Taking the plunge

I finally got brave enough yesterday to plug in the embroidery unit to my new sewing machine. And I only broke 1 needle . . . and the thread a few times before I got going correctly.

This cute little quilted zippered bag is about 7" square. I quilted it on my embroidery hoop and added the initial.  Getting the zipper right was the hardest part of the bag.  This was project #2 from the class I took a week ago, but we only had time in class to make one of the 2 projects.  We worked with partners at each machine, with each of us completing one of the 2 bags.  

The project I did finish in class that day is this other little bag with the pinwheel cover. It is very cute and has pockets inside.

But the surprising new skill we learned that day is the ribbon stitch. So the back and the front pocket have been decorated with ribbon and another decorative stitch. The ribbon stitch is definitely something I will try again.  It was much easier than I expected, although my alignment is a bit crooked on the pocket section.

Mini quilt

Last month at Sew Vintage we learned how to do the crayon coloring on fabric and each practiced on this Prairie Pasque flower.  I turned mine into a mini quilt just using a log cabin strip design.

I love to do hand quilting on these little projects and the disappearing purple markers are my favorite thing to use to mark quilting lines. But this time some of the purple hasn't disappeared yet even after 2 days.  There are just a few little spots so I'm going to try to be patient, but usually these disappear in just a few hours. So it worries me a little bit.

Projects around the house

Yesterday afternoon and evening was a "projects" kind of day.  

My husband touched up the painted wood trim above the porch. And then we headed to Menards - just to pick up a new temperature gauge for our grill. But then I noticed patio furniture on sale and we've wanted chairs for our front porch. So we spent a good share of the evening putting together the 2 chairs and the little table. I love the comfy look of our porch now and it gives us another shady spot to sit when the back deck is too hot.

Earlier in the day - at noon the front fell off our kitchen microwave, which is built in above the stove. The plastic brackets were both broken.  The fan on that microwave quit working about a month ago.  So we went to a local appliance store in the afternoon to buy a new one and arrange for installation next week. Our appliances are all 20 years old (original to the house) and I just know they are going to start dying one at a time. 

I'm kind of hoping we are done with little projects for a bit. 

Farm Girl Vintage catch up day

Today I got caught up with the Farm Girl Vintage blocks from a Facebook group I am in.  And I got them done in both the 12" and 6" sizes.  So I've added Churn Dash, Canning Season, Haystack, and Baking Day to my collection of blocks.

Check out what other quilter's are up to today at: http://www.patchworktimes.com. 

June 5 stash report

Just before Memorial Day my sister-in-law Kathy and I made a quick road trip to Rapid City to pick up my granddaughter.  Kathy's a quilter too, so we just had to stop in a couple of quilt shops. I enhanced the stash with 5.25 yards of fun fabric. The fat quarters in front are some I picked out to used for more of the car blocks using the Row By Row license plates. The middle row will fit into my Temecula Circa 2016 project.

That wasn't my biggest sewing/quilting purchase this past couple of weeks however. I replaced my sewing machine too and am glad that I'm not counting dollars spent on quilting. But then again maybe I should be.

I used 1.25 yards of the feather fabric to cut 6" squares for my guild. And I dug into some "adopted" stash and finished a very simple large quilt top to count another 4.5 yards used this week. I need to remember to take a photo to post. I plan to donate that quilt top somewhere.  And I'm donating another 5 yards of fabric from that adopted stash to be used for a charity project at guild.

In this month: 5.25 yds

In this year: 61.25 yds

Out this month: 10.75 yds

Out this year: 63.75 yds

Sewing on my new machine

This morning I traded my "dead" sewing machine for a brand new one.  It is very similar to the one I was using so not much of a learning curve to begin with. And the bonus was that my embroidery unit works on the new one too so that saved me a few dollars. And after taking a class yesterday at The Pin Cushion, I'm feeling like I can put that unit on a play with some new skills.

Once I got it home I had to make a few blocks, so I chose the Pears block for our Farm Girl Vintage blocks for this month in Sew Vintage. And I made a new RSC16 block in the June color of aqua.  It sure feels good to be sewing again on a really good machine instead of my old back-up machine.

That's probably the end of my sewing for a couple of days as we'll have 3 of the grandkids tomorrow and then have a birthday party for 2 of the grandkids on Saturday. And I have a guild meeting on Saturday.  Busy summer so far!

Circa 2016

I'm caught up again with making the Temecula Circa 2016 blocks but I can't say that I like how all of them have turned out.

This Fox and Geese block is very cute and I'm pleased with them both.  Each week we do 2 versions of the same block and picking out the colors is half the fun.

But the other set has too many tiny HSTs and even pressing the seams open didn't help them line up. The brown one is OK but I may end up remaking the pink/grey one because it looks wonky to me.