Another Prep Day — Janet Szabo

Today might end up being another prep day. I bought the fabric I needed for the Churn Dash sashing yesterday. I also cleaned out our Hobby Lobby of some Essex Linen that they just put on clearance.

This will be perfect for a few more Bear Paw baby quilts. I adore that sage green.

I finished quilting the tumbler quilt. It is trimmed and ready to be bound. I need to cut and make that binding—probably navy blue Kona—and attach it today. I’ll take that quilt with me to sewing tomorrow to work on it there. And if I have time to trace those other two garment patterns today, I’ll do that, too.

I took the tumbler quilt to Ruler Club yesterday, but here’s the thing: I brought show-and-tell, but so did several other people. That was so helpful. I think it’s always good to look at what other people are doing and ask, “Why did you make that particular design choice?” or “What would you do differently next time?” One lady brought a quilt top that she had made 20 years ago and said she was now inspired to get it out and finish it.

I do hope the store decides to continue Ruler Club for another session when this one is done.

I stopped at my friend Cassie’s house yesterday morning to drop off a sewing machine. She texted me last week and asked if I could help out her kids, who are in 4-H. The 4-H club has machines that the kids can take home and use, but they were getting frustrated with the machine they had borrowed. I said I would look over my collection and find something suitable. I have a couple of Singer Spartans, which are the 3/4 size version of the Singer 66, and thought one of those would be a good choice. The one I pulled out last week looks like it has hardly been used. The wiring is study and sound, the machine is clean, and it makes a lovely stitch.

When I got to her house, however, she was on her way out to the barn to check on a cow that was about to calve. We visited for a few minutes and decided to postpone the sewing machine session until later in the week.

[She mentioned that the local 4-H group would love to have some help with the kids’ sewing projects, which I knew, but I just can’t shoehorn anything else into the schedule.]

Your sewing machine eye candy for this week is my friend Scott’s latest blog post. A few years ago, I introduced Scott to the wonderful world of vintage sewing machines. He has picked up and rehabbed a few machines since then, but I thought he had scratched that particular itch because he told me he was done. Apparently not. His latest acquisition is a crinkle-finish Singer 128. (The crinkle finish is also know as the “Godzilla” finish in sewing machine circles.) Do check out his blog, because he posted a mesmerizing video of the bobbin winder mechanism in motion.

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I am in the process of upgrading the husband’s IT systems. For years—decades—he has always gotten the hand-me-down computers from the kids and me. He’s currently using my 2008 Mac tower, which was bleeding edge hardware at the time I bought it, but which can no longer be upgraded. I ordered him a new iMac yesterday. We kicked around the idea of getting him a laptop, too, that he could take out to the new shop with him. His new Bosch scan tool has a browser, though, so what he really needed was a way to get internet out in his shop. He bought and installed a wireless antenna that picks up the wi-fi from the house. At some point, we may need to run a phone line out there, but this setup works for now.

I also got him a new phone. I’ll have to take his current phone with me on Saturday to have everything transferred over at the Verizon store, but that shouldn’t take too long.

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I picked up this book while I was at the store for Ruler Club yesterday:

This is by Christina Cameli. She’s a quilting designer and teacher who lives in Portland, OR. I’ve seen her on some crafting shows and she’s great fun to watch. The cool thing about this book is that each page of free motion combinations comes in a black and white illustration. I can make a copy of the page and then practice by stitching over the paper with just a needle, no thread. I’m hoping this will help me get better at free motion. Rulerwork is all well and good, but there are times when a little background fill is needed.