Quilt Charms for Sale!!!

It's a BIG plunge for me!

I've been sewing tiny pieces of fabric, really tiny! If you are on Facebook, you've probably seen some of my teases. 

The original plan was, I would sew these tiny blocks, and then make them into charms. However after I took a jewelry class with my friend Tammy of Flat Creek Farm, I realized I was not cut out to be a jewelry maker. 

It was by a great stroke of luck I found Angie. She makes some awesome jewelry and sells on Etsy too. We first met when we were doing a craft show in Jefferson City last fall. Shortly before Christmas she called to purchase something from the Blacksmith shop for her husband. When she came we got to talking. . .  craft shows, campers, etc.  One thing lead to another.  She told me she made jewelry.  I hired her on the spot.  Really I should say she agreed to make some charms for me.  Little did she know,  I would have  50+ for her.

Long story short, they have arrived!

(Remember click on the picture to enlarge them)

They are 1 1/2 inches square. These are two sided glass. On the back side you will see the paper piece pattern and all the tiny stitches.  Some have the pieces numbered.

As of February 8th, here are the ones left:

14
17
20
23
24
29
40


(If you are interested in # 6, 42, or 45 they might be available. I left them with a friend at her machine quilting shop)

Cost is $25, (plus tax if you are in Missouri). 

I can mail them Priority Mail for  $5.80. 

Cash is good, check is good.  After that it's Paypal.  In a pinch, credit cards work too.

A phone call will let you know immediately if I still have the one you like, (area code 573) Four-9-six-3-7-nine 3.  Or email me at tappel@embarqmail.com

Baby Eve

My first cousin once removed, Liz, was expecting baby #5.  The baby girl was due March 8, 2014. 

Little did Liz know that when she was 26 weeks and 4 days into her pregnancy, on December 3, 2013, baby Eve would enter this world. (On that day my own daughter turned 30. She too was born a little early. Three weeks was nothing compared to baby Eve.)

ONE pound and 15 ounces, that is only one ounce more than my jar of Miracle Whip. 

Speaking of Miracle, she is one. 

Baby Eve joins two brothers, ages 6 and 4, and two sisters, 9 and 11.  They are so excited for her to join them at home. But it will still be a while. 

Baby Eve  now  seven weeks old, is up to THREE pounds. 

It's been tough for her Mommy and Daddy, with Daddy working full time, Mommy with her own business, the 2 girls having swim meets, the oldest son in soccer, and one little guy that just doesn't understand why he can't hold his new baby sister. 

I think about them daily. Liz talks about the outpouring of love from neighbors, far away family, co-workers, and friends. I'm clear across the country from them (California to Missouri).  I see pictures of the tiny miracle and I felt she would soon need a warm quilt. 

So I stepped up to the plate machine and made one for her.

Thanks to my friend Mara, who gave some of the alphabet fabric to my friend Margie, who in turned shared it with me, I had the makings of a quilt. Well partially, I did add some fabric.  

I even pieced the back to add some charm to it. 

I'm still a newbie with my embroidery machine, but I managed a quilt label. 

Today cousin Liz received the surprise quilt in the mail. So now I can blog it!

If you'd like to keep up with her progress and maybe drop her Mommy and Daddy some encouraging words, you can visit her blog here. Eve Maria.

Quilt in a day . . . maybe less

Saturday my SIL and I went fabric shopping. She is redoing her 30 year old bedroom (sorry Larraine, I didn't just say that). She had brought up her idea for a quilt last week and I figured the amount of fabric she needed to purchase. 

We first hit the quilt shop where she had found some fabric she thought would work. There we played and played with bolts. It was decided to go get a sample of her new carpet and come back. 

Off to Lowe's we went. For a fee of $25, she could borrow a sample. 

As we went out to the car, two ladies were handing out free chicken sandwiches courtesy of Chick-fil-a.  Their newest restaurant is set to open this week, in Lowe's parking lot. Not only did we get a nice free hot sandwich, we were also given a gift card for another one!

S-C-O-R-E!

Back to Winn-ing-Quilt shop we went. She bought about 12 yards of 5 different fabrics for. Did I mention this bed is BIG?  It's a California king.  Larraine wanted the quilt to go all the way to the floor. The final size is 120 inches by 133 inches. 

On Sunday morning, I started cutting the fabric.  She called me about 11 and said they weren't going to be home for the afternoon.  I went into fast mode.  By 2 o'clock I had the top entirely pieced together. 

Brady, (the oldest grandson), and I made the 2 mile trip to Larraine's house. No one was home, just as I had hoped. 

We quickly threw it on the bed, snapped a picture, and drove off. 

I then sent her a text message that I thought she had messed up the measurements. I wanted her to measure it as soon as she got home and call me.

When she arrived home about 8 PM Sunday evening, she opened her bedroom door, and this is what she saw!  (Sorry, I didn't smooth it too well.) 

She will now have it machine quilted.  I can see different quilting patterns in each row, What do you think?  Wouldn't that be neat?

The funny thing is that she stewed all day while away from home about her measurements.  Surely she hadn't made a mistake. 

Here is what I sewed the entire quilt on, my 1919 Singer red-eye!

While we were out and about, we checked out a new Mexican bakery in town, Mi Pueblo. I saw in their ad that they were selling tamales in the bakery!  Go figure? 

We bought a dozen each, half chicken and half pork. 

They were delicious!  

Off to some more quilt piecing today! 

So sew with me

I have never been much of a joiner. I prefer to do things by myself.  However when I saw this sew along and it was all paper pieced, I was hooked.

