Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[freedombecki]

More shots of the child's Monarch butterfly quilt top that is going to the charity bees closet soon
1. Along top border
2. 2 more points
3. top and side left.

I felt that not meeting my goal of 10 quilt tops last month for charities was a little silly on my part, although I truly loved every waking minute of working on the 3 blue military quilts. I just hope they will bring a wounded vet or his family a measure of peace and thanks for the job they did serving this country. We send men and women out to the field, and they are ready to die for us at any given moment in their service. Those who have served their country as best they could deserve the best of everything, imho.

 

[freedombecki]

This morning, I knocked out a project I must have started 10 years ago, when this gorgeous piece of Hoffman fabric came into the shop that I had ordered, because it totally amused me that someone could print something fabulously beautiful that reminded me of my Aunt Janice's 56 Chevy. It had a black ground, enigmatic florals scaled a couple of inches in size and totally and altogether pleasing. I was thinking of doing this one for charity, but the gals would just end up selling it for a quarter of its worth or less to buy a bolt of batting or something. My sister was named for my aunt, and she likes pink. I don't have the heart to do anything to give it to her when I find the pretty piece of Hoffman, which has eluded my search for the last 3 or 4 weeks while the 5-6" pile of log cabin blocks were sitting around, as I shifted them from kitchen table to computer, to a chair, and back to the kitchen table until they got sewn together as windmill blocks.

So here are some glimpses of the Aunt's 56 Chevy quilt in that 50s pink and charcoal combo that you could only appreciate if you had one or someone in your family or friend circle did. I really can't remember the year, but it was before the fins (57) came out, so it really might have been an earlier year. Right or wrong, I just made an executive decision and called it the 56 Chevy quilt. If Aunt Janice is looking down from up there, she won't mind. She was a delightful person.

 

[Sunshine]

This morning, I knocked out a project I must have started 10 years ago, when this gorgeous piece of Hoffman fabric came into the shop that I had ordered, because it totally amused me that someone could print something fabulously beautiful that reminded me of my Aunt Janice's 56 Chevy. It had a black ground, enigmatic florals scaled a couple of inches in size and totally and altogether pleasing. I was thinking of doing this one for charity, but the gals would just end up selling it for a quarter of its worth or less to buy a bolt of batting or something. My sister was named for my aunt, and she likes pink. I don't have the heart to do anything to give it to her when I find the pretty piece of Hoffman, which has eluded my search for the last 3 or 4 weeks while the 5-6" pile of log cabin blocks were sitting around, as I shifted them from kitchen table to computer, to a chair, and back to the kitchen table until they got sewn together as windmill blocks.

So here are some glimpses of the Aunt's 56 Chevy quilt in that 50s pink and charcoal combo that you could only appreciate if you had one or someone in your family or friend circle did. I really can't remember the year, but it was before the fins (57) came out, so it really might have been an earlier year. Right or wrong, I just made an executive decision and called it the 56 Chevy quilt. If Aunt Janice is looking down from up there, she won't mind. She was a delightful person.

I used to date a guy who had a 57 Chevy that color. My brother had a 56 that was chartreuse and black!

 

[freedombecki]

Yep, Sunshine. Pink and charcoal, chartreuse and black--definite retro! Of course, back then, it was the latest modern thing that smart people had to have! Dinah Shore said so!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhR8GZ_WWMM]See the USA in Your Chevrolet by Dinah Shore - YouTube[/ame]
​

 

[freedombecki]

The Seahorse fabric was too puerile for special forces frogman, ok for needy child....

 

[freedombecki]

I'm a little bone tired after doing all that work, but I'm happy with the outcome. If only I had full pictures to show. *sigh* Can't have everything, but you can have a good time! Here are 3 more shots of the seahorse fabric that should just been more grown up for my special services frogman friends. Hopefully, some child will not care. Real seahorses are one of God's most beautiful creatures. imho

 

[Sunshine]

Beckums, before I retire I plan to get another sewing machine. I let mine go before I moved back here, so have been without one for some time now. What is a good moderately priced machine? I don't want the cheapest thing going. I do want to be able to do a few 'fancy' things, but don't plan on making a career of it. Any suggestions?

