My Singer 201 love affair begins

This is the little beauty that has come to live with me this week.  I acquired her from the ubiquitous Ebay and I am thrilled and excited to have her in my possession.

The serial number confirms she is a 201 model and was built in 1953 in Kilbowie, Scotland

Needless to say she also came complete with a not so nice coating of grime and detritus.

After a little bit of dismantling, scrubbing, buffing and TLC she is now looking beautiful and clean and shiny again.

The cabinet is in need of some serious attention and I shall tackle that too.

A really big surprise (that I didn't notice when picking her up, nor was it mentioned in the sale details) is that she is operated by KNEE CONTROL!.  I did notice that the wire seemed too short to reach the floor on the foot pedal and put it down to it being doctored for some reason, THEN I noticed this metal lever underneath and realised that it was indeed a knee control lever and the foot pedal was supposed to sit in a cradle at the side of the cabinet (cradle is there).  So with the pedal in position I tried the knee control and what a revelation it is!!  I can't believe how easy and effortless it is to use, so much more comfortable than a foot control!  The lever is always at the side of your knee/thigh and the slightest touch operates the machine.  I'm hooked and there is no way I am going to convert her to foot control!

I did the coke can test to confirm the claim about the throat size and it does indeed swallow two cans compared to my other machine which can't quite fit two!  Happy quilting.

What can I say about the sewing operation that hasn't been said before?  Apart from that she sews like nothing before, so smooth, quiet and glides like a hot knife through butter.  Also being set into the table top is lovely as the sewing height is perfect and so comfortable.  For a 58 year old work horse she works perfectly and will see me through the rest of my sewing days.

(Ps.  It took all day to load these photos to Blogger so my love affair with this site dwindles with every post I make)



Eureka moments

The other day I had some time and was catching up on some bloggy reads.  I popped in to have a see what Kellie of Don't Look Now had been up to  (always very interesting and usually quite beautiful and inspiring work!) and Lo! she was talking about darning/free motion feet and what makes a good one.  She talked about a foot from another make of machine being perfect for my make - a Janome/New Home.  I have this foot

which to be fair I have not got on well with as the closed front does interfere with the view of the work and when you are working at speed, as you do for FMQ, it can be off putting.  So I looked at it and thought 'I can chop the front out to open it up'.  So when I next sighted Mr Neet I asked him to do the job for me and this is what he came up with

Eureka!!  It works absolutely, bloomin' fantastic!  and it cost me nowt!  I did think before hand that if it didn't work as I had hoped then it would be nothing lost as I would have had to have gone and purchased one of the other feet mentioned by Kellie anyways, but as it is I now have the perfect foot for free motion work - all I have to do is brush up my skills to match!

On a different note......

This is the beautiful fabric (click photo to see the detailed prints) I received from Kimberley of Fat Quarter Shop - fab, fab service all the way from the US (Sorry UK sellers you just didn't have this fabric for me).  My beautiful black and white stash that is going to become my scrappy strings bedspread/throw for my Superking (read 'huge') bed.  I am calling it a throw because I am not going to sandwich it with batting, but piece it with cotton muslin (Ikea) as I go and then back it with a lovely piece of black and white fabric taken from a Hobbs quilt cover.  So I figure that the 3 layers will make a nice drapable throw - now I just have to find the time to get it done but I AM clearing the decks of other projects at present so hopefully I will be chopping into this stash very soon.

Busy Swapper Catch-up

I have been so busy swapping over on Flickr that there doesn't seem to have been time for little else.  Now that all current swaps are drawing to a conclusion, until the next round, I can take time out and tidy up, catch up and update my little corner of blogland.

1. Scrappy Pincushion Swap

This is the package I made for Susan aka Chickenfoot.  She liked 'srooms.

This is the gorgeous little pinnie I received from Steph (PaisleysPlaceQuilts)    This was a secret partner swap and I guess she took on the whole 'englishness' of my profile for this little make for me. 

2. Scrappy Mug Rug Swap

This is the Mug Rug I made for Jessie (TinyHouse)  it is the first ever Mug Rug I made and was very happy with how it worked out.

This is the package I received from Linda ( ) again this is a secret partner swap but it so happened that Linda WAS ALSO in my group for the 3x6 Sampler Quilt Bee!


3. Doll Quilt Swap 10 - DQS10

This is the quilt I have made for my partner (again a secret so until she receives it I will hold back her name).  I used a DoeCDoe tutorial stitchery for the centre panel and the quilt evolved from there. 

I am still awaiting my quilt from my secret partner.

4. Mini QT Swap

This swap is lovely to participate in.  You know who your partner is and can communicate with them.  My partner was Di (Di2Quilt) and lives in Taiwan!!  She was quite thrilled that she had her first UK-based swap partner - I decided to go with a British feel by using some Cath Kidston on my quilt.  The theme was '3D' and we both agreed to do a floral design.  It was my first attempt at machine applique - and I like it very much.  Mini QT quilts can measure a maximum 12" square - this met that requirement.
I also enclosed some Cath fabric and a local church magazine as an insight into pastoral life in Britain.

