Tammy's Craft Emporium

Embroidery fun...

2012-01-16T18:29:00.000-06:00

Progress report with the new toy...a Pfaff Creative 2. This is a thistle flower for a baby book, the pages were made by guests at the baby's shower and now her nanna is making a book.

I embroidered the birth announcement on a pink block. Below is the practice on a quilt sandwich.

I'm practicing my free motion leaves as well. The embroidery was done with 100% variegated purple thread and the green leaves are 100% polyester trilobal embroidery thread. So far I'm really enjoying doing sewing machine embroidery.

Happy sewing all.

free motion quilting - heart shaped leaves

2012-01-12T18:58:00.004-06:00

I'm delighted to participate in 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge. January's teacher is Frances Moore. First I drew the leaves on about a dozen sheets paper, trying to get them relatively the same size and running in different directions without crossing the lines.

These are the first two sheets.

This is the last sheet. I put a question mark at the start as in hindsight, I should have started with a complete leaf instead of short piece of stem. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until after I completed the square in my sampler quilt. When I was done my square I went back to the centre to add one tiny leaf on the starter stem, it is very obvious because of the extra thread.

This is my practice scrap, I tried purple Coats 100% polyester thread 40 wt and white bobbin quilting thread in the bottom.

On the backside there are tiny purple dots from the top side showing through the bottom. I adjusted the needle tension then I had white dots on the top. This problem was easily fixed by changing the bobbin thread to the same thread colour as the needle.

This month's square was quilted with my Bernina 930 Record (Helga) using a Schmetz universal 80/12 needle.

I'm mostly happy with the results. The only thing I don't like is my beginning and end are obvious. These leaves are fun to quilt.

The sampler quilt is 100% cotton top, the outside border is 100% cotton unbleached muslin and so is the back. The batting is Warm and Natural 80% cotton and 20% polyester. This batting is wonderful to quilt with.

I really looking forward to next month's free motion quilting design. After completing the sampler block I put these leaves on the baby quilt behind the sampler quilt.

Happy quilting all!

What Child Is This - vocalist Barry Mihilewicz my cousin

2012-01-01T10:37:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py-8WmW9bm4

A little piece of magic. Happy New Year!

Using a treadle sewing cabinet with an electric machine

2012-01-01T09:56:00.001-06:00

Debbie has left a new comment on your post "Husqvarna 530 Lily":

When I used a treadle cabinet for an electric machine I constantly got tangled up with the iron pedal on the bottom. Congrats on your new machines!

This is how my treadle cabinet was set up. After the treadle machine was removed, a wooden shelf was installed for this free arm machine to sit on. The older flatbed machines have the identical hinged pin at the back of the machine that fits into a portable carrying case or sewing machine cabinet. These machines can be installed the same way the treadle machine was and folded down for storage. My shelf set-up does not allow for the machine to be folded inside when not in use.

I wrapped the electric cord that plugs into the wall and the foot pedal cord around the centre of the treadle frame then feed them up and inside the back of the cabinet to plug into the machine.

I put a small piece (2 by 4) of wood 2 inches thick under the treadle pedal.

This prevents the treadle pedal from moving when sewing.

Works like a charm. Happy sewing all.

Husqvarna 530 Lily

2011-12-21T14:40:00.004-06:00

In July 2011, I gave Heidi my Husqvarna 500 Computer to my daughter. There was a brief period where I thought or hoped that my Bernina 930 Helga would be my new "go to" machine. I guess old habits die hard, I missed my Husqvarna. So I bought this one.

Manufactured in Sweden in 1997 the 530 Lily is a scaled down model of the 500. Lily does not have as many features or stitches, there is no alphabet, but the body of the machine is identical to the 500. I bought the 530 Lily in Kanata, Ontario. She arrived on bus this morning. Look what a fantastic job the previous owners did packing her up.

The bobbins were in a zip lock bag, the accessories and feet were individually wrapped in bubble wrap. A surprise bonus in the box was a free motion quilting/darning foot and walking foot.

Lily just happens to have the same name as my dog.

She has an extension which I won't be using because she fits so well in this 1914 Singer treadle cabinet.

This is a shot of the bobbin winder and control panel. It has a sewing advisor, that includes a selection for leather and vinyl sewing.

The stitches in purple thread were made with the Husqvarna/Viking Lily 530. She sews lovely, precise stitches.

The Lily 530 wears low shank snap on feet, uses standard needles and the same bobbins as my Pfaff Creative 2. Welcome home my new "go to" machine.

