Home for the Holidays

During the holidays I've been working on two quilt projects on my Singer 301a. Nine-patches and half-square triangles are a theme. The 301a is pleasant to sew with and I'm getting a pretty accurate seam. I tried a new bobbin case with the machine; it sewed okay but the case fit so tightly that it was difficult to remove to change the bobbin and it was noisier than a vintage bobbin case. I lucked out and found a vintage bobbin case in a "lot" of spare sewing machine parts on eBay. She sews quieter now.

My main Christmas present is all set up. The backyard now has something in it, so maybe we'll use it more.

My latest vintage sewing machine find was $10 at a garage sale. It is another Kingston, but a later model than the other one, and not made by Brother.

I got the machine cleaned up, oiled, and adjusted. It needed a new tension spring, belt, and bobbin winder tire, so I replaced them. I haven't gotten around to working on any projects with this one yet. The case is structurally sound, but the fabric covering it is coming off or shredding. I haven't tried re-covering a sewing machine case yet. Maybe I need to pull out the mod podge.

Quilting Through the Winter Blahs

Winter has arrived, and I don't want to do anything.

So mostly I have been quilting, with some reading and tv and napping. I can't even watch a documentary without falling asleep these days. We stayed in town for Thanksgiving and I finished Crap Quilt No. 3. It pretty much sums up the entire season. I don't do a lot of quilting with a walking foot, but I straight-line quilted this one on a 2-inch grid because that was what it needed.

This all-scraps-all-the-time quilt was one I finished a month or two ago but just recently got around to getting a photo. It has a Noah's ark panel on the back. I still have 3 plastic bins of scraps left, and I'm pretty sure I'll never get to the bottom of them.

I also took some time to finish putting together the Argyle Sweater quilt top over Thanksgiving. I put the borders on and it is now basted and ready for quilting. I have a stack of quilts ready for quilting that I've been procrastinating getting started on. It's just that time of year.