Monday, March 18, 2013

My Machines


 
 
Stacy over at The Tilted Quilt is having a Blog Hop and linky party to share what kind of machines we all have.  I scrolled through several and have decided as soon as I am done with this post I need to head to the thrift shop.
 
 
 

 
 
This is my work horse, where I do all my FMQ.  I have done quilts that are up to 100 x 100 inches in its lovely large throat.  Straight stitch only, she has a 1/4 inch foot as well a walking foot that I use for binding. 
 
 

 
This machine gets used alot too, my Bernina 1080, about 20 yrs old.   It is the machine I use to make all the flags for band.  It has lots of stitches but I use only the zig zag and what I call a running serpentine, which is a wavy straight stitch.

 
The next three machines I got at Goodwill for about $30 each.  The Singer and the Belvedere each came with tables for that price.  The Singer has an instruction booklet that says it is a 201 model 2. It also came with accessory case and button hole kit. I hear this is a good machine to FMQ but have not yet really used it.
 
 
I call this the green beauty.  I bought her strictly for the lovely color.  She does work, took her for a general check up with minimal repairs, but she burn oil like crazy and stinks. Her heritage is that of a Japanese clone, one of many nock off Singer model 15s made post war in the industrialization effort.  
 
 
Last is the Italian beauty, made by Necchi in Italy shortly before they moved production.  I love the sleek lines of this machine, it shouts 1950's to me. The repair man told me it will be impossible to get parts, he cannibalized one he had to get her running initially. For now she works great, I actually pieced quite a few quilts on her as she has the sweetest straight stitch ever, but she is finicky, after moving her it takes awhile to get her back on track.
 
-
 
I have one more machine, a Kenmore that I got for Christmas in HS, 30 years ago.  She is fantastic and I took her to the family cabin to use there when on vacation.  Oh, I have a babylock serger also.  I use it sometimes to trim and clean the edges of a quilt before binding.
 
Hope you enjoyed seeing my little collection.  I have several machines that I would like to add, like a Singer Rocket or a pink Atlas (saw one for $20 at goodwill and kick myself when I think about not getting it!)  I also kinda covet a turquoise Hello Kitty Janome. 
 
Click on the tag at the top to visit the linky party!
 
 
 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

National Quilt Day

 
I heard that March 16 was National Quilt Day so I set aside a couple hours to complete a project.

 
This is the Scrappy String Second Step Cousin Quilt, named that because it was made from the strips left over from the Scrappy Trip quilt, and while related, they did not seem to me to be sister quilts.

 
It finished up at aprox 60 x 80, a nice size to throw on the end of a bed, a couch, or in the car.
 
 
I love the backing material!  Sandi Henderson Secret Garden Paisley.  It matched the purple border from one of her earlier collections nicely.
 
The white was the last of an Ikea quilt that someone in blog land had recommended for use ... It turns out to be a little thin for me, I will be sticking to Kona Cotton, my go to for solids.

 
Yesterday was a perfect day to finish this up as it was sunny but windy in the morning, but beautiful in the afternoon when I was ready to get some pictures!