Birdhouse Quilt Update 5/basting

We rushed on Thursday to get the bottom and top of the quilt finished http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/02/birdhouse-quilt-update-4the-back.html
We needed to get it basted on Friday so we could start the hand quilting on Saturday.  Our deadline is February 28, Marie's surprise 50th birthday party is March 1st.  I know this is a terrible picture of me.  My mom was in town that day and I had been gone since 7 that morning and we were meeting at 7:30 at church to do the basting.  I was literally gone from 7 am to 9:30 pm that day!

Here is a better picture of the back of the quilt.  It's huge!  We laid it on tables because we thought it would help save our backs and knees from crawling on the floor.

First I took the back and layed it upside down on the table.  I used painters tape to tape it to the table keeping it as smooth and taut as possible.

Daniel walked in as Kristi and I were laying out the batting on top of the quilt back and we recruited his help for the moment.  He was embarrassed about me taking a picture of him "sewing".  The batting was not quite wide enough so Skye cut and sewed it together to make it big enough.  You want the batting to be bigger all around than the quilt top.  You will trim it after you quilt.  Also, if you are using cotton batting, it is a good idea to wash it first in case it shrinks.

You need to start the basting in the middle of the quilt and smooth out as you go.  This will prevent lumps and tuckers in your quilt when you quilt.  The only problem is that neither Kristi nor I wanted to crawl on the tables to reach the middle.  Ashleigh walked in and got recruited for that job.

Valerie took over after she left.

Kristi and I were smoothing and basting on opposite ends from each other.  I use special bent quilting safety pins for my basting.  The big ones.

Go ahead and buy the big bag or several small bags because you will need them all!  We ran out and had to use straight pins and I kept stabbing myself as I was smoothing the top down.  
When we finished basting it, we took the tape off rolled each end to each other and put it on the quilting loom ready for the next day.  I'll have another blog post about the hand quilting.
Here is another post about the quilt http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/01/birdhouse-quilt-update-2.html
http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/01/birdhouse-quilt-progress.html
I'm going to my friend Joeann's house to do some more hand quilting on Tuesday.  Have a great day ya'll!
Missy

Birdhouse Quilt Update #4/The back

We are in the final stages of the birdhouse quilt.  My friend Cara embroidered a block for us to put on the quilt.  It says:  Quilted With Love by your Kingdom Sisters, Feb. 2012.  The name of our church is Kingdom Baptist Church.  I had also joined a challenge over at Amy's Creative Side http://amyscreativeside.com/category/challenge-week/ to finish one thing this week, my goal was to finish this back.  I had also said I would get the rust off of my treadle, but that did not happen.

Since Skye took the top home to finish (remember that post?  http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-have-had-terrible-day-want-to-hear.html ) after my car accident, I needed to finish the quilt bottom.  We bought some pretty birdhouse material, but it was expensive and we did not have enough for a king size quilt.  Lauren took the long piece from the back and sewed the two pieces side to side to make it wider.  I took the scraps and cut 18 inch squares.  I cut them again and then sewed the mixed pieces together, sewed them to the top and cut off the excess.

I took the leftover blocks from the front and sewed a strip for the bottom because I needed about another 5 inches.  I used lots of scraps.  Which I sewed on wrong and had to rip the seam out.

I cut a little more than six inches off and then sewed it in between the two pieces.

I wish I had done the same for top of the quilt because we added a part of the middle from the front of the quilt since we will have to cut off a couple of inches from the top.

Here is the other side of the quilt.  I made it too big, I figured out the measurements the day of my car accident when I was really stressed, but I would rather have it too big than too small.

Of course Tiger helped me put the cover on the bed.

Muffin helped me to measure it.

And Pippi helped me with the sewing.

See, I had lots of help with the back!  LOL

Your quilt back should always be bigger than your quilt top by at least 3-4 inches and you then trim it after quilting.
I did all this in less than a week while dealing with insurance coverage, car coverage, car repairs, a whip lashed back and two chiropractor appointments!  LOL
Friday we basted and Saturday we learned how to hand quilt, I blog about that in the next two posts. though!
Skye sent me a picture of the finished quilt top too!

Have a great day ya'll!
Missy
See more posts about this quilt here:
http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/01/birdhouse-quilt-progress.html

Texas Gone Crazy Quilt

Last week I checked out this book at the library.  It is Very Easy Crazy Patchwork by Betty Barnden.

