Never stop learning.

I learned something new tonight. I've had my workhorse Janome (QC6260) for three years now. I never knew that the needle position could be changed. Duh.
I found it on my new Janome Horizon last week, by wondering first, and then looking it up in the owners manual. All I have to do is press the stitch width button up or down to move it left or right.
Tonight I was having trouble getting that perfect 1/4" seam, so I thought to myself,
"Self, I wonder if this machine moves the needle like the new one does."
So I tried it. And it does.!!
Should have read the manual three years ago.

Got the ugly done.

I am still not in love with this quilt. But when I brought it to the school this morning, the ladies loved it. Hopefully it will do well in the auction and find a home where it is loved.

My Darling Son just 'pranked' me !!!

I have just been pranked. It's the first time he's pulled a practical joke on me that I wasn't "prepared" for.
I've just been "squishy-d".
What's a squishy? You might ask?
It's a prank from the "Captain Underpants" books for tweens.
He takes two packets of ketchup. Fold them in half and place carefully under the toilet seat - preferably under the little "feet."
Then when the prankee, in this case, ME, sits down, "S P L A T" goes the ketchup. On the wall, down my legs, on the floor and all under the seat.
I couldn't stop laughing to get stern with him. I knew immediately what it was because we had read the "book" together. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have been so amused.
The little stinker has a sense of humour!
He just better not try it again.

FRIDAY NIGHT SEW IN

I recently bought a package of Moda Turnovers online, called Renaissance. I must say that I wasn't totally impressed with the designs. Oh, they were pretty, just not in any of my colours.
So, what to do?
Off to Fabricland, to purchase more fabric that would coordinate with Renaissance, since I didn't have anything to wear, oh, I mean, go with it.
A marbled rusty, terra cotta sort of red was it. Unfortunately, it doesn't photograph well, and looks pink.
I started with 80 triangles. Sewed 2 to each 6 1/4" square for a total of 40 squares. Unfortunately, I did my math wrong, and cut out almost 80 squares before I realized I only needed 40.

Once I got the squares cut back into triangles, I started trying to place them in a design. I wasn't feeling happy. So I started throwing those extra solid squares in here and there. It started to look better.


So, back to the machine to stitch, and stitch, and stitch. Once they were all together, I had it 9x9 square. Not a real useful size. So, I added a border of the outside border fabric and another row of solid squares on the top and bottom. Ah, much better. By now, this quilt was starting to grow on me. So I put the outer borders on and started to piece the backing which I DID pull from my stash. It, happily, is in a dark teal with a paisley that has the same rusty red in it. So at least the binding will go with the backing! Once I get this quilted, I think I'll donate it to my son's school bazaar. Maybe it will find a home where someone absolutely LOVES the colours.

And now, the big reveal episode.

Mom's quilt is done! I got the binding on and finished the borders today. In that order.
Yes, I put the binding on before quilting the outer border. I do it for a couple of reasons. First, I don't like it when my quilting pattern in the border is cut off by the binding. It just looks unplanned. Secondly, if there is any easing of fabric to be done when sewing on the binding, I find it a lot easier to do, with better results, if I have the fabric width of the border to take in the easement. If I've got the quilting done, then I only have a cm or so to take in the fullness and I usually get tucks in the fabric - which I don't like. Mom used to make me "unstitch" anything that had a tuck in it, and I guess that lesson stuck. So here they are, the final pictures.

My darned cute quilt inspectors

All right folks, it's time you meet the quilt inspectors at my house. The aloof cat is "Smitten", also known as furball, and drama queen. She likes to play the "woe is me" game until the dog falls for it and chases her. Then she makes a fuss because the dog is, well, chasing her.
Our puppy is "Neeka", usually known as "naughty Neeka." She's got her fall coat on. I prefer the shorter trim, but it's pretty chilly out there late at night and in the early morning, so I might just leave it a little long for the winter. It beats having to put a coat on the pooch!
Smitten will find any quilt, or part of a quilt, or stack of fabric, or even a scrap of fabric to lay on. I think she's just testing it for coziness.
Neeka keeps my feet warm when I sew. She's usually a few inches from my feet and sometimes closer when I sew. If I'm sewing in bare feet - yes that does happen- she'll sometimes lick my feet to get attention. Eeww!
So now you know. We have a menagerie at our house. Two cats (the other one is my boarder's), one dog, some 15 or so fish in the aquarium, one 10 year old boy and me.
Who makes the biggest mess? Well, that's debatable.

