A bit of sewing

I'm spending a good bit of this Memorial Day weekend in the sewing room.

I really wanted to organize a bit but instead I ended up sewing up some blocks to make a baby quilt for the guild's silent auction table.  Our show is in November this year so I stand a good chance of having it done in time!

I rationalized this by saying I was using up some 2-1/2 inch strips instead of just putting them away.  It works for me!  The pattern is from a Missouri Star U-tube video.  It takes four of these stars to make a baby quilt.

I've also dumped out the leader and ender basket to trim up the liberated blocks so they can be used again!  I'm close to having enough to put together in a project.

Last week my husband picked up an antique sampler for me at an estate sale.

It was covered in plastic wrap and stitched to a cardboard backing.

It was fun to unwrap and carefully take out the stitches so I could really see what was stitched on the sampler.

It is about 25 inches by 25 inches so a good size sampler!  The date is 1847.

Next I need to decide how to frame it again.

A late spring clean-up!

The last few days we have been doing some late spring cleaning...

I think the new sewing room used up all my effort this year and we just realized that the garage and garden hadn't gotten as much attention as needed this spring.

a spinning wheel from England...really?!

Amazingly we found a lot of stuff "missing" for years!

Like this Queen vintage hand crank sewing machine that I bought at an auction in England.  That is right...it was in the back of the garage still packed in a moving box!  I'm trying to get this little machine operational...otherwise it is just a big doorstop!

Our goal is to get through all the moving boxes put in storage about 7 years ago.  Making some tough decisions...we packed up my husband's to the ceiling yesterday and made a trip to the charity shop/Goodwill donation stop.

put these aside for a friend...knew I had them just not where!

Three extra irons, a bread-maker only used once, a set of china still in the box...stuff like that!  Our rule is if we don't like it well enough to use it or have it in the house then it has to move on...still lots to do!  My neighbor helped by taking a doll crib, two chairs, and an old frame...why is it other people's "stuff" is always more interesting than what we have in our own garage?!

But I have to move slowly!  Last spring the neurologist made some big changes to my MS meds.  After trying it for a couple months I decided it wasn't working...made me a bit too much of a zombie!  I'd rather clarity and joy with a bit of pain than total numbness!  So last week it was like waking out of a fog and of course I then immediately over-did it!

That is ok though...I have lot of quilts to hand-sew binding on a some BBC mysteries to catch up on!

Watson on guard in the backyard...

and Dobby keeping an eye on Watson...my own version of the "odd couple"

Auction finds!

I did get to go to the auction Saturday and I'm glad I made the effort!

This woman had more thimbles, boxes, thimble boxes even, and other sewing items than I've ever seen in one place!  (It made my husband very nervous.  "You are only getting one thimble, right?" he asked.  Silly man!)

There were however many folks there for the sewing items and several aggressive dealers bidding so I didn't come home with too much.  Happy (?) to say I stayed within budget even with the cake dish I couldn't resist!  (crystal is going for such little money how could I not bid!)

The auctions here are not nearly as organized as the ones I went to in England.  The auctioneer was sort of making lots as he went along just keeping them within the cosigner grouping.  This works well for the dealers but for those of us who just collect it means we go home with some things we don't plan on.  Some, like the German needle barrel, are a happy accident...others not so much!  I mean do I really need two walnut shaped thimble cases?  hummm...obviously the woman who collected this stuff would disagree since she seemed to have at least of half-dozen of everything!

All in good fun.  It did wear me out though.  Glad we had home-made New England Fish Chowder and banana bread left over from the day before so I didn't have to make dinner!

I did however pull out an UFO to try and get a quilt out to the folks in Washington who lost so much n the mudslide last week....have the back ready just need to get it quilted, bound and shipped.  First however, I need to get Goldie out from underneath it! (can yo spot the "quilt" tail!)

Aunt Tiques and Uncle Junk

A few weeks ago I was send some info on facebook about an antique/junk store that is only about 20 minutes away from me.

I've had a bad cold for the past few days and have been feeling like I just needed to get out of the house (heated seats don't hurt either!"  So we did a quick run down to Aunt Tiques and Uncle Junk in Thomson, GA.

