Meet Annabelle

Meet My Annabelle

This is her "before" photo.  She has been in a box for years.  I looked up her serial number on a featherweight website and she was made in 1934.  That makes next year her 80th Birthday!!  I know my mom Anne Dunn Meredith used this machine but it could also have been used by her mom Clara Brechter Giesselman or her sister Margaret Giesselman.  

I borrowed a book/manual from Dr Deb Fox on how to clean and maintain your featherweight. 

With the very detailed instructions in this book I felt like I was ready to get this machine up and running.  

I bought a few tools to help me. 

And set about taking her apart and cleaning out the dust bunnies.

I used the little singer bottles of machine oil and put everything back together.  The feet on the bottom were falling apart.  They were like the gum you find stuck under the table at school.  I pried them off and found some on Ebay for $5-$6. I cleaned all the old masking tape off the sewing surface that had been used to mark seam allowances  I wound the bobbin and threaded the machine. 

She shines !!!

She sews !!!

I am in love !!!

Annabelle (as I have named her) only sews forward and backwards. She is perfect for piecing.  Today her and I worked on a bright and colorful quilt.

LIFE IS GOOD !!

Thursday Night Quilt Class

On the second Thursday of every month I have been going to a quilt class held at Ivy Thimble Quilt Shop in Victor NY.  Last year we made these gorgeous monthly squares that could be used on a wire display or hung on a door.  This year we are doing table runners that go along with the season or holidays. We have a fantastic group of quilters that try to come every month. Joanne is our instructor and she knows hundreds of tricks and tips!  Trish is the store owner and is always there to support us, show us the latest books, tools and classes. 

So this month the class was to make a beautiful table runner with a fall theme. 

We were doing the one on the bottom right corner.   

But only Laura was doing the class.

The rest of us were misbehaving!  

Nancy was doing a fall table runner with graduating shades of the most rich looking fall colors you have seen.

Kim was working on her Civil War quilt. Or so she said. Every time I looked over she was looking at the instruction book with her head in her hands!! 

Shannon and Nicole were starting a table topper project they found on a recent road trip.

My boss and friend Deb couldn't come this month but was planning on working on her table runner at home during the same time.  She texted me that didn't happen as planned.

And I was looking for advice on an idea I had to make personalized luggage tags for my sister Betsy and her family who are going to Disney in November.  

Joanne introduced me to a product I had never heard of before called Slicker. It's iron on vinyl.  Except you can't actually touch the iron to the vinyl or it will melt.  But using the method in the instructions you can turn any fabric into waterproof fabric. NEAT STUFF !!  I had found these fantastic little leather like bracelets at Joann Fabrics for $1.00 the other night and it was just what I needed to make my tags sturdy and functional.  I also bought fabric sheets you can feed through an inkjet printer. Something else I had never done before.  

So here is my finished project and I couldn't be more thrilled with it's outcome!  I am going to make 5 more for the other travelers and maybe some with dice, playing cards or poker chips for my friends that go to Vegas yearly. 

It is sooooo much cuter in person :)

Details hidden (HIPAA lol) :)

New Project Time

I love Fall. Love the colors and the smells. I love the temperatures!!  It's time for a new project.  A while back I bought a few kits from Connecting Threads and tucked them away.  This one is calling my name.  I am not going to show you the design so you will have to wait to see the finished product. It's labeled as a table topper but could also double as a wall hanging. Finished size will be 32" x 32".  As you know, I don't need a purpose to sew. No clue where it will end up but so far I am loving making it. Check it out.

Here are the fabrics 

The first instruction is to "Fussy" cut the design

This means you have to center the design. Not as easy as you might think.  

Next sew on lots of triangles 

Love the way this is turning out but it's small to work with. The center square is 2 1/2"

More triangles sewn together and cut and sewn back together to make more 2 1/2" squares

The directions are very precise. Thankfully.

They are USA made so easy to understand!

Next I have to trim these raw squares down to the neat 2 1/2 in square but making sure the center stays in the center....Tricky 

Before

After

Looking forward to more sewing this weekend. I will keep the photos coming ......

Package in the Mailbox !

I LOVE getting packages in the mail. So exciting!

I have been looking for just the right label to use on my quilts and sewing projects and I finally found them. When I found what I wanted on Etsy, I then had to decide on the photo, font and what I wanted it to say. All tough decisions for someone with my on-again off-again OCD.  

The good news is that it's only enough for the rest of the year since I had the 2013 printed right on them. So if I don't like them I can order different ones for next year.  Good thinking huh?

They are smallish, 2 x 2 1/2 or so and I think I might sew a small border around them before I put them on the back of a quilt.  Check them out and tell me what you think !!  

I ordered 8 but got 11  Woo Hoo!

Appliqued on a little piece of fabric all ready to go on the back of a project !!