Some of This; Some of That

I used a yard to make a grocery bag. Not totally happy with it, so making another.  I'm holding this one so that's why it looks so big. It's only 13 x 8 x 14.

I've started another baby quilt.  This time I just took fabric from a scrap bag. It was mostly green fabric, so I decided to make a green quilt from these larger scraps.  The squares are 3.5".

I've finished one column and it's on my design wall: 

It is slow going because first I had to learn how to use my new-to-me treadle machine.  DS#2 brought it from Colorado back in June, 2016.  He had a renter who left it behind.  When I was there in 2015 I saw it in the garage and couldn't believe my eyes. I've always wanted one because that's what I first learned to sew on in my home economics class in Junior High School.   Discovered it was made in 1902.  It is a Singer 27.

I had it serviced.  Brought it home and began the process of trying to make it work for me.  Happily, the manual is available online.  The machine was hard to get going; found it needed to be higher so the peddle would clear the carpet.  DH got some boards and that was taken care of.   Then the belt had to be tightened.  At the shop it worked okay, but for me the thread kept breaking, skipping stitches, and the bottom part of the stitch looked awful - too loose. 

Finally by reading the manual, and many hours of adjusting and checking,  I got the tension right [You have to adjust the tension with the presser foot down], yet still kept breaking thread.  Then found the needle was in reverse.  I did what the manual said about how to put a in new needle. Turns out the photo for the needle is backwards.  Once I put it in like my other machines, everything fell into place.  It has a beautiful stitch. BTW: it has a cylindrical bobbin - another learning curve.

De-stashing grew with the one yard mentioned above and the 1 1/4 yds for the baby quilt.  New YTD total for de-stashing is 50.97 yds  used.

Did you get to sew this past weekend?  Leave me a note and I'll come by to see your work.  Blessings as we start a new week.  I'll be linking to some parties listed under my tab for those.

Wips Be Gone Finishes

Were you able to work on a WIP?  I did and surprisingly, I finished three:

Here's my little mistletoe quilt - measures 8 3/4"x10 1/2"  - that I said I'd tell you more about in my previous post.  It was for our Steal Game at our November Guild meeting.

The guild board gave us these plastic stands for our little quilts.  The quilts shared were so varied and beautiful.  It was a great showing of creativeness.  The top photo shows the quilt on the stand.

I also finished quilting that baby quilt:

 The back reminds me of a modern quilt with the two colors of thread and the shapes of the motifs.

 I was happy to find a pink fabric so close to the front fabric for the binding

Lastly, I made another SS block.  It called for paper piecing in the center part, but I just used a stripy fabric instead.

Are you WIPPing?  Leave me a comment and I'll come by and check your progress.  Winter is edging into our part of the country. Guess it's time.

Blessings!

Off the Wall for Applique Tuesday

Off my design wall is my mistletoe square now a rectangle. It's become a block.  I'm so tickled pink with this Crafty Applique method. Used two fabrics that aren't batiks and no fraying in sight.

More later. Off to bed.  I'm linking up - see linky party tab above.