De Deauville & Dreaming...

It's a long weekend in Canada... hope you're enjoying some extra free time and terrific weather!

Roxane of Scrap, Quilt and Stitch sent us Block no 9 this past week! What a cute one too!

We can now enjoy two thirds of the quilt top put together.

It's looking great! I think if I were to make another one of these, I would paint some sky and water fabrics because I really like my samples from class with Mickey Lawler at Road to California in January. Wish I had some of those paints... I would get right to it. Gorgeous weather we're having would allow for quick drying outside.

Block no 10 won't arrive until mid-June! Oh dear!

I have a small collection of older model sewing machines. This week, these old machines were cleaned, oiled and are now ready for use. There are spaces around me where I can display these machines as a reminder to keep them working. I plan to use each one on a regular basis so that they don't just collect dust! 

All but the first one of course! This was given to me as a Christmas gift by my parents when I was little. Our mother and grand-mother used a treadle sewing machine and we were definitely not allowed to use it let alone play with it. My sisters and I made doll clothes.The crank still works but then it was much more fun to use the power supply. It worked well enough for us.

My second machine was acquired by my sister-in-law who attends auctions on a regular basis. I had asked her to keep an eye out for a Featherweight; she knew of them, knew they "went" for lots of money. She was surprised to see this unusual case and when it came up she snatched it for $110. Apparently, not many people bid on it. This was over 13 yrs ago. It has a beautiful stitch and after some pampering, runs like a charm. This one was manufactured in Great Britain but the power cords are NAS and its number suggests a birth date of 1968-1969, the last years they were produced I believe.

My next one was a used-appliance store-find. I forget the reason we were in that shop, but when I saw the case, I was intrigued. This machine had had very little use despite the banged up case. It was cleaned and oiled and it too has a beautiful stitch. It was made in Canada.

Next up is a lovely in-cabinet 99K. That piece of cloth was put there by the previous owner and I chose to leave it there. We found this one by the side of the road at a garage sale in 1998 and it came home with us. It's been here at the farm all the years we were in California so it was in great need of a little TLC. After a good cleaning and oiling, it too is ready to sew. 

I inherited my grand-mother's treadle. Before I took it home, it had spent many a year on my parents cold porch. It's been with me for nearly 30 yrs and I've never used it. I'm afraid the weather in the farm house hasn't been good to it either. I doubt I'll ever get it restored; both the machine and the cabinet are not pretty. Perhaps I'll take a picture as a memento and pass it on to someone who can give it some new life. It's not worth the space it occupies. 

I've had several other machines that I parted with because of space not because they weren't working. In 1999, I acquired a Bernina Record 730 with cabinet complete with all sewing supplies and tools and cabinet inserts/stool for $65 at a local auction. I left this machine in California with our daughter. It even came with a case! 

My dream machine is a Bernina... oh how I wish I had one of the new ones! They are huge, but not as big as this one!! 

On a bike tour around Lake Konstanz in Switzerland/Germany/Austria in 2012, we rode by the Bernina factory and I just had to have a picture beside this one. Our tour brought us by on a Sunday so nothing was open which was very lucky for my companions! :)

Coming soon... news about this sign...I promise some excitement!

A side note: the last blog post was no 100 since my humble beginnings as a blogger June 17th, 2013.

Toodles!

Lorette

Today's the day: Grow Your Blog 2014!

http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/

Hello fellow bloggers! Welcome to Spruce It up Quilting! 

This space was created as a means to record my journey into longarm quilting. 

Crafting is my pastime, sewing is my therapy, and now blogging is my record keeper. Here I share a bit about my life as a wife to a wonderful, patient, supportive husband who has just retired, mother to 4 adult children, and grandmother to 1 adorable little boy as well as daughter, sister to 4 incredible women, and aunt to many. Over the years, I have dabbled in watercolors, tole painting, woodworking, costuming, cake baking, scrap booking, card making, photography, stamp making, needle crafting: knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, rug hooking, embroidery and quilting. 

I've quilted off and on since 1978 gifting a lot of quilts to family and friends but since retirement from working outside the home in early 2013, I have become obsessed with quilting. Last spring, I saw an ad for a gently used Gammill Premier Plus from a local quilter who was cleaning out her studio and decided now was the time to finally get all those quilt tops finished. Lolah is her name and with her, I hope to offer my experience as Spruce It Up Longarm Quilting Services. 

We're presently on the move from Southern California, more specifically Tarzana CA, to Port Elgin, New Brunswick, Canada, my husband's home town. I have pre-written and scheduled this post because, the day it broadcasts, I will be busy attending a week-long roster of longarm classes at Road to California Quilt show, learning all I can from fabulous teachers before the move. 

Won't you come join me? Become a follower! I hope to see you soon! And don't forget to link to Vicki's blog where she has a list with links to all the bloggers participating in this party! Sit back, click the links, be inspired, and enjoy the ride! Perhaps you'll find new friends too! I know I plan to.

Toodles,

Lorette

Onward...

Making time to quilt or hand stitch is of prime importance to me. During one particularly stressful week of negotiations, potential buyer visits/house showings, it was important for me to sit at the machine and just sew. The Downton Abbey quilt resulted in grounding me and keeping me sane. Other projects accomplished the same relaxation.

On a quiet day after Christmas, I found myself alone at home with a whole afternoon free for sewing! I had a few projects in mind...

Peppermint Place needed to take shape! First the birdhouse blocks were trimmed.

Then the corners were sewn together. the applique pieces were all cut out in September; all that was needed was to prep them for appliqueing.

