Airing of the Quilts

Saturday was the annual Airing of the Quilts in Huntsville, Texas. I went with three good friends on a typical Texas spring day - windy, sunny, and 85* - that would be summer in many parts of the country, but here, it's Semi-Spring. It comes right after Official Spring, which is one of the two days a year we can open our windows.
Anyway - Airing of the Quilts is put on by the Tall Pines Quilt Guild and it's a fabulous and fun outdoor show. All the quilts are hung from the 4 balconies of the courthouse, the storefronts surrounding the square, and in the streets. They use the old movie theatre for the mini quilt auction, the guild challenge quilts, and the featured quilter, who happened to be Carol Doak a very funny (and silly!) author, designer, and teacher.








Many of the stores had quilts displayed, some for sale, some not.

I just liked this window.
A cute little log cabin right on the square.





Thomas Ball's banner - the town I live in was named after him.
And look what I found!
More wooden spools for my collection!

Piecing at the Improv

In the words of Britney the Brainless Bimbo, Oops I did it again...

Remember that box I live and quilt in? I tried sneaking out of it again. I took an improv workshop through our guild and the supply list said to bring asstd fat quarters and scraps of any old fabrics...lights, mediums and darks. That was it. No patterns, templates, rulers. Now for some, that's liberating. For me, well, you might as well have told me to go to church without underwear. Are you kidding?!

But I was willing to do it, if it meant growing...stretching.
I pulled a stack of fat quarters out of my stash. I bought them 2 years ago during Sample Spree at Quilt Market (Houston), and, since just buying them was cracking open the window of my box, I felt they'd be the perfect grouping for this workshop. They're from the Katmandu Collection, designed by Mark Lipinski. Aren't they gorgeous?!
Oh! That reminds me! The day after I bought the collection, I saw the perfect buttons to go on a Katmandu quilt, and though they cost an arm and a leg, I bought a bunch, and filed them away when I got home. It wasn't til just now that I remembered them and dumped them out for the camera - and that's when the Obvious Train hit me: they don't go at all with the Katmandu fabrics! They're blue and pink for crying out loud! What was I thinking?!
That could be one of my basic problems...

Back to the workshop.
Turns out that everyone else got the memo that said "Bring lots of variety, don't match, just grab it all." Not having received that memo, mine, of course, all matched. Precisely. I traded for some variety and the teacher took pity on me and gave me some of hers. And my 17 year old MJ further rescued me by driving over with my bin of black and white fabrics. He's a good son.

But finally, my project went from thisto this
I still have to trim and quilt it, and maybe throw on some buttons (no, not those), and get it finished by guild next Tuesday.

All in all, it wasn't a horrible experience, and my 15 year old Gillian says she actually would like to have it. I don't know where she came from...

Button It!

Ever since I found my grandmother Stella's button box, I've collected buttons. After I've totally worn out a shirt or whatever, I take off the buttons before throwing it away. I heard that Cary Grant used to do that, too, so I don't feel so weird...or cheap.
Notice in the photo above, that the little jars even have a button lids. I knew I had to have them the second I saw them!


These are some of the buttons that started it all.


Those giant buttons are about 1.25" across. I probably won't ever use them...


And these remind me of Necco Wafers!


Some of my novelty buttons. I won't use these either, cuz they're too cute!


And look what I found when I dumped out my big button jar! That damn Little Foot I've been missing for over a freakin' year!
Now I have to apologize to the kids, my husband and even the stupid dog.

Vintage Sewing Machines

A few years back, I become interested in vintage and antique sewing machines. Not in just collecting them, but also in using them. I'm finding that they are so much better made than the new, improved plastic ones with all the bells and whistles.

Two things really surprised me:
1) I found that most of Singer's (for instance) attachments, were used on machines 100 years ago...hemstitchers, rufflers, binding... Why did I assume these were invented relatively recently for use on only the 'modern' machines?