December has been a great month for me, I sold two sewing machines (Elnas) and bought two sewing machines the Pfaff Creative 2 and this one. Currently, I own 12 machines, three are listed for sale and one will be given to my son in 2012. See, I'm getting so close to my goal of owning only 8 or less machines.

Three more sleeps till we fly east to spend Christmas with our daughter and son-in-law. Happy holidays all.

Pfaff Creative 2

2011-12-16T15:29:00.006-06:00

I must have been extra good this year, because I traded off Big Bertha my Pfaff QE 4 and brought this beauty home!

I could have swapped straight across for a Pfaff Smarter C1100, but what is the fun in that? Instead I traded up to the combo embroidery/sewing machine. Needless to say, the Christmas sewing is on the back burner while I play with the new toy.

She has the extra large harp area like the QE 4, the same toggle switch and buttons. She uses the same feet, the identical straight stitch plate and bobbins. Any suggestions on what I should name this beauty?

This is really fun. The software converts true type computer fonts to files that the sewing machine will embroider. I'm just learning so I made a few mistakes but this is only practice scrap.

Sew Fun! was made with a computer font I converted.

I ran into a little glitch with the Christmas tree. Operator error. I hit the wrong button and the machine centered itself in the middle of my hoop not at the bottom right hand side where the pot and bottom of the tree were. I eye balled it to get back to the same position. As you can see, it is a wee bit off. This machine will cut the jump stitches as it sews and baste around the design before it starts embroidering, so it is easy to see exactly where the design will be.

Tammy's Craft Emporium was the first thing I tried to embroider. The font was too small causing too much thread build up. I think this machine will be fun to use. I plan to decorate quilts, personalize gifts with names or initials and add borders to table cloths or napkins. Having never owned an embroidery machine before, I'm really excited about it.

I have lots to learn about backing, how to embroider on terry cloth, denim and quilts. Any comments, suggestions and advice are always welcome. Does anyone else buy themselves Christmas gifts?

Awwwwww.. my cup runneth over! Have a super duper day all! ~dancing around the room with glee!

Lily's new fur cut!

2011-12-15T01:56:00.001-06:00

Sometimes she just doesn't want her photo taken.

Lily was more interested in relaxing than her photo shoot.

Doug thought the little bows in her ears were silly. I think she looks sleepy and bored.

She smells much better now. Dogs are difficult to photograph.

Now that she's had her spa day she is ready to go the the boarding kennel for Christmas while we go visit Shannon, AJ and Penny (their puppy) in Kingston, Ontario.

White Superlock 2000 serger

2011-12-09T00:27:00.007-06:00

Michelle is looking to buy a serger. Below is part of her email to me:

Can you recommend any GOOD serger project books, or serging books that you think are invaluable?
Maybe you could do a blog post on your serger, what you make with it, and how much you love it. *hint hint* I just didn’t find many blog posts from ‘Sergers’ (people) when I looked.

Even though I own several sewing and quilting books, I only have one serger book.

Singer's Sewing with an Overlock meets all my serging needs. The pictures are excellent. The book provides detailed instructions on setting the tension, three-thread rolled hem, gathering and decorative threads.

My serger is a White Superlock 2000, that I purchased new in March 1997 for $700 CAD.

It uses up to four spools of thread, has a differential feed, a scrap catcher tray and a built in thread cutter.

Sergers are even more finicky to thread then sewing machines. Not only must they be threaded correctly, they have to be threaded in this exact order:

upper looper (blue)
lower looper (purple)
right needle (yellow)
left needle (green)

On my serger the thread paths are colour coded and I marked the threading order with a black permanent marker.

One of the things I love about this serger is that the entire bottom opens up, for easy threading and cleaning.

I usually tie on the new thread colour for threading the upper and lower loopers. Then I manually thread the duel needles.

For this post, I manually threaded the loopers as well as the needles using the same four colours of thread that the guide shows. This serger is easy to thread.

Here I removed the presser foot. Needle nose pliers or long thin tweezers are excellent tools for threading sergers.

Before serging anything, always start a thread chain to ensure the machine is threaded correctly and in the correct order.

Then serge a scrap of fabric to check the tensions.

Whenever, I'm setting the tension on my serger I use contrasting thread colours to quickly identify which loopers or needles require adjusting. The purple side (lower looper) is the bottom and blue (upper looper) is the top. The first strips I serged are on the right and the last one is purple on the left. On the back side the left needle tension was too loose and not even. I tightened it in six very tiny increments.