This is the pretty little quilt that Di made for me.  Japanese linen - how gorgeous.  It measures 8.5"x 6"  and Di also enclosed a piece of double sided linen for me.  Thank you Di.

I am also participating in the 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee but awaiting the 6 blocks in the post so I will post a photo of those when they are all with me

I am working on these projects for myself in between the swap stuff

scrappy string quilt blocks = 120 x 6.5" blocks!  (I have also ordered some Michael Miller rouge et noir fabric from the Fat Quarter shop for a black and white superking version for my bed! = huge ammount of blocks!)



That Girl-That Quilt QAL

Moda Bakeshop Baby Pinwheel quilt also in red and white version for my living room

Cushions for my sofa

a blue version of the button quilt (as I love the design so much!!)

and I have just started designing for the next round of the the Mini QT swap as we know the theme already - circles and curves - just need the name of partner.  Sign ups are open until April 1st - come over and join in why don't you?

Anyway I think I have covered all projects, hope you haven't been subjected to photo overload in this post!! and I am away now as there are things for me to do.

Bye.

Blogger's Pillow Party

What do you do with a leftover block from a swap?  Make a cushion cover!  I had a spare block leftover from the 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee over on Flickr as the person I had made it for dropped out quite early on.  So with time on hands I added to it with some extra width, made an envelope back, added some extra quilting and ended up with a lovely cushion cover that I am rather proud of.

I am adding it to the entries for March on the Bloggers Pillow Party site  to join in with all the other beautiful creations made by bloggers worldwide, and if I was very lucky, be selected to win a prize or at least figure in a final list to be chosen from!!

Scrappy String Loveliness

I came home from the fabric shop with a little bit of Kaffe and a couple of rolls of scraps like this.  They only cost a couple of quid each and are truly scrappy strips.  I haven't amassed enough scraps of my own yet to do this sort of project so I thought I'd help it along on it's way. 

The strips measure from 1" to 1.5" max and are all fabrics that I would never go out and buy but they they are all beautifully ditsy, small prints.

I have unrolled them and jumbled them up, added the odd two or three of my own fabrics into the mix (ones I am not too keen on)

I am making 6.5" squares (to make 12" blocks) with the paper piecing method.  There are loads of tutorials and how-to's out there on the web so I won't link to any particular site.  I am using skinny strips of 1.5" wide max for a really scappy look and all have got a white central string of 2" wide to create a sashing when sewn together.  I have to warn you that this little creative outlet has a VERY addictive habit. 

I don't think it will take me long to get to quilt top size - the trouble will be knowing when to stop!

I will update with news on all my Swaps later in the week.

Secret Garden Block Tutorial

I posted this photo of my Secret Garden Pinnie on Flickr yesterday and had a few requests for a tutorial/how to for the squares, so seeing as the sun was shining (for a change) I took advantage of the light and, hopefully, put together a tutorial to help you create these little beauties with ease.  This is a simplified version of Cathedral Windows blocks of which there are quite a few really good tutorials out there for those, namely this one and this one amongst many.

For my 2" finished block you have to start with a 4" square of main fabric and a shy 2" square of contrast.  The math is very easy for any size of these blocks - finished square size x 2 (example 2" = 4" template, 4" = 8" template and always the finished size for the contrast fabric).  You will need to cut an exact square template for your square to begin (I use a good old cereal box, but your template has to withstand ironing so bear that in mind!)

Cut your main fabric 1" larger than your template - so a 4" template requires a 5" square and try to be tidy with your cutting lines as this will help things to be easier.  I cut my contrast fabric 1/8th short all round - so 2" becomes 17/8"

Now you will iron your main fabric over the edges of the template to get a nice crisp edge on the fabric and try to make sure the corners are as square as possible - slapdash will make things difficult.



Proceed to do an 'origami style' style fold with this square, fold over once, then again to make a small square, and press with the iron.

Open out your fabric and fold the corners into the centre along the crease lines, again keep this as tidy as you can and pin down as you go along

Once this is done you might want to press again with the iron just to give you nice sharp lines to work with (it does help)

Place your contrast fabric like so with right side up

Now fold those corners over to the centre and pin as you go 

You want to end up with a neat little square like this

I prefer to stitch these centre points together with little stitches so that it all sits square.  (I have used contrast thread here but you ideally should use matching thread- it does depend on your project)

Now you have to 'peel/roll' back the edges of the points to expose the contrast fabric, pin as you go.

It can help to use the edge of a pin to roll the fabric back on and keep things nice and neat

As you roll back sections, you can stitch these down with tiny ladder stitches as you go or pin everything first, but you may find that so many pins will get in the way.  Try your own method here.



When you get to the outside corners, you need to close this up by about 2/8ths, this encloses the corner of the contrast fabric and achieves the 'window' effect.  Continue around the square stitching all the sections.

Once completed you can use the blocks however you choose. I stitch mine together with little ladder stitches, pulled tight to give a firm, closed edge. 

You can even make big squares too.

I hope you enjoy my first tutorial - if you have any questions please mail me or leave a comment.