 

[freedombecki]

Beckums, before I retire I plan to get another sewing machine. I let mine go before I moved back here, so have been without one for some time now. What is a good moderately priced machine? I don't want the cheapest thing going. I do want to be able to do a few 'fancy' things, but don't plan on making a career of it. Any suggestions?

When both my Bernina and Pfaff (two best brands on the market were out, the day I went to buy a backup Bernina for around $2200, (my biggie was $9,600 on sale), the dealer was out of town for the week, so desperate, I made my way to the nearest Wal Mart and picked up a Brother machine that had seems like maybe 120 stitches (I forget), and that was 8 months ago. I'm still sewing on it like a demon. It has a graduated slow, medium, fast rabbit on the front (symbol for speed), and when I sew it on max, it does all the speed I need, and when I'm not certain and taking things stitch by stitch for one reason or another, you can move the rabbit dial down to turtle warp, slow as you care to go. On the Pfaff that is totally determined by the pressure you put on your foot control, and partially the same with the Brother. The Bernina, has a really nice feel, but if you have to move it often to go to class, you better get a hydraulic lift! (I mean that in a good way). Some people give up on a machine because of one reason or another, my reason was because the local man was tied up with 100 other machines and just got a promotion at his day job, so he was out of town on and off for 3 months, so it was 5 months later when I picked it up. That wasn't sufficient. I have 4 Pfaffs at home, but as careful as I am, they eventually go out of time, faster if you use pins under the foot (not necessary, but habitues of pin use do not realize their capability, so they screw up and use pins anyway when carriage use is a learned skill, and Pfaff is designed for factories in which people learn this skill, and learn to hate pins since some factories don't use pins because of the time and destruction of profit extra time use is. The particular factory I worked in in 1966 had zero pins around except in the designer's studio to fit models. On the floor, pins had the status of purulent zits, so nobody bothered to bring them to work to "help" them screw up their machines, designed for no-nonsense control and speed with savvy operators who learned the skill by doing.

I'll go look on the Brother box. I'm still using it after bringing the two big girls back home. They both are top-of-line embroidery machines which with their units can do embroideries with literally hundreds of thousands of stitches per embroidery, and they are out of this world. OK, I looked at the box, and my brother is model # SQ9050, and they're exclusive to Wall Mart stores, from what my gal at the shop told me. They're under $220.00 total, and worth more than the cost if you want a good machine that will work when you have to hustle. I don't know if it has a pin walk feed, but I remove pins if I need to match squares before it goes under the needle. I can remember back 30 years ago when I had a Kenmore pin-walker machines. About every 4 months it would hit a pin such that it would have to be taken in for repair when the noise from the motor got so loud I couldn't stand it, plus the stitches were "meh" too.

I've changed needles on the Brother 3 times. That's all you need to do even if you sew as if the banshee is calling, in front of a good, fast hard-working machine. Speed is a skill that is learned by a willingness to make mistakes until you accustom yourself to sewing that can partly keep up with your thoughts. You don't get fast by ditzing at the wheel, although sometimes, slowing down to savor pleasant thoughts can be the springboard for getting up enough excitement to finish something else well or quickly.

 

[freedombecki]

If you are buying a new machine and you haven't had one for 40 years, here's what you might look for:

(1) needle down
(2) low to high speed lever
(3) includes instruction manual
(4) has mounting table to support work
(5) has plastic cover for when machine is not in use
(6) has free-motion quilting or darning foot
(7) has 80-700 stitches, some for utility sewing, some for embroidering edges of tea towels, etc. Companies that provide the maximum amount are there for the person who is not satisfied with mediocre stitches
(8) top speed minimum of 800 - 1200 spms on home sewing machine, unless you are purchasing a quilt head machine in which you want a top speed of 2500-5000 spms, and you better know what you're doing, too. spm = stitches per minute
(9) if you have ever been described by your best friend as having an artistic bent, get a machine with software or from the machine screen will allow you to create your own stitches. If so, throw away the damn book and create stitches that will knock your friends' socks off. Keep a good record of the stitches backed up on a disc, in case you want to write a disc to sell to other people when people start noticing your work looks like nobody else's.
(10) Get the best machine you can afford. Take the lessons offered with the machine or pay for lessons by whoever is teaching machine or software use. There are a few people who made videos and sell them apart from the machine, but they're not useful to you unless you have their specific daily-use machine, and I'm not just whistling Dixie, either. Machines have unique languages, and once you learn one, that becomes your birthright practically. Your lessons will expire after 1 year along with your electronics warantee unless you have the exceptional dealer. For 23 years I watched people blaming their machine for difficulties caused by their ignorance. Don't be one of them. Take the course offered by the dealer, and be sure the entire book is covered so you'll know how to do things you didn't think you'd be using your machine for, but suddenly, someone wants you to fix a buttonhole, and you don't know whether your machine has a buttonholer, if its built in or if you have to go purchase a 10-pound generic apparatus that nobody in her right mind would warantee.