The tension disks on this serger are very similar to the upper tension dial on mechanical sewing machines. It is important to thread the machine with the presser foot up and make sure the thread is set in between the tension disks.

I'm sewing a denim dog bed for my grand-dog Penny.

Serging is fun and I love the professional finish.

See the little white button on the harp, just right of the presser foot...that is the built-in thread cutter, pressing it down raises the little blade behind the presser foot.

This is such a cool feature. I didn't realize what a wonderful thing it was until I used a serger without one.

Serging is quite messy, there is lots of dust and lint from the fabric being cut just before it is serged. Usually my serger is all dusty, obviously it was vacuumed before the photo shoot.

The dark blue striped denim wasn't wide enough. The light blue piece is old jeans.

Dog bed completed. I sure hope Penny likes it.

I use my serger when sewing garments, dinner napkins, tablecloths, tea towels, flannel pj bottoms, nylon bags, cotton bags, Christmas stockings, Halloween costumes, curtains, place mats, hair towels, oven mitts and baby quilts. It serges wonderful rolled hems on fine fabrics like sheer curtains. I finish the seams on garments with it. When I make baby quilts, first I sew the pieces together, then overlock them and finally top stitch the seams in place using a zig zag stitch on a sewing machine. I do this because baby quilts get washed frequently. For tea towels I serge the edges, then fold over once and hem.

My White Superlock was made in China and is available as a Husqvarna or a Singer serger. The Singer does not have a scrap catcher, but comes with three extra feet.

My only regret with my serger is that I didn't buy it sooner. Happy serging and sewing.

1940s Piedmont - Singer 15 clone

2011-11-10T09:02:00.003-06:00

Two weeks ago my cleaning lady Linda brought me this straight stitch sewing machine! Her husband Dennis rescued it from a dumpster. The case looks pretty rough.

The shinny black machine head, gold decals and chrome trim were all pristine. If it wasn't for the wear on the foot pedal it would be hard to tell this was a vintage machine. I think this sewing machine was well used and well loved. Most likely discarded by someone other than the person who used it. I'm guessing the accessories and manual were also dumped. A closer inspection revealed that the motor belt was very frayed and the light bulb is missing.

Nonetheless, this machine is gorgeous! I didn't polish it at all for these photos, this is exactly the way she looked...fresh from the dumpster.

This Piedmont is a clone of the Singer 15 series. It uses class 15 bobbins, standard needles and short shank screw on feet. There is a knob on the base beside the bobbin winding spool pin to drop the feed dogs.

The machine had five bobbins all with thread, one needle in the machine and the bobbin casing. I spent $5 CAD to purchase a new motor belt. After installing the new belt, the motor was smoking and stinky so I spent another $10 to get the motor refurbished.

People who lived during the great depression were extremely frugal with thread, they would wind more than one colour on the spool. I wonder if they ever used the colours underneath.

I did some sample stitching with it. The motor runs hums along as it sews. I put red thread in the top needle and yellow in the bobbin. Even with the bobbin screw tightened as tight as it would go and the upper tension set as low it will go the stitch is still not locked in the centre.

See the little red dots on the reverse side. I'm going to clean the upper tension disks with dental floss and see if that fixes the problem. Jenny at sew classic provides excellent tutorials for cleaning and fixing vintage machines. She also sells parts. After checking Jenny's instructions on tension issues, I tightened the upper tension to 4.5 and left the bobbin tension as is.

The purple scrap had too many tracks running across it. The red thread is the top and yellow is the bottom. The tension is fixed! Yippee~ dancing around the room with glee!

My goal of reducing my sewing machine collection from 12 machines to only 8, just took another step backwards as I now own 13 machines again. ~sigh

1910 Bernard Stoewer Treadle - Bernice manufactured in Germany
1940 Singer 15-91 - Pearl
1940s Singer 15-89 Treadle - Rose
1940s Piedmont - manufactured in Japan. This machine will be donated or sold once I buy some accessories for it.
1954 Elna Supermatic - manufactured in Switzerland. This machine is listed for sale on kijiji Winnipeg because it is operated with a knee bar which I do not like.
1954 Necchi Mira BU - Mira manufactured in Italy
1961 Necchi Lelia - Lelia manufactured in Italy
1956 Domestic Automatic - Wilma manufactured in Japan will be given to my son.
1970 Elna Supermatic - Ella manufactured in Switzerland
1979 Husqvarna 6570 - Ruby manufactured in Sweden
Bernina Nova 900 - Novalee manufactured in Switzerland between 1982-85
1983 Bernina 930 - Helga manufactured in Switzerland
Pfaff QE 4 - Big Bertha manufactured in China with German engineering.

