Happy Halloween!

Door hanger I made inspired by ScrapFreak August Class.

Friday Fun!

Happy Friday!

Yesterday I got two runners quilted. I concentrated on trying to keep the stitching a little tighter and think its improving....so, I got ambitious and decided to try silver metallic thread on the next one. It did not join the completed pile because I spent most of the night taking all those little meandering stitches back out. All the tutorials I read/watched on free motion said to check the back often to see whats happening there... and now I know why! The silver was pulling and breaking on the back and was a MESS! I was going to include a picture of
the rats nest of thread that I pulled out, but, my darling daughter threw it away and it already had leftover spaghetti and coffee grinds dumped on it... figured you could do without that sight!


Today I am going to take my new babies to the sewing machine doctor for a check up. I got these two beauties at the local Goodwill over the last couple months. The green one is in a cabinet that is in great shape and I paid $15. It does not have a belt or a bobbin casing, but the motor runs and the mechanism works using the hand wheel so I don't expect major issues. From what I have found, this is made in Japan post WW2 and is a Singer clone, probably 15-81. Its so pretty!


This white one is a Necchi, made in Italy in the early 1950's and I picked it up for under $30 (didn't want to wait for the markdown and chance it being gone). I have plugged it in and it works great and it came with a carrying case. Online the rap on these is that found machines have tend to have gunked up and require lots of oil and TLC to get moving, but this sweetie runs like butter, but... I want to get a general tune up as I have this fear of sewing on it and having something dramatic like gooo leaking on my project :)

It is pure coincidence that the sewing machine doctor I am taking these to is located in the store in the industrial area I went to earlier in the week.... if they happen to still have some of the lime damask left, I think it will be coming home with me :) I also might find my way over to Goodwill and see if there is anything worthy of my small but growing mid century sewing machine collection :)

Have a great weekend!

French General progress

No surprise, since I had shared that my 5 WIP were all runners, well, its another table runner. I got a charm pack of these beautiful reds and taupes, then had to get another to match the triangles... then I ended up with 2 packs of 30 left, so got ANOTHER pack so I will be sure to have enough to make something else :) anyone else do that? end up with more in the leftover pile than you actually used on a project?

This makes 4 runners that are ready to be quilted so I am going to set up my acrylic table thingy and swap on the darning foot and free motion the day away! Since the rain just moved in, this will be a good to to just hunker down, me and the machine till I pick up the kiddos.

Hope you all have a great day!... and don't forget to comment to be entered in the fist 50 comments giveaway!

Speaking of givaways!

Another givaway !!! while entering my givaway, you can also pop over to Pumpkin Patch Primitives and enter thiers as well!

Good luck and remember to comment here on our way to the first 50 comments givaway.

A Givaway .... and its only day 3

Yep, that's right. It is only day 3 of my blog and I am going to give stuff away!

I explained in the last couple of posts that although table runners are working great for me to get in the groove and to practice my free motion, I am in a rut. I have 5 runners in progress now and when I complete them I want to move on. To remove the temptation, I am going to give away a 'charm pack' from the set of runners I made. I made the bottom runner from a pattern on Moda bake shop and the others are inspired by the original.

Here is how this will work.

I will draw random from the the first 50 comments made on this site.

Comments can be on any post, till we meet 50.

You will be entered once for every blog post you comment on, so if you comment on each post prior to and including this one, that's 4 entries.

The winner will receive this pack of 42 5x5 squares.

edit: We have reached 50 comments! Yea! I will anounce the winner on Monday, 11/2, gather shipping info and ship away! Thanks everyone for the warm welcome to blogland!

WIP and adding to the stash pile

I may be getting carried away with the table runner phase of the program. These are the 5 projects that I am actively working on, all of which are table runners.

I think I am in a rut!


While out running errands yesterday I decided to go hit the Goodwill store. Then since I was so close to the freeway, why not head to that quilt store in the next town I had only been to once. Then, since I was already on the freeway and it was only a little way further, why not head to the fabric liquidator store in the industrial/import area. Ever do that? Head to the dry cleaners and 2 hours later your heading home with stuff that was not on the list? Lucky for me this little detour is only about 30 miles out of the way, but not in the normal flight path for this suburban mom.




Here are my finds. None are slated for a purpose yet other than to join my stash pile.

Another table runner

This is a table runner I made and shipped to my sister last week.

Table runners make great projects for me right now because they are quick and they are small enough to practice free motion with out worrying about tug and pulling through the machine.

I have just unpacked my machine and supplies after having them in storage for about 6 years and am loving getting back in the groove of planning, cutting, sewing, and now adding actual quilting as well.

First Post

Wow, my first post! Well lets start this out by sharing a table runner I made and sent to my mom last week! This was made with 5" squares and jumbo rick-rack. It was my first attempt at free motion quilting and I think it turned out pretty good for a newbie but I am not sure you can even see from this picture....

So, two things to work on for next post... better picture to show details and figure out how to put in signature block.

Thanks for looking!

Diane