I require speed and maximum performance when I sew. It annoys me when seam allowances vary and I know I'm doing my job of straight feeding at a high speed. That means I spend a full 1/3 of my time ripping, and 200% of my time with a machine that is not performing to my expectation.

If you are purchasing an embroidery machine, I'm here to tell you professionals in the industry follow a strict panacea of product + machine. If you have the machine but think you don't have to know anything about product, I'm here to tell you you are wasting your money. You have to know about backing materials, iron on backing materials for twills (of which denim is only 1), which differ from backing materials for knits, which differ from backing and topping for velvets, which differ from light wovens, which differ from heavy wovens, which differ from Irish linen, which will ruin if placed in a tightened hoop, and must be placed on top of backing that is hooped that is correct for the weight of linen or velvet or whatever it is you are using. Velvets almost always require aqua-solve, which help stabilize the top area of towels and napped fabrics that tend to go up into the needle area and ball up the machine if you fail to use the wash-away topping but once.

/end lecture on embroidery machine use.

To me heaven would be doing nothing but designing and sewing out counted cross stitches on my Pfaff. I'm sorry, but my Bernina dealer's instructor gave me a blank stare when I asked her how to design my own dross stitch samplers. If you live anywhere near Paducah, there is a Pfaff dealer who certainly knows experts in doing 150,000-stitch counted cross stitches that look like designer work, and most likely are. The Pfaff software is the best on counted cross-stitches to date, imho. I don't care for work that looks slaphazard unless I'm doing a scrap quilt. Then, it's slaphazard all the way around, which makes it charming.

I found a slaphazard log cabin, Amish style, example in my stack of quilt tops I still cannot quilt until I am stronger:

 

[Sunshine]

If you are buying a new machine and you haven't had one for 40 years, here's what you might look for:

(1) needle down
(2) low to high speed lever
(3) includes instruction manual
(4) has mounting table to support work
(5) has plastic cover for when machine is not in use
(6) has free-motion quilting or darning foot
(7) has 80-700 stitches, some for utility sewing, some for embroidering edges of tea towels, etc. Companies that provide the maximum amount are there for the person who is not satisfied with mediocre stitches
(8) top speed minimum of 800 - 1200 spms on home sewing machine, unless you are purchasing a quilt head machine in which you want a top speed of 2500-5000 spms, and you better know what you're doing, too. spm = stitches per minute
(9) if you have ever been described by your best friend as having an artistic bent, get a machine with software or from the machine screen will allow you to create your own stitches. If so, throw away the damn book and create stitches that will knock your friends' socks off. Keep a good record of the stitches backed up on a disc, in case you want to write a disc to sell to other people when people start noticing your work looks like nobody else's.
(10) Get the best machine you can afford. Take the lessons offered with the machine or pay for lessons by whoever is teaching machine or software use. There are a few people who made videos and sell them apart from the machine, but they're not useful to you unless you have their specific daily-use machine, and I'm not just whistling Dixie, either. Machines have unique languages, and once you learn one, that becomes your birthright practically. Your lessons will expire after 1 year along with your electronics warantee unless you have the exceptional dealer. For 23 years I watched people blaming their machine for difficulties caused by their ignorance. Don't be one of them. Take the course offered by the dealer, and be sure the entire book is covered so you'll know how to do things you didn't think you'd be using your machine for, but suddenly, someone wants you to fix a buttonhole, and you don't know whether your machine has a buttonholer, if its built in or if you have to go purchase a 10-pound generic apparatus that nobody in her right mind would warantee.

