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It has been a busy couple of days since I last posted. Wednesday I went over to the guild Sit and Sew but came back by way of Gadsden. If you are from my area of Alabama you would know just what a silly statement that was, LOL. Suffice it to say, I made a hair over a 100 mile loop crossing the very intersection that I left on earlier in the day, driving through 4 counties.  ( There was something I needed to check at the Hobby Lobby in Gadsden.  DJ was not expecting me home for awhile so I just went! I also need to check the one in Oxford, closer to home but will do that on Tuesday when the Belles meet)

I had mentioned in my last post that I was preparing to make a cover for my serger.  Tuesday I worked out the specs on that 18 x 22 quadrile graph paper though I wasted some getting the side pieces right.  I taped it all together with magic tape and when that ran out, packing tape but I know that this puppy will go together, even if it looks like a bread box at the moment.  Hey, take a trip through pinterest and search "serger covers"  some of those look like bread boxes too.  I do NOT want one that just ties on either as I have a cat that loves to go after thread.  Don't you think that a little paw would get in at the thread or even the ties???

Wednesday, afternoon/evening I cut it out, electing to go with that same extra firm sew-in Pellon interfacing that I used in my recent excursion into thread catchers.  (One was a recent entry for the Hexie Queen blog hop, the other a gift for my friend Norma.  I won't post the pictures of her giftie until I know she has received it.  I already changed my mind about what to do for the front of this.)    I do want to baste the sections at least on a couple of sides just to hold the interfacing in place.  Yeah, that might seem excessive but pins and serger sewing do not mix.   I also don't want to trim off more seam allowance than I should, though Dixye suggested disengaging the knife.  Still, I don't want to mess this up and will take that extra step till I am more comfortable with the machine.  So maybe I will have another small finish soon?  I'll shoot for tomorrow.


Part of my reason for going over to Pell City on Wednesday was to pick up this serger.  Right after I got my birthday present, the guild newsletter came out.  Two of the gals from guild had either replaced their old serger with a new one or decided that they needed the room more than the machine.   Anyway, my friend Cindy who lives in TN asked me how I liked my serger.  Her granddaughters are participating in the pageant circuit and of course, those costumes can be expensive to purchase and Cindy does sew.  The girl's auntie Susan thought perhaps a serger might be in order.  I told her of the two I knew for sale if she was serious about getting one, if they were still available.  I would be the middlewoman if she wanted one, reimbursing me for the machine and mailing costs or however we worked out for pickup/exchange.

Anyway, this one is the one I picked up for her--a White Speedylock 1600.  Nice little machine.  However I could not try it out at the meeting because it was unthreaded and I had not thought to bring some with me. Also Dixye had been doing a great deal of three threads sewing on it so the left needle was not inserted.  She said to bring it back if there were any problems.  The hex wrench is missing, as it turns out, but that is not a deal breaker as I have an allen wrench thing with mm's that worked.

I am, by no means, an expert on these things but I threaded it up with color coded thread for my friend and played with it.  Ran the tension check strips as I did with my own.  DJ came by the sewing room and said "it sounds like a garment factory in here!"  Yeah straight sewing---on a super fast stitching machine.  LOL.   It operates smoothly and I believe I have a balanced stitch set for her on this thread choice anyway.  She and Susan can play with it themselves though I did send an email with video suggestions that may help and so forth. Per her request, I'll be mailing this off to her next week.  The UPS store is on the way to Hobby Lobby and all down in the area of the meeting---or at least closer than the 12 to 14 miles away that I live!!

The other thing that I did at the meeting:
Another friend had asked for some help in deciphering a Blooming Nine Patch that she had started for a family member who was still waiting 5 years later.  I've never made one but she had asked if I ever came over to the informal meetings so we could spend some time sorting this out.  Regular meetings, I have ridden or driven over with the other gals from the north end of the county and it would not be fair to ask them to wait for us.   Mostly Diane was not interested in making all those little nine patches.  I suggested that maybe she could alternate them with rail rows and she would have less to do.  She had already done the more labor intensive nine patches that go on the periphery of the quilt, where there are 56 of them!  She had strip sets made for the others which would allow the rail idea to work, perhaps just unsewing a few of them to get the right amount needed on the larger rounds.  Lastly, we clipped the bags she had set up into rounds 1 through 8 labeling what was required.  I offered to draw it up in EQ so she could see how it should lay out in the end, though not matching the bride's blendy, matchy floral colors--that would have been impossible!  With that print out, I also printed off some plain sheets for coloring if she wants.

The whole deal is on point, so when it comes to piecing I showed her how I isolate just one row by folding up the paper.   At some point we can get the whole deal laid out when she is ready and pin it to a sheet so she pick up each row or block.   You know that you feel guilty working on anything else when someone is waiting for a promised item?  That would be my friend.  That guilt can be paralyzing--stuck on that quilt plan and won't let yourself do something else.  YIKES!.   I hope we have her back on track.  I told her to concentrate for now on getting the 1st round stuff pieced and cut---that is only 8 patches and plain squares  You can do that!  Then the next round is rails now---that stuff is pieced so just cut it out.   Maybe it will be less daunting now.  Hope so.

I would share the screen shot that I took of it ---it looks so pretty on the computer--but that is copyrighted material.  I only drew it in the first place so she could get it clear in her head what went were on her version as she works. Personal use.  Doubtful that I will ever want to make one though the results are gorgeous!

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DJ and I were thankful that his test results came back negative.  Considering his own history and his parental history of colorectal cancer, that was a blessing.  We went in at 0730, they took him back at 940. I think we left about two hours after that and were home by 1230 once the poor starving man got something to eat.  (Chili and two jr bacon cheeseburgers and coke---best he ever tasted he said.)  Of course, neither of us got much sleep Weds. night with that prep.  He was awake and so was I.  I had such a thumping headache most of the day so I laid down but didn't sleep.  We both made up for it last night though!

So today we are more back to normal.  I'm not out running around, we both are home.  All is right in Skyler's little world because everyone is where they are supposed to be.   He was curled up in the recliner on the foot rest between DJ's legs till DJ bailed to prune one of the bushes near the driveway.   Sky's still in the same spot he was when sharing the chair.

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And what is it that I am looking for at an available Hobby Lobby store?

That would be the strip lime green and turquoise stripe. I have some but not near enough to do what I would like to do with it.  Getting to that story, LOL.   I found the floral yardage the other day.  The Belles (a few of them anyway) want to try to do a 4 patch Kaleidoscope type quilt, maybe at our sew-in in late October.   HMMM that looks like the same colors that are in a stripe I had used on the first machine cover.

The more I looked at the combo,  the more I thought that this stripe might work for a BQ idea that Norma or I spotted some time back.   I have both of the mentioned patterns but this set has always intrigued me.  I have it pinned on one of my pinterest boards here, pinterest  Or use the website August Wind Quilt Designs   and scroll down to or ctrl+ F "4 patch posie in a BQ setting"  She says in the class description "I have combined the 4-Patch Posie pattern by H.D. Designs and Debbie Bowles BQ Pattern. Stack and cut squares from your focus fabric, then use the BQ pattern for a great setting. Very easy piecing in this class for a wonderful effect."  Yes you have done just that!  I would like to try it too.

If I haven't posted this already, there was an excellent tutorial on choosing Kaleidoscope fabric on Connecting Threads along with a link to a you tube video on how to layer cut  .  It is something that I need to pass on to the Belles for sure!  If I am repeating myself, then sorry!  The brain cells are not what they used to be, some things take longer than they used to but I get there.  

That is the circle my little brain is whirling in today----thx for stopping by and have a good weekend.