Family Heirloom

A few weeks ago I was gifted a family heirloom. This is the END of the story. I don’t know the entire beginning yet, but I do know the middle.

For as long as I can remember this machine sat at my great aunt’s house on the farm just outside of Alvena, Saskatchewan. Before that it was at my great grandmother’s house, but I only have minimal memories of that home as she moved into care when I was around 10. It was her machine. My own mother can remember her grandmother stitching, the treadle pumping, in their little house in town.

For as long as my mom can remember the machine was due to come to her upon her grandmother’s death. Shortly after Baba Yuzak died, however, the machine seemed to disappear. No one knew where it was. For years we were convinced that another great aunt had it and there was bitterness. At the same time, on the farm, that particular great aunt was in the early stages of dementia.

It was only at the funeral of the great aunt towards which the bitterness had flowed that we learned the sewing machine had been at the farm the whole time. The whole time. For a while it was in the basement, then the garage. Both places my Mom never went when she visited the farm.

A few years later the great aunt on the farm passes away, a long life lived and family to keep her going. We won’t mention any associated drama, but her children did agree that my Mom should finally get her grandmother’s sewing machine. And my Mom decided that I, the long standing quilter in the family, should get it.

Now I need to clean it up, replace the belt, and figure out all that I can. I think it would be amazing to sew on a treadle machine! For now, it sits in a place of pride in my living room, the details making me smile. The history giving me chills. The women in its life giving me power.

If anyone knows anything about these machines and can point out some less than obvious resources, I would appreciate it. I’m seeking anything right now.

And oh! Did I mention that the drawers were full of treats? That’s a whole other post. Lace under construction, trims, feet, thread on wooden spools…

One more thing, there are wheels on the cabinet! That is about as awesome as pockets in any dress.

Solid Scraps Make a Quilt Party

Take one bin of solid scraps, sort them by size, sew them together. See what happens.

In prepping for those doodles I pulled out my solid scrap bin. I dug through it for the first few blocks, picking any oranges or darks for the project while the rest of the fabric looked on forlornly. After the first two doodles I realized that there were going to be a lot of stops and starts and I might as well be efficient. The solid scraps stepped up and volunteered for duty.

Sorted by size they sat patiently until their turn came up. Bit by bit, pair by pair, I sewed them together. The party grew with each seam. Pairs became four, sometimes three. Then four became eight, and so on. Not so much duty as celebration.

Eventually, the party required a little organization. I didn’t want anyone to feel left out while, at the same time, I had to make sure they all fit together. So what start out as nothing but sewing two pieces of fabric together at the end of a seam on an entirely different project required a bit of dedicated attention. I puzzled the groups together to make the most effective shaker. This is a party to end all parties!

Well, it was supposed to be a party to end all scraps, but that never actually happened. That’s because we all know that scraps multiply when you aren’t looking! Not so much party crashers, more like the condensation rings left on the wood furniture - they never quite go away. But nearly all the scraps made it in. And the bin is much, much lighter.

I wasn’t intending to start another quilt. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I have. My original thought was to float this piece in another fabric to serve as a quilt back.

Or I could make that idea into a quilt top?

Or I could turn what it is already into a stand alone quilt, a wall hanging?

Or I could wait until the solid scrap bin fills up a bit more and add to the party?

Or this could become pillows?

Or…

So many options. Right now, however, I have no clue and need a different leader and ender project while I sew my doodles. So this party is going into the stack of quilt tops to reflect upon its awesomeness.

More on this sewing machine next week…

Improv Piecing Doodles

Sometimes I feel like an impulsive child. The one who just barreled ahead, without thinking, infuriating their parents as they went. “What did you think would happen?” I am totally that parent. And I am totally that child.

I had an idea and just wanted to see what it would look like. I grabbed some scraps to play. Of course it would turn into a quilt! And here I was trying not to start any new quilts.

What did you think would happen?

Well, I didn’t think. I was just playing. And now it seems I’ve started a new quilt.

This represents 10 days of Morning Make sessions, plus maybe one or two stints in the evening. Just 20-30 minutes a day. For now I am calling these doodles. Lines on fabric. Pieced, not applique. I started in the scrap bin then pulled out from my actual solid stash. Initially I only went with orange, but after sharing the blocks on social media a few people mentioned that it looked like line drawings on the human forms, just in detail. That got me thinking so I started adding the browns. And I have a stack of pinks that will likely join in.

Other people said it looked like deconstructed basketballs, which I also see, but it less inspiring..

Like that impulsive child, I have no idea where it is going. Obviously it will be a quilt - I should have expected that - but what it will be is very much up in the air. Will I add sashing? Will I lay it out in a colour gradiant or by shape? How many blocks will I actually make? For now, I am just going to keep playing.

Setting myself up to sew right in front of the design wall feeds the creativity. Usually I am in this spot when I am machine quilting - so that the weight of the quilts does not pull off the table. I had moved the table here for just that, actually. Then I discovered I needed a new spool of thread. The delay meant the time to play. And now I am like “what quilt needs to be quilted?”

And oh, yes, there is a second, concurrent sewing project going on there. More on that next week.

Modern Star Sampler Quilt

Ah, that mid fall snow storm. At least it makes for good quilt photos. Plus the motivation to stay inside and finish up a quilt top!

This stars quilt is probably at a decade in the making, if not more. It started as a Block of the Month. I fell behind by the third month then completely lost track of the online pattern. So I made it up. I’ve spoken about it before, that even when you are doing precision piecing, it can be improv.

So there you have it, the top finally finished. Such a pretty thing, if I can say that myself.

This is one of my favourite block styles in the whole quilt. It’s paper pieced, not exactly improv. I sized up a free pattern offered by Amy Friend to get my 12.5” squares. But the spirit of those hand drawn triangles we all made as a kid was exactly what I wanted. And it was the perfect foil to all the other star designs in the quilt. It needed these stars for balance.

I’m already sure I will do a simple all over pattern for quilting this. Nothing fancy, just let it live as a finished quilt as opposed to fussing about outlining each star or obsessing about matching thread colours. In fact, I’ve already started on the backing. I took all the trimmings and scraps from this last run of blocks and put them together. In a few Morning Make sessions I had one big improv block. It would make a great table runner, but I need a quilt back more than I need a table runner.

Oh, and a quick shout out to my 7yo son. He took the outdoor shots for me while I held up the quilt. I also wasn’t kidding about that snow. This was last week, before September ended! Then it melted. Then it snowed again. I’m not complaining, it did get me some pretty shots in the end!