I require speed and maximum performance when I sew. It annoys me when seam allowances vary and I know I'm doing my job of straight feeding at a high speed. That means I spend a full 1/3 of my time ripping, and 200% of my time with a machine that is not performing to my expectation.

If you are purchasing an embroidery machine, I'm here to tell you professionals in the industry follow a strict panacea of product + machine. If you have the machine but think you don't have to know anything about product, I'm here to tell you you are wasting your money. You have to know about backing materials, iron on backing materials for twills (of which denim is only 1), which differ from backing materials for knits, which differ from backing and topping for velvets, which differ from light wovens, which differ from heavy wovens, which differ from Irish linen, which will ruin if placed in a tightened hoop, and must be placed on top of backing that is hooped that is correct for the weight of linen or velvet or whatever it is you are using. Velvets almost always require aqua-solve, which help stabilize the top area of towels and napped fabrics that tend to go up into the needle area and ball up the machine if you fail to use the wash-away topping but once.

/end lecture on embroidery machine use.

To me heaven would be doing nothing but designing and sewing out counted cross stitches on my Pfaff. I'm sorry, but my Bernina dealer's instructor gave me a blank stare when I asked her how to design my own dross stitch samplers. If you live anywhere near Paducah, there is a Pfaff dealer who certainly knows experts in doing 150,000-stitch counted cross stitches that look like designer work, and most likely are. The Pfaff software is the best on counted cross-stitches to date, imho. I don't care for work that looks slaphazard unless I'm doing a scrap quilt. Then, it's slaphazard all the way around, which makes it charming.

I found a slaphazard log cabin, Amish style, example in my stack of quilt tops I still cannot quilt until I am stronger:

I'll print that off. One of my coworkers has a Pfaff she got in Paducah. Doubt I will use it much or long, but it wouldbe nice for my daughter to inherit. She sews like a pro! She took some lessons and then taught herself from there.

 

[freedombecki]

I met the dealer in Paducah at a convention ages ago. He's a real professional, and it's a family-run operation as near as I could tell. He was always among the top dealers across the country, I'm thinking. It's been a while ago since I went to a convention.

Hope you get a machine that is everything you need it to be, and that you get a breakthrough that will pull your health up. You are loved, and I am pretty sure Si feels the same way.

 

[freedombecki]

Wow!

Things couldn't have gone better this morning. I waltzed into the dining room where I used to sew and ran across the start of a quilt I started not long after Eleanor Burns' book, "Egg Money Quilts:1930s Vintage Samplers" appeared in 2005. I always got her books because they contained quick projects for women who work, and Eleanor Burns is the Queen of Quick Quilts. I'm not sure I even read her instructions, but what I found today was 20 squares done and in various stages of completion with no rows sewn together and half the blocks setting in a pile on top of a row of sewn-together blocks that for some reason got set aside all this time. lol Anyway, I got a decent hugs quilt top, about 44 inches x 54 inches, give or take a few, ready to go for the charity bees quilters. It's nice to have a pile or 4 or 5 quilts to go, and it's only May 11.

I really am trying to make up for last month. I made a lot of dishrags for the annual sale at night. Now, there's no pressure, and that's a good thing.

Just showing 3 shots of the quilt. It has 20 completed 5-patch squares. Maybe I can find a picture of one of her friends who made this quilt, it's so easy I can't imagine why I didn't get it done years ago.
​

 

[Sunshine]

I met the dealer in Paducah at a convention ages ago. He's a real professional, and it's a family-run operation as near as I could tell. He was always among the top dealers across the country, I'm thinking. It's been a while ago since I went to a convention.

Hope you get a machine that is everything you need it to be, and that you get a breakthrough that will pull your health up. You are loved, and I am pretty sure Si feels the same way.

Thanks Beckums, you and Si are loved as well! Likely I will wait until just before I retire to get a machine. If I get one now, it will just sit. But, even though my talent does not justify it I have decided to get a Pfaff. My daughter can inherit it. I know she would never go out and spend that much on a machine so it will be a gift to her. I know that dealer. Yes, it's a family business and has been in business a long time.

