Monday, December 23, 2013

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

That time of year when I convince hubby to go for a drive and look at Christmas lights.  Was a beautiful night last night, just after a storm with 30 cm of snow.  With Christmas music playing on the radio, we just went for a drive around the area and looked at all the pretty lights.  I love looking at houses at night and wondering what all the families are doing inside.  A kitchen light on, makes me think of Mother and daughter baking Christmas cookies with flower and sprinkles all over the counter.  A light in a living room on and I think of a family sitting around the TV watching It's A Wonderful Life.  A light on in a bedroom and I think of a young boy reaching under his bed and pulling out that special present he bought for his Mom, and looking for some wrapping paper and using masking tape to wrap it.  Most of all I think of  my Dad and Mom and my grandparents that made sure my childhood was filled with love and laughter.  May your holidays be filled with unforgettable memories.












Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Is it Wednesday or Thursday?

Just past midnight and I'm awake.  My time is all off today, some people we know have gone on vacation, and since I live so close to the airport they park their car in our driveway and we drive them to the airport.  The only bad thing about it is that they had to be at the airport for 4:00am, so what do you do stay up or get up at 3:30 in the morning?  I chose to stay up and went to bet at 4:30 in the morning. 
I've done quite a bit of sewing and crafts this past few weeks as I am only working 1 day a week for awhile.  Here is a picture of that ufo I finished for hubby




I use to make lots of these sweaters years ago.  I love knitting in the round.

I also filled the pin bottles and they sit right beside my machine, they are very handy,
 
 
Here is a pillow made with left over blocks I had
 
I  finished another baby blanket, Still love these quilts, as I just cut the small pieces I have left over.
 
My sewing machine needed a cover so made it this one.
 

Well that's all for tonight!




Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Gout!!! I hate gout attacks.  They happen out of the blue, and usually hit in my left foot.  Most of the time they are not in the big toe, but in the heal or the instep. A week ago one decided to hit my foot, lucky I had a doctor's appointment the morning after it started.  With the gout and some other medical problems the doctor has put me on 80% rest for the next 6 weeks, which means I work one day a week.  The weekend was not very productive in sewing as the foot was just too sore to put on the ground, but Monday and Tuesday I had alot of enjoyment cuting, sewing, pressing and sewing. I'm currently working on 3 different quilts that are all over my sewing machine.  One a baby blanket like this one I finished.
I love this quilt pattern it takes 3 differnt sizes of blocks 3 1/2 X 3 1/2 .....4 1/2 x 3 1/2....2 1/2 x 6 1/2.  Which means all of my scraps go into theses size of blocks and then I sew them between doing outher blocks.

This pattern is a baby blanket I made, I used old squares that I had originaly cut out using scissors about 1 1/2 years ago, when I first started quilting. I probably should of thrown them out but instead I re-organized  them and made them into a baby blanket. I even quilted it by machine, a first for me.





I'm also working on a throw size quilt using Bonnie Hunters Scrappy Magestic Mountain pattern, so am cutting out 8 1/2 in cquares and cutting them in 1/2 on the diagonal. Haven't figured out what makes it an up or down mountain, but I'll figure that out. 

I wanted to do some pincushions, and saw somemwhere on the net where someone use mason jars, so I did pin cushions on the tops of 7 mason jars. And now they are at my sewing machine, holding straight pins, safety pins thread and anything else small that I want to keep near at hand.



Anyone that has read any of my blogs or even knows me a little, knows that I am currently on a sewing machine craze.  I love antique sewing machines, the way they look they feel and how they sew.  I love looking through Kijiji at the different ones and sometime will see a nargain I just can't refuse.  Well this Friday looking through Kijij there was an add for an estate sale that was happeing on Friday and Saturday 10:00 - 3:00.  I was able all day Friday to convince myself that I didn't need another machine, and besides that I could hardly walk.  Well I held tough till Saturday at 2:30, then we needed to get a few groceries, so hubby and I head out well the estate sale was only a 5 minute drive from our house I convinced hubby to just swing by and see what they had.  I sent him in to see, he knows the type of machine I like.  He comes out and tells me they have 2 sewing machines, but they want over $150.00 for both.  Well he goes back in, carrting the portable one and says that he got both for $75.00.  Here is the first one, its missing the 2 plates over the bobbin cover, but they can be purchased at the local Singer store.



 
 
The second one is a real beauty, will take a better picture later of it.  This picture doesn't have the drawers in it, which I have, they were full of zippers, bindings, and different feet and the button hole maker for the machine.


 
The only problem with this machine is she weights a ton, the desk must be pure mahogany, and poor hubby had to carry it up from the basement, and put it in the trunk by himself.  I haven't tried it yet, but will use it this weekend I have a baby blanket I started using jean material, but I found it too heavy for my regular sewing machine to sew through 4 layers of denim.  This one should sew through 4 layers af it was nothing.
 


 



 

Monday, November 4, 2013

A Day to Remember

Rememberance day is just a few days off.  It's time to take a few minutes for all of use to think of all the men that have serverd to protect us. 
My dad was in WW2, he met my mother while he was doing his basic training here in Montreal. 

After the war was over he returned to Montreal to marry my mother.  My dad passed away 7 years ago, and I miss him every day.   It is difficult to think of him as a young man, heading off to France to fight a war.  I know he had to use his brothers birth certificate to enlist as he was under age. I also know that it took him years to forget about the war.  When I was young I can remember that we couldn't go and shake my dad to wake hime up, we needed to call his name first.  If you shook him to wake him up he would come up swinging, and the war had been over for 15 years then.  I'm sure my dad must of seen terrible things during the war, he only told me some of them when he was in his late 70's or early 80's, somehow the war didn't make my dad violent at all, he was a strong man who loved his family.
My father drove this truck during the war, he was in tank reconnaissance.


 
 
Tomorrow I will have a post on 2 baby blankets I finished this weekend
 


Friday, November 1, 2013

a windy day

We have a windy day here in Montreal.  Trees down every where and power outages. The wine has been crushed and is in the barrels and bubbling away. Here is a picture of the crates loaded in the van.

Brother and hubby needed to unload them...


I left the work to the men had to do some sewing.  October 31 was the deadline to enter a contest to our fabric store and I needed to get my entry finished and submitted.  Well it took me to the 31st to get it finished.  It needed to be 24 inches by 24 inches. I don't have a chance of winning but it was fun to do.  Here  is my entry..
 
and the back.....
 
 
 
Now onto the next project.
 


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Another Weekend come and gone

I had so many plans for sewing this weekend, but then reality always crops up.  Saturday morning Hubby and I had to meet my brother in the east end of Montreal to pick up grapes.  Every second year my brother wants wine made his wife is the wine drinker, at least it's every second year now, we use to do  it every year.  Not sure why we do it other than he is my brother, as both hubby and I don't drink wine.   We need to meet my brother as I have a van, and he buys like 17 crates of grapes.  We get home the men unload the grapes and take them down into the basement, and spend the next few hours squishing the grapes.  Well there went Saturday morning, then in the afternoon had to pick hubby up from  a hockey practice and then did groceries.  Then Sunday afternoon had a hockey game (hubby coaches a Midget A hockey team).  I was able to get some things done, put a binding on a baby blanket using Pricilla.  This machine is a really nice machine, she just purrrs along.  I love the foot pedal it is really comfortable to use.  Threading the bobbin is easy,.  The strange thing about her is that her wheel turns the opposite of all the other machines I've used, her wheel turns away from you.  I've been trying to do a 24 x 24 inch piece to enter in a contest here at one of our local fabric stores.  I didn't pick a difficult pattern, ok maybe a little difficult as it calls for flying geese.  Simple tho a square and the the geese around the square to form a star pattern.  the deadline is October 31 at midnight. I am at the hand quilting stage, I hope I can get it finished in time.  I have tomorrow off  which is good, but then have different things I have to do.  Go to the motor vehicle burrow and pay for my plates, go and get Apples and carrots, and then take the car to the garage as I have a burnt out head light.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Some days you just don't

