Preparing for Scrub Stitchin’

It is getting to be the time to prepare all my bits and bobs to take to Scrub Stitchin’.  I have a big long list that I follow each year, which includes “Clean Sewing Machine, Change Sewing Machine Needle and Put Fresh Blades in Rotary Cutters”.  Well my rotary cutters are running quite nicely at the moment, so I’ll leave them be and just take some spare blades in case.

As for my sewing machine, the bottom tension has been a bit strange on my last couple of projects.  I do clean my machine regularly, like each month, so why not have a go at giving it a full service and see if that helps.  What could go wrong?  Hopefully nothing, as I want to use my machine lots while away.

First, find a YouTube tutorial.  Surely there will be one.  There seems to be one on just about everything.  Tick.  Show it to Mick, so he can save me when everything goes pear shaped.  Tick.  Go and buy some high quality grease.  Tick.  Let’s get set up on the dining table.

My machine is a bit over twenty years old and has only had a few services, the most recent about three or four years ago.  

As we started to take the covers off, we propped her up on some books to protect the back.

Once the workings were exposed, I was surprised at how clean she was inside.  There was some old grease that had to be wiped off and lots of tiny bits of fluff that were hiding in various nooks and crannies.  Cotton buds worked well to get into those hard to access spots.

Mick did come and give me a hand, particularly in doing the greasing, as he is much more familiar with what is required, seeing as that was part of his trade.  He also did most of the oiling.  Secretly, I think he was happy to be playing along.

That looks  a lot better.

All went back together nicely and it was time to see how she sewed, using an old rag.  Eeek!  Why is the bottom liked this?  OK, the first thing is always to rethread.  Oh, the bobbin was upside down!  That would do it.  Doh!

OK, let’s have another go at this with the machine threaded correctly.  Ahh, that is so much better and the tension is beautiful.  She always runs quietly, but she is lovely and super quiet now.  

I’m glad we had a go at giving her a thorough once over and now feel confident to do this rather than have to send her to a technician…..unless there is a problem.

Now she is raring and ready to go to Baradine.

Oh, and have we had a look at Monique’s issues yet?  Nope.  That will happen one day, but not today.

It’s Finally Done

After heaps of delays and loads of frustration, the Three Yard Quilt using the novelty dog fabric is finished.  What a relief.

It is definitely not perfect, but it is a donation quilt and will still keep some kid warm.  I’m just pleased that it wasn’t a special quilt or I would have been really disappointed.  

The quilting has lots of imperfections, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.  Monique is playing better, but still not quite right. After more googling, we have one more thing to try, but that will wait until after Christmas.

In the meantime, I am just happy to have this one over the line.  I will just be quilting donation quilts for the next little while until everything is running nicely again.

I had started this quilt at Baradine in September and it was my Chookshed Challenge project for that month.  This was the final goal to be met from the ten that I chose for the challenge and I’m stoked to have ticked all the boxes in the calendar year. The only projects that weren’t completed were the Laundry Basket Quilt, but the goal was only to progress the quilt, so that was fine, and to work on any EPP.  I worked on my hexies, so that was fine too.

This was my One Monthly Goal for December as well, so happy to also tick that box.

Now, I can concentrate on Christmas.  There’s two days left.  Plenty of time.

Rearranging the Deck Chairs

So, it is less than a week until Christmas.  I should be organising things for the big day, or I should be doing some housework, or I should be tidying my sewing room, or doing some sewing.  But I’m not. 

I seem to be in a bit of a slump.  This is mainly due the fact that Monique is still not playing nicely, despite her visit to the spa.  I want to finish quilting the Three Yard Dog quilt, but it keeps getting put back.

What is a girl to do?  My equivalent of rearranging the sock drawer.  I’ve been organising my sewing threads.  Such a high priority….not.

