Some of This; Some of That

Spending some time slow stitching this Sunday

and I want to add a halo to my Christ Child in the manger:

What do you think?  Should the halo be at a different orientation?  I'm going to hand stitch it with some metallic thread. And the FM quilting on the panel is moving right along.  You can't tell very well but most of the people are done.  Now need to think how I'm going to handle all the night sky.  I may leave it alone as this will be a wall hanging.  I'll see.  Think with some Swarovski glitter in the stars it should be enough.  With the 2 yards for the backing my YTD stash busting is up to 52.97 yards used.

It's raining here - very gently - perfect weather to be inside stitching. We're finding it a nice ending to a big holiday.  I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. Button under linky parties tab.

Blessings on this first Sunday of Advent,

Holiday WIPs Be Gone

This is a bit late for several reasons:  It's a holiday weekend.  Lot of eating done; not much sewing. Away from the machines; no time for hand sewing. Once home too full to play in the studio - lol.

Today, I finished another column of the green, scrappy baby quilt.  The treadle is humming along.  I oiled it the other day.  Boy, there are a lot of spots to add oil.  I'm thinking of doing Bonnie Hunter's mystery that started today on the treadle next.  How about you?  Are you attempting it?  I'm just going to do a portion of it.

I also have a commissioned quilt to finish by December 9th.  This is another panel so no blocks to make.  Added two borders. 

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  No shopping for me. Enjoying the quiet and restful time.  We will be visiting friends this evening - another get together for this holiday.

Blessings,

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.