The Herd

It's time to fess up. I have developed a slight problem with collecting sewing machines. It's an odd thing to collect, since a quilter really only "needs" one good machine.  So what's the deal on the "herd" (that is what quilters call a group of machines)? 
It's like any other addiction I suppose. It started with just one sewing machine ... a basic Janome with no frills, purchased in 1990 for $300.  I took my first quilting classes with that machine and sewed the guts right out of it. It is still kicking around here somewhere, but it has been retired.

Ny nephew helping me to clean my Brother 1500

Then I realized that I really liked quilting and I needed a real work horse for machine quilting. So I bought machine #2 - a Brother 1500 that supposedly sews 1,500 stitches per minute. It has been such a fantastic machine and I love it. If it ever dies, I will immediately replace it with one that is exactly the same.

Janome Jem Platinum

One Christmas Santa brought me machine #3 - a lightweight portable machine called a Janome Jem Platinum, which is a great machine to take to classes. It is also the only machine I own that does a zigzag stitch, so I use this one for sewing batting scraps together, and anything else requiring a zigzag (like making fabric bowls).

1901 Singer Treadle

Then I started to covet a "people powered" treadle machine and purchased machine #4 - an amazing 1901 Singer. I love this machine and it is set up in my dining room. I have a scrappy project that I only work on with this machine whenever I get the urge to treadle.

White Featherweight

Just after I bought the treadle machine, a wonderful friend surprised me with machine #5 - a beautiful collector's white featherweight machine, which I love but don't want to sew on it too much for fear of wearing it out! It is so cute and makes a perfect stitch even though it turned 50 years old last year!

Blue White

Then I met a lovely blue machine while I was taking care of my brother when he was sick.  After my brother's death I bought machine #6 - that pretty "blue White" machine. This machine is a very heavy industrial machine and I can barely lift it - it's 100% metal parts (nothing plastic in this baby!). But it purrs like a kitten when it sews and makes a perfect stitch.

Then an old singer found it's way to me... I've never mentioned it before on my blog because I was embarrassed that I adopted machine #7! This really is a beauty, but I haven't had much time to get it working well yet. In addition to being a pretty machine, it's a lovely piece of furniture (being modeled by my Granddog Max). 

Twin 301 Singers

Last year I was given two 301 Singers (I call them Lucy and Ethel) by a generous blog reader. She wasn't sure they were working machines, but I have spent some time cleaning and adjusting them, and they are now sewing perfectly. Machines # 8 and #9.

And so you see how a herd appears. I have also become somewhat of an expert at restoring old machines and am amazed by the variety of machines. And here's an interesting fact - not one of my machines uses the same bobbin! Here is a photo of 4 different bobbins.

I do take full responsibility for my addiction collection and enjoy using each machine for various tasks. But I must admit that storage is becoming an issue.
My next machine purchase will be a hand crank machine, but working ones are in short supply. It's like searching for a needle in a haystack, but I'm fine with that. But that machine will be my last one for sure!  *snort*

Scrappy Saturday - Teal

Happy National Quilting Day everyone! You can read all about it here and you can download the free "Stash Attack" pattern here. I am not planning to start a new project today, but I do plan to celebrate the day by sewing up some scraps and by doing some machine quilting.

Teal/aqua is the colour of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I'm sewing a few more teal spool blocks. I also finished some blue blocks that were waiting to be finished since January. 
Teal and I haven't always been friends, and I first sewed with it 7 years ago (click here to see my first teal quilt). 

I found this info on the Colour Psychology website:

Effects of the Color Turquoise

Clarity of Thought: It enhances the ability to focus and concentrate, assisting with clear thinking and decision-making, and the development of good organizational skills.

Calming: It is calming yet invigorating, restoring depleted energies.

Non-emotional: A negative effect of turquoise is that it can cause people to be too aloof and to hide their emotional reactions.

I have been sewing the teal spool blocks on my "Blue White" machine. 
Yep... that's her name. 
It makes me smile!
What doesn't make me smile is the incorrect block I sewed - see it on the machine bed?! Oh well, start over and try again.

Now I am off to celebrate National Quilting Day by doing some machine quilting on my teal UFO blocks. 
How are you celebrating!?!?
To see more teal projects, hop over to SoScrappy.             


And if you can stand even more excitement today, it's going to be PLUS 1 degree outside!!! Here's a little video clip to make all you cold climate, winter weary, chilled-to-the-bone people smile... gotta love Rick Mercer!

Blue Scrappy Saturday

If you missed my post this week about the amazing rainbow quilt I received, hop over here and see a great idea for our rainbow challenge!
I made a big mess of the blue scraps in my sewing room this week, and have sorted out a few blocks and projects to finish up.
First up is a blue Palm Branch paper pieced block.  I demoed paper piecing at my guild meeting this week and used this block as the sample. The original block is called "Red Herring" and the pattern is from Kristy at Quiet Play (lots of free patterns on her blog including a great new free paper pieced design called Sew Kitschy).

Here are all my Palm Branch blocks together. I have no idea how I'll set these together or how big this project will get, but it's still fun, so I will keep on making more blocks! 
To see more paper piecing projects, hop over to the Quiet Play linkup.

I also pieced a little mat from some old QST blocks that were kicking around here. I don't remember where these blocks originally came from, but they were perfect to play with. I formed pinwheel blocks with the different prints and it was like doing a jigsaw puzzle.

The backing is also made from blue scraps which were leftover blocks from a quilt I made for my Grandma in 1995 (click here to see her quilt). Can you believe these old blocks were still laying around?!?  Finally they are part of a little quilt! 