So many toys and so little time! The way a sewing machine operates just fascinates me. I collect sewing machines because they are so inexpensive and plentiful. Most of my vintage machines were purchased for less than $100 CAD and many were free. I bought one treadle for only $20 in a cabinet. I love these oldies, they are usually all metal construction. If kept clean and oiled they will keep sewing for years and years. My favourite sewing machine of all time was my 1995 Husqvarna 500 that I gave to my daughter in July 2011. Currently, I am falling in love with Helga the Bernina 930 and I'm very partial to Pearl the Singer 15-91 straight stitcher. Pearl is conveniently set up in the craft emporium overflow area which is also where my 42 inch tv and extensive collection of dvd movies reside.

Dear readers, how many sewing machines do you have? Do you have any favourites? If you collect them, why? Do you name your sewing machines?

Necchi Lelia 513 - how to thread the bobbin

2011-11-09T22:11:00.013-06:00



Anonymous said...: I just started using this sewing machine that was my grandmother's and had looked unsuccessfully for a manual in the past--thanks! I'm a non-sewer guy but am mechanically skilled, nothing was very obvious except what I remembered from when I was a kid(the foot button the lever for the depressor foot). Now I am stuck. :) How is the bobbin threaded? I have it in the casing right, understand how that is re-installed, but am unclear on how to thread it back out/through the rest. (I was however able to see from your pics that it exits the plate in that center hole/slot.) I am trying to make a dog jacket w/nylon polyfill. :) Thanks in adv.; November 9, 2011 5:20 PM

This comment was posted on my original Necchi Lelia 513 post. Behold... "how to wind a bobbin"my first attempt at making a movie.
It was quite a challenge to run the sewing machine and the camera at the same time. I stopped shooting the movie to cut the thread off. So "how to wind a bobbin" became a two part movie all 60 seconds of it.


The bobbin case is really quite neat.
Here I have raised the centre lever on the back of the bobbin case that locks the bobbin into position in the sewing machine.
The small lever on the opposite side of the my thumb is used to secure the bobbin casing in the sewing machine.
I used blue thread in the in bobbin and hot pink thread in needle. I always load the bobbin first, then thread the the upper tension disks and needle.
Now for the fun part. Always test your stitches before sewing anything.

That's all for now. Anonymous I do hope this post is helpful and that you will comment again so we know how you made out.

1970s Elna Supermatic Sewing Machine - Ella

2011-10-30T17:15:00.002-05:00

Meet Ella she was manufactured in Switzerland sometime between 1972 and 1974. Does anyone know where the serial number is located on this machine? I can't find it. Just look at that pretty blue carrying case. The case doubles a a flat bed sewing surface as it splits in half and the opening below fits perfectly over the free arm.

I bought Ella from Wendy in Ontario who included 40 bobbins, most of which had thread. Bonus! Unfortunately, when the machine arrived the two-speed foot pedal was not working. The motor had no juice at all. A trip to the Brandon Sewing Centre, $70 CAD later, then Ella was ready to strut her stuff.

Not sure why, but Elna and Bernina usually provide two sewing machine manuals. The first book is specific to the basic operation of the sewing machine. The second manual contains more instructions on how to use the decorative stitches and add-on accessories.

These are the accessories that came with the machine.

The black disks or cams are loaded in the top, simply by pushing the centre piece down. The machine stitch length, and width have to be set at zero to change cams.

All the Elnas I have owned have a horizontal bobbin located behind the needle plate instead of ahead of it.

I find this location awkward. It is difficult to thread the bobbin correctly. The more times I thread it the easier it gets.

On my green Elna Supermatic sometimes the bobbin cover would open while sewing which is a pain you-know-where. This lovely blue and white Elna Supermatic has an attached bobbin removal tool that works really well.

It is spring loaded like a needle threader and sits right behind the presser foot.

The first sewing project for my new toy was tea towels today. This 100% cotton fabric was washed, ironed, cut to size and then serged. Even though I have owned and used several sewing machines, I only have one serger. I bought it new in 1997, it works perfectly for all my overlock needs.

