Category: crafting

  • Hurry Up and Wait (to sew)

    I went up to my parents’ house for a birthday BBQ yesterday (which was super delicious) and came home with one of the sewing machines that’s been living in their basement – yay!

    new to me

    It’s a Singer from the 1970s – model is Stylist 514. I downloaded the manual from the Singer website and threaded it up, but only managed to practice sewing together a few scraps before I heard a thunk! The feed dogs weren’t moving, and I couldn’t figure it out from looking just under the needle plate.

    So this morning, fully rested with lots of light, I opened it up.

    machine innards

    machine innards

    It’s not in bad shape, having been sitting unused since its last servicing. But those broken bits at the bottom? The plastic gear that makes the feed dog assembly go is just completely cracked and busted. I did feel pretty accomplished after opening it up, seeing how it works, and putting it back together, so I’ve ordered the parts and I’m going to try fixing it myself. In the meantime, though, it’s back to needle and thread!

    quilting progress

    The quilting on the chevron quilt is coming along – I think I’ll be done after one more set of diagonals. I’m already planning my next quilt, which will hopefully be pieced on the sewing machine once it’s all fixed up.

    Oh, and a reminder – my birthday pattern sale is still on! Purchase any of my self-published patterns on Ravelry and get 29% off (no coupon code needed) until the end of Monday, August 5, 2013. Enjoy!

  • Monday Photos

    tigerellas

    cherry tomatoes

    tiny eggplant

    purple calabash

    tiny bean!

    Quilt progress - slow, but nearly done the first pass.

    Fabric organization pleases me!

    squishy

  • Heat Wave

    It’s really, really freaking hot out there this week – here in Toronto it’s always terribly humid in the summer, and the highs with the humidex this week are over 40C/104F! Luckily I’ve got lots of iced coffee and AC at home (mostly; it’s a long story) so it’s not too bad. I’ve also got some super secret deadline knitting to do, so I’m trying to keep my sewing-for-me to the evenings.

    quilt sandwich-ing

    The extra fabric to finish off Dale’s quilt arrived yesterday, so I was able to put together the last solid strip and get it all sandwiched up. Can’t wait to start quilting it!

    wiksten #2 in progress

    My Wiksten tank is coming along – still needs its armhole facings and a hem.

    Finally washing some fabrics from the textile museum sale.

    Finally got around to washing some fabrics from the Textile museum sale – the quilting cottons had obviously been washed before, but I put them through anyway since who knows how long they were stored.

    I’ve recently learned that the Toronto Public Library has free issues of some awesome current magazines available for download to digital devices with no time limit! You need an account, but since I set it up I’ve downloaded and read lots, including some fashion-y ones, cooking magazines and quilting magazines! I read a tip in “American Patchwork & Quilting” about organizing sewing stuff in a cutlery tray, and it just so happened that I had an extra one and a need for more sewing organization.

    some sewing organization

    some sewing organization

    I finally cleaned up some of my sewing stuff and now I can actually see what colours of thread and such I have! For someone who hasn’t sewn much in the last few years I sure have a lot of thread and notions. I have a LOT of zippers (most of which I put away in a clear box). Next up is tidying my fabric scraps into strips and small squares – I have a couple of nice big jars to put them in.