Serenity Now!!

Forgive me, Readers, for today is exactly two months since I’ve last written a blog post.

It’s not that I’ve forgotten about the blog, in fact I’ve had lots of things I’ve wanted to share with you.  It’s just been a matter of time to sit down and actually type out events as they happen.  For. Two. Months.  In between all of the mechanical work I’ve been doing on my long arm quilting machine, and all of the quilt repair that goes hand in hand with a broken quilting machine.

I’ve been battling tension and timing issues all year.  The thread won’t lay properly, it sits on top of the fabric, the thread constantly breaks, and it takes forever to adjust.  Then, in the middle of the project, it needs more adjustments.  Again.  I even replaced the tension assembly with a new “upgraded” version.  Not only has it been aggravating, time consuming and expensive,  it’s happened on the two largest projects I’ve had all year.  It even caused me to have to skin a quilt.

What’s skinning a quilt, you ask?  It’s when you have to remove all of the stitching from a quilt so that it is no longer a quilt, taken back to being only a quilt top.  I had planned on only removing two rows of stitching because the stitches were bad, but in the process, I put a hole in the customer’s backing fabric.  I was horrified!  So instead of removing two rows of stitching, I ended up taking all of the stitches out and replacing the batting and backing fabric.  This is NOT the conversation a quilter wants to have with her customer!

On July 20th I loaded the double Irish Chain, aka “The Big Quilt”.   This quilt measures 112” x 112” and takes all of the space I have on my frame; I barely have any room to change the bobbin.

You guessed it.  During that project, tech support determined that the timing belt on my machine needed to be replaced and I had to send the front nose piece back to the factory in Houston, TX to be rebuilt.  Bad that the machine is down, but you’d think it wouldn’t be such a bad situation, overall, right?

Except.  I couldn’t remove the part.  It turns out that the shaft that the ball bearing sits on was slightly out of spec and I ended up renting a gear puller to get it off.

And later?  I had to use an emery cloth to sand the shaft down so I could reinstall it.  How did we determine that?  My husband had pressed on the  nose piece so hard that the new bearing popped out of the machined area where it sits in the nose piece.  To reinstall it, I had to remove the entire hook assembly and position finger in order to re-install the bearing back into the nose piece using a 3/4” socket and a mallet, all the while hoping I wouldn’t break the seal on the new bearing.  Of course, timing the machine followed.

Last night I also had to adjust the take up lever position.  This involves removing all of the covers from the machine, loosening the motor mount and adjusting the belts and position of the pulley.  I got out the biggest screwdriver we have to leverage the motor back into place.  I like the big screwdriver, it made the process effortless!  Tonight, I get to put this setting to the test.

So, this is only part of what I’ve been doing this summer.  And now I have a pretty large queue of quilts to complete.  I sure hope I don’t run into any other problems!

Thinning the herd!

I talked to a local woodworker last night who is going to help me fix and refurbish two of the sewing machine cabinets I’ve been storing in the garage.  We determined that the wood on the third cabinet is beyond repair.

So, the cabinet for the Anker went home with him to fix the area that needs to support the sewing machine and in the meantime I need to start stripping the veneer off the cabinet for the Davis VF and trying to figure out how it comes apart.

Part of the deal is that I’m going to throw in the Red Eye treadle head and irons that go with it; most of the wood is rotten and can only serve as a pattern for a replacement top.  The irons need to be washed, brushed with a wire brush and repainted back to their previous glory, but the treadle action is spot on!

While I haven’t gotten to sew on the Red Eye, which is always my goal, I know it’s a very nice machine; when I bought it I was able to turn the handle by hand to get it to sew and have been excited to get it up and running.  Ironically, I thought this one would be the easiest and fastest one to get working.  Once he gets the cabinet built, which will take him hours, it will be an awesome piece.  Of course I’ll go over it and make sure it’s cleaned, oiled and ready to take on a new project.

The upside is I’ll have two working machines that are high on my priority list,  I get to clear out some space in my garage, keeping my husband happier with less clutter, and someone else will get to share this machine.  That’s a winning situation all the way around!

Handspun Yarn!

Today I met with the Emmett Spinners at the Triangle Restaurant in Sweet, Idaho and my friend, Cheri, showed me how to ply singles.

The pink is from Fiber Train 2012 and the dark brown is from Fiber Train 2013, held over Memorial Day weekend in Nampa, Idaho.  The photo of the yarn on the bobbin looks black, but it’s really a wonderful color of  dark brown that has a tint of cherry to it.

I only have standard sized bobbins so I had to break it a part and ply them on 2 different bobbins to use up all of the brown singles.  That means I don’t have one long hank of yarn and I joined the ends with knots.  I chose knots for now, because I have no idea what this is going to become and I just want it held together all in one skein.  Oh, wait, I still have more of the pink to ply with brown before I will be completely finished.

I also got instruction from Rhonda on how to set the twist on the yarn.  I was so excited about having come this far I didn’t want to stop, so after I left the get together I went to Puffy Mondaes and bought a PVC pipe niddy noddy.

During the winding process some of the twist came out of the yarn.  Eventually I cut that part out and re-worked it and then added it back in with another knot.  Purposely adding knots isn’t ideal, but it was either that or lose out on precious yardage.  It only weighs in at 3.8 oz.

Also, I was on the phone with my brother and didn’t have the patience to wait until after the call to research the problem on YouTube or post to the forums.  I really don’t have any patience, despite what I hear when people look at my quilting!

And now I have yarn hanging in my bathroom!

I had planned to spin more of the brown roving tonight, as I didn’t have the same amount of brown singles as I did pink singles when I started today but I’d forgotten my bag of goodies at the restaurant that included the very item I needed to accomplish this task.  So, it’ll have to wait for another time because I have a lot of quilting to do tomorrow!