Next the edge is pressed into place and hemmed. I miter the corners so the final step is bar tacks on the corners.

I used Ella to hem the tea towels. It sews very nice stitches. She runs quietly.

The corners are pinned into place.

This is before the bar tack. I'll make those with my Pfaff QE 4 because Big Bertha automatically ties off the stitches and cuts the thread.

Eight new tea towels.

Now for the fun stuff.. playing with the cams and free motion quilting.

The universal tension was perfect for all the stitching. The sample is 100% cotton fabric with 100% cotton batting sandwiched in between. I used polyester thread and a Schmetz 90/14 needle.

On this machine the feed dogs do not drop, instead they are covered by a little steel plate. It makes a clicking sound and I could feel it under the fabric.

About half way through the free motion quilting, I took the plate off the feed dogs and covered them with a Queen Supreme Slider instead. This worked better.

The Elna Supermatic is a very nice all mechanical machine.

From looking at the back side of my stitch sample, there are loops on the free motion flower and little feather in the corner. This is me pulling the fabric faster than the machine was sewing, not a tension problem. It looks like I should not have switched the foot pedal speed from high to low to free motion quilt. Upon examining the decorative stitches the tension is excellent.

Recently, I became a contributing member of the Free Motion Quilting Challenge. Please feel free to check it out.

Have a super duper day all.

What are you sewing these days?

Free Motion Quilting - Feather wreaths

2011-10-24T19:53:00.002-05:00

I am following Leah Day's blog. Usually, my free motion quilting has been stippling or following outlines on the prints of the quilt. It is time to expand to more decorative quilting. I really had fun practicing butterflies, leaves, zigzags and loop-d-lous on the Alzheimer touch quilts. Before I could get to sewing, first I needed to clean the aquarium.

Water photography. I had to block the flash to avoid the glare on the glass!

Tropical fish amuse me, they swim around all day looking for food. I love watching them, they get so excited at feeding time.

Back to the topic of the day. This past weekend project was practicing feathers. I was doing leaves a few weeks ago on my Bernina 930 "Helga". So this time I used "Big Bertha", my Pfaff QE 4.

First, I hand drew several pages of feathers, trying to follow the continuous line like a sewing machine to make them flow. This free motion feather tutorial is awesome.

For the leave wreaths, I drew a circle or the stem part first. Of course, I bought yet another quilting book.

I traced this pattern on parchment paper then sewed over without thread in the machine to make more copies.

By pinning the pattern to my quilt sandwich it was easier to make a feather wreath. Though picking the parchment paper out of the stitches was finicky.

The first photo is the top. I lowered the upper tension slightly from 5.2 to 4.0. Perhaps I should have lowered it a bit more. I'm mostly happy with the stitch quality.

Next I drew circle and the feathers directly on the fabric.

It was difficult to keep the feathers looking uniform and to join them.

Then Véronique and Scott came over for Sunday dinner. Véronique had a project for me. She works in a daycare. She wrote a puppet show for Halloween and needed costumes for two of the puppets.

This was lots of fun, as I have never made puppets costumes before.

So does anyone out there have any tips for free motion quilting feathers? How about unique ideas for Halloween costumes?

winter dog booties for Lily

2011-10-22T11:03:00.004-05:00

I've been sewing Lily winter booties for the past five winters out of polar fleece, leather, Velcro and elastic. The problem with the homemade ones, is that the polar fleece wears out too quickly. Lily is walked every day and my booties last her about four weeks with repairs. After a great deal of research on the net, I found neopaws a Canadian company in Ontario that manufactures these wonderful boots for dogs. The bottom is like a running shoe and the top is made of neoprene held together with Velcro fasteners.

Lily was so busy running around in her new winter dog shoes, that getting a good photo was difficult.

For one instant she was actually standing still and if dogs can smile, I think she is indeed smiling.

We went for our usual four kilometre walk. The shoes stayed on and I think she likes them.

Denim thread, needles and fabric - tension issues grrrrrrrr!!

2011-10-15T13:38:00.004-05:00

A while back I needed to hem a pair a denim jeans. I decided to use my Singer 15-91 (Pearl). However, the tension was giving me major grief. So much so, that I went through an entire bobbin of denim thread trying to get the tension right. Then I gave up and switched sewing machines to hem the pants. As soon as I changed the denim thread back to regular polyester thread Pearl was sewing perfect stitches top and bottom again.

