Yes, I came back

Actually a while ago. I just haven’t been on here and I’m not sure why. Just couldn’t find the words I guess. First I wanted to write a fabulous post on how wonderful the trip was, but needed the pictures downloaded . Then I was back at work and working lots of extra hours to make up for the time off. Then I was/am quilting like crazy to get the Smith Mountain Morning quilt done in time for the wedding.
But these are all excuses. I just have to accept that I’m a very casual blogger and might never be as regular at it as some of the bloggers I follow. Time to get over my procrastination and get on with it.
First a few pics


The ruins are an old sugar refinery. The island we were on, Nevis, was a big place for sugar in the 1800”s and there were several scenic ruins. Plus a few places that had been turned into hotels or restaurants using the old buildings. These pictures are all from a visit to one of them.  It was a fabulous lunch, sitting on a veranda looking over the empty ocean. Nothing to see but the next island, and after that nothing ‘til Africa ( although we couldn’t see it, our host was fond of pointing that fact out).  An amazing time.

Not much sewing

Actually too busy to even hand sew.

Still Here

Waiting for them to reach the islands so I can fly out.
The good news is they have passed the mid-point of the trip. The anticipation and uncertainty of when I go has me reluctant to start anything. So I have been plugging away at finishing the Star Struck quilt. With good effect, finished webbing the top together and auditioned fabrics for the back yesterday

 It came out ginormous, much larger than I had thought I was making.  Mostly due to a basic math error. Some how I got the number 360 fixed in my head for the quarter units I was making. However, a rather basic multiplication shows that 80 blocks (which is what I was aiming for 8 X 10 setting) would require 320 units. I don’t remember why I came up with 360, that was way back in January in the dark ice age. But I can confess that my 8X table was always my weakest link.
A wonderful bonus of all those stars was of course lots of bonus triangles. Plus I’ve been un-earthing stashes of them all around the sewing room and assembling them together. It makes a nice little portable project to take down stairs and work on while I wait for things like potatoes to cook or kettles to boil.

Here they all are with their ears clipped and pinned in tens. 1230 of the muliti-coloured, 280 just pink. I kept the pink to one side thinking of doing a project just with them. The rest are going into an Ocean Waves quilt I have in mind, from Bonnie’s free patterns. At first I thought I’d have to scale it down and only do 3/4 size because her directions call for 2124 triangles which seemed unattainable  but now I might just aim for doing the whole thing. The little round container has some uncounted and I”m sure there are more around here in similar containers. If not, there are more patterns in my future that will produce them. Maybe I should work on that “Oklahoma Backroads” UFO…it has flippy corners….or go back to packing.

Melting

We’re melting, we’re melting!! And it’s a good thing.

A few days of above freezing temps and sunshine and look at the progress. Now you can see how messy my backyard is.
February has been a hard month. It was tempting to say a “long” hard month but given it’s the shortest need to find more descriptors for a month that had no days above freezing.  But instead of dwelling on the horrible cold, it is time to move forward and greet spring sunshine, even if we’re a little short on the flowers yet.
The sun and warmer temps seem to have shaken me out of my doldrums. Plus I actually have stuff I can talk about. We have been planning a fabulous Caribbean sailing trip that I have been reluctant to mention. Mostly because it was on hold for so long as we waited for repairs to be made to our friends boat.
And finally it is ready. DH is there now, flew out yesterday, I will be joining them once the boat is in St Maarten. First they have to sail it from Fort Lauderdale and that will be an open ocean 24/7 cruise that I’m just not qualified for. Everyone aboard that leg has to be able to helm the boat for three hour watches and my experience on our little 17 ft cat boat here in the big lake just isn’t enough to make the cut.
While we have been waiting for this to happen, I’ve been keeping busy sewing. Not all of it quilts. I branched out into bag making to send some gifts to our friends. Taking a tip from Quiltfool, who’s blog has taught me lots, I did some prototypes first. Once I learned the pattern, I could branch out and make modifications.
The original didn’t have the pockets on the outside, which you can sort of see where the fabric changes. I had to go to another bag pattern to learn how to do that. All in all, I made 5 bags to get two to send. But since they called and said how much they love them, it was all worth it.

