Serger Success!

There's a new baby at our house - a Baby Lock Imagine serger - and I am having a blast getting to know her.  I bought a used serger years ago but could never figure out how to thread the blessed thing.  After several years of moving it only to dust, I finally sold it.  About a year ago, I had the urge to try again.  I've been doing more garment sewing for the kidlets plus I've tackled a few things for myself with some success.

So, I researched and then visited sewing stores to try them out.  Not surprisingly, I leaned towards the more expensive Baby Locks with their jet air threading ease.  I managed to locate exactly what I wanted through the yahoo site, SewItsForSale, and made my purchase a few weeks ago.  Probably paid a bit more than I should have, but you can't take it with you, right?

Serger project completed - yippee!

Here is a picture of my first completed project.  I used Butterick 5948 and made view E.  I made no alterations at all.  In the garment sewing world, I guess you would call this my muslin.  If I make this pattern again (and I will), I think I'll lengthen it a bit to hide more of my hips.  Lordy, lordy ....

The fabric is from the stash I inherited from my mother-in-law so cost basis is zero.  I learned a lot and even wore the top out into the world today with DH.  That's always a good test - are you willing to actually be seen in the garment that you made?

This was a good choice for a beginning serger project, in my opinion.  Simple design and construction, but I had to think about how to put it together using a serger.  Construction is not quite the same as using a regular sewing machine.  This was a combo project - I did the neck facing with my Bernina and topstitched the hems on both the sleeves and bottom of the garment on the Bernina as well.  (My serger does not have a coverstitch.  A stand-alone coverstitch is next on my list but don't tell DH!)

I had lots of good advice about the order of construction from another favorite yahoo group, the Creative Machine Newsletter.  Those wonderful ladies gave me detailed instructions so I didn't mess up!

I love, love, love the way the inside of the garment is finished.  Just makes the whole project more professional even if done by a fair-to-middling sewist with hand-me-down fabric!

By the way, if you are not familiar with yahoo groups, check them out.  There is a wealth of information out there.  Fair warning - the SewItsForSale group can get expensive!

Success followed by failure ... oh, my!

As usual, I put too many projects on my plate to finish before Christmas.  I saw a fun project on one of the blogs that I read and thought I could just whip up a couple prior to the holidays.  Will I never learn?

Snowflake Pillow Cover

Wisely, I put all the makings of these pillows away -- and out of sight -- until the January calm returned.  I finished three this week.  So, can I say that I am ahead for Christmas 2011?

The tutorial can be found here.  Noodleheads is one of the blogs that I read consistently.  Anna comes up with some great, simple projects and wonderful tutorials.

The pillow covers, which are in the envelope style and designed for an 18" square pillow insert, are made of felt.  I just bought the cheap felt by the yard when it was on sale at JoAnns.  The only problem I had with the project was that you could see the red color through the white snowflake a bit more than I would have liked.  For the second and third pillows, I fused a lightweight interfacing to the white felt before cutting out the snowflake.  That helped a bit.  If I make any more of these, I'll use a higher grade of felt or a different kind of fabric entirely.  Also, it takes a bit of time to cut all those angles of the snowflake.  I tried the Xacto knife as the tutorial instructs.  I found that I had better luck with the Fiskars snips that I bought a few years ago for making rag quilts.  The inner cuts, however, definitely required the Xacto knife.  I used one of my favorite Bernina feet, the #10C, to sew around the snowflake 1/8" from the edges.  I love that foot!

Alas, not all sewing projects go so smoothly.  I made both of my granddaughters skirts for the holidays and had some leftover fabric.  I found a cute little purse tutorial (you can find it here - scroll down to Lezette Thomason) and decided to make matching purses for each of the girls.  I've had the #62 foot for several years and have never attempted to use it.  Well, I do not love this foot!  I watched the Bernina video, checked out my Feetures book, and even used Google to find a lesson that would help me.  After 45 very frustrating minutes, I just gave up and did it the old-fashioned way turning a narrow hem and ironing it carefully before stitching.  I think I need a personal demonstration about how to get the fabric into the slot of the foot!

Now that the frustrating part is over, I should be able to finish the purses today and post a picture tomorrow.  It feels good to get back to sewing!

How to tell that you're really behind on Christmas tasks ....