This afternoon I took a scrap of denim put pale yellow denim thread in the top and bright orange denim thread in the bobbin. I used a universal Schmetz needle, then threaded up the Singer 15-91 to give it another try. The first thing I noticed was the orange denim thread was very tight in the bobbin casing so I loosened the bobbin casing screw to lower the tension on the bobbin thread. The top tension was set at 4, then I adjusted it to 3 and 3.5.

There was no visible difference on the top side between the three different tension settings. All three seams are strong and will hold.

On the reverse or bottom side the stitches all look good, but I like the 3.5 tension line is the best.

This time it only took three lines of sewing to set the thread tension.

One of the things I love about sewing is that it teaches me patience. Sewing like everything else is a skill that requires practice to master. Hope this post was helpful.

Kenyon Slate laminate flooring in my craft emporium.

2011-10-15T09:36:00.003-05:00

Before: Nothing worse than wall to wall carpet in a sewing room. This used to be our son's bedroom.

Magic sewing room closet.

Before the carpet was ripped out I patched, primed and repainted the damaged areas on the walls.

After: This laminate flooring is same pattern as the basement tv area, where my cutting table, ironing board, treadmill and more sewing machines reside.

The big bag in the back corner is nylon and polyester fabric I use when sewing reuseable grocery, lunch and knitting bags. The craft emporium and the closet are not usually this tidy. Give me a few weeks, it will have fabric bits and pieces everywhere again.

The patchwork on the floor is Lily's bed.

I moved a couple chairs out of the shots to show off the floor.

My dressmaker's form is named Dorothy. She is wearing a shirt so she doesn't get cold.

The floor mirror is a recent addition.

Even after adding a desk daylight lamp and a pole lamp, lighting continues to be a problem. It was a bedroom first, with only one ceiling light. Doug changed it to a fluorescent light when I converted it to my craft emporium.

Photo below is the emporium overflow. It has four fluorescent tube ceiling lights, as well as that sewing machine is conveniently located for watching television while sewing.

Dancing around the room with glee! My cup runneth over! What's your sewing space like?

Bernina 930 Record - Helga

2011-10-01T22:36:00.005-05:00

This is "Helga" my newest sewing machine aquisition! Isn't she pretty? I named her Helga because at 15.02 kilograms or just over 32 pounds she's a full figured girl. She was manufactured in Switzerland in 1983 and some claim she is the Rolls Royce of sewing machines.

Helga has a knee lifter bar to raise the presser foot without using your hands. Only problem with that is I don't like it. It seems to be too close to my knee, it feels awkward. At times, I unintentionally raise the presser foot.

Helga purrs like a kitten when she sews.

The electronic needle up/down stop doesn't work. I took it to the Brandon Sewing Centre where my sewing machine mechanic (Wayne) was unable to fix it. Wayne suggested I turn the handwheel towards myself when I want the needle down and live with it because a new foot pedal is $200.00 CAD.

I'm still working on getting all her parts. I bought a Bernina 930 clam shell case on ebay that should be here by October 3rd. I also ordered an extension table, 479 overlock foot, 419 tailor tacking foot and 145 jeans foot from a new local Bernina dealer (Johnathon). Johnathon says he can fix the foot pedal, so I'm going to bring her in when my parts arrive.

Regardless, I'm delighted with this machine. So far I played with the fancy stitches and did some sewing on it when working on my Alzheimer's touch quilt. I'm just so impressed with the tension, it required no adjustments for perfect stitches top and bottom. The only time it didn't sew beautiful stitches was when I (operator error) forgot to put the presser foot down.

Helga's underwear is super easy to clean as the free arm sewing bed cover just pops off with a little push on the black lever located on the left hand side.

This machine is very well designed. In early 2010, I bought a Bernina Nova 900 which I like but not near as much as this 930. I understand now why people hang on to these machines, they are fantastic. Ahhhhhhh....the love affair continues!

Free motion quilting leaves

2011-10-01T22:07:00.007-05:00

Lane Wilhite (That man quilts) does fabulous free motion leaves on his quilts! Actually all of his quilts are most excellent! I asked him if he marked his leaves before quilting them. He said no, but his does study different kinds of vines to see how the leaves grow on them and thinks about how they grow as he quilts. So I started practicing leaves.

The first practice piece is left over ivory coloured scrap drapery cotton folded over four times. Then I made two 10 by 10 inch square cotton sheet sandwiches with a scrap of old towel in between. I found it was easier to do the inside of the stem first...travel back for the veins, then sew around for the outside of the leaf. After sewing almost the whole square, I decided to follow Lane's advice. I took photos to study the way leaves grow.

Note to self: Lime green thread doesn't show up well on cream coloured fabric!

It looks like a lot more practice is required to master feathers!

It is very difficult to tell the back side from the front because the Bernina 930's tension is perfectly balanced. I just love this sewing machine.

The top photo is the front side and below is the back side.

These two practice squares are now potholders in my kitchen. Next practice project...placemats.

Alzheimer Touch Quilt #2

2011-09-21T15:58:00.005-05:00

In order to make this quilt more interesting to touch and fondle, I added ribbons around the outside squares and appliquéd this little lady bug ribbon on two blocks.

Some of the blocks have lots of texture.

The flower blocks are upholstery fabric which is quite sturdy but frays easily.

I used variegated metallic thread and practiced free motion quilting techniques on most of the blocks.

I really like the way this thread looks on the back. Most of the free motion quilting was done with my Pearl (my Singer 15-91).

Yeah its finished! Some of the fabric was too thick to quilt, Hence, the four buttons which again add interest.

This was so much fun, that I went back to the Alzheimer Touch Quilt #1 and added more quilting.

Later this week, these quilts will be delivered to the Manitoba Alzheimer Society. Now five of my unfinished projects are complete. There are only two more to go...dare I leave the last two to start something new? Hmmmm... Halloween is coming up!

Touch Quilts for Alzheimer Patients

2011-09-05T06:55:00.002-05:00

The Touch Quilt Project is an initiative of the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba, sponsored by Manitoba Blue Cross with funding from Manitoba Community Services Council.

The purpose of the Touch Quilt Project is to create a caring community throughout Manitoba that is responsive to the needs of people living with Dementia.

Each touch quilt kit contains:

36 - 6 inch squares of various different types of fabric, including polar fleece, fun fur, polyester, cotton and cotton blends.
polyester batting
one solid piece of fabric for backing

Sewing a touch quilt is quick and fun. There is a bit of a challenge because of the variety of fabric types and weights. Some pieces are stretchy.

This kit had baby blue polyester lining for the backing.

The red block with the soccer ball on it is jogging fleece.

The soft brown square below the yellow and green plaid square is fake fur. I trimmed one quarter inch of the fur off the edges so only the fabric bottom is in the seam allowance.

The first thing I did was lay out the squares and test each one for stretch. If the square was stretchy, I used interfacing to stabilize it.

This lap quilt still needs to be sandwiched, quilted and have binding put on.

The kits do not including binding as it is optional.

This is my second kit. Below are photos of the first touch quilt I sewed. I added ribbons around the outside edge and a flannelette binding.

The white square is a big thick chunky piece of fleece. Some of the squares are soft like velvet. I may still add some buttons to further decorate it.

These little quilts are easy to make. The label is iron on, I used Big Bertha my Pfaff QE 4 to embroider my initials and the year on it.

This backing is some sort of spandex that has sparkles!

For more information on this project please check out the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba.

Bernard Stoewer Treadle Sewing Machine - threading the shuttle bobbin

2011-09-03T11:28:00.006-05:00

taylamist said...: Hi Tammy, Can you help me, my hand crank turns smoothly, but doesn't pick up the bobbin thread to complete the stitch. I have replaced the needle but I'm concerned about the shuttle the spring piece is a little bent out as if someone has grabbed it to pull the shuttle out. Do you know of any that will fit. Sorry to trouble you but info is very scarce on these. PS I'm in Australia.

My experience with all sewing machines is that if either the upper needle or the bobbin is not threaded correctly, the machine will not sew period. This is what the shuttle bobbin looks like threaded in my treadle.

My finger is pointing at the lever to raise the shuttle to remove it from the machine.

The lever raises the shuttle from the top end of the bobbin casing.

I hope you can see from these photos that the wire spring device is bent. There is quite a gap between the bobbin case and the metal spring.

The gap is at least as wide as a sewing machine needle is thick.

First fill the bobbin. Load the bobbin into the shuttle with the hole side of the rod bobbin first. If there is no hole in your rod bobbin load the rod so that the thread comes off the bobbin counter clockwise.

Draw the thread from top down the slot in the bobbin shuttle.

Follow the thread path up, through and under the spring.

Put the bobbin shuttle into the shuttle track.

With the needle threaded, hold the end of the needle thread and turn the wheel towards you, the needle thread will pull up the bobbin thread.