I always wanted a baby grand piano even though I have no talent to justify that either. But never got one. I gave away my upright piano to a friend, and after she died I got it back. It's pretty, but I will always wish I had gotten the baby grand. I would now, but neither of my children plays. At least my daughter sews.

I posted cross stitch lined up on the piano I have now, so this is it, at least part of it! LOL

 

[freedombecki]

The wood relief is a nice backdrop for your stunning work, Sunshine.

I've been working on a quilt this morning, another of the small log cabin stars squares. I still have 6 or 7 star quilts to go before the pile disappears. This one is lavender blue with scraps all around, and the reason I chose it was because last year, I found a truly cute child print on a purple windowpane print that some child might enjoy. I had to go back to the same quilt store to buy a match (shop buyers tend to favor the same color shades year after year, and I like lavender blue better than grapey purples). It's not perfect, but it adds a really good touch to welcome the outer print, imho. It may backfire, because the windowpane child print has brilliant hues in it--yellow, hot pink, green, etc. The scraps aren't particularly geared to the brilliant colors, but they don't shy away from them, either. They reflect a glimpse of the collections I offered in my store. That's a little bit of everything that a small shop in a small town in a remote state could offer. It falls way short of what is offered in large metropolises and suburbia where sales at least partially meet public demands, and merchandise turnover happens. In the meantime, sewing little quilts is fun. It only takes a day or two to complete one if you really put your mind to it, or you can extend the process over a couple of weeks if other things seem to be demanding time.

 

[Foxfyre]

I like them best made from scraps of old clothing that people have actually worn and or used.

They mean so much more.

Grandmas tablecoth that got torn, aunt Margrets sunday dress, brother Bobs summer shorts and the like.

Every little corner has a memory

I have two patchwork quilts, handed down now for generations, that have that kind of history. My great grandparents and grandparents used whatever was salvagable from worn out clothing, dish towels, table clothes, etc. etc. etc., and so like you say, a lot of family history was incorporated into the quilts. No discernible pattern, but beautiful in their own way. They will be passed on to my daughter. (My son isn't into that kind of thng.)

 

[Foxfyre]

And wow Becki. How have I missed this thread all this time? Thanks to Sunshine for mentioning it in the Coffee Shop.

 

[freedombecki]

Hi, Mama Foxy! Glad you found your way to humble quilt thread. I probably could have been posting these at the coffee shop, but after being in the industry for 23 years, then retiring to full-time quilting (it seems), I knew it could have the tendency to run them off. The men with artistic talent can stay an additional 10 minutes, but most of them were halfway between their wife/galpal and the door in--what was the name of that movie?--less than 60 seconds. You'da thought we sold elephantine lingerie or somethin'. Once in a while, a couple would come through the door where he would actually engage in helping her decide what colors to use, patterns to buy, yardage needed, etc., but not often. I once actually had a man waiting in line for 15 minutes to buy his wife a Christmas gift certificate...that does stand out in my mind due to its unique occurrence.

 

[Foxfyre]

Hi, Mama Foxy! Glad you found your way to humble quilt thread. I probably could have been posting these at the coffee shop, but after being in the industry for 23 years, then retiring to full-time quilting (it seems), I knew it could have the tendency to run them off. The men with artistic talent can stay an additional 10 minutes, but most of them were halfway between their wife/galpal and the door in--what was the name of that movie?--less than 60 seconds. You'da thought we sold elephantine lingerie or somethin'. Once in a while, a couple would come through the door where he would actually engage in helping her decide what colors to use, patterns to buy, yardage needed, etc., but not often. I once actually had a man waiting in line for 15 minutes to buy his wife a Christmas gift certificate...that does stand out in my mind due to its unique occurrence.

Back during my insurance adjusting days, I sometimes had to price out the value of a quilt that had been stolen or damaged in a fire or some such. The one person I tried to go to for a value I could trust was a guy. He not only knew his stuff re quilts, but he was a master quilter. So ya never know.

 

[freedombecki]

Today, I finished a charity quilt in memory of my mother, the best mother who ever lived.

It's another log cabin star quilt, decorated with postage stamp border and the color purple.

 

[freedombecki]

I bless and thank God for all mothers who love their families.

Other shots of the Child's log star postage stamp and purple quilt are below: