Repairs and Handwork

I have mentioned several times here in recent weeks (months?!) that we are remodeling our master bedroom. Funny how redoing one room ends up affecting three other rooms plus a bathroom, but suffice it to say, our entire upstairs has been rather a chaotic mess for awhile now.

Here are a few pics taken throughout the process which depict the upheaval.

Top of the stair; look to the left.

Top of the stairs; look to the right.

Top of the stairs; immediate right.

So, while digging for space in my sewing room, (moving old shelves out - see pic above; better shelves from bedroom in) I came across two quilts given to me for repairs. One I have had for probably 20 years; the other for perhaps 6-8 years. Yeah, I'd sorta' forgotten about them. It made sense for me to just stop rearranging things for awhile and fix these quilts so I could GET THEM OUT OF MY SPACE! I will free up valuable space if I just fix these and pass them back to the owners.

First, I worked on the larger item - a scrap quilt that was so very well-loved. It was worn and threadbare in many places. Longtime family friend Shirley had asked me to do what I could with it and gave me an old flannel shirt to use for patching. The binding was so threadbare that I cut the original binding off and adding a new one from my binding scraps. Then I began cutting squares and rectangles out of that flannel shirt and hand-stitched patches over places that were most worn. These two bits below are examples of what I patched.

I have returned this to Shirley who reminded me of the history of this quilt. Her mother had made it from scraps and it was a particular favorite of her son Tim (Timmy to me, as I babysat him when he was little). Making this even more special is the fact that several months ago, Timmy was killed in a freak accident at age 47. Far too young. Returning this to his mother all these years late, might have been a comforting salve for Shirley. She did seem thrilled to have it back.

The second repair quilt was much smaller and given to me maybe 20 years ago to repair. As I worked, I realized that my daughter Erin made it when she was about 12 for her little cousin Will. Back then, all the cousins were into those I-Spy and Where's Waldo books that came out in the 90s. We shared books and studied those pictures for hours! Will was especially taken with them, so Erin made this I-Spy quilt for him using squares of novelty fabric. I'd totally forgotten that Erin made it; seeing this block jogged my memory. (A reminder of why we should label our quilts, ladies!!!)

Some of the seams had come undone, and my sister had handed it over to me for fixing. I just popped it into a storage tub and forgot about it. A mere, brief stitching session while watching the Tour de France and it is ready now for delivery back to Sandy and Will ... and Will's 2 little ones, who will be the next generation to enjoy "I Spy."

So I've done a bit of hand stitching and I have rid my sewing room of things that I needn't have had in there in the first place. 

Linking with Kathy's Quilts and her weekly party, Slow Sunday Stitching. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

A Long-Arm Quilter Is Emerging!

By gosh, dear readers, I think I am going to conquer this long-arm machine. I had two issues arise this week as I attempted to quilt the baby quilt. First, the timing had gone way, way off. I fixed it! I thought then that I was ready to go, but I discovered after one pass of the machine over the quilt that I had tension issues. And I fixed that, too!

How did I know I had a tension issue, you ask? Well, here are some pictures and explanations.

This is a photo I snapped just after completing the first pass. I was rolling the quilt onto the bar at the top when I noticed the unsightly stitches where I tacked it down across the top. The actual stitches I see on the quilt top look pretty decent, but generally, if there's trouble, it shows up on the underside. And yowza! What a mess!

Here is a closer look at just a few inches of the back. I have orange arrows pointing to three places where the unsightliness is worst. I knew immediately that these would all have to be removed and redone.

UGH.

Instead of taking the entire quilt off the frame, I decided to fix the tension and keep on quilting. Since that single pass was narrow, I figured I could strategize my correction while I finished the remainder of the quilt. This next picture shows the stitching lines from the removed stitches along with the new, and correct stitches.

After the entire quilt was quilted, I cut away the excess batting and re-rolled the entire quilt onto the backing bar. When I was in a position to re-quilt the problem area, I left the original stitches and tried to quilt right alongside them. This effort was mostly successful. Then I took the quilt off the long arm entirely, grabbed the seam ripper ("Get the ripper!" I can hear my mother now! Haha!) Over the course of a couple of tv programs, the stitches were out.

Today is binding day. I have it ready to attach, and a book queued up on the phone. I plan to sit in a quiet place to listen and stitch all afternoon.

Now, about that title - a long-armer emerging - I really feel as though I am! This is the 29th quilt I have finished on the Tin Lizzie, and after all those other quilts, I still experienced a daunting feeling, a reluctance and ambivalence to loading the next one. 

Finally, I am actually looking forward to doing the next quilt! I am becoming a master to the machine; no longer timid and uncertain, but confident! 

Geesh. Took me long enough. Go back here to see how long it's been since I took possession of this machine from my friend, Sharon O. It has been quite a journey - one that has seen me move the machine from the basement to a former upstairs bedroom. There have been several visits to repair shops, way too much down time, yet, in the end, I appear to be prevailing.

Shall I say it? Okay, yes. Perseverance does pay off! Yay!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Repairs Needed

That mystery Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I found stored in my guest room was most certainly given to me by my grandmother, although neither of us remembers anything about it. I am making conjectures from this point, just to let you know. I do think I can safely guess the following:

Grandma occasionally took in quilts to repair. She didn't advertise that she would do this, but if people knew she quilted, she was approached from time to time by people hoping to save a family heirloom or some such.

Since I am already certain that Grandma did not make this quilt, I can only guess that she was asked to fix one of the dresses on the quilt - a green one. And I have evidence that will back me up on this.

Tucked inside the bag with the quilt were these pattern pieces and the piece of green fabric. I believe that Grandma was going to fix that shredding dress. Now would she have done this? Would she have picked out all the quilting and removed both the arm and the dress? Or would she have just removed the arm and cover over the old dress? Or would she have had some other plan? With all that quilting across the arm, I think I would prefer covering the old, and just requilt that one part after replacing the arm. It's tricky. I wonder what a professional quilt restorer would recommend?

Pretty little Sues, don't you think? I find that the way each one is quilted is just a bit odd, with all that unquilted space around the bonnet and under the dress.

This little green girl is the only one showing signs of fraying. The other green dresses are made with this same fabric, but they are in good condition.

So even though I know none of the above for certain, I think I am on the right track. I've definitely got a fair number of mysteries surrounding this quilt. Who the quilt originally belonged to is anyone's guess. How long it's been in my possession is a mystery not nearly as old as who made it or who owned it. I suppose this is a screaming example of why every quilt we make needs to have a label attached to it. 

I am late getting a blog up for today. I have finished quilting Long Road Home. Yes, you read that correctly. *smile*  I have sewn the binding on, also. I plan to hand stitch it down. Just because. I will show you all that tomorrow.

Happy Quilting, Friends!