Repairs made - time to resume sewing

I've been using my mom's old Singer 774 for the past 4 years for the majority of my sewing and quilting. From the information I found on the internet, it seems mom's machine is from about 1975, which makes it about 5 years older than me. A few years ago, mom & dad bought me my very own sewing machine at Big Lots and it sews OK but it's a brand I haven't heard of and only came with a few accessories. Plus I learned to sew on mom's machine and it's what I am confortable with. Mom won't give it to me, even though she bought a newer & fancier Singer about 10-15 years ago. So I borrow it for awhile until she says she needs it back. Then I borrow it again the next time I visit :-)

Mom's machine started skipping stiches recently. It started when I was working on Piet & Kate's wedding quilt but I was zigzagging through several layers of fabric at the time. I tried everything I could think of to get the zigzag working so I could finish sewing down the binding for that quilt ( I was about halfway through when it started acting up) but I ended up having to rip out all the work I had done and stich-in-the-ditch since I wasn't happy with my hand stiching.

A couple weeks ago, I was making a quilt for a silent auction for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and it started skipping on the straight stitch too. At times, over an inch of stiches were skipped. I texted mom and she asked if I had oiled it. That was the one thing I hadn't tried yet so I got some sewing machine oil at Joann's and now we seem to be back to normal! It is still making clicking noises on the zigzag but the stitch itself is coming out OK. More time with the oil & Qtips and hopefully all will be well. Otherwise, a trip to the doc might be in order for mom's machine.

So now it's time to start making those Christmas gifts and making things to get my Etsy shop up and running!

Organized (kind of)

Yesterday, I organized my fabric, some notions and books. Gotta love back-to-school at Target, you can pick up a 3-shelf bookcase for only $20!
Dan was surprised by how much fabric I had on hand. Some of it was in a 15 gallon plastic tub by the dining room table and the rest was under our bed in a plastic storage container. I guess he didn't have an opportunity to see what I had since it wasn't in 1 spot until now. Now its in the living/dining room, next to the bookcase with all our movies.
I am almost done with the quilt for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society silent auction tomorrow. I made it with fabric leftover from previous quilts and it turned out pretty well. Hopefully it gets a decent amount at the auction!

Nearly done...

I'm ALMOST done with the front of mom's quilt. It is gigantic. Or maybe it just seems that way since the largest quilt I made before this was about 48x60. This one will be about 73x85 when I am done.

The photos look extra awesome because I took them with my cell phone, which has no flash. I also apparently need to clean up the living room. The photo with Rory was taken by standing on my couch. My living/dining room almost isn't big enough to lay this quilt on the floor.

The missing section is currently with my mom. It was all I had done by her birthday last month and so she is mailing it back to me so I can finish up :-)

I wish I had taken some in-progress photos but I didn't. Next time, right?

I also need to figure out how to quilt it. I am still a "stitch in the ditch" quilter. I figure I'll go around each star but I need to figure out what else to do. Suggestions please!

Finishing momma's birthday quilt

I'm nearly done with mom's birthday quilt - just the 2 red borders to sew together and add the section I mailed her for her birthday. Her birthday (also our anniversary) was July 24th so I mailed her what I had done at the time. All 120 blocks were sewn but I only managed to get 3 of the 12 rows sewn together before her bday.

I don't have a copy of the magazine with me but I am making her the "Scrappy Star" quilt from the June 2006 American Pathcwork & Quilting magazine. I did find somene's finished version of the pattern on Flickr so this will give you an idea of what the finished piece will look like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerquilter/3711455443/

Here's the cover of the issue of the magazine featuring the quilt:

I don't have any in-progress photos to share but I will share the finished product. I just need mom to mail back the section of the quilt I sent her :-)

This is the largest quilt I've sewn so far. It's a little larger than a standard twin size and is made to go on the bed in Mom's guest/craft room, which until a few years ago was MY room. Mom took a completely different decorating approach than I would have approved. It's a kind of country, red/white/blue star room. Much different than the pseudo-retro 50's vibe Dan & I have going at our house and different than the intended bedding set she showed me before I moved to Oregon for grad school. Oh well, it's not my room and the quilt will be a perfect match.

Super Mario Bros. Quilt for my man Dan

Here is the start of the quilt I am making for Dan. I intended it to be a birthday gift (his b-day was Saturday) but once I got started I quickly realized there was NO WAY I was going to get close to finishing before his actual birthday. So I decided to get a start on it. Oh, and I could only work on it when he wasn't home - which ended up being evenings he went to the gym (also meaning no gym for me) and the Saturday mornings he worked after I got home from my 8, 10 or 12 mile runs.

I had hoped to get the mushroom done too but he ended up leaving work early last Thursday and going to the gym before I got home and then he didn't have to work on Saturday morning. Which was nice for him, since it was his birthday but it meant I didn't get the 1-up mushroom done. I got the 1-up part done & laid out the rest (covered by my cutting mat), so I gave him a photo of the pieces I laid out.

Each piece is 1" before I start and 1/2" once it's sewn. I got the idea here but I wanted more characters from the NES Super Mario Bros. games (1-3) so I made my Mario pieces waaaaay smaller. I plan to have different Marios (fire suit, frog, etc), Luigi, Princess Peach (as a red head, of course), goombas, koopas, etc.

Oh, Mario finished is about 8" x 8.5". I think I will add a border of some sort but I haven't decided the color or thickness.

I LOVE lawn gnomes

I stumbed across a fabric (here) I think I MUST own - it's lawn gnomes!!! Now I have to find this fabric somewhere...If you find this fabric (or something similar) somewhere, I will be your best friend, make you a pie, take care of your kids...

I did a Google search and so far have found this fabric. Super cute too!

Sven, Gustov, Norm (the TV gnome) and Christian (the Christmas gnome) need a friend on fabric. Maybe a whole gnome quilt...

Like a little kid, I WANT, I WANT, I WANT!

Another blue & green wedding gift quilt

This is the fourth wedding quilt I have made in the past couple years. For some reason, they have all been shades of green and blue. But this one was made...

WITH CHOCOLATE!

I didn't have enough of 1 fabric to make the back so I pieced it together and I really like how it came out since it's almost like 2 quilts in 1 now!