In the scenario where you can only take one possession out of a burning building what would it be? For me, it’s always been my sewing machine. It’s been with me from the start.
Anything I know about sewing has all been learnt on this Bernina 830.
Everything from my first buttonhole, my first patchwork blanket and my many attempts of sewing clothing to add to my wardrobe.
Originally it was my mother’s. She purchased it new in 1973 shortly after marrying my dad. She was a resourceful woman but she knew the importance of investing in a quality machine.
I remember spending hours sitting beside her machine while growing up, watching her create memories. From frilly Sunday dresses, flannel pajamas to custom homemade bed sheets, and who could forget our homemade Cabbage Patch dolls and Care Bears.
My other machine is a vintage, second hand Piedmont sewing machine picked up at a thrift store in rural Manitoba.
Nothing too fancy about the stiches, forward and back, but it can sew through anything.
It’s a beautiful, solid machine
I keep it accessible just because I think it’s beautiful.
In celebration of vintage I worked on a few quilts for this blog entry. Using traditional quilt patterns, I have three quilt tops that are ready to be quilted.
The Whimsical Whirl of Alice
I originally started this quilt years ago in an attempt to get familiar with sewing with the Piedmont sewing machine.
What better way to be able to sew on a beautiful vintage machine than with a traditional quilt pattern. At least that’s what I initially thought, but somewhere along the way the project got lost amongst other incomplete projects.
For this quilt I used a pattern called ‘The Great Circle Quilt’ from ‘Aunt Martha’s Favorite Quilt’ pattern book that I’m sure I picked up in a thrift store somewhere.
This last week I revisited it and the quilt top is finally pieced together and now waits to be quilted. I’m going to call this quilt ‘Alice’
Quilt Dimensions: 48”x60”
Easter in New York City
As a child, I remember our family receiving a blanket from Grandma Schroeder. She wasn’t my real grandma; she was an adopted ‘grandma’, as she was my aunt’s mother. She lived in a time where quilts were a resourceful reflection of the past. Using bits and pieces of fabrics from worn-out clothing and other scraps from around the house she would piece together blankets.
While out on family picnics I remember lying on the blanket matching up fabrics from one area of the blanket to the same fabric on the other corner of the blanket, wondering how all these odd shaped pieces of fabric were pieced together? Truth be told, I still don’t know how those blankets were sewn together, except with a lot patience.
But in the curiosity of creating my own crazy quilt, I found a pattern of a ‘cheater’ version of a crazy quilt online. http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2006/10/crazy_about_qui.html
I pieced this quilt together back in 2010, and pulled it out this week to prep it for quilting.
This will be the backing of the quilt. A collage of New York City. I call this quilt ‘Easter in New York City’.
Quilt Dimensions: 64”x86”
Spring is in the Air
I bought this fabric collection at a quilt show back in 2009. A panel of birds with a few coordinating fat quarters**.
** ‘Fat Quarter’ is a quilting term. It’s a ¼ of a meter cut of quilting fabric. But Instead of a ¼ meter cut that is usually 9”x44” of quilting fabric, a fat quarter has the dimensions of 18”x22”. It allows more versatility with the print and cut pieces for a patchwork quilt. It also allows one to purchase more useful sample pieces of a fabric collection to add to your fabric stash.
I chose a traditional quilt pattern for this quilt called ‘Fanciful Flowers’ from a book called ‘Material Obsession-Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots’ by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. I took the liberty to alter the pattern to fit the bird panel size and to make it a lap quilt, perfect for on the couch.
I cut and pieced this quilt together this last week, and my fabric collection in the sewing room did exactly what it was built to do! It supplied me with a backing and all the sashing without having to leave my sewing room.
I’m calling this quilt, ‘Twitter’.
Quilt Dimensions: 54”x66”
Next comes the Quilting…
I have decided to machine quilt the New York City and Twitter quilt. And because I have always wanted to hand quilt one of my blankets, I have decided to hand quilting the Alice quilt. I’ll post pictures of the quilted blankets as they become completed.
Quarterly Report
This blog entry completes a quarter of my 2017 goal of blogging my creative projects through out the year and I want to thank you! Thank you for taking time to read and thank you for caring. But most of all I hope there has been something in my writing and something in my efforts (to extricate the brewing projects in my brain) that has caused YOU to be inspired to dream, create and attempt your long awaited creative projects!
Thought Provoker: Do you have a tool or machine you could not live without in your workshop/creative room? Is it old or new? What makes it special to you? Was it inherited?
Follow me: Leave a comment at the end of the blog or sign up for newsletters (bottom of page) and I’ll keep you in the loop of new posts and products for the year.
M. Joy 