Bad Day at Black Rock for me and my sewing machines :( Or at least that is what my Mum said when things went wrong!

Sunday was a bad day for me and my sewing machines!

I have been working really hard at finishing up the piecing of a wedding present!  All of a sudden my Sapphire 830 started to stitch with micro stitches and clunking.  I gave it a shot of WD40 (I feel this was a bad move) on two hinges under the stitch plate but nothing happened.  Tanners called and it will be around $200.00 to get it fixed - ugh! 

So next, I got out my Elna 3210 which I must say has the loveliest stitch.  I am sewing along quite happily and I turn the work over and ever so often there is a loop.  The loop is about the size of the loop at the end of a dental floss threader.  Bizarre, I have never seen something like that.

*** Update on my Elna - it was the nasty Coasts thread causing the problem. I have Aurfil thread in it now and we are "cooking with gas" once again. I must say this machine has the nicest stitch I have ever see.

So now I am down two machines - this is why we have spare sewing machines right?

So out comes Annie Merle, my featherweight.  I start sewing on it and her tension is off also.  I play with it for awhile and then put her back on the shelf.

Now, I am down to my last machine a Brother, hmm will the boy come through for me!

Yes, this machine is working just fine - OMG finally.

 

Once again I am thinking about the Juki 2000 or 2010.  Everyone says what a fantastic machine it truly is.  However, going into the summer months I am hesitant to spend money.  Perhaps, if I piece on my Elna and then once the Husky is back I can just do FMQ on it while I ponder buying another sewing machine.  What should a girl do?

 

 





A Quilt kit and my first BOM

Above is from the first quilt kit I bought - it is called "A Bow on Top" and from the Fat Quarter Quilt Shop in Texas, now I would never pay $99.00 for a kit but half price and with the pattern I can do.  The fabric was all Moda and features Little Red Riding Hood - so adorable.  It was for my friend Charisma in Canada to celebrate the arrival of their daughter Ava.  Super easy pattern and very cute to boot!

My girlfriend, Clara brought me over a big suitcase and bag of scraps in January and while sorting through it I came upon a whole bunch of papers. When I put all of those papers into order I found this Block of the Month called All Around the Farm. Looking at it now, I can see a mistake but that is okay, it was really fun to put together and I learned how to make a Snail's Tail and even did a bit of applique on the boy and the crow! I used muslin for the background and micro-stippled on all of the background.  I must take a picture of it finished and add it to this posting - next time I am taking pictures.  I have a friend in upper NY state who is retiring this year from her school support job  and they are dairy farmers also - this will be her gift!



Wow, I am really behind on my picture posting - so here is goes :)

This pattern is called "Welcome Spring" and is from the Moda Bake Shop.  It is made with jelly roll strips and yardage.  I used the Serpentine stitch on my machine for the straight line quilting.  I was inspired by a similar quilt posted on the quilting forum I frequent,  www.quiltingboard.com .  The quilt was for a co-worker's daughter.

This quilt for a baby boy is from a pattern called Enigma.  I had purchased a fat quarter collection at the 7 Sisters Quilt Show in San Luis Obispo last month with the intent of making a co-worker's quilt as her baby shower present.  I love the bright colors!  I have it draped over the rocking chair that my daughter Jessica and I rescued from the curb on garbage day.  I think I will skip the draping effect in the future and go back to flat pictures.

 



 

Below is a Shadowbox quilt I made for my sister, Barbara.  Hopefully, she doesn't come to the blog and spoil her surprise waiting for her when she comes in a few weeks.  As usual, there are coordinating pillowcases :)  Mistakes are part of the quilting process, and there is one in this quilt but it doesn't take away from the beauty of the quilt at all.  This was made with a collection of fabric from my best quilting friend Clara.

 

This a another Shadowbox - truly this was the trial quilt and it has no errors - go figure.  Anyways, our classroom teacher Malikah is leaving us next month for new teaching adventures and this is her farewell quilt.  I bought this pattern on a bus trip with my quilting guild a few years ago, and had totally forgotten about it until I saw a post on the quilting forum I visit.  It was the first pattern I ever purchased. Most of the fabric for this quilt was from a fat quarter set bought at Tuesday Morning - yep they have fabric there sometimes.