Attention WalMart shoppers-

 

 

 

Sorry for the photo quality.  3 camera cards have disappeared, and the one I just bought is defective so I had to use the camera phone.  Still only so much photoshop can do with a poorly lit photo. Anyway.....the subject is irons.

 

For years I have craved a better iron, since watching Sewing with Nancy and envying her Rowenta.  Now the Missouri Quilt Company people have that cool Elisa or whatever it is that lifts up every time you stop moving it.  Coooooool.  But I read the reviews and the darn things quit after a year or so.  If I lay out more than a hundred bucks for an iron it should work exceptionally well till I die. 

 

After several cheap ones dying through the years I bought the Black and Decker classic above, because it looked and felt like the old timey work horses that last forever.  I was pretty happy with it, one of the kids dropped it hard and broke a chunk or something, and I bought another.  It too lasted for a long time then took a fall and kind of rattles on its chassis.  So I went a step up and bought the Shark, also above.  It cost more, I'm thinking about $40. at Walmart.  I probably would have sprung for a Rowenta but Joannes and the city is 50+ miles away, so Walmart was my only choice.  The thing just burnt up after about a week.  Heated up way to hot and burnt up some of my board, made sizzly pop noises and then quit.  I exchanged it and this one has been in moderate use for maybe 6 months and I was noticing tonight that it just won't stay hot.  I was ironing all of my uniforms, something I almost never ever ever do.  It would heat up and steam one small area and then blink to reheat for 3-8 minutes and repeat.  The wrinkles were staying.  The starch wasn't getting crisp.  I pulled out the semi-rattley Black and Decker and it was a whole new world.  Hot, crisp, starchy uniforms with sweet hot cotton and starch scent wafting up.  So if you want a good iron but don't want to pay more than $100 (or way more!) I recommend this one.  It doesn't steam vertically, I'll keep the shark for that because it does and still steams well, it's the plate that doesn't heat.  It doesn't shoot a stream of water either, but I can keep a squirt bottle for that.  It doesn't turn off automatically, which is an asset for sewing because the things always shut off just before you need them.  I'm pretty trained to unplug an iron before I walk away and the kids don't bother with them much anymore. I like the weight of it, an asset to the press process.  I think it's $25-$30 dollars.  It does steam pretty well, though I think before I set it aside it had a little clogging here and there.  I'll run a vinegar steam through it this week.

 

I was semi inspired to iron because I was trying out a home-made best press recipe.  I haven't tried the real deal stuff, but the homemade didn't really thrill me.  Maybe a little less flaking than that good ole Faultless in the can.  Cheaper, made with some water, some starch from a big jug, couple shots of Vodka (benefit, I got some pomegranate mix and had cocktails twice now, sipping one now), and some essential oil.  Maybe it would be more thrilling on a quilt in progress.  I've been too wiped out working days, evenings, AND nights with the new job and old job to do any sewing.  I watch videos of other people doing it as I try to sleep in between phone calls.  The new job came with on call status 24/7 365 days and why am I surprised that they are calling.  A lot.  Sigh.  At a pay rate of what I was making 20 years and one degree ago.  Time to look for ANOTHER job.  This one may be a good bridge though, at least it's the right specialty.

 

The self help book this week: What's your what.  The Eat your Frog book was ok for clarification of goals, but awful depressing for someone who seems to do nothing but work and sleep.  This one is to help figure out what it is you should be doing for someone who's a little befuddled about what they may really love and really be good at.  Good for the smell of career burnout on the edges.  I'm not sure I should leave nursing- Oh, I have loved it SO for parts of it.  But there have been big chunks of feeling used, abused, and beat up by it.  I am a Gemini with a limited attention span that has spent a lifetime moving around the globe and reinventing myself, and I have been doing this for 20 years now.  This book might push me in some good direction, since I seem poised to bounce again anyway.

 

The ironing board is right next to the sewing machine.  Felt good to be in that corner.  I did turn it on and darn a hole in a pocket.  I have a bag of new fabric (shame on me, it won't fit on the bookcase I have loaded with a good hoard already).  Maybe this week!  A bag.  A baby outfit.  Doll clothes.  Christmas table runners or wall hangings (quilted!).  I just have to get 18x 9 inches of space on the cutting table, and enough sleep to not be compelled to bed when I enter the room.

