Free Motion Mavericks - Week 369 - Planning Pays Off

Now that the marmalade season has just about finished, I am getting back to work on the wedding quilt.  These are the three colours that I am using for the backing, with the gold fabric I have set aside for the binding on the left.  Yesterday I cut out the last of the pieces ready for the sandwiches.  It was quite an adjustment, picking up again from where I left off, after abandoning the project for a while.  Fortunately, I have planned this quilt with uncharacteristic efficiency.

This is how I started, with these little squares representing the nine main blocks.  I coloured them in, with a different colour for each of the fabrics I was going to use, making each block different.  Then I spent an hour and a half at least arranging them like puzzle pieces to make sure the colours were evenly distributed across the whole quilt.  The writing on the back corresponds with which way up the block is placed, and notes all the fabrics to be used and the colour of the backing.

Once I had pieced the nine central blocks I planned the border and corner blocks.

The amazing thing is not just that I have drawn up plans for this quilt, but also that they weren't on scrappy backs of envelopes and that I haven't lost them.  I have even kept the sheets of paper where I was working out the cutting plan for the backing fabrics, which I had miscalculated when buying them because two of the fabrics were narrower than the first one I chose.  That piece of paper also has marmalade calculations on it, how much sugar for the weight of fruit, and just about sums up my creative life over the past few months.

Is it still realistic to hope for a finish by Easter?  Let's see...

 Here goes for Week 369:-

Many thanks to Gretchen for linking up with her Circle of Squares 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.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 367 - A Break From Quilting

It has been a busy fortnight of zero quilting.  The kitchen has turned into a marmalade factory because it is that time of year again, the month and a half when Seville oranges are on sale, and when I haven't been busy cooking I have been cleaning up a machine.

This smart Singer 99K belongs to my neighbour Jenny.  It has been up in her loft for years, and her son fetched it down a couple of weeks ago.  It belonged to her mother, and hasn't been used for decades.

I checked the serial number and found that it was manufactured in 1935.

When I lifted the machine to look underneath it I found the original manual hidden in the base.  Luckily the machine hadn't been oiled before it was put away, otherwise oil would have dripped down on the manual and ruined it.

With the manual was an interesting looking gadget called the Singercraft Guide.  I have never come across one of these before.  

It has a blade at the end, the thickness of a razor blade.

The only instructions with the attachment were for fitting in a blade, which must be well nigh impossible to replace these days.  There were no clues as to what it was used for, but checking online I found that it is an ingenious little device used for making rugs.

Perhaps that explains why the machine was so incredibly dusty.

The bobbin winder was absolutely caked with fibres...

... but once I had finished cleaning I was delighted to see that the dust hadn't been hiding any rust.

It was the same story under the needle plate...

... but once I got into all the nooks and crannies I could see everything was going to move perfectly.

The only repair I had to do was a bit of shammy leather tied around the finger on the handcrank, because the original covering, which was probably leather, had worn away so that when the wheel was being turned metal was knocking against metal. 

Once all the cleaning and the repair was done, I gave the machine a generous oiling, and also cleaned the body of the machine with a little dab of oil on cotton wool.

The it was time to test the stitch.  As I expected, perfect!  These old 99Ks make a lovely stitch.

 

Here goes for Week 367:-

Many thanks to Gail for linking up last time with her Fall Mystery 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.