I learned that my "Blue White" sewing machine does not love machine quilting. The foot pedal gets quite hot, and it doesn't have the proper feet for quilting. 
There are several skipped stitches and big "toe catchers" but we managed to work together to get it finished. 
Finished is better than perfect! 

Now I have a great little mat to put under my "Blue White" machine so it doesn't scratch any tables it might be sitting on.
To see more blue scrappy projects being sewn, hop over to SoScrappy.

Scrappy Saturday - Blue

Today is Scrappy Rainbow Challenge Saturday link up over at SoScrappy. We are working on our blue scraps this month and turning them into useable quilt blocks.
I finished up a few blue spool blocks as leader/enders while working on my Celtic Solstice Mystery this week. I like the variety of blues and background scraps in this collection of spools.

While my regular sewing machine is at the repair shop, I have been sewing some blocks on my Blue White and had to watch the video again to remember how to thread it properly. It is working well, and it is fun to sew blue blocks on a blue machine!

Just when I was making great progress, the bobbin ran out.
So then I had to watch the video again to see how to wind the bobbin.
I hope to sew more blue blocks this week now that everything is working well on this machine.
To see more blue scrap projects being sewn, hop over to SoScrappy.

Blue White

In October I wrote about my new/old sewing machine purchase. I thought I had a very rare find because I could not find out much information about it with my internet research. 

Thankfully some blog readers came to my rescue.  
Angie emailed me to say she thought my machine looked a "Singer 15 clone". 
And Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting showed me a blog post about her new Victor which looks exactly like my White, except with fancier engraving and gold decals.
Using the search topic of Japanese or Singer 15 clone has provided a wealth of information, such as this posting on the Sew-Classic blog and this posting at Vintage Sewing Machines. Apparently these machines were mass produced (not at all rare!) in Japan after the war and then specific companies could put their own name brand/badge on them to sell to their customers. Check out this post over at Dragon Poodle Studio where you can see a wide variety of the clones in a range of colours that look exactly like my blue "White", but the brand names are "Royal", "Modern Age", "Remington", and "Elgin"... never heard of them!
I had two problems getting started with my Blue White:
1) When I plugged it in, the motor raced at top speed and it was sewing on it's own! Oh dear... I thought I might have a big repair bill on my hands right from the start.  But my trusty mechanic told me I had just reversed the plugs.  See the 'M' and the 'L' on the receptacle?
I had plugged the light into the machine, and the machine into the light, and it didn't like that! 

How much did he charge me for this assessment? 
Nothing!  That's a great guy that tells you the truth and teaches you something, when he could've milked the situation, charged me a bundle of stash cash for looking at the machine, and/or made up a story about what I "needed" to buy that was expensive and actually unnecessary. 
So home I went to try again with the plugs in their proper place.

2) Then I couldn't figure out how to thread the thing! 

This tension contraption was new to me and the instruction manual could have been written in Japanese for all I could understand. Again, internet research to the rescue. I found a Youtube video which showed me how to wind a bobbin and at about the 3 minute mark, it shows how to thread the machine.
Once I had conquered these two issues, I had to find the 1/4" seam, and then we were off to the races (or as my friend Cynthia says "Bob's your uncle"...whatever that means!)

I have successfully sewn my first blocks on my new/old  "Blue White" machine!  So fun to use and has a perfect stitch.
I am just loving these vintage machines!

Scrappy Saturday - brown

November is brown month - we are turning our brown scraps into quilt blocks. A big part of conquering the scrap pile is being organized, and I am really happy with how the Rainbow Challenge has helped me to actually set manageable goals and create quilts with leftover bits and pieces. This week I cut and sewed 4 more Carrie Nation blocks. 

I just love these blocks and have to admit that I feel proud turning scraps/garbage into something so beautiful!
Working with a specific 
colour every month has also helped me to appreciate each colour in a way I haven't before.  Yummy, chocolatey, rich browns!

Another wonderful thing about these brown blocks is that they are the very first pieces sewn on my new/old White sewing machine. I treated myself to watching the lastest QuiltCam episode while I got to know my newest machine. I will write more about this machine next week, but for now I will just say...it is awesome!

And speaking of awesome...have you been touring the 100 blocks magazine sites? It has given me lots of ideas for new RSC projects. How about this nameless block or Splash to practice my applique skills with circles? Not that I need another RSC project as I could easily continue into next year with the ones I have on the go already. 
To see more brown blocks, hop over to SoScrappy.

Another machine?

Are you kidding me?
Who needs another sewing machine? Certainly not me!
When I was at my brother's house this summer, there was a little second hand shop beside the grocery store that had a pretty blue sewing machine in the window. I went in there to visit the machine a couple of times over the summer. As my brother got sicker, I thought more and more about that machine. 


Why? I have no idea!  Perhaps a happy distraction?
I decided that if it was not sold by the day of my brother's funeral, it was meant for me and I was going to buy it. 
And so I did.



It is such a pretty blue White machine, don't you think? I have never seen one like it before. And in such pristine condition!  It came with the original manuel, box of accessories, and a cute little oil can.
I have no idea how old this machine is. It is hard to find information online about dating White machines. If you have any leads, please leave me a comment. 

I am sure my piecing will improve immediately with this new Precision Super Deluxe sewing machine!







Good things about her:
-she is so pretty and blue and shiny!
-she only cost $50!

Bad things about her:
-she weights a ton and I can barely lift her. No plastic parts on this baby! Just look underneath this machine. She is meant to live and work hard forever. Maybe that should be under the category of "good things about her"?!?
We are currently negotiating about what project she wants to be all hers to sew. I plan to assess her abilities and decide what kind of a project would be best suited for her.