Meet Betty!

 

If she looks a lot like ole Ethyl it's because she's a younger version, both Kenmore 158's. No, no, no, no, NO I am not going to start collecting 158's, or Kenmore's or vintage machines.  But I gotta tell you, it is fun bringing them back to life!  I put this one on "lay a way" at the shop where I donated the computer Kenmore I killed.  The guy, a quirky little older man with a desire to chit chat all day long, had a fair assortment of machines in the shop and waiting in the next room.  When I picked this one he told me he'd want to clean and service it first.

Weeks and weeks later he called and told me it had a reverse that he could not repair.  He did offer me another machine, a later but still vintage Kenmore.  I hated the newer plastic one, with still nothing but zig zag and straight.  I tried out several others in the shop before I asked to just have Betty, reverse or no. He looked a little surprised, and gave her to me for the $45 I'd already paid. It wasn't a great bargain for a dysfunctional old machine.  It was the one I wanted.

The man told me he'd had her "all ready" and was looking at the beautiful stitches she made when he discovered she would not reverse.  At first I wanted to think maybe he is a little senile, but after more reflection I think he was just a liar. I've started a new job but haven't quite left the old job, so I'm working day and night. The first day I didn't even have time to plug her in, but I did see it was still pretty dirty on the outside.

 

 

 

It didn't take long to discover that it was pretty dirty inside too.  Really dirty.  I wiped and could tell that it had been lubricated everywhere well, just on top of all that old gunk.  I started man handling the reverse a little bit, and it wasn't long before it started to give, and then moved all the way into moving smoothly.  I still hadn't turned on the machine, gullible me, still believing that the seller had indeed checked it out and all that was wrong was the reverse.  Good thing I kept on going with the cleaning frenzy first, because when I got to the belt area, I found it completely off track.  I strongly suspected then that the machine had not been checked for anything.  I got to the bobbin case and had to laugh- it was screwed about 4 or 5 times around too tight.  There would have been no kind of stitch whatsoever that could have been produced with that case in.  So I slipped the belt back on (it does have just 1/4 inch or so too much play, I'll have to measure and order a new one- for both Kenmore's) and put that bobbin tension where it felt right pulling thread through and plugged it in.

 



Those old Kenmore's do a pretty, pretty stitch. I like how they kind of slant.  This machine allows the needle to be positioned in center or right or left.  It looks like it would take the same size cams that my earlier model takes.  I am sad to say I don't have any, though I see them on eBay sometimes.  I'll need a cam to do a blind hem stitch, which is really the only stitch I crave beyond the basic zigzag and straight.

What's a cam, you youngster's ask?  It's a little plastic disc that sat in this hidey hole and would do decorative and specialty stitches.  Like maybe 2 per disc.  It would not play music, take your picture or connect you to anything.

 Betty can take a double needle, Ethyl can't.  Ethyl came in the cabinet and I've never taken her out, but this Betty! WOW, she's one heavy machine.  I couldn't tell the light was on when I plugged it in and thought there wasn't one, it's that unhelpful.  I was thinking no power switch was kind of bad.  Took me until the second day to find both of those items.

 

 

 

If I hadn't been cleaning her, it might have taken a month!! Why are they both back there? 

 

The working day and night thing is going to slow down the sewing, but maybe I'll do a belt replacing video when I get those.  After I measure.  After some sleep.  In October I'm only going to work 5 days/one night weekly.

Reading

Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy and Hondo by Louis L'Amour.  The one I'm taking a break from this minute is Hondo, because last night I started not enjoying Eat That Frog.  I am well aware that in the matter of things that are good for you, not liking it is where you probably need it to be.  I liked the beginning, I was all about writing down goals and making lists.  I even felt this kind of renaissance return to clarity and brighter days thing in my brain, I felt clearer than I normally do since becoming a night shift zombie.  But then I got to the part where I kept thinking, OHHHH, this is why I'm where I am now.  This is the stuff I shoulda been doing back in my 20's and 30's.  I still know that there were things I couldn't change, and things I wouldn't change even if they made some magic time zone thingie that would enable me to go back where I could change. I resisted cell phones for a long time, let me tell you, I am NEVER going to use any magic time zone changer thing.