I fell in love with this book and I cannot wait to try it out!  It has great pictures and instructions for machine and hand quilting.  It also has several projects and different types of crazy patchwork.  If you are interested in this kind of thing I definitely recommend this book!

On Friday at my quilt block of the month demo, the Quilter's Guild of Arlington were showcasing a crazy patchwork quilt.  I took pictures to share with you, they are on my camera phone so sorry they aren't better.

I could not get the whole quilt in the picture, sorry.

I love this fan.  She said everyone did a block and then they sewed them together.

Add caption

Look at the cute little spider.

Can you see the amazing details that were added?

Isn't this a fun quilt?  Not to mention all the little details that were added!

For more information on how you can get this quilt, go to www.QGOA.org  It is called "Mama's Crazy Quilt"

Quilter's Guild of Arlington is having the 2012 Annual Festival of Quilts "Texas Gone Crazy" May 11 and 12, 2012.  I am going to try to go, sounds like fun!  Visit their website for more information!

Missy

My Quilt Block of the month and tips I've learned.

I have not mentioned this much, but with everything else going on I am also doing a quilt block of the month.  Each quilt block is different.  I started it in October.  I paid $7 for my first block (the material and patterns) then when I bring each block in, I get a new block kit for free.  I ended up paying $40 for the acrylic pattern pieces, which I was not expecting. So make sure you know ALL the details first!  LOL   I guess they use these pieces every year and after a while you don't have to buy them anymore.  My first block turned out fine, I'll have to show you a picture later, but blocks Nov. and Dec. did not turn out very well.  I need to redo them.  Here are some things I have learned as a newbie, some things I learned in my one quilting class.
I take a picture at the quilt shop during the demo I go to every month.

The above pictures are the pictures I took in class, aren't they nice?  two days after posting this, I realized that I sewed my corners backwards!  LOL

Then I look at the picture and lay out my pieces.  This helps me understand the pattern better.

You need to use a scant 1/4 inch seam or your block will not turn out.  A quarter inch foot came with my new machine - I love it!  Otherwise you need to mark 1/4 on your machine using a ruler.  I had mine marked with tape but my seams were not right which is why my blocks did not turn out.  I'll have to remember to take a picture of the correct way to do that.

You do not back stitch when quilting, instead leave a little tail between each piece.  This was "chain stitched" where you sew several pieces at one time, it saves on thread and time.  In the third picture you can see where I began my chain stitch with a piece of scrap fabric.  This keeps your machine from eating your material.  I also saw on a video today where she used her seam ripper to hold corners down before they go through the feed dogs.  This also keeps those "dogs" from "eating " your material.  LOL  (I know corny, just indulge me and smile)

As I sew each piece, I lay it back in order. 

You HAVE to press each seam the way your pattern specifies after each seam stitching. If you want a nice quilt, you cannot be lazy!

You can see I still have a lot of practicing to do on my sewing.  I really like how you make individual blocks that you then sew together to form one big block.
Here it is, the finished block!

Here it is the finished block in all of it's misshapen glory!  I have not trimmed it yet.  I'm waiting until I finish all of them to make sure they are all the same size.  I can only get better, right?
I will start making this a monthly thing as I learn new things from these quilt blocks.


Happy quilting!
Missy

White Vibrating Shuttle Sewing Machine

I went to that junk shop where I got my treadle.  For more info on that go here:  http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/01/treadle-sewing-machine-and-winner.html
I had seen a green sewing machine cabinet that I wanted to use for my Janome, at $25 that is cheaper than buying a new ugly plastic one.

I had just seen a peek since there was something sitting on top of it.
I opened it up and looked at it and it was a White number 8 electrical sewing machine.

It was pretty filthy, I wanted you to see the metal underneath the machine.

This is the inside of the door on the cabinet, see the place for the threads?  There are also two little shelves.

I found this manual for a white number 8 vibrating shuttle, and the owner of the shop gave it to me because we thought it was the manual for my machine.

I started looking through the manual and it is for a treadle that looks just like my machine, they both say white number 8, but the designs are different.  My machine is also a vibrating shuttle.

I called the Viking 1-800 # I got here:

http://www.treadleon.net/whitesm/whites.html        

This is a great article on White treadle machines from treadleon.net, a great resource for treadle and hand cranked sewing machines.  The serial number is 1833719, according to the operator it was manufactured in 1934 in Cleveland, OH.  According to another serial number list it is from 1928, from the style and stuff that makes more sense.  That is the only info she had.  So we do not know if it was originally a hand powered machine that was later converted or if it was made new as electric.

