Elna Supermatic!

Yesterday, I convinced a few friends to join me in a road trip across Wisconsin.  I called it "Thelma and Louise Trip". There were four of us (Kimberly, Heather and Sarah).  We stopped a quilt shop in Endeavor (Homespun Fabrics) that I have wanted to visit for years. It was a cozy place with a wood stove and a big classroom. I bought a few small pieces of fabric, including a quarter yard of the Hoffman Challenge fabric-- we'll see if I complete something in time to enter!!

Homespun Fabrics

After Endeavor, we pointed the car towards Princeton.  Our destination was "Huser Daddy Antiques"!! They advertised a 1957 Elna on Craigslist.  Before we could find that place, we got distracted by this beautiful old victorian house.  It was an antique shop, too!  As it turns out, Princeton is a gold mine of antique shops!! The old homes all along the way (Portage, Montello and Princeton) were very cool- I love to daydream about living in something like this! =P  Princeton would be a great spot for a girls weekend, there were all kinds of stores to explore and apparently they have a massive flea market every weekend in the summer.

After the victorian house, we found the shop we were looking for and...

TaDaaaaa!!!  Here is the Elna:

I'm hoping to find a true grasshopper someday.  They were made from 1940-1952.  This one is a Supermatic and came with a bazillion 'discs' to switch out for decorative stitches. This machine is probably a better fit for me, because I don't currently have anything that does zig zag stitching.  I confirmed that it runs, but haven't figured out how to thread it and actually sew with it!  This brings my total machine count to 3 (Featherweight, Singer 66 and now the Supermatic!).

I just looked through my blog for info on my Singer 66 and I never wrote a post!! Here is a short story-- I was fortunate to find the machine for sale on Craigslist. $15 and 2 miles from my home.  Someone was looking to liquidate their stuff prior to moving.  The cabinet was a little rough, but had potential.  The machine is a crinkle coat. Once I knew it's model year, but I can't remember right now-- it's WWII era.

I spent a few days with my mom, stripping and staining the cabinet and lubing the machine.  It runs well, but I haven't sewn anything on it. =(  I do love the cabinet and it currently serves as a cat bed pedestal for Finn.

Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, Let's Bee Social!

xoxo
Kristin

Fannie's Fleece Jacket

 Yesterday I made the cutest little fleece jacket for my furbaby, Fannie.  She has zero need for a jacket.  She loves the snow and doesn't mind the cold at all.  Her favorite thing to do is to make snow angels by rolling around and when she is done with that, she eats the snow.  Kind of crazy!!  We have had another difficult cold snap this week.  The wind chill factors were well below zero for our walks. I'm hoping that spring weather is not too far away!!  But in the meantime, she can look adorable when I take her to daycare! =)

The pattern is from Simplicity.  The title said "It's so easy" and it was!!! I might be tempted to make a few more.

In other sewing news-- I made another zippy pouch.  This one is from Lazy Girl Designs, the Sweetpea Pods.  The pattern was well written, but I'm not totally in love with it.  It's ok.  Maybe I'll keep my clover clips in it? 

xoxo

Kristin

Zippy!

A few years ago I developed a small obsession with making zipper pouches and other zippy accessories.  I bought a bundle of zippers from ZipIt on Etsy and made all kinds of gifts.  My supply was starting to run low, so I placed another order this week.  They had 9" zippers on sale, so i bought an assortment of 100 for $30!  Woo-hoo!!!  Let the frenzy begin!! =O

Two weeks ago, I bought the pattern Sweetpea Pod from Lazy Girl Designs and was hoping to use my new zips to make some of these cute pouches--- Ooops!  I really should have read the pattern before placing my order!!  I need a 16" zipper to make the pattern and you use half of the zipper and it folds around both sides.  =(  Perhaps I need to place another order from ZipIt?

Yesterday, I tried a tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar for a patchwork triangle zippy case.  I used 2" squares that were already cut for my leader/ender project and made the pouch a bit bigger than the pattern.  I like it, but I am already planning on making another and changing the dimensions.  I think making it rectangular will be a bit more functional.  After finishing this, I found that they have a Pencil Case tutorial, too.  Maybe that will be my next project?  Or another earbud case?

In addition to the zippy pouch, yesterday I made a '1 hour basket'.  This is my second one and because the tutorial includes time in the title, I had to time myself to see how close I was to 1 hour.  1:28!  That isn't bad in my book.  Once I made a 1 hour girl's skirt and I think it took me 6 hours!!

Can't wait to get back in my sewing room and create more goodies!

xoxo
Kristin

Linking up with Molli Sparkles and Sew Fresh Quilts -  Let's Bee Social

Lutherdale Retreat 2016

Last weekend I went to my annual retreat at Lutherdale Camp.  It's 5 days of non-stop sewing-- well, we stop for meals, but we don't have to cook them!!  I didn't have a large project that I wanted to devote time to, so I worked on completing some UFO's, making smaller projects and started one new project.  It was a fun time (as usual!) and just like other years, I didn't want to leave!

The first project I started with was to make a new sewing tool caddy.  I made one of these many years ago and it was officially worn out! I used a Kim Shaefer fat quarter and added a binding to the top edge of the vinyl.

The next project was to make up a few scissor cozies and an earbud case.  These are gifts for friends and take a deceptively long time to make. =)

Next up was adding sashing and borders to this baby quilt. I stitched the stripey/blue parts together as a leader ender last fall.  (The original post about it is here.)  I plan to donate this to Project Linus when it's complete.