I have since finished the handwork on the top corner blocks. Perhaps I'll get the next 2 corners done before the move but this is questionable. I'm loving this quilt more and more each day... just love those little birds and the colors are delightful!

I received a request from DD no 2 who treated herself to a new camera after Christmas. She didn't like the camera bags available on the market and wondered if I would make her one; something that would fit in her purse, without straps, just something soft to protect the camera. This led me to JoAnns Home Decorator fabric section for these lovely cottons. I purchased 1/2 yd each not really knowing what pattern I would use but confident that it was enough for this purpose.

After a little web surfing, I found this pattern which google "tries" to translate from Italian. The pictures though speak a universal language.

http://hobbydistoffa-hdc.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-05-14T09:23:00%2B02:00&max-results=7&start=5&by-date=false

Since the camera had not been delivered yet, I resorted to looking at Amazon photos and getting dimensions of the camera and the lens. Then I decided to first build a paper pattern starting with the cosmetics bag size then changing each piece's dimensions to fit the bag I was making. Sorry, I didn't take any photos of this process... my mind was on the result not the process!

After 2 1/2 hours from the start of paper pattern-making to finish, this is what I had.

The next morning, I got up early to finish the removable foam insert.

 I was sad to have boxed up and stored my serger as I could have cleaned up the inside seam. The seam is zigzagged only. A little seam tape would give it a cleaner look. I was worried my calculations might not be accurate and was afraid the camera might not fit.

The bag is made so the camera body sits in the insert with the lens pointing up. As you can see, it fits beautifully and I have one happy DD!! The bag also closes without problem. 

I absolutely LOVE making bags! I have orders for 2 different sized bags but they will have to wait as the packing frenzy has begun. 

The contingencies on the sale of the house should be removed today. My studio is almost all packed. 

Lolah has a date with the technician who delivered her and set her up. She will be professionally crated and ready when the movers arrive on the 24th. 

In the meantime, I am getting ready for Road to California Quilt show. I've registered for longarm and machine quilting classes everyday starting Jan 20th until the 26th. When Road is done, I will be returning to an empty house, a house we've called home since Valentine's day 2008. We've loved living here but we're thrilled to start a new adventure in Canada, our real home!

Please forgive my absence from the blog... there is much to do in the next 2 weeks as we wind down our California activities and prepare for the road trip across the lower 48! Wish us luck!

Toodles!

Lorette

Something new, something old!

I'm sorry to have been silent this past week. It's been a busy couple of weeks with different projects.

First, our son and his wife are in the throws of moving to their new apartment. It's exciting for them and we wish them all the best in their new surroundings. One more day and the move should be complete.

Second, my DH decided to retire at the end of this year. THAT is exciting! This means 2 things for our immediate future: 1) we will be selling our house; 2) we will move back to the Maritime region of Canada! HOME AGAIN!! I can't tell you how excited we are to make this journey at the end of his career! Lots of planning and decision making... during the holidays no less!

With all this happening, you can appreciate how hectic it's been in our household. It's hard to keep your mind focused on quilting when everything else around you needs planning. However, I did get a chance to work on 4 projects since last weekend. Sometimes I need to escape life's "stresses" and hide in my studio... it soothes the soul and calms the nerves as well as it allows me time to solve problems.

These were my projects:

1) December Daily 2013 album:
I know! It has nothing to do with quilting but I'm also a scrapbooker/crafter. I followed along with Ali Edwards for the first time in 2011 but she's been blogging about DD since 2007! She does a phenomenal job at recording December memories and it inspired me to try to do something similar. That year, I got all my stuff together but sadly never got around to completing the album. The intention was there; I followed her and her many followers daily though and got to see some wonderful memory books develop and I learned a lot about digital scrapbooking. Last year, I was really excited to participate and realized my own album. You can see the pages here.
The secret to success and to enjoy the process is to pre-plan your book early: get all the pages ready to receive the photos and journaling. I intended to do it again this year, despite the changes in our lives at the moment, or perhaps because of them so that meant getting my book done before all h*** breaks loose. Ali Edwards promotes the sale of a kit for this but I like my own version; it worked for me last year and I think it'll be fine this year too if I keep it simple.
Two years ago, I attended the LA Printer's Fair in Carson, CA where they sold "left-over" cardstock for $25 per box. I bought 2 big boxes and 1 box at last year's sale. I'm all set for awhile! :) This is what I used to design my book. Check out how I made this year's album here! I will update the FlickR website perhaps not daily but often throughout the month of December... at least that's the plan!

2) On Monday, I completed the first of many table runners I will make. These are fun and quick projects. Photos were taken before the binding was hand sewn; that was Wednesday evening's handwork.

 3) On Tuesday, after watching inspirational Henna quilting video by Sharon Schamber at The Quilt Show website, I headed to my studio and surprised myself by loading a WIP (work-in-progress) on Lolah! This little moose and deer wall quilt was made several years ago and was intended for a sister whose name I had picked for Christmas gift-giving. As it happened, that year's family reunion was put on hold and so was the quilt. Until now!
I have yet to apply the binding but this is what I played with that day! SO MUCH FUN! Don't be too harsh with comments... this is my first thread play! :)

Since most of the classes I've registered for at Road to California Quilt show in January involve feathers, I thought it was time to try my luck at putting some in this 3in border. I do need more practice before I head to class!

4) I also finished the Peppermint Place snowflake blocks I brought with me on vacation. I had 1 remaining block to applique when we returned to LA.

Before I end this long post, I want to share with you a picture of the finished quilt promised in Wedding Quilt post dated 11/04/13. It will follow S&J to their new apartment today and may it bring them comfort for many years.

Toodles,

Lorette