I still love this cabinet, so I have two people warring inside me right now.  On the one hand I love antiques and I don't want to mess with it unless it is to refurbish it(although the chord is so old it is scary) or do I go ahead and gut it and make it into the much needed sewing machine cabinet I need for my Janome so that I get it off the kitchen table?  What do you think?  Please comment and let me have your opinion or any information about this machine.
Update:  I have decided to keep the two together, My vintage loving self just could not take them apart!  LOL

Oh, here is another great article on the history of White sewing machines

http://www.ismacs.net/white/white.html

Torn between between history and necessity,

Missy

What a terrible day!

I have had a terrible day!  Want to hear about it?

Well, I feel like talking about it.  Today was a very full day.  I had to leave at 7am to take my husband to work 30 minutes away so that I could have the car.  He works in Burleson and my quilt block of the month demo is in Burleson.  This afternoon, I had to meet with my friends to sew on the birdhouse quilt.  This was my plans!

It started before we even left the house.  My kitten Pippi, ate a hole in one of my favorite socks.  (I know, very weird!  I think she's part chihuaha sometimes)

Right after we left I realized that I forgot my bag that had rows from the quilt that we needed to sew on today.  That was the first strike of the day.

I dropped my husband off at work and was on my way to Wal-Mart to hang out until 9:00 when the quilt shop opened.  At 8am this morning I was driving along minding my own business when out of nowhere from the right I see a blur of white coming straight at me and before I had a chance to hit the horn and warn him that I was there I felt a horrific jolt and my car started spinning to the left.  In just a split second, I was in the turning lane facing the other side of the street and the white car was in the lane of opposing traffic facing me!  I was dazed and did not know what to do so I grabbed my phone and called 911.  We both just sat there stunned for a moment and then I pulled my car into a parking lot, didn't even have to turn since I was already facing the parking lot.

What happened is that it was raining and the car in front of the guy stopped quickly and I was in his blind spot so he didn't see me when he swerved into my lane to avoid the other car.  He was really nice though and very concerned about me.

My friend Skye picked me up from my husband's work place to take me to the church for our Sewing circle.  We had to run by my house to pick up the fabric I forgot, we were 45 min. late.  I had planned on finishing the top and the bottom of the quilt today.  We had another problem, since we had so many people working on it, not every row was the exact same length, which means that not every sash lined up.  To be honest after being on the phone all day with insurance adjuster, car rentals and more - I could not handle one more problem to solve.  I just turned the whole top over to Skye and told her to fix it any way she wanted to.  I just started working on the back, it was a lot easier to figure out.  We never did finish, I took the quilt back to finish at home because my ride to Enterprise was ready to leave.  After getting the rental car I got home after 6.   I have just spent the rest of the evening sitting in my big, green comfy chair catching up on the internet.

To end the day, the band on my watch broke and I stepped in cat throw up.  I just started laughing and crying at the same time while my husband just looked at me as if I was going crazy.

But "rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice"

Tomorrow will be a great day!

The good news is "it could always be worse!"  That was my favorite book as a kid!  LOL

Have a great day ya'll!

Missy

This should make you smile!

This is my Tiger as a kitten.

3-tiered Skirt

I was looking at my clothes and realized I never shared my tiered skirt I made last year.  It was a pretty easy skirt to make, my husband found the material on clearance at Wal-Mart as a kit for chair pads.

I really should make another and do a tutorial for ya'll.  Is that something ya'll would be interested in?

Are you wondering yet where we were?  LOL

We were at Dinosaur World in Glen Rose, TX.  That's the day I found my Franklin.   Which BTW, is a Franklin Vibrating Shuttle.  http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/01/treadle-sewing-machine-and-winner.html

It's a great place for photos, otherwise not worth it in my opinion.  Kids would probably enjoy it.

It was the only cold day we have had, today was in the 70s in TX!

Job 41:1 ¶ Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord [which] thou lettest down?
Ps 74:14  Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Ps 104:26  There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
Isa 27:1  In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Dinosaurs are even in the Bible!

We went to the Creation Science museum which was just down the street, and it was a lot better!

My husband refused to put his head in the dinosaur's mouth so I had to do it!  LOL
Overall the best part of the day was the junk shop.  I am going to drive all the way back to the junk shop on Saturday to see if they have any more sewing machine cabinets left so that I can get one for my Janome.  Wanna go with me?

Here's a better picture of my skirt.
Happy hunting!
Missy