Kristy at Quiet Play has some of the coolest patterns. She sells them on Etsy.  Starting in January she is having a block a month sew along. Each month you can get that pattern free. If you are really anxious, and feel the need to get all the patterns at once, she will sell them all to you. 

Here is what the completed wall hanging will look like. 

With a Christmas gift card to Hobby Lobby in hand, I went shopping. I picked out these 7 fabrics. (The Christmas fabric is not included, but it was a good buy at $3 a yard)

Here is my first block. I might add some embroidery to the pot holder. The oven mitten doesn't stand out as much as I thought it would. I might make a new block. I have a whole 12 months to live with this one. 

Won't you come and sew along?

1 sewing machine, 2 sewing machine, 3 sewing machine . . .

My name is Patti and I am a sewing machine addict. Well not really, unless you look at what I've obtained in the past 12 months. 

Riccar Zig-Zag

This is like my first machine, a Riccar. It was a good solid heavy metal machine. Mom bought it for me when I was 14, in 1966. The date is still stamped inside the cabinet. 

I can't begin to tell you how much this machine was used. I made most of my clothes in high school. I not only made my wedding dress, but 2 flower girls' dresses, my two attendants' dresses, and my going away dress.

For the kids, there were baby blankets, baby clothes, little boys overalls, little girls dresses, Halloween costumes, Christmas dresses, quilt tops, and more quilt tops. 

This machine now resides with my niece Mandy. 

Elna Quilter's dream 6003

My next machine is about 10 years old. It's an Elna Quilter's dream 6003. It's plastic. Enough said. In the last year it's been in the shop more times than I can count on one hand. I'm still not pleased with it. In my opinion the feed dogs are worn out. I never have been pleased with the machine quilting I do on it. 

It is now in time out in another room. 

On December 12, 2012, we went to a local auction. 

The blacksmith saw this machine among the furniture and other items up for auction. No one there seemed to know how to get the cabinet off. He succeeded.  He then pointed out to me that it was a hand crank.  It was going to be hours before the auctioneer would be close to selling it. We went home and did a little research. I decided I wanted the machine. Four hours later we returned. The bidding started at $10 and had I not gotten a little excited and made some noise behind the auctioneer, the lady in front of the auctioneer might have won it for that. In the end it came home with me. 

It needed just a little fine tuning. Our blacksmith/sewing machine repairman Phil came to the rescue. 

1931 Singer 99, hand crank  

This is how he returned it . . . fully restored. I love how smooth and quiet this machine is. One day during a storm our electricity went off. I sewed an entire baby quilt top together just one crank at a time before the electricity came back on. The grand kids love stitching on this one too. 

1949 Featherweight  

On February 10, 2013 I found this Featherweight on EBay. It was located fairly close. I made a phone call and  two days later went to see it. After a little haggling on the price, it came home with me at a bargain price.

Several hours later it was visiting with Phil!

1956 Singer electric 99  

October 19, 2013, we were at a blacksmith conference in Oklahoma. My sister in law called from a craft show in Missouri. She had found this machine. After she described it to me, I told her grab it. It was another steal. Currently this is my go to machine. I love sewing on it.  

1952 Singer 15-91, #56 cabinet

November 22, 2012 I saw this machine in a local antique store. I took a picture, wrote down the serial number and came home to call my man Phil. He told me it's a unique Singer. It is gear driven where most are belt driven. He said Margie (his wife) has one. He does a little modification on them and they make wonderful machines to quilt with. 

The next day I went back, bought it, and loaded into the back of my jeep. After all it was born the same year as me, how could I pass it up?  Not to mention it was only $65. The cabinet alone sells for more than that on EBay.

A week later it went to visit Phil for the modifications. 

December 23, 2013 . . . craigslist, St Louis area (2 hours away) I find this. . .

1919 Singer 66 Red eye   

The parlor cabinet it came in!

I emailed the pictures and the description to my man Phil. He said if he were closer he'd buy it. He said it's a gem. 

I wasted no time in making a call to the owner. Two days before Christmas we traveled to Villa Ridge to pick it up. 

It is one of the sweetest machines I have acquired so far. The tiger oak cabinet has 9 doors, 5 drawers. The machine can be used as either a treadle or electric. It is in wonderful condition. It was fun trying to figure out how the machine retracts into the cabinet. We finally found a YouTube video telling how to push the machine straight down into the cabinet. To bring the machine up, you push a wooden button on the front of the cabinet, the machine then lifts up. 

1920's Franklin 

This machine was purchased at the auction of family member over 20 years ago.  It is a vibrating shuttle machine and takes the long bobbin. 

1953 Elna Supermatic  

What a unique machine! It's sewing case becomes it's sewing table. It has lots of cams to change the stitching patterns. It is using by pressing a knee bar. It was given to me by my friend Mara after she found out I was searching EBay for one. Her late husband (a blacksmith too) also liked to buy old machines and restore them. It was collecting dust in her garage and she was happy to send it to me. I got this in September of 2012.

Bernina Deco 600

This machine resides among the others. It's an embroidery machine that I am still learning to use. 

So in the past 12 months, I have acquired 5 new-to-me Singer machines; good, metal, good sewing, 

dependable machines. I'm hooked on them!

I now have a machine from the teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's 60's, and more. Sometimes I feel like Johnny Cash singing "One piece at a time". 

So my New Year's resolution is not to buy any more machines this year. . . 

. . . at least until the next one comes along!