For any of you familiar with Tonya Rucucci (Unrully Quilter)....this is her type of place.  Lots of southern folk and outsider art.  This includes utensil sculptures, bottle trees, and chicken paintings.

There were a few quilts and I was tempted by a circa 1900 bowtie quilt but condition was against it...though as a folded piece it is nice.  I did bring home a little red drop leaf end table

perfect for next to my quilting chair!  There were also several nice pie chests...would be good for storing quilts...

May need to do another trip when I am feeling better...

New addition...

Today we added another sewing machine to the family...

found this 1950 singer at an estate sale.  The cabinet is in good shape and I really liked the decals.  Hardly any wear and it has this neat "badge" about Singer and 100 years of sewing.

Anyway, we saw it Friday but it was too pricey and I really don't "need" another machine.  But I was still thinking about it this morning so we dropped by on the way to the supermarket and it was still there...and 50% off.  (Of course my DH got them to take off a few more since by now the power-cord had gone missing...it was there on Friday!)  My logic...I don't have a singer in a cabinet...and that knee control looks like fun...that is my story and I'm sticking to it....

So now the machine is all cleaned up, the cabinet oiled, and the stool that comes with it stripped of it's old coverings.  Next step...figure out where to get a power cord (hints and advice appreciated) and recover the chair.  The serial number on this is AJ766685...

Also,  need to find a place in the house for it!  Do you think my DH would notice if I moved his treadmill out into the garage?  Ya...probably would....

Random sewing...

Not really focused on any particular project this weekend but I am sewing a lot...

My Dh has had to work all holiday and I have developed new MS symptoms...random facial and eye twitches (think of the police commander in the Pink Panther....yuck!)  Anyways, they have kept me indoors and though they make me a bit cautious using the rotary cutter I have got some things done!

I cut my strips for the first step of Easy Street...Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt.  I sewed a few together and like the repro gray I pulled from my stash.  It was difficult finding a gray that could hold up to the white and black fabrics...

                                                         Tim Latimar's mock-up....
Also I pulled some seed/orphan blocks from the sewing room to test out a scrappy Road to California Block.  A facebook group I belong to have been discussing this pattern.  The quilt from Laura Fisher Quilts  (a great source for antique quilts) is white and green and looks great a two color quilt.  Tim Latimar of TimQuilts.com did some great two color mock up's of the many ways this block could be set.  A question did come up on how it would work as a scrappy block.

Well I just happened to have a stack of HST left over from my Ribbon Candy quilt and a basket full of four patches from various leader and ender runs so.....

It isn't quite as graphic as the two color but then you get the fun of the fabrics!  Like it both ways....though you can see why some of these blocks ended up in the orphan pile...needed some squaring up!

Antiques Roadshow

Last weekend some of my quilting buddies and I went down to Myrtle Beach for a taping of PBS's Antique's Roadshow.  We had a great time...tiring but fun!

(a paper mache dress form!)

We had put our names into the ticket lottery months ago.  We found out sometime in April that we got tickets.  The tickets arrived ten days before the event.  (We had a brief moment of excitement when my tickets had arrived by my friend's had not...seems her husband left the mail in his car that day....for a few days!)

We got a great two bedroom condo for a few days.  The beach view was wonderful.

The night before the show we checked out what each other had brought to be appraised.  Ille as happy to find out that Margaret, an art teacher, approved of her painting.

Each person can bring two items...a "collection" counts as one item.

The whole event is so well organized it was amazing...lots of volunteers and lots of lines.  Everyone was really nice though so the time and the waiting went quickly.

It was really fun to see what folks had in all the boxes, bags, trolleys and what-nots!

The big surprise was when the appraiser at the pottery table, Nicholas Dawes,  asked if I would like to have the appraisal of my Majolica piece done on air.  My Mom had bought the piece in 1947 while with the Red Cross in England.  I was a little worried I would not be able to talk about it but got through the whole thing fine...did make one of the tech's in the production booth cry though...it was tough.  (My Mom passed away just a couple weeks ago...)

(Nicholas Dawes and me after the appraisal....)

You will have to wait until next spring sometime to see what the piece looked like and what the appraisal was!