Singer Sewing Machine Saturday

Last summer, my husband, Larry, decided to learn to refurbish antique Singer sewing machines.   To that end, we scoured Craig's list and came up with these two beauties for $15 each:  Singer 128s from 1922 in varying stages of decrepitude.  Both were locked up with rust, but had all their innards and most of their exterior bits.

He selected one to start with and started documenting its dis assembly - that's a long post for another day.  As you can see, we didn't destroy a museum piece, we rescued a boat anchor.

Here it is a few months ago, wearing its final finish and partially restored.  Larry has actually gotten it back to sewing condition since this picture was taken; however, the finish got chipped during reconstruction, so it's back in the garage being repaired.  

We chose Tahitian Black Pearl for the finish, and went with the Celtic decal set instead of the original Sphinx, because the Celtic set was much cheaper.  (I applied the water slide decals, and, since this was my first time, I didn't want to waste so much money if I ruined them.)

It took months to remove the finish with paint remover and scraping.  Larry has since gotten a sand blaster that is much faster.  He was also just learning how to use an airbrush, so I think this has about three coats of (really ugly) primer, five coats of Tahitian Black Pearl and another five coats of glossy clear coat.

We now own eight vintage Singers in various stages of decay, so this is just the first installation of Singer Sewing Machine Saturday.

Happy quilting!

Dear Jane B-3 Mirror Image

I wonder if Jane put Mirror Image next to Sweet Potato Pie for a reason? They are so much alike that it seems strange she would put them adjacent by accident.  Speaking of accidents, neither B2 nor B3 came out particularly round.  Especially considering I pulled them taut around a circle template, basted them into a circle, basted them to the ground, then sewed them down. You would think I would have tamed them into nice sweet circles after all that, but no. They're not awful, just sort of... lumpy.  Oh well, better luck next time.

B-3 Mirror Image

I concentrated on collecting purples the last few trips.  Some of these batiks are not very purple at all, but they're more purple than they are anything else so they landed on the purple hanger.  I'll have to do lots of fussy cutting to keep some of these so called "purples" in the near vicinity of the actual color purple.  I'm going to try, but I probably won't be able to use all of them. Having them all together like this is a very useful design tool; I can see whether or not they'll play nicely together.  Some of them seem very pink, orange or red amongst their fellow violets and grapes.

I really love batiks.  It seems like I have tons of them, but I'll have to make about 25 squares/triangles out of each color way.  I'll have to re-use the same fabrics for many of the blocks.  I'm just planning to keep the ones made out of the same fabric well away from each other. I'm sure there will be plenty of variety!

In the meantime, all good wishes to my blogging buddies in the paths of tropical cyclones Marcia in Queensland (especially Kris in Toowoomba) and Lam in NT.

Happy quilting!

Dear Jane B-2 Sweet Tater Pie

I just realized the last block made me go "Silver" on the Dear Jane list.  Twenty-five blocks completed. Whew!  I get really caught up in them, and don't want to do anything else for a few weeks, then I put them down for awhile.  I went back to a hand-dyed fabric I've had almost forever for the start of Row 2 to get a nice, soft orange amidst all those brights.

B-2 Sweet Tater Pie

I kept telling myself, "Oh, you're short on oranges." or "Oh, you're short on browns."  So every time we went on vacation, I would concentrate on expanding my selection in one or two colors.  We got back from a very successful trip to Green Bay at Christmas, and when I went to select fabrics for my next block, the batiks just came out of the woodwork.  It made it so hard to choose!  I needed a system.  

I decided to cut an old bed sheet into seven sections and pin them to hangers.  I divided my batiks into the seven different "trip" colors and pinned them to the correct sheet, overlapping, but with each fabric at least partially visible.

I think I have enough oranges now...

Dear Jane M-1 Dogwood Days

And now, time for a nearly wordless Wednesday:  I've gotten to the end of column 1, and I do love how this one turned out.

M-1 Dogwood Days

Dear Jane L-1 Widow's Pane

Another simple paper-pieced block.  I have admired this blue batik for a long time now and finally found a good place to use it.  The way the green pattern runs through all the pieces is amazing.  Despite the white interruptions, every line still looks as if it connects.  It is almost as if I had appliqued the white on top of the blue, which I most assuredly did not.  I didn't even try to make the pattern continuous; it must be a self-healing batik. lol

L-1 Widow's Pane

I asked for fabric for Christmas this year and my family really obliged.  Even my sister, who used to have her buttons sewn on at the dry-cleaners, enjoyed buying fabric.  Her daughter, Kate, who got a degree in fashion design a few years ago, made simply awesome fabric selections.  Kate got me a sheer premium cotton that I would have taken for silk if I hadn't read the selvage. It is simply gorgeous. I think I'll ask for fabric every year.  It is so fun to see what appeals to other people, or what they think will appeal to me!  I feel like the curator of a wonderful new fabric collection.  :0

Dear Jane K-1 Crooked Creek

Crooked Creek gave me no trouble at all.  It was a nice, straight-forward, paper-pieced block, and those long verticals keep it from being the pinning nightmare it might otherwise have been.  Thanks, Jane!  I like this fabric too.  It's a nice true orange, with lots of interesting things going on.  Orange is one of the color ways I'm really trying to stretch.  I want to use everything from vibrant orange to orange brown, to pale yellow orange.  The last thing I want is the orange "trip" to stand out like the outline of a yield sign in the middle of the quilt.