Some day you just don't get done what you want to.  Wednesday was one of those days.  Having the day off I only had 3 things that I wanted to do dye my hair (oops wait I am a natural red head) finish had quilting a baby blanket I'm working on and get some squares sewed for a contest at our local fabric store that is due the 31 of this month.
I had been looking at Kijiji, one of my favorite things to do, well there had been this sewing machine that was posted. I first saw the posting a few weeks ago, and they reposted it again.  They were asking for $75.00 and I offered $50.00 for it.  They accepted it, and since it was only a 1/2hr drive away, hubby and I set off Wednesday morning to get it.  She is a portable, the case is in excellent condition.  I get her home and of course now the question is should I dye my hair or try the new machine.  I take her out of her case, oil her plug her in, and thread her.  Put my foot on the pedal and push, get this wonderful soft purring sound and off she goes with a perfect stitch.  She is absolutely beautiful, her name is Pricilla she is a White.  Will check her model number this weekend and also take a close up of her pedal and this cute little oiling can that came with her.  Remember those small ones where you just pushed the bottom to squirt



The white band around her white side is just a piece of cotton wrapped around so you can put pins there.  A lot of women back then use to do this, unfortunately, after may years it does rubb off some of the decal. See the little oil can in her side compartment? The thing you see underneath her is a light that swivels back and up. I think this is going to be one of my favorite machines.

After checking her out, off hubby and I went to a second hand store, I wanted a small burrow to set under the leaf of the sewing machine to hold some material and supplies, since I had set up in the bay window an area that I will use for my sewing area during the Winter.

We went to Village de Valleur (Value Village, outside of Quebec) they had nothing, so we hearded for NOVA which use to be the VON (Victoria Order of Nurses).  We found 2 different units that would suit my needs, but right there accross from the door is a sewing machine.  Now I don't need another sewing machine.  I have 2 Treadles, 3 electric, and 3 portables.  But one can a girl do when she sees a price of $20.00 and she opens the top and it is a Singer model 99K.  From all that I have read on sewing machines the Singer 66 and 99 were the best machines that Singer made.  I looked at Huuby and said "We don't have the room for another sewing machine", he laughed told the lady it is going home with us, she can always find a place for it.  There was a bench with it for 20.00 but I din't want it, the sales woman advised me to look in it tho as there were parts that went with the machine in it.  I imediatel saw the button hole attachement,  I remeber my grandmother haveing the exact same one.  She showed me how to make buttonholes with it when I was around 10.  In the stool were also 3 tins of different stuff, mixture of needles threads, and parts for the machine.  So all 3 tins cam home with the machine.

Meet Twiggy, she got her name as she has a smaller shoe print thatn my other machines.


 
Of course the manuals for the machine and the buttonhole maker were with it, some extra babbins.  Also if you notice with the bobbins there is a long type boobin.  This bobbin is the one that one of my treadles use, I priced them at a Singer store just a few weeks ago, they were 22.00 each.  This one was in one of the tins with buttons in it.
 
 
 
 

 
She runs but the upper tension mechanism is missing a few parts,  I'll get the parts at the Singer store then she should run just fine.



At Last

At last I have some quilting photos to share.  I worked on this sampler this summer.  It is done with paper hexagons,  it does take me a long time to do these, first I print the Hexagons, then cut them out with cissors then cut the 2 1/2" squares then baste the squares around the papers.  Then sew the hexagons together, then remove the baisting and the papers, then pin the piece to backing then hand quilt it.



 
This summer I also did a smapler using diamonds instead of Hexagons, and I used the same technique as I did with the Hexagons.
 


 
 
 


 
 
I used some of my 2 1/2" squares to create the follwing lap quilt top.  It still needs to be quilted


 
 
Yay!! It's Friday.  The next post I'll intoduce you to Pricilla and Twiggy.
 