• It's ten days before Christmas and you're still finishing up the fall placemats you hoped to use in November!  (See great tutorial on easy placemats over at I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts.  Yes, they are easy; but you still have to plan enough hours in the day to finish them!)
• You have the full-blown flu including a low-grade temperature, aches and pains.  Therefore, your mental and physical speed is about 15 mph instead of 95 mph.
• The gifts are wrapped - whoo hoo!  None of them, however, have bows or gift labels (unless you consider green post-it notes labels).
• The most important thing on today's "to-do" list is to convince DH that we can skip the holiday letter this year.
• Thoughts of making any last-minute homemade gifts flew out the window about 2 a.m. this morning when the latest coughing spell took over.
• DD called to ask what cookies I would be making so we don't have duplicates.  Cookies?  I'm supposed to make cookies?
• Today's weather is cloudy, damp, and gloomy - a perfect reflection of my holiday spirit.

I'll feel better tomorrow - promise.  Please, Santa!

Here's what I've been up to

It took me a few weeks to "settle in" after our trip.  After a brief hot spell, the weather in Southern California has turned a bit wintry which encouraged me to get back to my sewing room.  Here are some recently finished projects.

A friend from our quilt club gave me the pattern for these cute Halloween placemats.  The pattern is Pumpkin Party by Susie C. Shore Designs.  I know they'll be covered in sticky food residue once I give them to the kidlets, but I still couldn't resist them.  Can't wait to give them to my favorite Halloween goblins!

The September/October issue of Creative Machine Embroidery has a fun project that tempted me.  I haven't used the embroidery module on my Bernina in quite awhile.  I've enjoyed stitching these doorknob hangers - one for my daughter, one for my sister, and one for me!  It's not exactly a quick project since there are multiple steps.  Still fun, though.

I found a tutorial for a small bag that intriqued me.  I thought maybe I'd reduce the weight of the bag if I used a smaller one!  I do like the finished bag, but I totally messed up the directions.  I had one of those flashes of understanding in the middle of the night and realized what I had done wrong with the pattern.  The bag is actually supposed to be a few inches shorter and not so narrow looking.  This is something that I need to be aware of when using tutorials from blogs -- it's lovely that bloggers give these patterns away for free, but they aren't professional pattern writers.  I need to scrutinize the patterns a bit more before diving head first into a project!

I love the fabric, though, which I purchased last week during our group's shop hop.  We stopped at Quilt in a Day in San Marcos, and Eleanor Burns was actually in the shop!  She graciously offered to pose with us for pictures (didn't have my camera - shame on me), and signed patterns and even a fat quarter!  Then she gave us a personal tour of the room they've remodeled to give them more cabinetry, cutting areas, and sewing tables for creating the quilts.  Quite a lot of fun for all of us.

I'm generally not a fan of yo-yo's, but I thought the bag needed an extra something once I finished it.  I do like the yo-yo trim, especially with the addition of the button from my button jar.  I used the button sew-on program on the 640 along with the #18 foot.  Worked perfectly!

Bernina Day!

The alarm did not go off today, but the church bells rang!  I assumed the bells were ringing at 7, but it was only 6 a.m.  The Swiss are known for being exact about time.  You can't possibly oversleep here.

On the way to the train station, we encountered a mom with 3 preschoolers all singing "Brother John" in German!  How very cute ...

Apple trees along the train route

Our train trip was on a local this time, so we made many stops along the way.  The countryside was exceptionally pretty with farms, fields, distant rolling hills, cows, a few horses, and lovely homes in each township.  And apple trees galore!  Full size trees and also rows and rows of younger trees planted similarly to vineyards.

Except for the stations that are large enough to have connecting trains, each stop is a maximum of two minutes.  Hesitate and you go to the next station.  Fortunately for us, a very nice woman must have realized we were getting off at Steckborn and pushed the button for the train to stop.  Apparently, Steckborn is not a regular stop!  Can you imagine us whipping through the Steckborn station and wondering why the train didn't stop????


A wonderful home in Steckborn.