This is my little set of drawers that sits beside my sewing table.  We bought them at an auction years ago.  They were originally lever arch files.  My Dad enjoyed making little timber boxes, so for one birthday I requested he convert them to drawers.  He did a lovely job of them and even made little divider boxes for a couple of them.

The top drawer houses my cotton threads and the second drawer houses the polyester ones.  Yes, I have way too many threads.  In addition to mine, both my Mum’s, Mick’s Mum’s and ones that have accumulated from various other sources are all crammed in.

Oh, what a mess.  Every now and then I tidy it, but it doesn’t take long to get out of control.  I knew there were duplicates of some colours, so my main aim was to get those duplicates removed and stored separately, so that I would shop for them before actually going shopping.

This is the great setup that Dad made.

Now, doesn’t that look better. I do use lots of colours when I do my machine appliqué, so can justify such a variety of colours.

These were all duplicates.  I didn’t realise the problem was quite that bad.  Removing them has created a bit of space.

These older threads are still fine, and are now kept separately, but in the same drawer.  My aim will be to use them first, where possible.

I seem to have a collection of hand quilting threads, that I didn’t buy.  The other tiny bits left on spools are now sitting beside my machine to get used up in piecing wherever possible.  I have two reels of monofilament, which I have never used.

Now onto the drawer of poly threads.  I forgot to take a before photo, but you can picture it.  It may have even been more out of control than the cotton drawer.  For the record, I very rarely use or buy poly threads.  I occasionally buy one if there is a colour I want for appliqué that isn’t in the cotton range.  Mum did buy me a box of a large collection of Gutermann threads for Christmas one year, so that is where a lot came from.

This is how I ended up.

If I want to use a poly thread I generally just look for a reel in the appropriate colour with no rhyme or reason.  I figured, if I sort them into reel and brand styles, I could try to actually use one sort up first and eventually empty some reels, rather than using a bit off lots of reels of the same or similar colour.  That’s the theory anyway. Also, the little bag at the front of the drawer holds duplicates of poly threads as well.  They will be put aside.

My other plan is to actually use some poly threads for piecing quilts.  I know a lot say you should always use cotton, which I have in the past, as the hot iron can cause the stitches to come apart.  Well, I figure that my clothes are sewn with poly thread and they don’t fall apart when I iron them and I don’t use the hottest setting on my iron.  It just makes sense to get some of these threads used up.

That looks so much better.  Wish me luck in keeping it tidy.

Now to put those duplicates somewhere that I will remember…….

EDIT: For when I can’t remember, the duplicates are in the top of my cream chest of drawers.

My Goals for December

Here we are, in the final month of the year and well and truly in “The Silly Season.”  Like the last couple of months, we have a fair bit on, so I don’t want to burden myself with too many goals that become unattainable. 

ONE MONTHLY GOAL    

This month’s goal is to complete the Three Yard Dog Quilt that I started in September as part of the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge.  

Once this quilt is completed I will have achieved all of my goals set for the challenge.

The quilt was removed from Monique’s frame when she started to play up, so the challenge will be to reload it, considering I had already commenced a bit of the quilting.  Not something I have attempted as yet.  I’m sure it won’t be too hard, once I get going.

I’m linking up over at Stories From the Sewing Room.  Pop over to see what the others are planning for the month.

HEXY FLOWER QUILT    

The only other goal I have is to finish piecing the hexy flowers.  There are only seven small and four large to do.  

Of course, I still intend to work on something for 15 minutes a day.

Anything else is a bonus.  It would be nice if I did achieve some bonus further stitching.

Once again, I’m not setting any other goals.  Hopefully, when we start the New Year I will get back into it.

November Stitching Wrap Up

 My goals for November were rather minimal.

My One Monthly Goal to complete the Koala baby quilts was met, once Monique was back up and running, which was also a catch up for the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge.

I did manage a little secret stitching, so no photos to share at this point.

