Today is Labor Day in the US, and my goal for today is to sleep in and spend some time quilting. I hope that whether today is a day off for you or not that you have a great day and week ahead. Wow, we are already a week into September, the month that signifies the end of summer and beginning of fall. Even in this challenging year full of big change, it surprised me to realize that summer will be over in only a few short weeks!
Ok, enough musing. This is a bit of a roundup post, so let’s dive in!
First up is a quick reminder that the introductory sale of the Sky Full of Stars quilt pattern ends today.
I primarily sew and quilt with my Juki TL-2200 QVP Mini, which is a straight stitch machine (I love it)! However, because it is only a straight stitch machine, I am occasionally really glad to have my “travel machine”, a Husqvarna Viking Emerald 118. Over the weekend I learned how to use the buttonhole foot, which seems pretty darn fancy and like a really great thing to know how to use. This was the first time I’ve used the Emerald 118 since getting home from our travels last September, so clearly I’m not using it very often, but I am glad to have it.
If you are subscribed to my newsletter, then you probably already read about Window Swap, a neat website that my cousin-in-law shared with me recently. I have enjoyed getting a glimpse into other areas of the world through the site, and my husband likes to try to guess the location of each view as a kind of geography game. An extra bonus is that some of the webcams have sound, like this location in Bermuda; it’s my favorite window to put on for a bit of ocean background noise while I work.
Birthday Gift
My birthday was on Saturday, and my husband gifted me dozens upon dozens of skeins of embroidery floss. Over the course of the day, I joyfully took my time sorting through the rainbow of colors and cutting them all down into usable strand sizes. While I was doing that, my husband also made me a way to hang my color sorted bundles, which now hang happily in my studio. And then over the course of the weekend, I have allowed myself to play. Right now I’m making a lot of knotted friendship bracelets. My husband and I both wear them and these will turn into gifts as bracelets / bookmarks, and this change of creative pace has been a nice way of zoning out for a few days. I do need to get back to the task at hand and finish up some quilting projects and dig into filming my QuiltCon Together courses… but I am truly giving myself this full weekend (through Labor Day) off to relax and do something completely different.
Quilting Prep
So, other than spending time quilting, my goal for the week is to put together a quick video tutorial showing how I mark the tight curves using a regular ruler and my Hera marker, along with my setup for helping see the marked lines on more distracting prints.
I’d love to hear from you! I’m curious how many sewing machines do you own and use on a regular basis? And what are you working on this week?
Happy belated birthday, Yvonne! The window swap is so cool. Have a great Labor Day!
Happy Birthday, Yvonne, a few days late! I need to check out window swap. As to machines, I have a Singer (not my first machine, but almost), three Janomes (Skyline S7, the machine I use now, and two Gems, one is my daughter’s), an antique sewing machine, and two toy sewing machines – 7 machines! No, wait — I have two antique treadle machines too, that are waiting for space in my house. Yikes.
Hi Yvonne! I own five sewing machines! I primarily use an older Pfaff from when they were made in Germany, and a newer Pfaff with a large space for quilting. The other three are very old Singers that I inherited from my husbands family. One is a featherweight that I am planning to take camping with us! I love piecing on the old Singers!
I always enjoy your posts!
Have a great day! I may need to try to make one of those bracelets – they look cool.
I have a Babylock serger and a Husqvarna Sapphire 965Q. Have a great day!
Happy Birthday.
I collect, restore and use vintage and antique sewing machines. I own “more than 10”. Ok, a lot more than ten. My earliest is a Folsom chain stitch manufactured in the1860s. I regularly use 2 or 3 of my sewing machines: a BabyLock QCP straight stitch 1990s, a Singer 9W (1910) and a German Adler 189 (date not known).