Found a pic of them in progress showing the pocket. The white at the bottom of the bag, before everyone starts to wonder why I would put white on the bottom where it is going to get so much wear and tear, is sailcloth. Yep, the actual stuff they make sails from. It was a pain in the butt at times to work with but should be pretty durable.
It was a fun project and a good reminder that there are things other than quilts  to be made from fabric.

Successfully finished

I managed to finish the quilt on the frame with the “new” Singer.  And even loaded another. A lot to learn with this technique, luckily I have a lot of finished tops to learn with.

 

I only wish the back looked half this good, some real tension issues and traveling too fast in places.

Most of my time this week has been spent on this monster. This is only 80 units, it needs 360. So lots of cutting and sewing. It is Star Struck from Bonnie’s free patterns and I am doing it for a client who initially asked me to do a quilt over 2 years ago. Luckily she’s extended family and not too demanding but I have been feeling guilty about the delay, hence the flurry of activity. 

Plus I’ve finally got all the blocks pieced for Smith Mountain Morning and started webbing the top together.

Better pictures coming once it is further along. I did have one of it up on the wall but it was on my phone.

 

 

 

The best thing about February is the sunlight, the worst is it’s still winter. If I still cross-country skied it would be a great winter. That’s a big IF

Short Arm Quilting

Sunday we got the quilting frame set up and Monday I loaded my first quilt into the bars.  It is not a pretty set up area and I am sharing photos of an area of my house that few will ever see. The over-stuffed basement.

This set up doesn’;t come with a bar for the batting, rather has it floating between the layers. Which means it is hanging down in the way all the time. I also didn’t have it trimmed to size for the quilt I am doing so there is some excess folded on the side so I can get the clips to hold all three layers. Here is the back where I stand and drive the machine
You might notice a lack of machine on the trolley.  ( it is really hard to get a good picture of the acrylic frame)
That would be because I burnt out a gear on the machine I was using.
After much deliberation and measuring, we went with the Stylist 514 I have had kicking around for a couple of years.

 After the first two rows, I realized the foot controller was not working the best and was doing either full out, top speed or off. A call to a sewing machine repair guy confirmed that the pedal would need to be replace or a least a part in the pedal. But due to the weather, neither DH nor I wanted to drive to this guys shop and get the part. So I kept going and ended up shredding a gear in the bobbin area. 
Last night after doing an inventory of my machines and figuring out what machine would be second choice, we decided to try the thrift store and see if there was a good candidate available. Value Village had a machine, not a great choice but for $30 I figured it was worth a try.
Singer Touch and Sew 750. On the Vintage Sewing Machine F/B group they are called Touch and Swear or Touch and Throw. Known for nylon gears that are prone to breaking and a timing belt that is difficult to replace but needs replacing. So I might end up breaking another gear on this one.  Or not.  First off, we are oiling and greasing anything that needs it and I am learning how to do the self-winding bobbin.


Then back to this. Some of the worst free motion quilting I have ever done. If I had a dog, this would be a dog blanket. I just keep telling myself it is a learning curve and I need the practice.

And it is better than shovelling this stuff.

Grand Illusion Link Up

We were so busy yesterday, I didn’t even get a chance to write a post to link up.
Blocks are still stacked up , waiting to be sewn together.
I thought I was ready to web the top,however, I was jumping ahead and didn’t have enough of the sashing done. Another counting revealed only 103 not the 120 I need. So back to the sewing machine.
But not today. Because today we are putting together what we drove hours yesterday to pick up, a quilting frame. One designed to use a regular sewing machine for free motion quilting.

 This is what it looked like in the ad I saw on Kijiiji

This is what it looks like right now.


Some assembly required. Also some space, we need to set up a table downstairs as I don’t want to take up the living room with this.

So no sewing today, but look out tomorrow, thread will be consumed.

So now to link up with Bonnie and all the rest over at Quiltville.