Wednesday, September 24, 2008

We made a quick trip to Adelaide last week, and left very early in the morning. The countryside was so beautiful, it made me wish that I was up early every day. But I'm in night-owl mode at the moment, staying up past midnight knitting and working on projects, so I usually miss out on the early times of the day. But you can't have it all, and I do love staying up.

We picked up another Ebay purchase, a lovely little Singer 185; Mereth is terribly jealous because it's green, and hers is brown. These don't come up for auction very often, so I sort of Had to buy it when I saw it. It needs some TLC; it's very neglected. It was jammed solid with thread, but half an hour of painstaking tweaking saw that all removed, so that it at least turns over. I need to drastically over oil it, as it's very dry, and then clean it up before I sew a test piece. Her name is Nell Green, and I think she'll like it here with all the others.

I also found a Featherweight 221, that sews a beautiful seam. No pictures, because she looks like my other one, nothing special. When I've sewn a block on her I'll post a piccie..

I spent the weekend pottering in my sewing room and tidying up baskets of bits, and cutting for my pinwheel quilt. I thought I'd made an improvement, until Mereth came round on Sunday. She chatted to me while I cut more strips, and without any seeming effort on her part restored perfect order to my strip containers. She has this genius for organsiation that I seem to be lacking; maybe she got my share of it as well. I shall have to invite her round more often!

This is the Double Irish Chain that I spent days quilting. It still hasn't been collected, and I'm quite fond of it. I may just have to piece one of my own soon. Clicking on the picture should give you a better look at the detail.I like the Continuous Curve quilting in the small squares, and it was fun to come up with the interlocking design for the large spaces. Our whiteboard is covered with even more ambitious scribbles, and I will have to photograph them so that later we can develop them into designs. In the meantime, we need our whiteboard back.

8 comments:

  1. what a beautiful view - and love the quilting!

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  2. The quilting is amazing!

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  3. what a superb use of space that fill design is! and very appropriate for an irish chain. strong work!

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  4. The quilting on that Double Irish Chain is perfect. It has just the perfect Celtic look.
    I love reading about your machines.
    You are so lucky to have each other to share! My daughter & I are like that, but of course she has her own life to live now, & I dont get much of her!
    A pity my sisters are half sisters, & I know none of them very well at all.

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  5. Your quilting is beautiful!

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  6. Beautiful quilting!

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  7. I just bought a 185 too. I learned to sew on one of these when I was a kid. My mom had gotten it as a wedding present in 1960.

    Cheers!
    Martha

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  8. Anonymous2:17 PM

    The quilting looks absolutely beautiful!

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