A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Silk Scraps

The creative alternative to net curtains - a window at Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire, which I visited on Friday with my friend Kate.

A Well-Travelled Machine

On Wednesday I took a trip to Hampshire to stay with my friend Kate, and this sewing machine came with me, strapped in securely to the back seat by the seat belt.  A while ago we arranged that I should get a machine on behalf of Kate's friend Lara.  Lara had fond memories of her mother's machine, and I was more than happy to jump into the thrills and spills of Ebay.  I did warn Lara that I might not find the ideal machine for a while, but as it turned out, this Singer 99K cropped up almost straight away. The price was right, I was the only bidder, and it was for personal collection only. The seller was in Surrey, about three miles from my brother, so he collected it for me.  It lurked for a while at his house, until I brought it home in the boot of the car.

It looks remarkably like my star machine, the 1927 Singer 99K, and has all the extras - the original manual, extension leaf and tin of attachments.

The serial number dates it to 1939.  It is in superb condition.  Apart from a bit of fluff and dust here and there, it barely needed cleaning.  Checking it over, cleaning and oiling took barely half an hour.    

It looks like one of those machines that was bought, used a few times, and then put away. Perhaps the date has something to do with it.

So, after travelling from Surrey to Somerset and then to Hampshire, this machine has now found its way to Lara.

Happy sewing Lara!

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 46 - Rudbeckias Everywhere

Nine tenths of the quilting is done on the latest cradle quilt, and it should be finished and bound by next week.  This quilt hasn't been plain sailing, even though I have already made two very similar ones.  One of the problems is that I haven't tried quilting the flowers upside down, so I have had a little more bulk to the right hand side of the needle than I prefer to work with.  And also the backing fabric is too thin, so rumples are becoming a feature on the back.

All will be confessed next week.

Here goes for week 46...

Many thanks to Julie, Bernie, Carole,  Ida and Quilt Musings for linking up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - On a Street in Dorchester...

... you will find a branch of Barclays Bank

... with a difference.

Welcome to the latest followers, SkiWheel, Sevda Sahin and Penny Peberdy - thank you for joining!

Bookshelf

Tucked in the corner of the sewing room is the bookshelf, with all the knitting and sewing books that I have accumulated over the years.  All the old books I have from the 1940s and 50s have such similar titles that I have lost track of which is which.  I can be riffling through a second hand book shop and come across a book and not be sure whether I have it already.

Hardly surprising then that I have ended up with two different editions of Complete Needlecraft by Agnes M. Miall.  She's everywhere, either on her own...

... or co-authoring with Irene Davison and R. K. and M. I. R. Polkinghorne.

I love these old books for a great number of reasons, not least for the authoritative no-nonsense way in which they are written.  Would you dare argue with anyone called Polkinghorne?  Especially when there are two of them.

So that you can share in the pleasure, I have decided to write reviews of the books, so anyone who decides they really must have their own copy can start scouring the internet for the best deal.

Any nominations please for which book I should review first?

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 45 - Making Another Cradle Quilt

This is the start of a new cradle quilt, similar to the pink one I finished last month.  I have done a strip of squares again, with straight lines of quilting down each side to keep the squares smooth.

Each square has a leaf coming from a wavy stem.

The squares are in rich shades of yellow, blue, pink, purple and red, all cut from the same fabric.  I bought some fat quarters of Japanese prints at the Malvern Quilt Show in 2012, and this is the first time I have used them.  

In the spaces between the strips of square I am doing rudbeckias.

Meanwhile, on the back I am doing pleats.  I thought that if I used a lighter material for the backing I might end up with a more lightweight quilt.  Instead I am getting that rumpled home-made look.  No self respecting baby is going to care, so I'm not going to either.

Here goes for week 45...

Many thanks to LeeAnna, Claire, Marly, Judy, Julie and Stitchin at Home for linking up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Linking up to Angie's blog A Quilting Reader's Garden for WIPs Be Gone
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - Pink Camellia

There is something slightly hypnotic about the arrangement of the petals.

