Sewing In My Clean Space

It's so nice to sew in my clean(er) sewing room!  I added four more rows to the Bloomington Square top last night.  There are seven rows left to add and it will be done.  Well, sort of done.  I'm not sure if I will applique' anything on top of it or not.

The needle bar on Clarice has some gunky stuff on it, that I am pretty sure is old oil and maybe residue from being in a home with a smoker.  Not sure what it is, but I bought some mineral spirits today and I'm going to try and clean it tonight.

I also bought some rust remover and I'm going to soak the old bobbin case in it.  Hopefully that will take some of the surface rust off and it will be usable again.

More Cleaning And New Bobbin Case

Having a good portion of the sewing room cleaned has inspired me to keep getting rid of clutter in there.  I have almost all the clutter off of the tables on the one side and all of the fabric that was piled up there put in it's proper bin.  This is a huge deal and I'm glad it's done.

While sewing on the wall hanging, I wanted to change the bobbin color.  The bobbin case in Clarice (301) is the same as in Olga (Featherweight).  While at the show in Paducah, I purchased a new bobbin case for $50 - yes, $50! - because the bobbins in both Clarice and Olga are functional, but rusty in spots.  I had been warned that the newer bobbin cases don't always work properly in the old machines, so I was a bit leery, however I purchased it anyway.

When I first put it in the machine it and tried to stitch, the thread just turned into a nest.  Ugh.  I kept at it, though, and finally got it seated correctly and sewing a pretty stitch!  I'm pleased with it.

A Little Of This And That

Sewing was done on the Rt. 138 wall hanging.  I put an aqua colored binding on it, and then sewed down the bottom edge of the hanging sleeve and edges of the label by hand.  All done!

You can see the quilting pretty good in this picture.  Sorry for the bump in the bottom, I think the cat might be under there...  I used variagated thread and it kept breaking.  I know better, because I have had problems with that thread before, but thought I would be okay because it was a small piece.  Guess I thought wrong...  haha.

The hanging sleeve is the yellow material across the back.  I sewed the one edge to the edge of the quilt where it would also be caught by the binding.  The other three edges were turned under and finished, then the long edge was sewn by hand.  Some busy work while I was watching the Cubs play ball last night.  We won, in case you were wondering...  :)

And lastly, my little bitty label.  I put my full name and the year, just in case anyone turns it over and wants to order something similar for themselves.  Locals know where to find me, and out of towners can leave their name and number and I will call them.  Hope springs eternal, right?  haha.

All in all, I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  There are some bumps and burbles on it, but I'm okay with them.  It was a piece that was not commission, I just did it because I wanted to, and no money being paid for it.  All materials were on hand, so nothing new was purchased for it.

I kind of thought the backing material was appropriate for a cafe/grill - flames!

Peaceful Lunch

Since it is Monday, typically a day I do not want to be at work, but who does, I thought a mid day break that was special would help move the afternoon along.

I picked up Subway sandwiches, then picked up Johanna, and we went down to her lake lot and had a very nice and relaxing lunch.  We watched a flock of geese on the lake teach their babies to swim, and we saw a water snake just skimming the water.  There were a couple pleasure boats off in the distance that had some kids on an innertube.  It was just a nice relaxing lunch.

Summertime, Summertime

Summer to me is partially defined by the fact that we can grill burgers whenever we want, without wearing a winter coat!  This was our dinner on the grill Saturday night.  They turned out pretty yummy, if I do say so myself.

Waiting for my tomato plant to give me some red tomatoes.  Guess the weather hasn't been hot enough yet for them to turn.  I only have cherry tomato plants, but that's okay with me.

I did choose this orange flame fabric for the backing of the wall hanging.  It was not much wider than the front, so I added some muslin leaders to the edges and loaded it onto Gemma.  I used a variagated thread on top and an orange thread on the back for the quilting.  I went around each letter and number and in the rows made flowers and leaves.  In the border I did small loops.

Next will be the binding.  I was able to put the label and hanging sleeve on the back, but they will need to be hand sewn along the edges.  The binding I chose was a light green.

Sewing Room Clean Up

Above are two pics of one half of my sewing room before I began cleaning.  My goal was to get all the three drawer carts moved out of the sewing room and into the bedroom right next to it.  I managed to get all but two smaller carts moved.  Also cleared a lot of the clutter off the tables.  Still some to do, but I made a good dent in it.

After the carts were moved, I brought Clarice into the room.  Below is the 'after' picture of that half of the room.

When I have the entire room cleaned and arranged to my liking I'll post more pics, but for now, I am pleased with the workspace I have created.  The area under the slanted roof is a bit dark for cutting fabric, so I'm thinking that I may need to move another light over there.

Thrift Store Find

Five bucks.  Yes, I know I don't need another machine.  However (knew that was coming, right?) this machine seems pretty basic and I think it will be a nice addition to the herd, if only to be on stand by if someone needs a machine.  Like if someone wanted to learn to quilt or sew, or if theirs broke down.

You just can't have enough sewing machines...  hahaha

Ready For The Weekend

I know it was a short week because of the Memorial Day Holiday, but I sure am glad it's over!  I am ready for the weekend.

Hopefully I will get a lot of sewing time in.  Ev is planning to go on a motorcycle ride Sunday for most of the afternoon.  That would be prime time for me to get some quilting in.

Maybe tonight I can get the wall hanging loaded on Gemma.  I am thinking I will use a material that has different vegetables on it for the backing.

Casseroles and Sewing

This was dinner last night.  It's a casserole that I adapted a recipe from one of the blogs I read.  It was on Patchwork Times a few days ago.

The bottom layer is shredded hash browns, then sauteed onions and green peppers, with a few jalapeno's sprinkled in.  Then some browned sausage.  Lastly eggs, cheese and green onions.

It was pretty good eats!

Are you tired of this picture yet?  haha.  It really is different from the last pics.  Yesterday I did a zig zag stitch in black thread around the outsides of all the letters.  No, I did not stitch the insides.  IF this is ever washed and they come loose, the owner can call me and I will stitch them down.  They are fused on there pretty good, though.

I think I will just do a simple vine and flower for the quilting.

Alton Excursion

Recently my son needed to spend some time getting dental work done at the Alton Dental School.  Since it was going to take a few hours, I decided to take a little sight seeing trip.  On the same campus as the dental school is a statue of Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man.

Having been a resident of Illinois for most of my life, I have heard of Mr. Wadlow, however, I didn't know there was a statue of him and I didn't know the history.

It was interesting to read about him on the plaques near the statue.  Wikipedia also has some good information, if you are interesteed in his story.

No sewing yesterday.  Still want to get the sewing room rearranged.  Trying to figure out how it would work best, now.