Next up was to "finish" Mail Sack, a tote bag that I thought I had started a few years ago.  Well-- I hadn't started it at all!!  I just had the fabric and the pattern! I first made one for my mother in 2013 (I'm unable to find finished photos of it, but I know they exist!).  This took me nearly an entire day!! There is an inset zipper pocket and some other pockets.  Mad skills!

On Friday night, we had a drawing for raffle items.  One member of the group solicited prizes from different companies and we were able to buy tickets with the proceeds going to the camp.  I made out quite well!!!  

The last project that I worked on was a new quilt!  Woot!  The pattern is Cluck Cluck Sew's Pow Pow and I'm using a fat quarter bundle of Kim Shaefer fabrics and Kona Coal for the background.  I'm having some technical difficulties with this-- I won't go into the details right now.

Well-- this was part of the technical difficulties:

My 1/4" foot broke and the needle got lodged into the foot!  Yucky!!  I had another foot, but it had the "knife edge" and it isn't something I'm accustomed to using.

This is a long post with lots of pictures!  I'll wrap up with some photos of others at the retreat with their quilt tops.

Anna and her jelly roll quilt

 

Mary and 2 tops she completed

I'm practically counting down the days until next year's retreat!!! =)

xoxo

Slow Stitching + Stash Enhancement

It's bitter cold in Wisconsin today.  I hate frigid weather (the wind chill factor was -26 F this morning!!-- yuck!), but I love that it is making for a quiet urgent care clinic.  I work x-ray every Sunday at urgent care and it's usually crazy busy.  Quiet shifts are something to relish!!  I brought my EPP hexies with me and am able to get some slow stitches in. =)

I don't have a plan for these.  They are just scraps that I wanted to put to use.  I'm thinking (but not sure) about ringing each one with grey hexies and creating a mini?  I don't know!  I've appliqued a few onto pincushions.  Maybe I can add them to totes or zippy pouches?  In the meantime, I'm focusing on the process.

My big Lutherdale Retreat is coming up this week.  I don't have my project list fully figured out yet.  Maybe I will start 'Hillside Houses' by Pretty Little Quilts?  Just in case, I put in a big order of Moda Bella Solids! I have a lot of cool blues, greens and purples, but was lacking in the warmer tones. The yellows are remarkably similar-- I didn't have my color card handy when I ordered. =( Whatever isn't used in this quilt will be a nice addition to my stash!

I've been wanting to make a few scissors cozies from SOTAK's pattern.  Last Saturday, I finished one and hope to make a few more at retreat.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.

Cancer Sucks.

It really does.  And I'm tired of it afflicting people I know and care about.  I made yet another quilt for a friend that is diagnosed with cancer. This is the littlest thing I can do to offer comfort and support and it was a joy to make. 

I had the help of some amazing friends and we cranked this quilt out in 5 days from start to finish.  FIVE DAYS!!!!!

We used a simple but fun pattern (Triplicate) from Jeni Baker's new book The Half Square Triangle. [witing this on my iPad and can't figure out how to do hyperlinks]. http://www.incolororder.com/

Jenn started a blog to journal what is going on and she wrote a post about our surprise for her.

https://jebooblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/15/a-day-full-of-awesome/comment-page-1/#comment-32

I hope to win the lottery (didn't happen this week), but I also hope for a world free of cancer.

xoxo

2016 - The year of the UFO?

Happy New Year! 



I'm very excited to start the year and have a great attitude about the next 365 days.  With the big change of moving last July, I am just now starting to feel settled in to my new home (and sewing room!!).

Project-wise, I'm not in the middle of anything right now.  It's a funny place for me to be!  I normally have something going and something queued up (or started before the prior project is complete!).

I finished Maize Maze in early December and hoped to quilt it over Christmas.  Due to technical difficulties with my mom's longarm, I didn't get to quilt it.  =(

I finished the top for Elephant Parade on the same day as I put the final borders on Maize Maze, so add this to the list of tops waiting to quilt...

Speaking of...  While at my parent's over Christmas, I pulled out two tops that are waiting to be quilted: My bed quilt and a civil war throw.  I didn't have a good picture of my bed quilt (it's been hibernating for years)!! And I don't know that I have any of this throw.  It was a kit that my Aunt Nancy gifted me several years ago.  I put it together super quickly and I have grand plans of quilting it in beautiful all over victorian feathers.  One little problem-- I'm not quite skilled enough to quilt it the way I want to.  =(  It looks like it will make a warm snuggly couch throw, perfect for this time of year.  I'm tempted to quilt it with a panto and 'git 'er done'.

I spent a good part of yesterday in my sewing room enjoying a commitment free Saturday.  I pulled out one of my UFO's, 'Cartwheels'.  I've been working on this for a few years now and I'm hoping to get the top complete.  I added the outer filmstrip border and just need to do one more border of lime green.

 

This list of quilts is just a portion of my UFO's and I'm hoping to finish more than I start this year.  All People Quilt is challenging us to make progress getting things complete and I'll use their chart, but I'm not sure I'll take part in the contest.

Thanks for visiting!  I'll wrap up by sharing a cute picture of Finn from yesterday.  The sun was pouring in the sewing room and he was very happy to sunbathe!