a giveaway of my own. As you saw above my organizing had not yet included my quilting space. I already have a design wall and a way to organize fabric, but I would love to conquer the rest of the mess. To enter my give away, which will be 6 random fat quarters from the Quilting Mama's stash, please comment below with a tip which you've used to organize your quilting or hobby space. 

THANK YOU!  I will be posting progress later this year. The giveaway winner will be randomly chosen on February 10th.

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Description of "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks" from the Martingale Press Website

Using step-by-step instructions, learn to make out-of-the-box blocks, square them up, and fit them together in a dynamic border or quilt top.

• Treat yourself to patterns for 13 whimsical blocks and seven colorful quilts
• Make pictorial blocks, such as cats, shoes, ice pops, and letters, as well as wonky traditional blocks, such as Nine Patch and Stars
• Enjoy confidence-building projects that anyone can make