Finished Blocks

I have finally had some time to sew this week.  Not very much time, but every few minutes count!

I only got four blocks done so far.

This is where I am sewing.

If I counted right, I have ten blocks left!

In the summer when I had hurt my knee and was couch bound, I got all of my blocks ready for sewing.  I separated them with finished blocks.

Of course I had cats hanging out with me.  Oreo was in the right spot, on the cat bed.

Tiger was sitting on my treadles - sigh

Muffin was very much in the way.  He kept coming back to this spot too!

This is where I keep my finished blocks, unfortunately Oreo has no problem getting in the basket!  If I counted right, I have 71 finished blocks!  That means I should have about 80 blocks when all finished.  I am off by one somewhere, but better one too many then to be short one!

I am hoping to start sewing the top together this weekend, it just depends.  I offered to help with the food for the murder mystery dinner theater my school is putting on Saturday.

Tell me what kind of "helpers" you have!

Missy

Black Friday Shopping - Quilting Style

Do you like to do Black Friday Shopping?  I do in a way.  I have a system, I cut out pictures of what I want at the store and go in and buy that item, I pull out the picture at the store and find it.  It's a lot easier to find with a picture and that way I don't forget anything or wander around aimlessly.  I never go when the store first opens either, who needs that stress?
Joann's has come out with their Black Friday ad!  You can see it here:
https://blackfriday.com/stores/joann-fabrics/flyers/black-friday?utm_source=BlackFriday&utm_campaign=667a3c9b44-tigerdirect_groupon_zales_joann_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6a70e53d51-667a3c9b44-69704821
The only thing is that I have to Go to Springfield which is an hour away!  Yes, my husband has already agreed that we can go to Springfield that day!

I do have a small local quilt shop, Dogwood Quilting, they are also having a sale.  20% - 30% off bolted fabric.

Those are the only ones I know of so far.  Of course the online quilt shops will also be having sales, probably on Cyber Monday.

I need ot have a picture on here, so here is a picture of a pilgrim sewing.

Happy Black Friday shopping next week!

Missy

Annie

Do you remember Annie?  I was about nine or ten when it came out in the theaters.  It is the only movie I remember going to with my mom.
Here are some old pictures of me with my mom, you can see where I get my silliness from!

 I miss my mom, have not seen her in over a year, so when I watched Annie on Netflix, I thought of my mom!

What does this have to do with sewing you ask?  I had never realized that there was a sewing scene in Annie and the orphans are use industrial treadles!  I thought that was pretty awesome!

Missy

Feline Friday

Hello, my name is Muffin Man, but everyone calls me Muffin.  My mom thinks it's funny to sing the "Do you know the Muffin Man" song to me.  I'm too dignified for that though.  I'm in charge of all of the cats at my house even though I am only five.

I keep track of any cats that come in to my yard too.

Of course, I have to make my rounds on the sewing machines when mommy leaves the door open.  That is my brother Tiger behind me.

The other cats like to snuggle with him because he is so fuzzy.  Oreo is pretty fuzzy too though.  He is one of the "kittens" because they are the youngest, even though they are 1 1/2 now.

Oreo is always getting into something.

This is Pippi.  I raised her from a baby, she was four weeks old when she came home.  I took over the care of cleaning her and keeping her warm.  I also taught her to go potty.  Mommy really appreciated the help.  She is four now.

These three really like to hang out in Mom's dress form.

Pippi

Oreo

Cupcake

Cupcake is Oreo's sister.  She is always causing trouble and getting into places she shouldn't.  Mommy thinks she is the one who ate her cactus last night.

The other kitten, their sister, is Custard.  She thinks she is a princess and does not always do what you want.  She would not sit still for a picture!

She finally was still, but only to take a bath.

We have two more in our house.  They are older then me, but I'm still in charge!

This is Precious, he is about 16 years old.  Mommy is not sure because he was a stray she adopted in AR.  He is not doing very well, so we all take care of him.

Our other elder is Squeeky, she is nine years old.  I like to chase her because she screams as if I'm killing her.  It is very funny because I don't even touch her!

Be sure to check out Denise's blog at Count it All Joy.  She asked Mommy to write this post, but I would not let her say what she wanted to, I took it over.  Of course, Mommy is also linking up with Sarah at Sarah Did It for Feline Friday.