We wandered through the quaint village of Steckborn enjoying the sunny day and the lovely homes.  Steckborn is on Lake Constance (the Bodensee), and you can see the German city of Konstanz quite clearly across the lake.  The day was so warm and sunny that we decided to buy a sandwich at Coop (a supermarket) and sit by the lake to enjoy the views.  Suddenly, we noticed a blimp.  It took me a second or two to realize what was strange about the blimp - no logo!  A totally white, unmarked blimp.  Hmmmm .... a Swiss mystery.

Me - in front the of Bernina factory!

We walked up the street towards the Bernina address, rounded a curve in the road, and there was the large red Bernina sign.  We spent the next several hours in Bernina heaven (for me), but I will not bore you with a lengthy report.  I'll do a separate post just on the tour.  I will say, however, that I now understand why the sewing machines and the accessories are so expensive; almost everything is done by hand.  I was amazed.

Back via train to St. Gallen, pick up a bottle of wine, pack for our trip to Bern tomorrow, then a hamburger & French fries at the American Bar & Grill around the corner from the hotel.

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #14

Introducing Doll #14.  Taking some inspiration from Brandywine Design as well as the Martha Pullen tv show, I used stitch #702 on my Bernina 640 and adjusted the width a bit so that I could weave the little satin ribbon through the stitch.  Boy, did that take some doing!  I envisioned using a safety pin or a bodkin to pull the thread through.  That did not work at all since the stitches were so small.  After almost giving up, I remembered that I recently bought a very slim pair of tweezers at a swap meet.  Worked like a charm!

Stitch #702 is the heirloom style stitch that Martha says looks like little railroad tracks, and it does.  I know I'll use this idea again.  Learning  more about heirloom sewing is on my sewing to-do list.

The last piece of fabric from the quilt guild project is a pretty shade of lavender with just a touch of orange.  I had an idea for this dress and was determined to finish it before our trip.  That was before our unexpected excursion to Los Angeles last Saturday.  The next block will just have to wait until we return from our grand adventure - more information to follow!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #13

We are ending up with lots of pink and yellow fabric as we reach the end of this project.  Once all the blocks are done, of course, I'll be mixing and matching according to the wishes of my little granddaughters (and their momma).  Should be interesting to find fabric for the sashing and borders, too.  Can you just see me with all these blocks strewn about the local quilt stores?  Yikes!  I'll have to rent their classrooms just in order to shop ..... and I'm sure they'll be lovely enough to help me make a great decision.

I used this idea before (see Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #5) with the ribbon down the center of the dress.  I picked up this lovely lacy edging somewhere in my travels and rummaged through all my scrapbook embellishment stuff to find these cute little organza bows with little pearls.  The smaller sleeves seemed to go with this dress maybe because the temperature has been rising steadily over the last days - summer has finally arrived!

The color is showing up a bit darker in the photo due to my poor photography skills.  DH would be happy to do the photos for me, but I hate to keep asking him since he sets up all kinds of stuff in order to do it "his way" and makes me feel guilty!  So, try to imagine this color as a little brighter.

If you've taken on a project like this one - or are thinking about it - here's a site that I found with some cute ideas.  I'm using one of the designs for the next block with a few modifications.  Guess I needed a kick start to my creativity button and these cute outfits just did the trick.

Our big trip is coming up fast -- next Tuesday!  DH and I are working our way through the to-do lists.  More about our trip in the next post.  Here's a teaser:  I'm actually going to tour the Bernina factory!  Whoo hoo!!!!

Definitely a martini night - help, please!

Okay, I'm usually a pretty calm person and reasonable to boot.  BUT - and this is a super huge but - my third Rowenta iron just bit the dust 3 days before we leave on our trip.  Purchase date:  8/12/09  Warranty:  one year from purchase date.  Today's date:  8/27/10  I don't have time for this!

Three strikes and you are out, Rowenta.  I thought you were the cream of the crop.  So, tomorrow, after driving all the way into the valley to attend a memorial service and then driving all the way back home (five hours in the car minimum), we will have to buy a friggin' iron!

Do you see why it's a martini night?  Yup, one wonderful Bombay Sapphire martini with a twist made by my favorite bartender coming up.

I'm seriously considering buying the cheapest iron I can find.  Help!

One proud momma - make that two!

I spent last Sunday at my daughter's house working on a cute little sundress for Talia's first day of school in September.  Sara had seen an adorable dress on display at her local JoAnn's over the summer and fell in love with the pattern.  Unfortunately, by the time we got around to checking on the pattern number, the store had replaced the sample with a fall dress!  We researched online, asked clerks at several of the stores, checked and rechecked, then finally settled on a substitute pattern that resembled the first one.

