It's About Time or Thankfully, It's Done!

Well, ladies, it took me two years to make this quilt...not that I worked on it full-time. Quilting has evolved from a "passion" with me to "handwork to pick up now and then".

I pieced this quilt on my trusty Singer 403, circa 1960, about a year and a half ago. In the closet, high on a shelf, sat several batts (we quilters all buy in quantity, right?). One of those was a Hobbs wool batt that I had been yearning for years to try. I'd heard so many comments that for hand quilting it "quilts like butter". I'd previously used Hobb's Heirloom 80/20 as well as Dream Cotton's "Request", both of which hand quilt very nicely. But I had a yen to try the wool. So I purchased the wool batt...about ten years ago and there it sat. On the shelf. Unused for ten years. (call me a procrastinator)

Well over a year ago I layered my latest shirt quilt using the wool batt. For a backing I used a name brand cotton sheet that I found at the department store for 75 percent off. Ralph Lauren brand??? Can't remember. And I began hand quilting using a saucer, a cereal bowl and a cup from my dinnerware for the "templates".

This poor quilt has had numerous hiccups along the way. Last January I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, had debulking surgery followed by six sessions of chemo and numerous neupogen shots to boost my lowered white blood cell count. Talk about a roller coast of an adventure...not as exciting, of course, but certainly a lot of ups and downs. Needless to say, I had no motivation to quilt. Hah! My preferred activity was lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, thinking I really should get up and do SomeThing! Then rolling over to the other end of the sofa, and staring some more. It's easy to look back on it now and think, "It wasn't so bad!" But it was. Not as bad as some have it, but bad. And before I (and you) get maudlin, I want to add that all went well, I finished chemo in July, and I feel better now than I did a year ago before my diagnosis. God grant me that this continues.

Another hiccup was that, forgetting that my dishes were my templates, I gave away that particular set of dishes and put my old set back in the cupboard. The next day I went to mark another block to handquilt, and remembered that my templates now resided next door! Do you think I went next door and asked for a plate, a soup bowl and a cup? No, I couldn't bear to confess and instead dug around in the cupboard until I found dishes that were "close" in size. Betcha can't tell by looking at the quilt. (big smile)

Aw, got to wandering there. I started to say that during those months of chemo I picked up this quilt a couple times and forced myself to quilt a block or two. But progress was slow. Then in August, after treatment was done, I began quilting in earnest again and I finished the binding just yesterday! It's a largish sofa size nap quilt.

I told a friend yesterday I have no inclination to make another quilt. Instead of quilt pox I now have quilt lethargy (even though I myself am not lethargic). But that's not quite true. I'd love to recreate my Y2K quilt in smaller form. My DD loves that quilt and would like to hang it in her home. But the thing is huge! About 80x90 inches! And she doesn't have a wall large enough for an appropriate display. So I'd like to recreate it using 2-inch squares instead of 2.5 inch pieces. I have a rubbermaid box full of 2.5 inch fabs, cut from my stash long ago. I'd have to trim them down and I'd like to sew them on my treadle which was fondly named Elizabeth Redeye by its previous owner.

And...ladies...did you know that when you type a post you can add a "label" at the bottom (you'll see the space do do that at the bottom of the "create a post" page. You will notice that I've added labels of "shirting quilts, shirt quilt, shirt fabric for quilts". Click on "show all" and it will bring up all the labels previously used by those of us who post here. Use only "your" labels and not someone else's. That way, if you click on any of my labels, for instance, the WWQP will bring up a view of all my posts that include that particular label. Click on one of my labels and check it out.

I've had my coffee this morning, but not yet my oatmeal. Coffee makes me jabber. Whether in your ear or on this blog. The oatmeal is in the microwave...time to eat. And if you want to check out my WhiteStone blog (separate from the WWQP-BB, click here. Love to see you there.

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I save my photos as jpgs and do not seem to have a problem loading them...it does take a few moments, no longer than 20 seconds or so, for the photo to load. While loading, a second window appears with a round "loading" symbol. Check the original posting window, and when your photo appears, you can close this second window.

This is a photo of my 11-yr-old great-grandson (how old AM I, ANYWAY!!!) doing his first machine stitching on my Singer treadle. He made a 9-patch pillow while staying overnight last week. (I don't like to post my grandchildren's faces online so hope you won't mind that I've cropped the photo). DGGS caught on quickly that he needed to keep the handwheel running in the correct direction and broke the thread only once when he lost control of that. When I informed DGGS that this machine was over a hundred years old he found it difficult to believe me for he said it looked like "new" for it is shiny and in excellent condition. He was impressed with how the mechanism of treadle/wheel/needle worked and thought this was a fine machine. LOL

Some BBers might not know that you can click on photos on this blog to see a larger view.

Elizabeth Redeye

I wanted to share with you how much I am enjoying using an old vintage Singer 66 treadle sewing machine. This machine is almost an exact duplicate of the one I learned to sew on and it was given to me by a dear quilting friend several states away. She had named the machine Elizabeth Redeye, the Elizabeth being the name of a grandmother in the family, and Redeye because this particular machine has gorgeous decals including a red elliptical that collectors of vintage Singers have likened to a "red eye". I am loving this experience...you can sew slow and very accurately on a treadle. There is one feature that I had forgotten...if you are not careful when you complete the seam, gravity may cause the wheel to reverse its direction, causing the machine to sew backwards and breaking the thread. I'll get the hang of it, though, as I go along.
JudyPete

My eighth and favorite machine

Here's my favorite machine and the one that I hope to never part with. This is a Singer 66 treadle in a parlor cabinet and is almost identical to the one on which I learned to sew. It was gifted to me by my online quilting buddy after she double-dared me to travel 2400 miles to "show up on her doorstep". (BTW, she is very good at double-dares and has gotten me into several of quilting adventures with her DDs.) If I had to give up all my other machines I could happily sew anything I needed to sew on this machine. It has a host of gizmo-like attachments that allow one to make wonderful special stitches. If you've seen the fancy-seamed pin-tucked blouses of the early 1900s you should know that the women of that time were able to sew every stitch on their treadle machines with those attachments. I call this machine "Elizabeth Red-Eye". The red-eye is a name fondly used by collectors to denote the fancy scrollwork. The "Elizabeth" was added by my quilting buddy in memory of a previous-generational family member. It is quite appropriate for that name is also my grandmother's name. One of these days I am going to do some more stitching on this machine, just as soon as I get aroundtuit. I have to add that along with the sewing aspect...I simply love the mechanical workings of vintage machines. They are just tooo coool.