So I'm reading Louis L'Amour for the first time in my life, because a "western" novel didn't ever really appeal to me before (except Larry McMurtry, lovvvvveeee any and all McMurtry) and they always looked kind of skinny and a little cheesy to me.  And they are simple, but I'm digging it.

Uh, huh.  Writing more often was on one of those lists, but the BIG UGLY frog is still lying by my feet.  I'll get it done, just not first, and now I'm feeling guilty about it. Be careful with reading those darn self help books.

Post script, maybe 2 hours later: I ate tonights ugly frog, OK.  And no, I don't feel better.

Can't make just one!

of pretty much anything at my house.  So, I started out to make two quick stuffie monsters, and grandkid #1 said, "Oh, I want one too!"  Good thing they were fast, and good thing she has been learning to sew.  She was assigned to help with cutting, face layout, and stuffing.


Inspiration from Pinterest.  One tutorial has gone 404 on me, but there's another one here if you'd like.





By the time  we got to the stuffing part, Ms. 16 month old was in the room and "helping" stuff, both monsters and her own shirt, and ears, etc.  And before I started closing them, Ms 25 month old was on the bed too, thrilled.  It was her excitement over Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc that started this whole thing.

 

 





The stuffing ran a little short and the stitching wasn't pretty, but boy did they fly out of there.  And have been carried all over since.  Kinda like when your hamburger casserole thingy  gets way more excitement than your 6 hour from scratch gourmet whatever does. 

 

I did a rag doll some 23 years ago, I remember putting a LOT of work into her.  She's still downstairs, a little worse for wear (what did happen to her right arm?  I always remember her as an amputee). I think I'll make more toys, somewhere in between monster-fast and way too much fussing-doll long.

 

Oh, I've started a new self help book, Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy.  I thought it was just to get better with procrastination issues, but he promises to make my whole world better.  I love a good self help book, like a good cook or quilt book.  Sometimes, if you apply the advice, or prepare the food, or cut and sew, you get some good results.





Mike's quilt

is DONE!  Forgot to put his name and birth date on it, and neglected to sign and date any quilt so far, but I can go back to that. So, here it is!

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the pattern is called Baby Bites and it was free from modern quilt relish.  I added the half square triangle borders just because I'm a sucker for punishment and I thought they'd add to the nautical feel.  My technique improved during the making of the quilt.  It really drove home that I have to cut and sew extremely accurately if I want stuff to come together right.  This one is wonky, my next will be much less so.

 

 

I've been influenced by lots of great quilters, the Fanning's, Harriet Hargrove, many more.  The lady who most blows me away today is Judy Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts.  I wish she had a quilt cam up and I could watch her for hours.  She does use long arm and I am on a 50 year old Kenmore zig zag, but I still try and emulate what I can.  I saw her ruler work video and just went nuts.  I searched for ruler work on a domestic machine and found these.  I practiced 4  diamonds and then did these, very pleased with the results.  I got a curved ruler too, it's a goal to use that one soon, but I really loved the straight one.  Quilt shops don't carry these, but I'm telling you, go online to accents in design and get one! FUN!

This is the fine line one.  There's another continuous curve one, the domestic machine link above should show it to you or search accents in design for the website.

 

 

The blue HST are much better than the red, but I was showing the circles here, sorry!

 

 

I was trying to free motion a feeling of waves in the navy blue and thought maybe for the red I'd use circles, like suns or lens flare in the sun.  The whole quilting was a bit tricky "relearning" FMQ on the older machine.  I ended up tracing two sizes of circles and then kind of free form joining them with some lines and free form circles.  Not great, but I am happy enough with the result.

 

 

It's done while the baby is still a baby, Mom likes it, and the baby's uncle said, "hey Mom, now you can start making your kids their own quilts".  Pretty good praise from my youngest son.  And so I will.  I've still got one more grand without a quilt, she's going on 10 so it can't be a crib quilt.

 

I visited a Janome dealer today to look at that darn machine with an 11 inch throat for quilting.  Tomorrow I have a job interview for a position that will pay me at least $10 more an hour and it's day shift too!!!!  Maybe that Janome could be my Christmas present to me.