Sara took Miss T., the elder, to the store to buy the fabric.  Big mistake!  Sara had her heart set on coordinating print fabrics that are so plentiful now for children's clothing and quilts.  Miss T., however, zoomed in on an Ariel print!  How could we not see that coming?

I loved working with Sara on this project.  Sara's home economics classes in school consisted of making an embroidery sampler and a batch of chocolate brownies.  Being a working mom myself through most of her growing up years, I had put my own creative sewing on the back burner in lieu of keeping the household running and the bills paid.  I have some regrets that I didn't at least do some simple sewing with my daughter while she was growing up.  Add that to the list of "things I would do differently if I had the chance."

The manual for Sara's sewing machine (a very nice Husqvarna Viking) is "somewhere in a box in the garage."  The first time we tried to sew together at her house, we couldn't figure out how to wind a bobbin.  I ran to the JoAnn's and had the salesperson show me how to do it.  Did I take a picture?  No.  Did I write down the instructions?  No.  For this project, I ordered a duplicate manual for Sara.  Hurrah!  We now know how to wind the bobbin properly.  Progress!

Every hobby has its own language, I suppose.  Those of us who have sewn for years take our language for granted.  Sara had difficulty with the pattern instructions not because they were written poorly or unduly complicated.  She simply does not know the language of sewing.  She's a quick study, though, and was gaining confidence with each step.

Here's Talia's first day of school dress made by her proud momma.

And I am so very proud of my daughter who told me as we finished that she might make another dress from an easy pattern.  Now we have all three generations interested in sewing.  Isn't that lovely?

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #12

The old cliche - seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - seems appropriate today.  I've finished the 12th block and am well on my way to completing the next one.  I have two more pieces of fabric from our quilt group swap.  Drum roll please ..... I even have ideas for those!  My goal is to finish these last blocks before we leave on our trip to Europe.  (More about the trip later.)

Here is block #12.  Maybe it's the butterfly button that I found somewhere in my travels or maybe it's the white collar, but something about this block tickles my fancy.  Many of the gals from my quilt group have drafted new collars or sleeves or pockets or even dress shapes.  Their creativity seems endless.  I'm intimidated by straying from the rules, but I took a chance and drafted both a new collar and new sleeves for this block.  I like both of them.  I'm using the sleeve pattern for the next block as well.  It's hard to see from the picture, but I used a yellow thread for the buttonhole stitch on the main part of the dress and on the white collar.  I think the yellow against the white adds a little zip especially with the butterfly button.

So, I'll have 15 blocks when done.  Now the math part .... how do I make 15 blocks stretch into two wallhangings -- one for Miss T., the elder, and one for Miss T., the younger?

Better?

I must not have been completely satisfied with the last dress block because I kept it out on the dining room table instead of putting it away with the other finished blocks.  As I was getting ready for our Monday quilt guild meeting, I realized that it needed a little extra zip.  I added 3 small red buttons, and I am much more pleased with the result.

What do you think?  Is it better?

Almost done with the next block, too, which I will share with you tomorrow.

It is hot, hot, hot here today.  Summer has finally arrived.  We've had such a mild spring and summer with few days in the upper 90s let along approaching 100.  We've run the air conditioner the last two nights, which we prefer not to do.  But the house is just too uncomfortable for us to sleep well even with the ceiling fan.  Guess we're just wimps!

Darci's Dress Up Quilt - Doll #11 (Finally)

I've noticed over the last few days that my energy is returning.  Hip, hip hooray!  Life was getting to be a bit boring, I must say.  I think spending the weekend with family celebrating our daughter's 33rd birthday and playing with the three kidlets - who have an endless supply of energy - forced me into recovery mode.  Lunching with some dear friends helped lift my spirits, too.  Or maybe it was just the passage of time.  Today marks four weeks since the surgery.  I am now free to go swimming, have a tub bath, soak in the spa - and remove the last remnants of tape covering my boo-boos.  Normalcy!  Can't be beat.