I’m at work on this beautiful Labor Day. It’s a little overcast and warm, only 78 degrees. I’d love to get out for a walk but it’s not possible, working as a hospital nurse. As for sewing machines, I have a mechanical only Bernina 1000, a Bernina 180, an old Bernina Overlock machine (bought used), a Brother embroidery machine, and my dear old Singer Featherweight, Miss Pearl Minnie. The Bernina 1000 and the Featherweight are my go-to machines. I can sew anything on my Bernina, but the Featherweight is very portable. Hope you are having a lovely day!
Happy Birthday! I did get to sew today (Labor Day) and may do more later. You ask about machines…here goes. 4 soon to be 5 domestic machines and1 long arm. YIKES. Truth be told 1 domestic machine is on permanent loan to the store I worked at, and 1 will disappear once number 5 arrives. So then, really, 3 domestic (Bernina 440,570; Singer Featherweight and HQ Simply16). Still quite enough.
I love sewing and sewing machines and have what is jokingly called “S.M.A.D.”, otherwise known as Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder. I own 12 machines, both modern and vintage, five of them that I use regularly for different reasons:
A huge Brother Innovis sewing/quilting machine, a vintage Kenmore 158-14000, a vintage Kenmore 158-18800, a vintage Kenmore “mini” 158-1040, and a modest electronic Brother lightweight.
I also have a serger which I rarely use; my modern machines (and some vintage) handle knits well, a 1980’s Baby Lock, a spare 158-14000, a spare 158-1040, a 1954 Kenmore 120-491, a 1948 White Rotary 77 “tank” Lastly, I have a duplicate of the Rotary 77. The 77 was my mother’s; she taught me to sew on it when I was around eight. I treasure it and bought the spare to have parts for refurbishing. The other spares work well, but are for parts also if necessary.
Recently I finished a pretty little whole-cloth alphabet quilt for a friend who found it when cleaning out her mother’s house. Sadly, her grandmother started but never finished it, so I finished it and she’s giving it to her own first grandchild. Today, I’m making a machine cover for a friend who’s just learning to sew. I have a lovely baby quilt under the needle in the big Brother machine destined for a church family when their new baby is baptized – once it’s safe to have services again. I’ve made a pretty knit dress for myself that needs some “tweaking” and I have my daughter’s favorite jacket that needs a new zipper. I have some gorgeous purple and green floral fabrics ready to make a quilt for myself (a first!) and I’ll soon be starting some new roman shades for my sewing room. Then after that, there’s the new valances for our family room and UFO baby quilt.
So-o-o, when not sharing time with hubs, or he’s out golfing, I spend lots of time in my sewing room having fun!
Happy birthday (and many returns of the day). It is a big birthday month in my family, too. What a wonderful birthday gift. The embroidery floss is wonderfully colorful and those bracelets are so nice. I have a Baby Lock Crescendo (main machine), Bernina (14 years old), 2 Featherweights that I use as my travelling machines, an a couple of older Singers that came to me through family. I had a Featherweight out last week because my Baby Lock was set up for free-motion quilting and I wanted to do some straight piecing in between. It hasn’t been out of the case since March when we went into lockdown. I’m working on free motion quilting, choosing fabrics for a sew along and planning a couple of donation quilts.
I love seeing the quilt you show and look forward to seeing your tutorial. Can you provide any info on the bracelets you show? this looks like something I would like to do when quilting becomes too much.
I have been quilting for about 20; mostly patchwork. My favorite part is hand quilting, yes I said hand quilting. To me, it s relaxing and I don’t do really complicated stitches. I need to mention that I don’t do the tiny stitches of quilt show quality. I do big stitches.
I currently have 2 sewing machines. I bought a “craft” machine to use and have kept my 40 year old Kenmore machine. I also have my grandmother’s White machine. It is one of the first electric machines made long ago.
Patty
I have a Pfaff Anniversary Edition that I sew on consistently. It has a large throat that allows me to piece and quilt most items. I have my grandmother’s Singer 201 (a tank) that I sew on occasionally. It has a beautiful topstitch and will sew through many layers. I have a small Brother that is great for day retreats. So fun reading about other quilters and their machines.
Happy Birthday! I hope you had a very relaxing day.