Welcome to Aileen Kline, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Using the Willcox and Gibbs Automatic

A rubbish picture of a momentous occasion - a little while ago I used the Willcox and Gibbs Automatic for the first time, to do a line of decorative stitching on a pair of pillow cases.  

I still have some bits and pieces of material from the stash left by my brother's mother in law.  So far the stash has yielded one big quilt, several little baby quilts and a tea cosy.  It has been fairly easy deciding what to do with the cottons, but I had no idea what to do with this green duckies polyester until I realised that there was enough for two pillow cases.  

The machine uses a single thread to make a chain stitch, with the chain appearing on the underneath of the work.  I used a variegated green quilting cotton, and it gave a really nice finish on the right side.  Shame I didn't take a picture of the stitching.  The machine made was made in 1888 and stitches perfectly.  I should use it more often

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 44 - A Spire

It is very unusual that I complain about the weather being too good, but today is the first cold and rainy day for ages, and the first day all week that I have stayed in to do some sewing.  So, not much progress with the little landscape, but plenty of digging and planting on the allotment.

This is another detail of the horizon I have been working on, a little church with a spire.  On this close up the colours in the threads show up fairly well.  The door will have to be filled in at some stage, and there will be a cloud or two in the sky.

The reeds are the same ones as in last week's photo.  This project is all about doing two landscapes at a time - a great idea in theory, but I have already decided that one at a time is easier.

Here goes for week 44...

Many thanks to Maartje, Esther, Julie, Gwyned, Claire, Quilt Musings and Carole for linking up last week to show their free motion quilting projects.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week

Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday 
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict  for Whoop Whoop Friday

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - A Face in Wood

A carving on a massive church door in Santiago de Compostela.

Welcome to Ginasbuttons, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 43 - A Horizon

Not a huge amount of progress since last week, but the single line of stitching has acquired a few companions and together they are beginning to build up a landscape.  After stitching the horizon I gradually build the picture up in both directions, getting increasingly irritated with the inevitable frilling as I get nearer the top and bottom edges.

The church tower turned out better than expected.  I turned the balance wheel by hand for a few stitches and managed to get the clock face round.  Sewing in the time would be a detail too far, but tempting nonetheless.

For everyone who was intrigued by my husband's woodwork last week, more details of his ingenious flap are here.

Here goes for week 43...

Many thanks to Alison, Maartje, Linda and Julie for linking up last time.  

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week

Linking up to Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.

Extra Work Space Behind a Treadle Machine

Last week I posted this photo of my husband's ingenious bit of handiwork to provide me with extra work surface behind the treadle machine.  It can't really be referred to as a table because having only one leg, it can't take any real weight, but it is more than adequate for the weight of sewing work and general light clutter.

Space is tight in my sewing corner, so when I don't need the extra surface the machine can be pushed to about three and a half inches from the wall.

When I want to work with the machine, I pull it away from the wall, revealing the large wooden flap.

It hangs from two 3 inch hinges.

When the flap is extended the edges of the hinges are flush with the surface.

The edge of the flap is just over two and three quarters of an inch from the wall.

Underneath is a gate leg, which is hinged to an upright piece of wood which is screwed to the wall. 

When the flap is down the opposite end of the gate leg folds against the wall next to the other hinge.

On the underneath of the flap is a stopper for the top of the gate leg to rest against.  Ignore the notch at the top right of the gate leg.  It shouldn't be there, but it is, and it doesn't matter.

And finally, the toddler's-eye view of the underneath.  The gate leg has a caster, so it is easy to pull into position.

So if you need a work surface but have very little room to spare, you might have room for a gate-legged flap.  There is plenty of room now for me to do free motion quilting without my work bashing against the wall and making me go crooked.  

A Pretty Picture for Sunday - A Bishop in Bronze

A memorial to a Bishop of Santiago de Compostela, high up on a wall overlooking the fountain shown in last Sunday's photo.

Bienvenida a ZHOBEYDA!