I finished up another dress block this week.  At a recent quilt show, I purchased two small hand-crocheted red hearts.  I intended to use one of them on the bodice of a dress, but the scale didn't seem right to me.  So, they became pockets.  The mini-rickrack also seemed a better scale.

Four more to go.  I already have an idea for the next dress with a fabric that is not quite pink, but not quite salmon either.

I'm still crazy about the Nook e-reader that Doug bought for me.  I'm halfway through Emma by Jane Austen.  This was my favorite Jane Austen book as a teenager, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it the second time around.  Barnes and Noble sends me an e-mail once a week offering about a half dozen of their classic editions for free download.  So, I loaded Howie (that's the name I gave my Nook - guess why?) with a few of the titles on my "Books I Should Read Before I Die" list:  Women in Love, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Sons and Lovers, Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, Three Musketeers, Dracula.

Now the problem is to find time to read all these wonderful classics and still keep up with the bestsellers that I enjoy.  And sew.  And play.  And see the family.  And travel.  And visit with friends.  And sleep.  And blog!

Cherished moments

My oldest granddaughter (Miss T., the elder) has always shown an interest in sewing.  I usually take some kind of sewing project with me when we go to visit family, so the kidlets are used to seeing Oma with needle and thread in her hands.  From the time Miss T., the elder, was quite small, she would sit and patiently watch me sew and ask to help.  I try to find something for her to do - push the needle through the fabric, take out the pins, etc., etc.  About six months ago, she asked to make something by herself.  So, we decided a blanket for her baby would be a good first project.  What fun!

I brought lots of pieces of colorful fabric from my stash as well as my little Featherweight for our sewing adventure.  Talia picked out the fabric she wanted and then we proceeded to sew.  We had a wonderful afternoon together.  She's not tall enough to run the machine by herself, so we alternated between her using the foot pedal and me guiding the fabric and then switching roles.  She took to the process like a charm even though she had just turned four!  Sewing teachers would be proud of me .... I emphasized that we never, ever sew over pins and Talia was quite emphatic about shouting "Stop, Oma!" as we approached one.  Cute, cute, cute.

Of course, just having a baby blanket wasn't enough since there was more fabric to look through.  How about a pillow?  We agreed that her baby doll needed a pillow, and Talia picked out some great red fabric with chocolate bon-bons all over it.  We quickly made up a pillow and then placed an emergency call to Grandpa to find Oma's stuffing and bring it with him the next day.

Poor Grandpa.  He had hardly stopped the car when Talia was running out the front door asking, "Did you bring the stuffing, Grandpa?"

Of course, if you learn how to sew, you also have to learn to unsew!  Here we are a few months later learning how to unsew the "scratchy" underskirt of one of Miss T's favorite dresses.

These are cherished moments, indeed.  Brother Jack isn't quite so interested although he does like to take the pins and put them in the pincushion.  And Miss T., the younger, doesn't stop moving long enough to contemplate anything as sedantary as sewing!

We're off again this weekend to visit family.  This time, we'll be looking for fabric and a pattern to make Miss T., the elder, a sundress for the first day of preschool in September.  Betcha she'll want to do more sewing!

By the way, notice the hair style change on Talia between our sewing dates.  She had been asking for short hair.  Guess Mom wasn't fast enough in making a trip to the beauty salon!  So, Talia managed to climb up onto the bathroom cabinet and find her mother's hairtrimming scissors!  She loves it -- no tangles!  Mom's hoping it'll be long again by kindergarten!

Playtime!

Off to see the family today.  We're doing an early celebration for Doug's birthday - his 65th!  We'll be in Big Bear for his actual birthday, so we're combining a birthday party with some babysitting to help out our daughter next week.  Never miss an opportunity to be with our 3 wonderful grandchildren .... oh .... and, our wonderful daughter, SIL, son, sister, BIL, too.  Truth be told, the kidlets are much more fun!

I've got my fingers crossed that our gardener will visit while we are away and finally put some annuals in the empty space in our backyard.  I am a TERRIBLE gardener.  I have neither talent nor interest in playing around in the dirt, but I do like the yard to look presentable.  I'm going to run out and take a "before" picture in hopes that I'll also be able to share an "after" picture with you next week.