I'm enjoying being back in blog land.  I could go into a poor pitiful Pearl litany about real life quilting buddies, but I'll spare you the drama.  On the bright side, it makes heading off to my solitary sewing studio very pleasant; maybe I'm just too much of an introvert.

Dear Jane J-1 Josepha's Jonquil

This block gave me SO much trouble.  I decided since my last set of diamonds turned out so poorly, I was going to try a different method on these:  reverse applique.  I only forgot two things:  1.) I really dislike reverse applique, and 2.) I'm really bad at it.  After much moaning and groaning and gnashing of teeth, I started the block completely over, saving only the middle square.  I even had to use a different background because the muslin was destroyed by my inept attempt at reverse applique.

J-1 Josepha's Jonquil

I created a mylar template and ironed the diamond around it using my little Clover iron.  Sadly, the template deformed with the heat, so my last diamond turned out a little wonky.  I pressed on regardless (literally).  I much prefer prepared applique to needle turn, so I dutifully basted my edges down, then basted my pieces in place. My positioning was not spot on, but I was getting sick of this block, so I just sewed everything in place and called it done.  So what if one of the diamonds looks like a bird's beak; it's done.  If it still bothers me after I've completed all 169 blocks then I'll fix it.

I learn so much from these little blocks.  I have barely gone "silver" on Dear Jane, and I can already see the improvement, especially with applique.  The term "goddess" is really appropriate for anyone who has completed their DJ.  After 169 blocks, 52 triangle and 4 kites, anyone would have developed mad skills! 

Happy quilting!

Dear Jane I-1 Ralph & Nelda's Wedding

What could be simpler than Ralph and Nelda's Wedding?  Two tiny nine-patches placed opposite each other and done.  It's nice that dear old Jane throws us a softball every once in a while, especially since the next block about did me in.

I prepared for Christmas vacation in Green Bay by prepping the upcoming appliqued blocks up to the point of hand-sewing.  I believe I had three appliqued blocks prepped.  Surprisingly, I got all three done in Green Bay, even the dreaded J1, which took forever - more on that tomorrow.  I even fired up my Mom's sewing machine to complete two additional paper-pieced blocks.

I-1 Ralph and Nelda's Wedding

The only reason I could do additional blocks in Green Bay is because Larry and I went to My Favorite Quilt Shop in GB and bought more batiks.  MFQS has a wonderful scrap bin ($4 per pound) that was loaded with batiks of every size, shape and color.  I asked Larry to pick out every batik in the bin while I browsed.  I ended up with nearly a pound of gorgeous batiks, along with an equal amount of bright, pretty fabric scraps.  I think we paid $6 for the lot.  

It doesn't take much fabric to make a DJ block, so it was a terrific opportunity to inexpensively expand my batik collection.  I really enjoy going to this quilt store; they have a wonderful collection of batiks, Kaffe Fassett and novelty fabrics.  A trip to MFQS is always on my "must do" list when I visit GB.

Dear Jane H-1 Peek-a-boo

This block made for a nice, simple change of pace after all that applique.  Such easy construction for a change; and this one went together very nicely, which is not always the case.  I love this batik, with its little hints of pink and purple. Of course, I love most batiks, lol, especially the ones I end up purchasing, so that's no surprise.  I find myself cutting gaping holes in my collection to get to that perfect section with the "best" colors.  It's all part of the fun of making a batik/hand-dyed Dear Jane.

H-1 Peek-a-boo

Another part of the fun is selecting the perfect batik for the next block.  My batiks were scattered all over my sewing room, so I developed a system to display and hang all the batiks in each colorway.  It really adds a lovely splash of color to my studio without taking up any additional space.  More on that later, also, Larry is working on a mystery tatting project.  Mystery tatting?  Who knew?  In the meantime,

Happy Quilting!

Dear Jane G-1 Hattie's Hen House

There are so many gorgeous brown batiks that I'm really glad I selected brown as one of the "around the world" color ways for my Dear Jane.  I also love the polka dots!  I never noticed before how many of my batiks have dots; I'll have to work to not make that a theme.  lol

I like blocks that are made like this because I had two chances at getting the center just right.  I get to pick the better of the two centers; that's always nice.

G-1  Hattie's Hen House

My DH, Larry, has started refurbishing vintage sewing machines.  (Aren't I a lucky girl!)  Since June he has collected eight Singers, some in decent enough shape, but most in a rusty "boat-anchor" state of decrepitude.  We'll be sharing progress photos of his journey in the upcoming weeks.  He has also learned to tat (and not as a punishment for wrongdoing. lol)  We're thinking about having "Tatting Tuesdays" here on the blog.  In the meantime,

Happy Quilting!