Other than that, all I have worked on is my hand pieced hexy flowers.  I prepped all the remaining hexies and have been stitching away at them.  All that remains is to piece seven more one inch flowers and four more two inch flowers.  Then it will be time to glue baste them all to their backgrounds and hand appliqué them down, before piecing the blocks together by machine into a quilt top.  It doesn’t sound much when reading it here, but it will still take a little while.

Joining in on Zoom sessions last night and all of today really helped achieve this much.  I pieced eleven hexy flowers today.

I’m feeling rather pleased with my progress and, fingers crossed, I will have it for show and tell at Scrub Stitchin’ next year.

That’s all I did.  Everything else is sitting there, patiently waiting its turn to be worked on.  It was a busy month for both of us, so this is about all I expected to achieve.

Other than one day, I still managed my 15 minutes of crafting each day - the beauty of hand stitched hexies.

November = 29/30

Year to date = 310/335

Success rate = 92.54%

Now to start thinking about December.

November One Monthly Goal Completed

My goal this month was to complete the two little koala baby quilts that I pieced at Baradine in September.

Happily, I can report that they are all done and ready to donate when I get a few more completed.  Well, I actually had them completed by the 10th of the month, which was just as well, as we have been a tad otherwise occupied since then.

I once again used the  “Scrollwork” pantograph. It just seems to be so versatile.  The backing is a flannelette that seemed to suit the quilt well.

The quilting still didn’t go straight forward on these two, despite Monique’s spa treatment, but we got there in the end.

As you can see, they are very similar.  I was able to make three baby quilts from eight fat quarters.  I really like them all.

I’m linking up with Stories From The Sewing Room.  Pop over to see what the others have achieved this month.

They were also #10 in the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge for the month of June.  I’m pleased that they have been completed in 2024, if not June.

Taking Monique to the Spa - Part 2

After visiting the Crookwell open gardens we headed across to Taralga, where we had booked a room for the night at the local pub.  It’s a lovely old building that has been undergoing some serious renovations.  Our room was freshly furnished.  We opted to go “Shared bathroom” rather than ensuite.  They can often be a bit dodgy, but this pub actually had two fully self contained bathrooms for the ladies.  You can’t get much better than that.

Once we were settled in we went for a bit of a walk up the street.

It was a lovely evening, so we enjoyed our dinner out on the pub verandah.  We felt it was rather hot during the night, and were somewhat surprised that the minimum temperature was only down to 21C!! We are not used to anything over 10C at this stage of the season, especially as Taralga is traditionally cooler than home.

The following morning we got away nice and early to deliver Monique for her service.

While there we were able to see the nice collection of vintage machines.

Centre stage was the rare East German machine we gave him.  It is the black one to the left of the green Elna Supermatic.

We now had time to kill, so went in search of a cafe to partake of “second breakfast”.  We were rather pleased with the one we found.  It just happened that we parked the car right in front of a patchwork shop….. and I didn’t go in.  Very strong of me.

With Mick being a bit of a cricket tragic, we decided to go and have a look at the Don Bradman Cricket Museum, housed beside the Bradman Oval.  

Don grew up in Bowral and played his early games with the local club on these grounds.

They even have his first cricket bat on display.

Another section talked about the evolution of cricket from a game played by shepherds in the 1300s by throwing a rock into a hole to what we now know.  This is a bat from the 1700s. Just a tad different from the modern version.

It was also interesting to learn that bowling over armed was developed by ladies, as they couldn’t bowl underarm, as they were hindered by their hooped skirts.

The museum also covered more recent developments in the game, in particular Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket of the 1970s.

They had  a large display of magazine ads from the time.  They were fun to have a look at.

Finally, there was a portrait gallery of more recent cricketers.

Outside, Mick posed with the statue of “The Don”.

So much detail.

It was about then that we heard that Monique was ready to collect and take home.  We just had a quick bite to eat in Goulburn for a late lunch and drove straight home via Oberon.  Yes, the road was rough.

It worked out that we had a very enjoyable couple of days away.