 


Monday, October 21, 2013

Monday morning Grumble

To start with I had a nice weekend,  I had planned to do alot of quilting, but didn't get as much done as I wnated to.  I took my Singer 760 into the repair shop on Thursday night, and picked it up on Saturday.  She works fine, she needed the cleaning and a few parts replaced.  Her feet were just warn out. 
My son and I have gone on diets.  I need to lose alot of weight and I keep tring to remind myself that this weight is not going to come off over night, it's going to take quite awhile and to just enjoy each little step at a time.  After only a week I feel like its easier to walk and bend down.  This is not a hard diet to stick to, you just  cut out all starch and only protein is (eggs, chicken and fish) and you can eat as many apples as you want.  So Saturday hubby and I spent the morning doing groceries, carrots and turnips were on sale at one grocery store, chicken at another, an I wanted to get the apples from a farmer.

Our "fabric store" here in quebec has a quilting contest on this month and I thought I would give it a try.  The piece has to be 24 x 24 inches, there are 3 categories Pieced Appliqued or Art.  So I decided on making this block

I am not good at making Flying Geese, so procastinated for awhile, then read in the instructions, that there were directions for making the flying geese without waste.  Looked at the instructions and thought and puzzled, and decided why not try.  Well they turned out perfect and were easy to do.  I'm so glad I tried the flying geese this new way.

Now for my Grumble.  When I think of quilting I think of my grandmother sitting at a quilting frmae, hand quilting a quilt she was working on.  Bach then quilts were made from old clothing.  I love the quilts my grandmother and Aunt made.  I started quilting wanting to do what they did, but not as easy as I thought it would be.  Back when my grandmother quilted most clothes were made from cotton, and the thread they bought back then was even cotton.  Today most clothes are made from polyester.  So off to the store to buy some cotton.  Now comes my grumble.  I see all theses pictures of quilts from quilt shows, and the thing that stands out on most of them is not the color or how the different shapes were put together, but rather the quilting design that their longarm has done.  Am I missing something here? I like the look of a quilt that has been hand quilted to show off the design of the quilt not to over powere it.  Finished grumbling for the mment.  Wish I was at home sewing, instead of being here at work.


Friday, October 18, 2013

Friday YEAHHHH!!!!!

Yes its Friday!! That means tomorrow is Saturday and I don't have to work and can sew all day if I want to.  Ok not all day, I'm sure I'll have to do groceries and then I need to pick up my Singer 756 that was in to the repair shop.  Lizzy really did need a tune up.  The Singer store I took the machine to also has the old type cords for the Treadle machines.  I also can order the front plate for my other treadle that is missing. Here in Montreal we have had such a beautiful Fall, the colors of the leaves on the trees has been spectacular.  Also because of the warm weather we have been having, the leaves have lasted longer on the trees. 

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tuesday that is not really a Tuesday

Tody is Tuesday, but it feels like Monday since Monday was a holiday.  Thanksgiving here in Canada was this past weeken we had a beautiful weekend. But before I get into this weekend I have 1 more photo from along the bike path.

This is are city hall.  I absolutely love the garden in fron of it. 

This weeken was the perfect fall weekend, sunny and warm, yet cool at night.  Now when I say warm I mean around 70, and at night even cooler.  There is alwyas such a fresh smell in the air in the Fall. When geting the groceries this weekend there was this huge display of pumpkins in front of the store.  What would Fall be witout Pumpkins and the color of the changeing leaves.

I have the top finished from the material I bought at garage sales this summer.  I loved the idea of recycling it makes me feel like I am carrying on tradition of my ancestors.


Now it just needs to be pinned and quilted.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Yesterday was another beautiful day here in Montreal.  It has been warm for this time of year for over a week now.  Its been 20C or 70F and sunny, which is not our normal temperatures for this time of year.  I had yesterday off work, as I am back at work at 80% for the next 6 weeks.  I ended up in the hospital at the end of August for 8 days with a bacterial leg infection, then I was at home for another 7 days with an intervenses dose of antibiotics.  For a good part of Septemebr I was just not interested in doing anything, no sewin, kntting or crocehet or cross stitch, which is not like me at all.  A few weeks ago, I was looking through our local Kijiji and there was a sewing machine advertise for sale.  Looking closer at the ad I noticed it was about 20 houses away from where I live.  I even remember telling my hubby about a garage sale in August that we missed that had a sewing machine adverised.  We had driven right past the house but didn't stop becuase we were on our way to the trailer, and had our dogs with us.  Well I answered the add and sure enough she still had the sewing machine, I eneded up paying 50.00 for her.  I've named her Lizabeth (Lizzy) and I think I am in love with this machine.  I plugged her in oiled her and she runs like a charm.  I also love the fact that when you open the cabinet, in opens to 2 parts, the one on the left is the longer one, but there is alos about a foot long one on the right.  The right side gives me just enough room for my ipod, my scissors and glasses.  You don't have to take the bobbin out to wind it.  She is set up on the front gallery, which is all windows around, so alot of natural light during the day.  The only draw back to it being on the front gallery is that it is not heated.  But during the cold weather I'll bring her in, but for now it is such a joy to sit out there and look outside and listen to my music as I sew away.