2) My sewing machine dealer told me with great pride, that my new Elna would still be sewing away in ten years. Gee - that means I could have bought several vintage machines that are still sewing after 100 years, for the same price! You almost can't kill those things.

Here are a few photographs of my small, but growing collection:

Jones Medium C.S. treadle w/Queen Alexandra decal
Serial Number 98833
Circa 1900-1910
Manufactured in North Manchester, England
It came with the original manual, 3 shuttles, 5 bobbins,
a binder, quilter, 4 hemmers and a shuttle tension screwdriver.

Singer Model 99K handcrank
Serial Number Y2303516
1925
Manufactured in Glasgow, Scotland
It came with the original manual, 5 bobbins, a binder,
foot hemmer, seam gauge and the large screwdriver.
My youngest learned to sew using this machine.

Singer Model 201K handcrank
Serial Number EC851510
1940
Manufactured in Glasgow, Scotland
It came with the original manual, 6 bobbins, a binder,
quilter, adjustable hemmer, tucker, gatherer, and the large screwdriver.
My son MJ learned to sew on this machine. He pieced his first quilt with it. Ok, his only quilt. He preferred taking the machines apart and cleaning them.

Singer Model 221K Featherweight
Serial Number EE861595
1947
Manufactured in Glasgow, Scotland
It came with 1 bobbin, a foot hemmer, an adjustable hemmer,
a gatherer, and a ruffler.

The first three are all people-powered and have come in handy more than once when the power's gone out. As a matter of fact, my 2 youngest learned how to sew on the handcranks.

I have a few more machines, but they'll have to wait til the next installment.

Love That Green!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day...

My absolute favorite color is jadite green with a titch of aqua. I've got tons of this thread and will probably never actually use it. Whenever I spot this color thread, I add it to my collection.  It's such a gentle, peaceful color, and it just makes me happy to look at it.

Added 6/19/09:

Shoe Pincushions!

I'm not really into shoes...unless you count these shoe pincushions! I started collecting them in 1999 and I just can't stop. They remind me of the shoes my grandmother wore back in the 40's and 50's. I just love them!

Wooden Spools

As I was looking for my 3rd lost 1/4" presser foot, I came across this small cache of wooden spools. The loose ones were stolen from my grandmother's sewing basket at least 30 years ago, when her eyesight was so bad I knew she wouldn't be needing these anymore. And she'd never notice anyway.

The spools on the twine were purchased at a tiny little antique/junque shop in Oklahoma. The sweetest couple ran the shop, and after sneezing my way through the years of dust, I came upon this little necklace of spools. I love the tag, too!
I've got my mother's sewing basket around here somewhere...I bet there's more in there, too!

Thimbles

I love my thimbles! Almost 30 years ago, when I first started quilting, I bought a $5 thimble by mail. We were living in London at the time and I couldn't find a thimble to save my life. When we got home, I went thimble-shopping and found that they actually come in sizes. And styles. 

I even found a really large topless one that I bought just because. It wasn't til later I found out it was a tailor's thimble for my thumb. How weird.  So I bought it.

Then one year when I was at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, I took a handquilting class from DeeDee McElroy of Roxanne's Thimbles. That's when I discovered that thimbles not only come in sizes, they can be pretty, and ergonomically correct! I'll take two!

A few years later, same place, different handquilting class. This time I took Liuxin Newman's class (The Thimblelady) and found a totally new style of thimble where you push with the strongest part of your finger, instead of the tip.

The one on the left goes on your index or middle finger and the one on the right is for your thumb.

I'll take two of those, too, plea$e! 

So now I have my original mishmash of thimbles and that giant tailor's 'topless thumble'  and my 2 beautiful Roxanne ones and the 2 silver Liuxin Newman ones.

You can tell by the gold-plated Roxanne's thimble that that's the one I use most, but The Thimblelady's silver ones are effortless to use.

I even found a teensy book with a thimble bookmark!