On the Cutting Table

First up, a little Easter bunny. She is going to be for an upcoming bloghop. 
She will not be all that traditional and I hope my granddaughter likes her.

Speaking of my little ray of sunshine.......my first little girl outfit in quite sometime.....A little tiered dress with a border fabric. 

After I make a cute little Easter dress out of cherry fabric, I will be practicing the new skill of sewing with knits. I will start with a nightgown or two then move up to leggings and maybe even a t-shirt. As long as it isn't super stretchy, I should be okay. A cover stitch machine will be my next purchase if I start sewing knits on a regular basis, but until then, twin needles and a rolled lettuce edge will be my friends. 


The little princess herself...............

Yep, I am sooooo making the gramma face!

Oh Feathers!

And I mostly mean that in a good way.

An online buddy of mine is a quilter extraordinaire..Teri Lucas

She has been trying to demystify machine quilting for those of us that find it a bit intimidating. I guess the biggest mystery is that, like any skill, it requires *gasp* practice. I know, I know, not a real mystery.

Well, here is one of her tips and some of my practice. FYI.....it ain't so pretty, just sayin....


First, you practice with pen and paper. Try to keep a continuous line and keep at it until it looks like you want. This is something that you should do with any new design. It helps your brain and hands know what to do. Muscle Memory, so to speak.

Then you get crackin......

my first feather. open toe foot on, bsr not connected. Who knew you could do that? Well, Teri did.  

I made the center line first then I feathered from the bottom up, then the top down. the feathers look a lot better from the bottom up.

Left is b to t...right is t to b

Changed to my regular darning foot, closed toe.

One feather is from the top down with the spine filled in

the other, bottom to top

All together.

What did I learn?

• Practice does make a difference. I hate when an old adage is right. lol
• Tips from a pro can make a difference if you use them
• I do prefer an open toe foot
• I do prefer controlling my machine instead of using the stitch regulator
• If your tension isn't dead on perfect, you can really see when your threads do not match.
• Yes, Bernina is great, but a sweet 16 handi quilter would so rock this
• I still got a lot of practice to do.

What new technique are you trying to make an old habit?

Table runner finished

And it only took a year or so. lol  The blocks were made late 2012 early 2013, but I didn't get around to the quilting until this past week. I took it as an opportunity to practice my lack of machine quilting skillz. ha

My friends and I, the Crafty Chicas, each made four blocks that were identical, kept one. sent the other three out. We each ended up with four matching blocks...all dresdens in Chateau Rouge fabric.

The blocks we made:

Karen........Amy.......me......Denise

back...a piece of batik I had laying around

Some stitching close ups. I did each block differently 

I think it turned out kinda cute myself. Another UFO bites the dust!!!

Kitchen Kitsch

Aprons and potholders; does it get any better than that?

The best potholders ever arrived just in time to celebrate two beloved star trek characters' birthdays; Nimoy and the Shat both turn 83 this month.

Boo and ya

Last week, another wonderfully crafty chica sent this bit of kitchen kitsch,,,,

Isn't it just el yummo?

Thank you my crafty SoCal friends!!!

A WEE SCOTTISH LASS OF GREEN

Yep, I went and done did it. 

I shouldn't have. I did not even need to be window shopping. It was soooo not a need. 

But I really, really wanted to.

And then it happened.....the kinda thing you only read about. A vintage singer for sale....in a desk....runs well.....pretty clean....cheap: the kinda cheap you can't say no to..............so I went and looked at it. It was all true. $48.00 dollars later.........say hello to my wee Scottish lass...

No, I did not buy a machine just because I already had scissors that would go with it perfectly...no, not really, okay, maybe just a little tiny bit.

a little rustic, but not too bad considering

a December 5, 1958 birthday

you use your leg, not your foot.....how fun is that?

A little roughness on this side, nothing a little elbow grease can't fix. 

Back

This is one of the fancy ones with a touch of chrome

 The drawers were full of vintage notions

 Brady Bunch era notions

And a "touch" of lint in the bobbin area

I am pretty happy with my purchase. I have to do some serious cleaning in tight spaces and convert the lamp bulb to LED cuz that sucker gets hot...real hot. But it will be so nice to have a machine that's bed is even with the table top.....sooooo nice.

Now, I have a red pair of scissors...hmmmmmmmmm......I think I saw a red Viking on craigslist.................

Happy hunting and sewing.....

deets for us sewing nerds:

• EN 913050
• December 5, 1958
• Kilbowie, Scotland
• Singer 185k

Three names that I am pondering:  Agatha - Fiona - Nessie