Happy Birthday Angel

We chose today as Angel's birthday we we found her and invited her to be a part of our family.  That was 16 years ago. She has been an only cat since Max left for the bridge.  She is very loving, but shy.  She stands by me on the bed or the couch and begs for pats and scratches.

We thought she might need female company after years of boys only.

I put out feelers for a bonded pair of siblings girls. When the response came, I didn't even ask about their heritage.  They would be ready on July 4th. 

Enter Coco and Yumyum on July 6th.

We changed their names a couple of times before we settled on the right ones.

They are part siamese.  Coco is the bigger one with the dark mask.   She weighs 3.9 pounds. 

Yumyum is very light with lavender highlights

She weighs 3 pounds.

They were born April 8, 2024.

I will post more soon.  I am sitting in thr hospital with my husband and doing this on my cell phone is not fun.

Sweet Kirby

Kirby is 12 and has had diabetes for several years. We boarded him over Thanksgiving at the vet so they could keep up his meds. We became aware on Wednesday that something was not right. Over the next two day it became clear that he was having problems seeing and walking. He went into our tiny bathroom and could not find his way out. He attempted to get on the bed and fell over, laying there trembling. He's not eating much but is drinking a lot. He is not grooming himself. He is at the beginning of kidney failure. Many of you have been here. You know what is coming . . Three new meds and fluids three times a week. He is blind. We can deal with the meds and fluids and not moving anything in the house. He is able to navigate the house for now. Max and Angel both knew something was wrong. They have smelled him and followed him around . At meal time, Max goes and gets him and basically leads him to the kitchen. Now it is in our hands. We failed giving fluids to Wizard and Mac. Do we want to attempt it again? Is it fair to him to leave him in the dark? Are we really improving his quality of life? What is best for him, not us? He will come home tonight so we can love on him and say goodbye ,. my sewing buddy

Bionic Gear Bag

So I have finally gathered my fabrics and supplies and am getting ready to put together my bionic Gear Bag

Working really hard to not be afraid of color.. trying not to be to matchy matchy

Schools OUT..

For Christmas I got a lovely new 790 plus Bernina.. and if you know Bernina they teach you a mastery class when you buy a machine..  Which is well just awesome.. seeing  Nan is all the way in Plano.. and my stitching and sewing education is really limited.

Really enjoyed the classes, and we did several projects to apply our knowledge..  Which made class even more entertaining.  Much like Nan, I did got the LOOK, for working ahead in class.. 

Color Outside the Lines

 I bought this pattern at a local quilt shop.    It is by Kelli Fannin.  I used a Jelly roll from RJR fabrics from my stash.  I started this January 1 and it was finished except for the quilting by the 5th.

 The pencil points were paper pieced.

The top row of 21 pencils are cut in different lengths with white added at the top of each point.

 On the bottom row of 21 pencils, the points are created with the color of the pencil that they will match up to on the top row. 

The pencils are sewn together side by side and the two rows are connected. 

 

I ordered this online for the backing.

  This stripe came from my stash for the binding. 

 Angel likes the colors!  In the background you can see where we are loading it on the frame.

 

The main quilt is all sewn

Hubby helped me get this weekend.. it’s chilly here and that presented its own challenges.. really happy to be making progress on this quilt!

Brambleberry Friends BOM

Years back when the quilting road was first shown to me, sewing was a hit or miss. Having sewn shorts in home ec, and sewed one leg shut and upside down,was deemed a sewing terror. Color me surprised upon marrying into a very talented family. Painting, hand embroidery, cross stitch, and that’s not just the gals.

Sophie

Nan looked me dead in the eye “Do you want to quilt?”  There was swelling music and dramatic swooning on my part. Bit of a drama mama here.  Y’all have seen a few of our sewing camp reviews.

Last year the smaller embroidery machine that has been my possession..nearly stopped my dream of sewing and machine embroidery.  

Finally after getting my new sewing machine for Christmas, finally finishing, the massive, stunning and lovely quilt. Brought after my first few lessons.

Pineapples and snowmen

I have not posted in a while, but I have been busy.  The last project I created is a 4 inch Pineapple block quilt.  It is 18 by 18.  I had a Batik jelly role that had been opened and about 2 inches cut off of each strip.  I cut 3 inches more  off and then cut the strips in half to 1.25.   The Yellow background was given to me by a friend for a different project.

I had just enough yellow to make  16 blocks and have a border!  I used the Creative Grids Pineapple mini trim tool. 

The next project is for a group Christmas party.  I created these in my Embroidery software and hoop!  They are about 5 inch coasters.

This is the original test stitch out.  I changed it four times before I stitched the next one. Most of the changes were just to make the stitch out flow better.

Bag Ladies of the Fat Quarter CLub

Thelma is the next to the last bag Lady,  She may be coming to the party late, but she is bringing snacks! 

Bag Ladies of the Fat Quarter CLub

Bag Ladies of the Fat Quarter Club

 

 

Matilda is ready to go to the quilt meeting and maybe a sleep over!!  

Abigail is gathering her supplied for next months meeting!

Constance

Bag Ladies of the Fat Quarter Club

 

Constance

 

 

Constance is complete and Matilda is ready to stitch

Mildred

Bag Ladies of the Fat Quarter Club

Mildred

 

Mildred is complete!  I actually finished her a couple of weeks ago and I did remember to get her posted, unlike last month when time got away from  me! 

 

 

 I have Constance all ready to go!

 

Singer Featherweight Machines

I have been interested in owning a Singer Featherweight machine.    
After searching on the internet  I was amazed at the different prices!   Any where from $69 to $2400!  A friend and I went to a shop  that sells  parts and repairs machines, I was giving up.  The friend texted her sister in law and ask if she still had two and was she willing to part with them.  She was so we set an appointment for yesterday to look at them.  At first she told us one was white and the other red.  I was excited to see them. 


The first one was in a red soft side case and was a
black machine and it is in very good condition.   

These are the words and numbers we pulled off the machine.   SIMANCO USA  45712   Serial number  AF245614 A little research  ( http://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/featherweight/fhome/) gave us a lot of information.  The AF244106 through AF264105 serial numbers were produces in the US starting July 11, 1939 and 20,000 were produced.   

The second machine was in a wooden green and white case. The tray is missing from the case.  It is a white machine with a red S emblem.   Serial number EV965630.  It was made in Great Britain, probably in the Singer plant on Kilbowie, Scotland From 1947 through the late 1960's .   The EV909??? through EV998??? were produced in 1964. This is belt driven from upper to lower, meaning there is a belt on the inside instead of gears.

Another good site is https://singer-featherweight.com/blogs/schoolhouse/the-white-featherweight-221k

Two finishes

 I am joining up with the Bag ladies of the Fat Quarter club with Hildegarde.  I think the hardest part of these ladies is the hair.  There are a lot of stitches to make it look full. I think I could have added more to it.

My Second finish in Batik Stars.  

Two stars from 15 different hombre batiks.

 

 They were sewn into rows, not complete stars because of the overlaps. 

Even though we were careful and looked it over several times before making rows, I still messed up three stars. 

 The black in the star point had to go away from the center pinwheel.  The black makes a secondary pinwheel block

 All of the mistakes were corrected here before It was sewn together.  I missed taking a picture of just the center part. 

The borders were added in sections with the star points.  Even though They were cut to length according to the pattern, I still had to take apart sections and shorten them. 

I expected to have to do a lot of taking apart and putting back, but it proved to be minimal! 

Another top to add to the stack for the quilter.