Mar 15 08
Second Post This Week!
I have been busy in my sewing room, stitching up a storm, and man, is it ever reminding me just how much I LOVE to sew!! There is nothing like it and I am forever grateful to my mom for sending me to that 6 week sewing school at the local Singer store to learn the basics! My machine is smokin’ this week!
I have many things to show and tell tonight! First, I had my first experience this week with a brand new product that has me singing! Are you feeling like the world is becoming a darker place? No, I don’t mean figuratively, I mean LITERALLY! This is because as we age, less and less light gets back to the retina, so things seem dimmer and you find yourself needing brighter and brighter light. I have sure been feeling this, and doing fine work, like sewing, is getting harder because of it. Enter the Bendable Bright Light, a new product that fits on ANY SEWING MACHINE! (Actually, you can put it on anything, as my husband Ernie is finding out, as he is putting it on his power tools). To give you an idea of just how bright this baby shines, check out the picture below that shows the machine bed with my normal sewing machine light:
Now compare that shot with the next one, that has the bendable bright light shining:
The light comes with a mounting bracket that adheres to your machine, and then the light itself clips into the mounting bracket. You can buy extra mounting brackets if you want to transfer the light to more than one machine. Here’s my light mounted to the side of my Pfaff:
It retails for $49.95, a bit pricey, but so worth it to be able to see once again! For more info on this product, go here. I also finished one of the quilts I’m making for a pattern that will be coming out this spring. Remember the cool background designs I was playing with in my last post? I ended up doing the seashell plume variant for the background quilting and here’s a shot of it in blue:
…and here’s the same design in olivey-greens:
I am always a sucker for plumes in any design, but I think this design is also intriguing because of that small seashell at the base of every “plume unit.” I have been messing around with this a bit and here are a couple more pics of variations. In this first sample, the seashells have become clams. All I’ve done is keep adding more outlines but making them larger in this way really alters the design:
…and in this next one, I’m using a kind of “court jester hat” variation for the base:
Here’s a closeup of the base so you can see the difference better:
These rotating plumes are fun to stitch and I love their voluptuous curves!
Patsy –
I’m so glad you posted these pictures. I was doing some quilting on a quilt for my daughter the other day that was attempting to look like the plumes rotating around an axis that you posted a photo of a week or so ago, but I was having trouble getting more than 2 or 3 plumes per unit because I was trying to bring them down to a point! I can see that by using a shape like the seashell or clam, you can rotate the plumes around the shape and get more plumes per unit. How clever of you! thanks, Claudia W
I only wish that I could quilt like this. It is beautiful!
Your machine quilting is exquisite!!! Bea-u-ti-ful!!!
The work is very good and I have been able to convert a good deal to my long arm quilter projects. I have had a long arm quilting machine siince 1978. I love you work. Very good pictures.I am visiting my sister in Ca. but as soon as I return to Arkansas I will be keepin up with your web site. I found out about your site in a quilting mag. Thanks
I’ve missed so much!
Love all the work you’ve done
Sally