 

 

On a little roll

Nothing like my back to school frenzies when I had 5 little kids, but still fairly prolific for me these days.  The baby quilt is almost done, just binding and getting his name and birth date (8/21/13!) on there.  It's ions away from where I want to be as far as quilting, but all things considered I'm fairly pleased.

I took a peak into my old stash cupboard downstairs and  found some goodies.  Four cute Halloween prints and one cut out scrub pattern (1998?) from when I was going to sew up holiday scrubs for the team.  I think I got the doc's done and then staffing went to hell and we were all doing 6 doubles then a day off for a few months. One Christmas print snuck in the pile.  I decided to go ahead and finish the cut scrub, though I thought it would be too small for me and too large for my nurse daughter.  It fits great!

I didn't pull out the instructions, and as I have long suspected construction seemed more pleasant without them.  It's not as if it were my first or second or even tenth top I've made.  My sweet Ethyl machine has no free arm so I hemmed the sleeves before the final seam.  It also won't take a double needle, so double top stitching had to be by eye.  I probably will never make another except maybe for little kids or dolls because for the cost of the fabric it's cheaper to buy ready made most of the time.  This was already cut and the fabric is pretty cute for Halloween- seasonal but not big huge overpowering motifs.


Happy little Frankenstein heads with sunny yellow bats.

I also made a very fast new ironing board cover.  I like having it covered with a fabric that makes me happy, and this one does.  Found it a Walmart, surprised to feel that it was a little heavier than quilting cottons and looks to be very durable.

 

 

It was also very inexpensive, I'm thinking about $5 a yard.  I bought 1 1/2 and it was enough length to cover the board in one piece.  I layed it over the board and cut around with a 2 1/2 inch drop.  Turned up one narrow hem and stitched.  Marked where it starts to narrow on both sides, turned it over one more time and zig zagged stretched elastic on top of the folded hem.  I stitched a length of string into the fold below the elastic on both sides, securing it at the start point with several back and forth stitches and then encased it along the fold as I stitched down the hem.  The string exits the bottom for drawstring ties.  I folded twice at the bottom over another piece of string and left the very ends unstitched for the draw ties to exit there.  Pull it up, tie, it's on.  I could have elasticized the whole thing but couldn't find enough skinny elastic.

 

 

 

I have made (or purchased) several board covers through the years that I liked, only to stain or singe them promptly.  I had a fair amount of fabric left and decided to make a little cover to lay down when I am pressing lots of pieces.  It's cockeyed here to show what size I went with, I keep it flat on the board and you don't really see it's there.  It will be easier to just throw into the wash as needed than stripping off the entire cover, and hopefully this will stay pretty for most of a year.

 

I have some bias strip making to do.  And some baby photos to take!



 

 

and Yay!

I am being thrilled by ole Ethyl!  After I fixed the bobbin winder and the zig zag, it seemed likely that I'd be able to do pretty much what I wanted on her- as long as the darning foot gave me success.  Well, it came, and it too needed modification.  I had to bend down the top bar so my needle bar would catch it and make it "hop".  But it was easy, and a complete success!

It is different from my broken Kenmore.  It's supposed to be better to sew on a flat surface, but I have been very used to compensating with my machine on top of the table.  I have to push the quilt around differently.  For some reason I'm straining my shoulders more and had to swivel my chair up quite a bit.  I miss not being able to turn the machine to an angle and I can't quite wedge my legs under this table door to work at that angle.  The foot and machine response are different.  Add up all of that and it was like I was very new to free motion again, and clumsy at it.  I don't think it will take long to get a groove on this machine though.

 

I just did a little bit of practice on an old pillow case stuffed with batting, and it WILL take some practice but I think the rulers are going to be GREAT!  Very easy to move the quilt and stitch, I just need to get expert at eyeballing where to place the ruler.

 

One really great thing about the machine- of course there is no needle down feature- but it seems to stop in the down position 90% of the time anyway.  My broke Kenmore did not do this.  I could put the needle down with a button to draw up bobbin thread or make a turn, but you couldn't set it to stop there.  It always stopped UP. 

 

So, I've pretty much stopped craving a $4,000 machine.  I am thinking, maybe one more vintage?  A new back up to my back up?  I cleaned up Ethyl inside and out and oiled everything, we are both humming as we sew.  With oil and use, the zig zag and bobbin winder no longer need nudges and operate smoothly.