Friday, November 17, 2006
Sewing Room - Fini'
I really owe my husband after this morning....
This is the Horn MultiLift 5000 electronic adjustable height sewing machine table with cup holder. Yes...a cup holder. This is my Xmas, birthday, anniversary, etc. present for the next 5 years.
We bought it at Brubakers Sewing in New Holland. Loaded it up in the pick-up and then brought it home. We then found out that it wouldn't come through the door without taking it apart. It is the heaviest thing I've helped lift in a LONG time. It weighs a ton.
Even with the legs off it, it weighed a ton. Got it into the sewing room and set it up. Somehow got wires crossed, not pushed in far enough and got the keypad locked up, too. So Amy at Brubakers got a nice tech guy from Horn to call me and talk me through it. Now my table works...and I am very happy. Got a new chair too. And a light that looks like a three-headed monster with a full-spectrum lamp, magnifier, and clip. Way cool... I am now a complete woman.
This is the Horn MultiLift 5000 electronic adjustable height sewing machine table with cup holder. Yes...a cup holder. This is my Xmas, birthday, anniversary, etc. present for the next 5 years.
We bought it at Brubakers Sewing in New Holland. Loaded it up in the pick-up and then brought it home. We then found out that it wouldn't come through the door without taking it apart. It is the heaviest thing I've helped lift in a LONG time. It weighs a ton.
Even with the legs off it, it weighed a ton. Got it into the sewing room and set it up. Somehow got wires crossed, not pushed in far enough and got the keypad locked up, too. So Amy at Brubakers got a nice tech guy from Horn to call me and talk me through it. Now my table works...and I am very happy. Got a new chair too. And a light that looks like a three-headed monster with a full-spectrum lamp, magnifier, and clip. Way cool... I am now a complete woman.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
When A Good Idea Goes Bad
I have been working on these blocks for the past 3 days. Fortunately, I did not get too far. They aren't even worth saving.
Here was the good idea....I would enter a kind of funky traditional quilt at Kutztown next year and sell it to fund my other quilty activities. I came up with a design on EQ5. Every block was curved...New York Beauty, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul and some other unknown block. Here are the "Pete" blocks. In the trashcan where they belong.
The upside of this little adventure. First, I learned that I get bored with making things that I'm really not "sold" on. (Duh!) Second, why waste time on doing that? (Double Duh!) Third, cutting templates is a total drag. Fourth, why waste time doing something that is totally agitating?
Kutztown may not see a quilt from me this year, but at least I will be at peace. The next project is a small commission piece. After that is finished, I'll be on to other adventures, unless I start some in the meantime. Right now, I'm grieving over the Pete blocks in the trashcan, but they really are hopeless (and ugly too).
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Paint Day
Not fabric unfortunately, but the next best thing... The Sewing Room.
I'm not a particularly good painter, however, 4 years of hard use by my artist son has taken its toll. Son has moved his area to the newly finished garage. So armed with my 4 year old Colonial White paint, paint roller, brush and various rags and such, I attacked the walls. I had tried earlier to just touch up the walls, however it had really yellowed over the past years, leaving icky looking blotches where I had tried to fix it. So, I painted the "obvious" walls.
You will note the shelving...This will eventually be all mine. However, right now it is storing stuff that will be part of a yard sale next spring.
I do have a plan here, Thursday: Scrub floors, Friday-Sunday: move my stuff. One of the things I did you will see here:
This is a close-up of the Block Butler. This is a sticky design wall fabric I purchased several years ago. I have had mixed feelings about the Block Butler. First, it was expensive ($60). Second, the threads get stuck to it (duh) but are hard to remove. The more threads that are stuck, the less tacky it is...to the point where you have to stick straight pins in the blocks to hold them to the Block Butler (so what is the point of having it?) The Block Butler instructions say that you can wash it. So that's what I did. Delicate cycle with a cap of Synthrapol. Here are the results....
Many of the threads came off in clumps, much like when you pre-wash fabric. Not all of the threads, but many. The downside is that threads that come off the front during the wash then get stuck to the back (which was totally clean prior to the wash). Some kind of grey grime also got stuck to both the front and back. I don't know if this is accumulated dust or some kind of washer detergent grime that was redeposited. Anyway, it came out of the washer just fine and appears to have regained a little of its tacky qualities. I'm still a bit indifferent to the Block Butler. It looks a little better than it did before the wash, but we'll see how it performs.
I am starting the commission quilt next week. I got all of the blocks Monday and I think it will turn out really cute. Well, back to "real" work...I have a script I need to get approved today.
I'm not a particularly good painter, however, 4 years of hard use by my artist son has taken its toll. Son has moved his area to the newly finished garage. So armed with my 4 year old Colonial White paint, paint roller, brush and various rags and such, I attacked the walls. I had tried earlier to just touch up the walls, however it had really yellowed over the past years, leaving icky looking blotches where I had tried to fix it. So, I painted the "obvious" walls.
You will note the shelving...This will eventually be all mine. However, right now it is storing stuff that will be part of a yard sale next spring.
I do have a plan here, Thursday: Scrub floors, Friday-Sunday: move my stuff. One of the things I did you will see here:
This is a close-up of the Block Butler. This is a sticky design wall fabric I purchased several years ago. I have had mixed feelings about the Block Butler. First, it was expensive ($60). Second, the threads get stuck to it (duh) but are hard to remove. The more threads that are stuck, the less tacky it is...to the point where you have to stick straight pins in the blocks to hold them to the Block Butler (so what is the point of having it?) The Block Butler instructions say that you can wash it. So that's what I did. Delicate cycle with a cap of Synthrapol. Here are the results....
Many of the threads came off in clumps, much like when you pre-wash fabric. Not all of the threads, but many. The downside is that threads that come off the front during the wash then get stuck to the back (which was totally clean prior to the wash). Some kind of grey grime also got stuck to both the front and back. I don't know if this is accumulated dust or some kind of washer detergent grime that was redeposited. Anyway, it came out of the washer just fine and appears to have regained a little of its tacky qualities. I'm still a bit indifferent to the Block Butler. It looks a little better than it did before the wash, but we'll see how it performs.
I am starting the commission quilt next week. I got all of the blocks Monday and I think it will turn out really cute. Well, back to "real" work...I have a script I need to get approved today.