I've had a lot of blog traffic lately, and I can't quite figure out why.  It may be due to some lovely comments about my doll dress blocks.  Love to have readers and love to have comments!  Two more doll dress blocks are on my agenda for next week after we return.  Let's see if I can get them done, or at least one of them, before we take off for Big Bear Lake next Friday.  I'm not planning on taking the Featherweight with me this time since there is so much to do at Big Bear.  Doug likes to keep on the go.

Have a great weekend!  Hope the heat has subsided a bit in the rest of the country.  Southern California has been remarkably cool this spring and early summer.  There is a warming trend on the horizon.  Should be in the 100s soon.  Ugh.  Double ugh.

Quilt Retreat - Day Two

Fortunately, I slept very well on the second night.  I think I just collapsed from fatique and frustration!  So I was in much better spirits on the second full morning of the quilting retreat.  Here's a picture of the gals that I went with:

That's Nancy, me, and Ann in the first picture - Nancy again and Lois in the second picture.  We should have asked someone to take a picture of all four of us.

The best part of the retreat was being with these great friends from the Oasis Quilt Guild.  We are at vastly different stages in our quilting adventure - me being the least experienced, least serious, and most stressed out about quilting!  It's difficult for four women who haven't been friends very long to get through four days of togetherness, two of which were spent in a car driving 350 miles!

Back to the retreat.  By the time I got to the community center on the second day, I had decided to relax, enjoy the experience, and not fret about what I did or did not get sewn.  I also decided to just focus on the $500 tote bag and forget about actually making a quilt top.  I cornered Cheri, one of the organizers and teachers, while she was taking a break from cutting fat quarters and just plopped down in front of her on the floor with my pen and pad in hand.  I told her that I wanted to make one of the blocks from her large quilt to use as the front pocket of the tote rather than the needle felted design that the tote project called for.  She patiently walked me through all the steps on how to make the block (a 5" spinning wheel pinwheel block).  I think she realized as I was writing down everything step by step and clarifying as we went along that this quilter needs lots of help and lots of instruction!

It took me the rest of the day, but I did get the blocks done, the pocket made, and the quilt almost completed!  I took lots of breaks to walk in the neighborhood, even perusing the used books at the local thrift store.  I also enjoyed talking to the quilter next to me, a local resident whose husband is a recently retired veterinarian.  Best of all was watching the grandmother and granddaughter work together at the table behind me.  Grandma brought her 11-year-old GD to her first quilt retreat!  The GD did marvelously both on her own and with Grandma's help.

We had the only row with all Featherweights!  Five little Featherweights all in a row.  From front to back, Lois' from around 1940, Nancy's from the 50s, Ann's then mine (both from 1938).  The last one nearest the window belonged to a fellow quilter from Mammoth Lakes.  She is the original owner - it was her first sewing machine that her parents bought her when she was 14!  I didn't ask her age, but my guess is that the machine dates from about 1958.  She's just recently gotten it out of the closet, had it cleaned and tuned up, and started sewing again. 

Tomorrow, I'll show you a picture of the tote bag.  I actually like it and plan to use it!

Okay, Marsha, take a deep breath and carry on

As usual, I slept fitfully the first night of our getaway.  Since I was on the futon in the living room, I doubt that I kept anyone awake with my tossing and turning.  We all awoke early, had coffee or tea, showered quickly, and set out on our quilting adventure.  We arrived at the community center about 8 a.m. assuming that coffee would be waiting for us prior to the designated start time of 8:30 a.m.  Not so.  Apparently in the quilt retreat world, 8:30 really does mean 8:30!!!

You could hardly find a more beautiful place to wander around for 30 minutes than Gull Lake.  We watched the early morning fishermen, listened to the gulls, and took a few pictures.  Once the door was opened to the community center, we were ready to go.

The food at the retreat was spectacular.  We were treated to continental breakfast on both mornings (even warm cinnamon rolls), and one of the dinners featured homemade bread and individual quiches.  Definitely one of the high points of our adventure.

So, on to quilting.  I wish I had a better picture of the project wall to share, but this is the best I can do.  The feature quilt the first day (unpictured) had a dozen or so individual small blocks including a pinwheel, a house, a basket, etc., etc.  I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what exactly was going on.  A second project featured 3 totes with needle felting embellishments.  Ah, ha!  A tote.  I can make a tote.  So, by midday, I had concluded that the only way I was going to mentally survive this marathon quilting session was to pick a simple project and go for it.  Hence, the $500 tote was born.