Trying to Sew

Hello everyone!  Boy have I missed ya'll!  I love teaching, but it does not leave much time for sewing and blogging!  I've finally had some time to sit down and sew on Sunday night.  I pulled out my scrappy trip along blocks (there is only about 10 left!) and started to sew.  Well, I started getting rat's nests so I threw away the very old thread I was using and put in new thread.  The thread kept breaking!  I asked on Mad For Treadles on FB what they thought the problem was.  They said check for burrs or change my needle.  I ran to Walmart and bought some quilting needles before work yesterday.  Tried it out today, it sews perfect now!

 This is my set up.  I have my ironing station on the right, my table on the left to lay out my blocks.

 I have terrible lighting in my sewing room, so I have my ottlite on the right, which I can use on either that machine or my hand crank.  On the left I have the lamp I bought for a $1 at an auction!

I can't wait to come home and sew tonight!  Although I have gotten a little distracted with Christmas decorations, they have been packed up for two years and a friend gave me some stuff when she moved, so I need to see what  I have.  I do know I am missing one box of stuff that I need to find in the garage.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Missy

My sewing Room!

I thought I would share more pictures of my sewing room with you!  Here are pictures of my new cutting table.

My sewing corner 

 Here is the machine where I do all of my quilting.

My Singer 16 U288 1891 Industrial treadle, with Muffin

To the left is my handcrank where I do all of my small piecing.  It is in a green cabinet I bought at a thrift store.

Singer Red Eye 66, back clamping, converted to a hand crank, 1918

The next is the treadle that sew my bigger quilting pieces on, like strips and stuff.  It has Lotus decals on it.  This was my, "I want that" machine.

Singer 66, back clamping, 1915

Over here I have my electric Elnita that needs to be tested out.  On top is my portable hand crank that you have seen before, my Singer 99 that is a 3/4 size of the 66's above.  It was originally electric, but was missing the knee bar.  Beside it is an old changing table that the top is used for a cat bed and the lower shelves hold my ongoing projects.

 This is my closet area and my Singer 12 that needs a lot of cleaning still.  She is from 1872.

 I still need a needle plate and needles for her.

Here is the top of my closet.

That is my sewing room, yes, all but two of the machines are used!  The Elnita and 12 are not used yet.
Muffin is hosting my Feline Friday post and will have more to show you!

How many sewing machines do you use?
Missy

Cherries and Strawberries!

Kay of Massachusetts traded two more blocks with me!  She had cherries and strawberries and I just love them!  They will also add some more red to quilt.
Today is Feline Friday, so I need to share some more cat pictures with you!
Muffin and Pippi love each other so much.

I caught Oreo in an undignified pose.  That's Tiger in the background.

Custard is such a sweet sleeping baby.  That is Muffin's back she is curled up to.

I have not gotten any sewing done this week.  We are having parent teacher conferences this week, which means some very long days!

Have a great weekend!
Missy

new cutting table/desk

I was at a thrift store, about a month ago, that was going out of business and found this desk for one dollar!  I thought it would be perfect for my cutting table/sewing table!  I was using a wobbly card table for my cutting table and the dining room table for electric sewing machine.
My husband volunteered to paint it green for me!  He also added grey to the front drawers.
The drawer that is supposed to hold a computer is perfect for my Janome and some of my tubs.  There is even a small shelf for my teflon glider!

 I was able to put my caddy that holds my scissors, rotary cutters and stuff in the bottom drawer.  It is nice and deep.  Of course Tiger wanted to be in the picture.

 The middle drawer holds some of my attachments and stuff.  Of course a delinter for all of the cat hair is also in there.

 I was able to fit my big mat and my small rotating mat on it also.  It is a BIG desk!

 I used one of my cork boards from my old Sunday school class to hold the bigger and smallest  rulers.  Do you see Oreo's tail in that picture?

This is the desk before the drawers were added.

Here is a close up picture.  (The beach towel on the back of my chair goes over my industrial head because I have not made a cover for it yet.  It helps with cat hair and dust)

In order to get that big desk in there I had to rearrange the whole room.  It was already a mess and everything got moved to the middle of the room.  It was actually worse then this because all of the machines were also with that mess!

 My husband also painted my three dollar chandelier.  I was going to put jars on there, but no matter what way I try, it just will not work.  Oh well.

Tomorrow, I'll show you the rest of my sewing room!  Now that it is clean again I should be able to get some more sewing done!

Missy