New toy is fun!

Like most of you correctly guessed, I went to play with my sewing machine. I have almost finished the exercise book, and I was doing some test quilting on the rows of my challenge quilt I ripped off to match the backing material size. Suddenly I heard a Beep! and looked around, but couldn't hear anything so I went on sewing. Then I heard it again and noticed this:


The Sapphire darling was telling me that I was running out of bobbin thread! There was about 50 cm left on the bobbin, and I could choose to sew it to the end or start filling the bobbin immediately. On any other machine I have used I could have kept sewing on and on without noticing. The machine did also have her bad moments, the quilting thread was tangled a few times and the machine stopped and informed that the motor was overheated. It prevented me from trying to sew through the tangle and overstress the machine, I think. When I changed a thicker needle it did not happen again.

I also tested the table included in the set. With the big quilt, this will be a tremendous help. I only need to take a higher chair; on the dining table this is way too high for me on a normal chair.

Once again I'll show you something I've done long ago, one of my very first quilts. The design is a little odd, but my daughter uses this quilt on her sofa where it is partially covered by big cushions. The centre is made of corduroy and the rest is jeans. For many years I used to cut all worn-out trousers of our whole family into 11x11 cm squares and stash them in a drawer, long before I had started quilting. When the piles seemed big enough I sewed this quilt for my eldest son. I thought he could use it as a carpet, as it is big and very heavy. Somehow it ended in my daughter's home. Main thing is that this odd quilt is being used. I remember that I wanted to make the quilt look like worn-out jeans' knees, lighter in the middle. This knee seems to be patched with corduroy!

P.S. on Friday I ironed almost all there was to iron. Now the pile is bigger than the one I showed. This time I'll iron first and then start playing!

To iron or not to iron?

What do you think I should be doing now (except writing this), ironing these, the new backing for the challenge quilt is on top,





or playing with this, my new Husqvarna Sapphire 870 Quilt I bought yesterday when I just went to have a haircut and to look at some sewing machines:




Look at the length of the arm! Look at all the stitches:

I haven't even plugged it in yet. It came with an instruction CD and an exercise book where I can collect all my samples when I practise. I just keep smiling all the time, like when in love! Now I must take time to learn the basics so I can machine quilt the challenge quilt easily. To show you some progress in that field I have a photo of the borders. They look like this, all the way around:

I ended up leaving three rows out. Maybe I use them for a cushion, sometime in the future. Now I think I will plug in the iron - or new sewing machine.

Sweet surprise

On Monday I had the sweetest surprise mail from Suzie. She was my first PIF contact and I have just shown what I sent her. Now she wanted to thank me and sent me this cute little name panel to wear in class or meetings:








And to help me find the page I was reading last night, she has sewn me this most beautiful bookmark in my favourite colours:




It is only 6,4 cm/2½" wide so you can imagine how tiny the log cabin pieces are. And all corners are sharp! She is a very clever girl, so maybe you should go to her blog and sign her PIF to get something hand made by her. All you need to do is tell her you want to join in her PIF and then publish the rules in your blog, promising to send handmade gifts to the three first persons signing in on your blog to continue this game. There is still one name missing on my list too.

My summer stash challenge quilt is still waiting for progress. I have bought a new backing on Monday, to replace the too small one. Unfortunately this was the last bit the shop had and it ist not very much bigger than the first one, but the colour goes better with the top. Today I will iron the washed backing and sew the seam in the middle and make the sandwich. My wadding has been lying flat since the day I bought it so it will certainly not be bumpy any more. I hope to post some progress pictures tomorrow.

PIF mail in and out

This lovely table runner is made by another Ulla, the one in Sweden in Ulla's Fiber Blog. I received it yesterday as my PIF gift from her, and it is in my favourite colours, different shades of brown.






There was also this sweet little pouch, which blogger insist on showing rotated. It is easy to look at this way too. I have not yet decided what I shall use this pouch for. It could be for lipsticks and nail file in my bag, or some jewelry when I ever happen to travel. The zipper closes perfectly, so the thin chains would not escape. It could also be useful for sewing threads when I go to my sewing group again in September. I love my gifts very much and I'm glad I chose Ulla's PIF to participate.