As others were busily cutting strips, buying dozens of fat quarters, forging ahead with their quilting projects, I sat quietly at "my space" reading and re-reading and re-reading the directions on how to make a simple tote from 2 1/2" strips.  By noon, I had figured out how many fat quarters I wanted to buy to make the tote something I would actually use (9).  Whew!  I had a goal!  I might actually sew something at this quilt retreat.  I happily looked through the dozens and dozens of fat quarters and chose my 9.  Not my perfect colors, but they would have to do.

Lunch break!  Yippee!  Off to downtown June Lake for a relaxing lunch.  Oops.  There are only 3 restaurants in June Lake.  One is closed for lunch; one is the place we had dinner last night - third one must be the place!

Slow service (only the owner working diligently to make sandwiches, make pizza, clean the place up, take orders, etc.), but great sub sandwiches.  Unfortunately, lunchtime was over and we headed back to the community center.

Do you sense my negativity?  I was really struggling this first day to find my place among these experienced, accomplished, RELAXED quilters.  I did manage to get my strips cut that afternoon and even had a fundamental idea of how to sew this project.  And, I began to sew ... wonder of wonders.  My little Featherweight is a joy.  This is the most that I have sewn on the Featherweight since buying it two years ago.  It is a beautiful piece of equipment.  I scored big time with this purchase.  Not once during the quilt retreat did I have any difficulty with the Featherweight.  Others were not so lucky.  I'm going to take very, very good care of her.

By the end of the afternoon, I could see that I might be able to complete the tote bag before going home.  A quick glance around the room (filled with 30+ quilters) showed me that others were headed towards finishing a half dozen projects.  Hmmmmm .... Happy Hour was a much better choice than continued frustration!

Might I be too old for camp? Could be .....

I've been mulling over my experience at quilt camp and haven't yet reached a definitive conclusion.  Overall, I had a great time.  The best part was being with 3 friends from our Oasis Quilt Guild.  We got along famously even in a small mountain cabin with a kitchen big enough for one and a single bathroom.  Four women using a single bathroom?  Yup - we made it work.

I have never been to a quilting retreat before, so I did not know what to expect.  I'm a died-in-the-wool Type-A personality as well as a compulsive organizer.  This makes me extremely critical of how others organize or fail to organize.  I have to say that this event rated fairly low on my personal organizational scale.

We arrived in June Lake about 3 p.m. after a 350 mile drive and checked into the cabin then made a beeline for the community center to set up our machines for the 2-day quilting retreat.  I was expecting some kind of introduction to our projects and an overview of how the next two days would play out.  To be fair, the four of us were among the minority - the majority of those attending the retreat were repeats and were familiar with the routine (or lack of routine).  We set up our machines, looked at the project samples, perused the fabric for sale.  Our retreat leader told us to take our fat quarters, cut a 2" strip, then cut a 5" strip, which would leave us with an 11" strip, then we would be good for all the projects!

Say, what?  I was totally lost.  How many fat quarters should we have?  What if we didn't want to make all the projects?  She repeated:  cut a 2" strip, cut a 5" strip, you'll be left with 11" for the second quilt which wasn't going to arrive until the following day so we didn't even know if we wanted to make it!

I was still totally lost.  Amazingly lost.  I kept looking at the sample quilts, none of which actually appealed to me.  Then I looked at the project directions.  Disaster loomed!  I need step-by-step directions.  None of this made sense to me .... What were all these little drawings?  HELP!!!  I felt just like the 8-year-old at overnight camp for the first time.  I want to go home!  I don't belong here!  Everyone else knows what is going on.  I should not have come.  I'm the worst quilter here.  Can I get through the next 2 days without crying?

To be continued ....

Back from camp ...

I am slowly recuperating from my quilter's camp experience.  The bottom line is that we had a FANTASTIC time.  However, it does take some moments to recoup from being away for 4 days.  So, I am busy getting the wash done, paying bills, making sure there is food in the house, ironing, watering the plants, catching up on family news, etc., etc.

700+ miles up and down the 395.  Whew!  I love to drive, but it was a long haul ..... scenes like this helped make it worthwhile.

More projects down .... hip, hip, hooray!