I can’t believe I finally plied something!

A Perfect Day

A friend asked me recently to describe what a “perfect day” would look like so I could recognize one when it came along.  Here’s what I came up with:

1. Spend time with my husband
2. Start the day off with coffee over email and Facebook.
        Note to self:  that doesn’t mean spend the entire day on the computer!
3. Walk the dogs – this isn’t really exercise because they are Shih Tzu and have very short legs and can only walk about a mile!
4. Exercise for me
5. Work on a personal sewing, knitting, or spinning project
6. Spend time talking to a friend

It’s interesting that as I started making the list more and more items came to mind and any combination of these things could make a perfect day.  It’s very empowering to recognize and acknowledge that I have so many blessings and opportunities.  Truly, our mindset makes a difference whether we see our blessings or only our troubles.

However,  I didn’t add more to my list above only because lately I’ve been over-crowding my days and over-committing my time and I’m tired and stressed.  It’s my own fault, of course.  I’ve been challenged with this balancing act ever since I was a teenager, but it’s also up to me to change this if I want a different quality of life.  I’m taking steps, tiny as they may be, towards this goal.

Round Robin–Part 2

Every January one of my small groups gets together for a sew day.  There’s always show and tell with projects, sewing machines, and new hair styles, catching up on the latest news and events, food and, of course, the gift exchange where stealing is part of the fun and  I look forward to spending the day with this great group of ladies.

Most of the time a Pass The Bag project is part of the show and tell.  This year, in the glow of the moment, I volunteered to participate.  What was I thinking??

Don’t get me wrong, the level of craftsmanship, materials and group dynamics are great.  It’s my lack of ideas!   I’ve been stumped on both of the last 2 projects.   And, of course, I always plan to complete the project right when I receive it but end up doing it at the last minute.  And now mine is late.  Talk about stressful!

I’ve been agonizing over what to add for my round and last night I finally decided on flying geese to complement the previous round.  I picked out and ironed my fabrics, leaving a mound of discarded fabrics in my wake, and got out my handy-dandy Lazy Girl Designs No Math Flying Geese ruler.

Then I decided I needed to review the instructions and watched the YouTube video only to realize I cut my fabrics out “backwards”; the light color I wanted in the sky was actually going to be the goose.  Darn.  Big sigh.  What do do?  I continued watching the video and realize there’s a chance to salvage what I’ve already started and make half square triangles for use in the half-quarter square block (if that’s the official name for it…I’ll have to find a photo of the block and post it).  Awesome, I’ve got a plan!

I’ve been working on the Rocketeer with my last project, which is about 3/4 completed, but I just cleaned up the Kenmore 158.950  that I’ve had for over 2 months and wanted to give it a go.

The video reminded me that I should draw lines on my light colored squares, and now that I’ve switched my project mid-stream, and I detest drawing those lines, I decided that I needed to use my handy Clearly Perfect Angles cling template to just get on with the sewing.

If you’re unfamiliar with this tool, it’s a static cling with printed lines that you can lay down on the bed of your machine and use to guide your seams without having to draw lines.  I’ve used this template with my dear Pfaff Tiptronic 2030 in the past with no problems, so if you look at the seam allowances on these triangles, don’t hold the results against the template!

The foot controller on the Kenmore was rather touchy and it was hard to control at an even pace, giving me less than perfectly spaced seams; the stitches, however, are wonderful!  I decided to continue anyway, not only so I could get through it, but because there’s always a learning curve when you are on a new-to-you machine.

Fast forward to cutting and trimming the half square triangles, and something tells me that this is still not turning out the way I intended.  They’re way too small for the intended design and I have to fix several of them as well.  So, now I either have to figure out a way to use the triangles in yet another manner or I have to start over.  THIS is why I should schedule my sewing time better!

The project isn’t supposed  to be seen by the final participant until January so I can’t post a photo, but I’ll let you know how it turns out.

What’s your favorite method of creating half square triangles?

Marian Drain Presenting at Boise Basin Quilters Guild!

I’ve been so excited about the presenter at our guild this coming Thursday evening that I forgot to post a blog entry about it!

I met Marian Drain at Innovations in 2010 and we’ve been fast friends ever since.  She’s an amazing longarm quilter and teacher who’s developed a style that brings home awards!

I’ve been privileged to host Marian this week and we’ve been having a great time together.  Marian's had me busy with learning some new techniques, working on a new collaboration, and I've taken her to a few of the local quilt shops.

Without further adieu, here’s the link for the meeting information:

https://www.boisebasinquilters.org/program-for-june-20th-2013/

Happy Ending–The Final Chapter

So, you might be wondering how the story, uh, quilt, ended after I found the binding fabric for the Lone Star graduation quilt.

The answer is…Wonderfully!

Here it is, all 98” x 98”, in all its glory, shown on a king sized bed.

I wanted to give it a lot of texture, but I didn’t want it to be “boring”, aka, too old fashioned, considering this is going to be used by an 18 year old high school graduate, who is off to college.

I used double layers of batting to take up the fullness and prevent the dark backing from showing through to the front.  Hobbs 80/20 was the bottom layer and I put the highest loft poly I could find on top of that.  I have to say, there was still a lot of fullness, and quite a challenge in some areas, even with the additional batting, but I probably would have been bald if I’d not taken those additional steps.

I used Aurfil thread to stabilize the quilt, then changed to Omni thread on the cream colored sections, Glide on the stars, and even used some King Tut variegated thread on the center star.

My goal was to highlight the star and minimize any attention to imperfect piecing, and I think I accomplished this goal.  I’m quite proud of how this turned out!

I’m sure the graduate will cherish her grandmother’s quilt and I think it will stand the test of time.