Craft Rescue

I just couldn't leave it the way it was. So I picked all the blocks apart and tried again. This time the pattern worked, I guess the key is to stick with 4 patches per block and not try to make an all over pattern. The dog is still getting it, but at least I got to practise my free motion swirls!

Long arm, Mid arm, Shaky arms!!!

I know, I read it a hundred times,"learning to quilt on a frame with a mid or long arm takes practice, practice practice."
But, surely, that didn't mean me? I've been sewing for over 40 years and quilting for almost 10. Surely, I could just plug it in and go?
Well, in a word, No.
I couldn't believe how shaky I was for the first few rows. And I had all the problems a beginner has, broken thread, broken needles, tension off, etc. Don't count the dog chewing on my feet.
I got the thread sorted out - what I was using was just too soft - it looked great, but it shredded with the higher speed machine.
I changed the bobbin thread because I wasn't using the same as on the top, and miraculously things got better, until I rolled the pickup roller far enough to see the back stitching - tension problem. I had eyelashes everywhere.
So, after a bit of practice on the edges to get the tension right, I thought, OK, let's get going. Still my hands were too shaky.
So, I modified my beautiful new $3000 machine.
I took the hood off the head of the machine, and on the two screws that held the hinge, I mounted two small "L" brackets. To them I mounted a 4" steel plate that was predrilled with holes, and to THAT I mounted a 8" piece of 1" wooden dowel on yet another "L" bracket.
Touchdown! Being able to hold the machine comfortably worked wonders. Having the "hood" off had extra benefits - I could actually see the needle to rethread it, and I could see where I was going. A novel idea - duh!
And, I slowed down the speed of the machine to med-fast.
With a stretch of my neck, and a crack of my back, with a little shoulder roll to reduce the knots I had worked up by hunching over, things started rolling along. My swirls were starting to look like - well - swirls!
But I'm humbled. Yes, I do need to practice, practice, practice.
So much for superpowers!

Tim Horton's vs McDonalds - the coffee wars.

My name is Teresa and I am a coffee-aholic. My usual vice is the Timmies drive thru on the way back from bringing DS to school, on my way to a meeting, on my way home from where ever, etc, etc, etc.
But, McDonald's has their Monopoly game on Mom! Can't we go there, puleeeeze?
DS usually only eats fries and a small drink, so none of his things gets a Monopoly sticker, but Mom's coffee does! It gets two - BONUS!!
So now my DS is an enabler. "Mom, don't you need a coffee?" is what I hear every time we get into the van. Don't get me wrong, I do like McD's coffee, but even I have my limits.
Pass the sugar please.

The quilt show is done! Yeah!

My guild's biannual quilt show is finished. Between accepting quilts on Wednesday evening, Setting up the display racks and quilts and having the vendors move in on Thursday, then the show from 10-8 on Friday and 10-4 today, then tear down and sorting the quilts for pickup tomorrow, ----I'm pooped!
A happy camper, but plum tired out.
We had a smashing success. The visitors were happy, the vendors were happy and we had no major crisis.
Tear down today took 90 minutes. Set up took 5 1/2 hours !
If only I had someone else's charge card - I could have gone crazy in the vendors' mall. The one has custom made cabinetry for sewing rooms. Her son who makes them has a degree in industrial design, and he has a passion for woodworking so the sewing tables and cutting tables he makes are simply amazing pieces of furniture.
The assortment of fabric vendors made sure there was something to appeal to everyone.
Wow. But I'm glad it's over for another two years. I better get sewing to compile some new entries :)