Another successful day finishing up projects that have been on my mind.  Now, if I can just STOP creating more projects for myself .... hmmm.  Not likely, you say?  I'd have to agree with you.

I've had a delightfully pretty summery piece of fabric in my stash since combing through the 42 boxes of projects my MIL left when she died 3 years ago.  She's been on my mind lately as we struggle to get repairs completed on her house in Carlsbad.  Maybe remembering how many hours it took to go through those endless boxes is the impetus to get some of my own UFOs finished!  I don't want my kids (or grandkids) going through stacks and stacks of projects wondering if I was nuts ...

I digress.  This particular fabric really caught my eye and is one of the few pieces that I kept from my MIL's stash.  Granted, it would have made a great little dress for one of the girls with the cute butterflies, but I've been in a "sew-something-for-me" mode the last few weeks.  So, this adorable fabric became a pair of pj bottoms just for me - me - me!  I didn't have quite enough to handle the length I wanted, so I added the border from another small piece in my stash.  Aren't stashes wonderful?  Projects like this help justify keeping all those fabric pieces.

The pattern is McCall's 3370 which also includes a robe, a short version of the pj bottoms, and both a long and short-sleeved top.  I've always wanted satin pjs - maybe this is the way to get them!

A couple of months ago, I showed one of the outfits that I made for Talia to a friend from my quilt guild.  She looked inside the dress and said, "Oh, you didn't finish the seam edges."  Well, that got me thinking again about a serger.  I'm still thinking about it and wrestling with (1) the expense and (2) where the heck to put it. While I ponder whether a serger is a good move or not, I've decided to try to finish my garment sewing projects in a more professional manner.  Even though these are only pj pants, I took the time to overcast the seam edges.  It doesn't look all that great; more research on how to do this properly without a serger is in order.  I used Bernina presser foot 2A with an overcast stitch (#3 on the 640).

Then I embroidered a kitchen towel with a design that I won - yes, won! - last week from a great digitizer, Mary Rease of Rease's Realistic Designs at the OPW mall.  I've purchased several of Mary's sets; they never disappoint.  I'm also a member of her yahoo group.  Last week, Mary sent her group members a picture of a design she was working on and asked us to identify the mistake she had made in digitizing it.  I managed to locate the boo-boo (no easy task), so Mary sent me the design for free.  This lovely appliqué teapot is my prize!  I thought it would look great on a white microfiber towel that I've had for ages just waiting to be embellished.  Fabric from my stash again (whatever was I going to do with this fat quarter?).  Adding the border gives the towel a more finished look, IMO.  I'm thinking this design is perfect for gift-giving especially if I take the time to add some words as well.  Time for tea?  The kettle is on?  Lots of possibilities.

Now it's time to get back to the doll quilt.  Received these two fabrics for the month of June.  June?  YIKES!  Must put the pedal to the metal to get these blocks done before the end of the month.  Hope my creative juices haven't stopped flowing.  I think it's time to bite the bullet and try pintucks.

Another UFO completed - whoo hoo!!!!

Here's a project that was supposed to be finished for Jackson's third birthday.  Didn't quite make the deadline, but at least I can check it off the UFO list.  I'm determined to keep the projects under control - finish 'em or toss 'em.

I fused knit interfacing on the back of the t-shirt first.  Since the design had over 11,000 stitches, I also used 2 layers of polymesh cutaway stabilizer.  It's a bit stiffer than I would like.  If I did this design again, I think I'd try it with only one layer of the polymesh.  This is another project that I can see making for Miss T., the elder, or Miss T., the younger.  Can't you see this in shades of pink or purple?

I was happy, though, that the placement came out well.  Practice, practice, practice -- it's worth it!  This was a longer project than I planned.  I really had to fuss with the t-shirt (a size 3) in order to get it on the hoop and keep the extra fabric away from the needle as the Bernina embroidered away.  I slowed the machine speed down almost to minimum and sat by the 640 the whole time the design was stitching out to make sure all went well.

Next on the UFO list is a pair of pj bottoms for me.  I'm glad that I started garment sewing again.  I found a nice piece of blue and yellow butterfly fabric in the stash that I inherited from my MIL.  Perfect for summer pj's.  If I put my mind to it, I might be able to check off another project from the to-do list.

Whoo hoo!