A Picture for Sunday - A Grey Squirrel

My lucky day today.  I have always wanted to get good pictures of squirrels, and today the light was perfect.  This little gingery squirrel was sitting near the top of a hollow tree having a snack.  You can see all the crumbs round his mouth!

Three Needle Knitting

Using three needles after nearly sixty years of just using two was a real hurdle to get over.  After experimenting a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to make a seamless cardigan.  Of course I had to make it more difficult for myself by in knitting fisherman's rib with two different balls of wool.  When I was about a third of the way up the first sleeve it started driving me daft for a number of reasons, including forgetting an increase, getting the tension too tight, and taking ages to pick up dropped stitches.  At one point I was close to pulling it all off the needles and giving up.  What particularly irked me was that whatever I did, the tension to the right of the increasing turned out looser than the tension to the left, and I couldn't fathom out why.  I still can't.  Fortunately I gave myself a bit of a talking to, reminded myself that nobody else would notice, and carried on.  All very character building.

So now I have two little sleeves finished, and have started on the back and fronts.  This means surprisingly long rows for such a little cardie, but I managed to cram 147 stitches onto one needle and am now steaming ahead on straight needles.  The real fun will start when I have to knit everything into one piece when I reach the armholes. 

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 299 - Lots of Pockets

Really struggling here to make this project look interesting.  At this point its best feature is its comedy value.  I never thought all these jolly brushed cottons, mainly florals, but with a couple of nursery prints, would end up as a weighted blanket destined for a big burly dad.

This week I have made 35 buttonholes, sewn all the strips of fabric to the backing, placing them so every strip overlaps the next one, and then machine stitched at right angles to the strips to make a lot of pockets.  Each pocket will have a sandwich of wadding slipped inside, and each sandwich will have plastic beads inside to give extra weight.

I have finally turned the corner with this project.  The first stage, making the backing and the strips for the top, was a bit of a headache because I was working with left over pieces.  In the end I have used nine different fabrics, all brushed cottons.  Some were heavier than others, and the lighter ones in particular had a tendency to shift around during cutting, so I have been rather slapdash about right angles and straight lines.

Once all the strips were made, then I got to work making the buttonholes.  This meant getting out the buttonholer and using the Singer 201K treadle.   After finishing the buttonholes, I decided to investigate a slight creak I could hear while sewing.  I didn't think it could be lack of oil, because I keep the machine well lubricated, so I thought it might just be a noise coming from the buttonholer.  I did a quick sample of ordinary straight stitching to test the machine, and all was well - in fact, it sewed so beautifully and smoothly that I decided to use it to do the next stage of sewing, attaching the strips to the backing, and then the stitching in the other direction to make the pockets.  After all the initial frustrations, suddenly making this blanket became an absolute joy.

Next stage - 35 weighted wadding sandwiches!

Talking of sandwiches, next week is party week!  Free Motion Mavericks Week 300 will be at Andrée's blog, where you can link up your three favourite FMQ projects, so you can go delving into your archives.  Meanwhile, you can link up here next week with any three favourite posts you like, so if you have a special project, a photo, a special occasion to remember - anything you would like to share, just link here with up to three posts from your archives.  I shall be showing a favourite cake recipe, and have yet to decide on two more posts.

Here goes for Week 299:-

Many thanks to Pam for linking up last time with her beautiful moth appliqué.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

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.

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 five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

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

St. Michael Triumphs Over The Devil

The truly splendid painting, St Michael Triumphs over the Devil by Bartolomé Bermejo (c.1440 - c. 1501) is in the National Gallery in London.  One of these days I shall make a visit to see it.  In the meantime I am thinking of buying a print and giving it pride of place on the wall above the computer.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 297 - A Note From The Past

Sewing the weighted blanket is taking a little longer than I thought it would.  Too many things have been happening at once.  The most interesting distraction has been cleaning up an old sewing machine, and all my good intentions to devote a day to this project this week have fallen flat.

So far, I have joined three pieces of fabric to form the back, which measures 4 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches.  For the front, which will be made up of rows of pockets into which the weighted pads will be inserted, I have cut out a series of strips to run across the width - two strips of 15 inches, one of 13, one of 11, one of 9 and one of 7.  Soon I shall have 35 buttonholes to do.  The idea is that the pads should be removable to make washing and drying easier.

Most of the fabric belonged to my sister in law's mother, and all the pale blue fabric belonged to my mum.  I remember making a nightdress in the early 1970s with this fabric.  There was plenty left, and my mum obviously had plans for it.  This tiny note was attached to it with a rusty pin.  She died 27 years ago.  I am sure she would be pleased to see it is finally being used.'

Here goes for Week 297:-

Many thanks to Gail for linking up last time with her Carpenter's Star quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

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.

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 five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

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

Poppy at Sunset

Not really a flower, just the last petal of a poppy, seen against a sunset last weekend.

 

Unjamming a Stitch Length Regulator

It can be frustrating doing up an old machine when something is seriously jammed.  This is the stitch length regulator on a Singer 99K hand machine that I have been working on.  When I bought it earlier this week the knob was screwed all the way in and stuck fast.  It was stuck in the position for the longest possible stitch.    

It wasn't possible to get any oil in and onto the thread of the screw, so for two nights running I laid the machine on its back with a piece of cotton yarn wrapped around the screw and soaked the yarn with oil.  The hope was that oil would seep down into the machine and start loosening the screw.  No joy.  Even when using locking adjustable pliers, with a strip of leather protecting the milling around the knob and to help grip, it just wouldn't budge.

It was time for a different approach.  The most likely cause of the jam was hardened residue left by old oil.  This can be softened with heat, so I gave the machine a good blast with a hair dryer until the knob was hot.  I was a little worried about applying too much heat and affecting the japanning, so if I ever need to do this again on another machine I will make a cardboard collar to protect the rest of the machine.

While the knob was still warm I tried turning it with the pliers, and finally it moved.  Sure enough, when I could see the thread of the screw, there was the black residue that had caused the trouble.

The quickest way to get rid of the residue is with metal polish.  I always have a tube of Peek metal polish handy to use on my sewing machines, so I put a small splodge onto the screw.

Then I used some strong crochet cotton to rub the polish back and forth into the grooves of the thread.  The muck came off quickly and easily.

Because there was bound to be some more rubbish left inside the machine, I oiled the thread, screwed the knob back in, cleaned that oil off (which came out brownish), and repeated a couple more times until the oil came out clean.   

Now the knob is nice and clean, and easily adjustable, so once I get the machine up and running I know I can adjust the stitch.

I am now over halfway through cleaning up this particular machine and should be ready to test the stitch in a couple of days.  It is a while since I worked on a machine.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it!

Baby Blanket Ready For Baby

Nicely rolled up for the photo call to keep it semi secret, because this blanket is for a baby due in a month's time.  I am so glad to have it finished!  It is colourful, to say the least.  It should give the baby something to look at in quieter moments.

I used up oddments of wool left over from previous projects.  Many of them were random yarns from which I have made baby cardigans, so that gave an even livelier colour scheme.

This is the first project I have made in the woven effect stitch, and I am very pleased with the outcome.  The blanket has a firmer texture than one expects with knitting, so it should keep its shape fairly well and stand up to all the kicking and stretching that a baby will give it.

Now I shall relax and look forward to seeing the baby!