Here is what I have sent as my PIF gifts to both Suzie and Lesley:






They both like blue so I made them a set of holders for scissors, thimbles, pins and needles. They are useful when you take a small sewing project with you to waiting rooms or trips. I take the opportunity to remind my readers that I still have one gift to send. It may not be like this one, and it may not be very soon, but I can promise it will be sent within a year from my original promise to Pay it forward.


A little update on my Summer Stash Challenge quilt: I bought yesterday the backing fabric and didn't think it was only 90 cm wide insted of the normal 150 or 140 cm. It will not be enough for the size the quilt top was planned to be. After some thinking I ripped off three rows of tumblers and put on a narrow border. Today I will think a little more and decide wheter the borders stay or not, and calculate how many rows can go back if I decide to get rid of the borders. It would be useful to think twice in advance!

Pigs and bags

This little pig is very thick and I think she will have piglets any moment now.






So there they are! It is so convenient to have a zipper in one's belly, the little ones just pop out like that and then you close the zipper and let the piglets have some milk.




Press buttons make excellent snouts and nipples. I made these for the Softies for Mirabel auction. My mama pig is not big enough for the three piglets I made, so she will go to Australia with just two of them. I'll have to make the next sow bigger, and she can take care of the lonely little piglet and two new ones.


Remember the bag competition I participated in May? No luck for me, but you can see the winners here. The first price went to a bag woven of videotape, an extraordinary idea and the bag looks really nice. The second price recycles a children's traffic play mat, and the third winner is crocheted with thin plastic bread bags cut into strips. The next one shown is a double bag from an old tablecloth; the idea is that you can remove the lining and use as a spare bag if there is more shopping to carry. The fifth one is a net bag crocheted with rests of warp yarn.



I still have not been able to go fabric shopping for the backing of my Summer Stash Challenge quilt, but I have started a new Flickr group for all who have joined the challenge. There will be only pictures of the challenge quilts, showing the process how a maybe problematic pile of stash will turn into a nice quilt. (More often it seems the husbands are having the problems, the quilters just have nice stash.) Number of quilts made for the challenge is not limited, so if you have already finished one quilt, nobody will stop you making as many as your stash and time will allow! This group is for invited members only, so you need to give your e-mail address to Eileen or me if you have joined in the challenge and not received an invitation by now. Our e-mail addresses can be found in our blog profile.


EDIT July 15th: There are more pictures of the bag competition here , on readers' request, and my Maurtiz bag was the first one they added!

Medieval tourism

This weekend we visited Turku, where our daughter Kaija lives. She took us to see the Medieval Fair ot the old market place near the cathedral.




There were stalls where you could buy handicrafts or something to eat.

And there was an area with work performances. This one was showing how yarns were dyed with natural ingredients like birch leaves, juniper, fungi etc.

I think the rare blue colour is achieved by woad. My sister Maija has given me some seeds but I have not sown them yet. I think I need to go to a course first to learn how to dye and how to handle the plants for it.

We had a lovely weekend and now I have to adjust me to normal life again. Tomorrow I can finally go to a favourite fabric shop and by the backing and batting for my stash quilt.

Home decorating

Earlier this year I bought an embroidery from Karen, and later she sent me another one as a gift. My flyfishing, flytying DH had two hobby-related pieces of graphics as a Christmas present from our daughter Kaija. It took some time but now all these pieces of art are framed and hanging on the wall.


This place is at the end of the staircase leading upstairs, the only place where you can get close to the wall without moving heavy pieces of furniture. Only here it is possible to see all the delicate details of the embroidery and the engravings. I am very pleased with the result. The three pictures on the left, with black frames, are by my father.

This is all for today,we are having a thunder coming closer as I write this, and I will turn off the computer. My Summer Stash Challenge top is sewn together and ironed. Next I have to go and buy some fabric for the backing, because I have no big pieces in my stash, and no batting. I have not yet decided how I will make the framing and binding.