I have been holed up in my house today sewing as it was pretty gross out today! Lots of snow this afternoon as well, plus more in the forcast for this week. Unfortunately I start my stretch of 6 evening shifts in a row tomorrow, Just hoping I can get some sewing done!
Comrie
So I have been able to find out very little about my gorgeous new sewing machine. From what I can tell it is a Singer 15 Clone. I am doing more research to try and see if I can maybe figure out what year span it could have been made in. I think pre or during the WWII is when it was made as post WWII pretty much all the clones were made in Japan. If I can find out anything more I will definitely let you all know!
Dear Jane
Not much progress here, but I got my templates for my 3 triangles I need to complete printed out and I have B10 mostly complete. I did mine a bit differently and used reverse appliqué and did my piecing differently from the original. I plan on appliquéing white triangle into the corners of the center square the cross is in.
Omigosh
Huzzah! Getting some progress here. I have everything cut and all my half square triangles sewn back together for my Shoo-Fly blocks. This means I can finally start piecing the half triangle to my four patches!!
You can see my pile of half square triangles that have been pieced back together below.
Randomness!!
Below is what I am entering into the Sliced contest hosted by Moda! They are open for audition pieces until the 29th and then they pick 4 people to compete against each other out of all the entries. They have some amazing prizes for those 4 people too!! In the likely event I am not picked by Moda, I will post a tutorial here about how to make it!
This is a keyboard/sewing machine mug rug! You can have your keyboard on either end of it and the mouse works just fine on it as well. The thing in front of the keyboard is one of those things to help keep your wrists at the right angle when typing. It also doubles as a heating/ice pack!! I used beans for the filling so if your wrists, back or shoulders start to hurt, go pop it in the microwave and instant relief.
Antique Sampler
Have any of you seen Sue Daley's new book New English Paper Piecing? There are some lovely projects in there! There is also a quilt outside of the book that I am going to dabble with when I have time called Antique Sampler. This is all done using English Paper Piecing and appliqué. Crazy. I know. But I am loving my choice to go with browns and creams. I might add a bit of green. We will see.
Organization!
I got this lovely bookcase today from Walmart as everything was previously just dumped in a laundry basket and I had no idea what I did have! So now I am starting to get organized. Its kind of exciting to me but thats ok if its not for you :)
Spray Starch!
So as I was doing those little English paper piecing blocks I decided I did not want to baste them with thread or glue. I had heard somewhere that I could starch it and just press over the seam allowance. OMG I LOVE IT! It is so ridiculously easy! Make sure not to use too much though otherwise your paper curls up and distorts alot. I learned the hard way!
I was using Best Press to do this while at my LQS (they let me sew there too in the classroom when I come down) But they had just sold out a couple days before I was there. I liked the spray start so much I decided to make my own.
How you ask? (I love how I can make you ask just the right questions when I type them out!)
Vodka.
Yes Vodka. No seriously. I added about 1/3 cup vodka to 2 cups water, shake and spray. Use the crappiest vodka you can find as the starchier the better, but you can always add more vodka to your mixture if its not starchy enough for you.
Mine did not scorch or brown at all on my test fabric and after 2 spray, iron, cool cycles was pretty ridgid/ had that new fabric feel.
I have heard to be careful of it in really humid climates as sometimes bugs are attracted to the potato starch but it is completely dry here in Calgary and should work amazingly!
Anyway, it is 1 AM here in Calgary and I should probably sleep!
Contest!
Remember to enter the Hexagon Needle Book Givaway! All you need to do is leave a comment with your favorite colour on the Giveaway post
http://aquiltingwewillgo.blogspot.com/2012/02/snow-much-love-giveaway.html
Or if you don't want to do that you can post here if need be. Contest Closes Feb 29th Midnight Mountain Standard Time.
Good Luck and Happy Stitching!!!
Kallie
EDITED: for putting in Link and adding title.
Love that homemade starch receipe! who would have thought LOL! You certainly have a lot of projects on the go, your Antique Sampler blocks are looking great, it looks to be a wonderful quilt pattern!
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