 
Oh and Lizzy is a Singer  Touch and Sew 750
 
 


 
 
 
I've cleaned it up some since this photo was taken, ok ok I straightened the books and through the empty bottle out.  Why clean when you can sew.




Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Sewing Machines... I have a few sewing machines. I have 2 treadles.  The first one I bought off Kijiji, after bringing it home and cleaning it and oiling it up, a long time friend of mine came over and said he had an old treadle at home and didn't want it.  So this now is my second treadle.
 
It's a nice machine but does need some tender loving care.   It's missing one of the metal sliders under the foot.  I'll have to look around and see if I can find  a new one for it.
 


 
 
It also  uses little spindle like bobbins.  I have one of them but have never seen them before.
 


 

Another Day In Paradise


 
 

Sunday was such a beautiful day here in Montreal.  The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect.  Hubby coaches Hockey, he has volunteered to coach Midget for the last 5 or 6 years, it's his bonding time with the guys.  Sunday I dropped him off at the arena and knew he would be there for at least 2 hours.  So me and Buddy (my big dog) decided we were going for a drive along the lakeshore, as it was so beautiful out. I'll post some of the pictures over the next few days, it amazes me that here I am living in a major city that is also an isalnd, and yet there are still many "country" things to do.  we saw people walking along the water front, people riding along the bike paths, people fishing, boating and sailing.
 

 
Now you might here me complain alot about living on an island, now this is a big island, and to get off an isalnd one must go across a bridge.  The bridges, lets just say that I think most of our tax dollars go to repairing those bridges, and of course construction here is done during the summer.  The summer is when everyone heads off Island for the weekends.  To get off Island to the south there are 3 main bridges,  do construction on 1 of them and there are major traffic jams on the other 2 on Friday afternoons. As I have mentione before we have a trailer about 1 1/2 hours outside the city, that's on a day when the traffic is good, on a bad day....Ok enough of that, Summer is over and the trailer is closed up for the Winter and construction is over for this year.
 

So here is a picture of the area I drove along on Sunday.
  
 
 
I've lived in the same house for 57 years, my dad built it a fes years before I was born. I can still remember when the West Island was considered the country if you lived in the city, and most of the homes in the area were Summer cottages.  When I was young I still remember going to the top os our street and visiting a girlfriend that lived on a farm, and we would go horese back riding.  Now you would not find a farm anywhere on the Island.  Even tho we are in one of the suburbs of Montreal we are only a 20 minute car ride to the center of the city.  The population of the island is roughly 1,866,481 people, we are the largest city in Quebec, but are diffeent in many ways.  The city is mostly bilengual speaking French and English, with the West Island being mostly english.




 

Friday, August 2, 2013

Friday last day of the week!!! I love summer hours, get to leave at noon today, and we are off to the trailer. Going to take my hexagons to work on, and might make a beer can table this weekend weather permitting.  At the trailer most "artsy" things I do outside with juanita, she is the artist in the group.  We also need to finish the coupbards in the trailer, and I need to get some new curtains.
 
 
I bought this baby a few weeks ago on KIJIJI for all of $20.00.  She is a white 1315, last night I set it up in the sewing room.  Had trouble getting it to sew, but was able to find the manual for it, and after threading it right and taking out the4 bobin mechanisim, It started to sew fine. I love these old machines.