Next, slide something (seam ripper) between the presser foot and the throad plate to separate the upper and lower threads and completely pull up the lower bobbin thread end.

Check to ensure the upper needle thread is threaded correctly.

On this machine the needle must be threaded from left to right. When replacing the needle the flat part of the needle faces the right. Always test your stitches before sewing anything.

Top side.

Bottom

Loaded bobbin.

Treadle in action. For this blog post I was multitasking by running the sewing machine and camera at the same time.

I do not have a manual. However, my Bernard Stoewer treadle is almost identical to the Singer 127, with the exceptions being the little hole on one side of the rod bobbin as well as Stoewer has a stitch length lever with a reverse, whereas the Singer has a screw to regulate stitch length and no reverse. The Singer 127/128 manual is available as a pdf for free from ISMACS (International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society). Page 8 and 9 of this manual provide excellent written instructions with illustrations on how to thread the bobbin shuttle. Hope this helps! Enjoy and have fun sewing.

Green Elna Supermatic Sewing Machine

2011-08-11T18:15:00.005-05:00

Manufactured in Switzerland in June 1954. This Elna is operated with a knee bar rather than a foot pedal. The all metal case converts the free arm to a flat bed sewing surface. I like the way Elna designed the case to be used this way.

My Elna arrived with manual, accessories and half a dozen cams to make decorative and zig zag stitches.

This is where the cams are inserted.

The accessory tray fits over the free arm and opens up where the cams and feet are stored.

Of course, after cleaning, I oiled her up to immediately play with the cams. I put dark brown thread in the bobbin with yellow in the top. Then I switched the top thread to red, I thought it looked better. Elna sews flawlessly.

Look at that paint job! Isn't she pretty?

The little tool that looks like the letter "Y" is the cam lifter for removing the cams from the machine, it works really well.

This is the accessory box put together. There is a compartment under the row of bobbins which is holding two screwdrivers.

The sample stitches were made on two pieces of 100% cotton with one layer of 100% cotton batting sandwiched between. The top layer is plain white and bottom side is white with mint green stripes all salvaged from my scrap box.

I was very impressed with the tension on this Elna, the only trouble I had was when I didn't have the bobbin threaded correctly. The bobbin is located behind the presser foot, which I find difficult to thread properly.

Have a super duper Thursday all. For more vintage treasures head over to Colorado Lady's blog.

Baby's day care bag

2011-08-10T00:32:00.002-05:00

I've been sewing reuseable nylon shopping bags, lunch bags and little book/knitting/fruit/toy bags for over twenty years. I first started making them when grocery stores switched from paper to plastic bags. I found that the plastic bags fell apart in transit between the grocery store, parking lot, my car and kitchen. My dear friend Evelyn asked me to sew a nylon bag for her grand-daughter to haul back and forth to daycare. Evelyn gave me a bag which is exact size she wants. I don't have a pattern for that size so I improvised. The size of the bag is correct, the fit on the bottom is not perfect, but certainly functional.

This is Pearl my 1940 Singer 15-91 straight stitch sewing machine in a 1914 Singer drawing room cabinet.

The pocket is 100% cotton with 100% cotton batting. I free-motioned quilted it using Pearl. The feed-dogs are dropped by turning a screw under neath the machine. The folded ribbons are basted on before finishing the edges.

Pearl sews an excellent precise stitch! I really, really enjoy top stitching with this machine. I have walking foot for it, which I rarely use because it feeds so well.

I folded the fabric over to show how lovely the underside stitches are. The only grief I have with sewing on Pearl is operator error. The machine sews in reverse when the lever is pushed up, sometimes I forget to push the lever back down for forward stitching so I end up starting a seam in reverse! Oooops! I did all the straight stitching on Pearl.

The zig zag stitching on the handles and the embroidery were done on Big Bertha my Pfaff QE 4.

It finished! Yippee ~ dancing around the room with glee!

Simple wedding sewing.

2011-08-09T23:49:00.004-05:00

Things have finally settled down in my craft emporium following all the excitement from Shannon and AJ's wedding on July 2nd. The newlyweds stayed with us until July 10. They were very busy packing their wedding gifts and Shannon's furniture that we had been storing in our basement since September 2009. In a sentimental moment, I gifted Shannon my favourite sewing machine (Heidi my Husqvarna 500) and the early 1900s solid block cut oak Singer cabinet Heidi resides in.

I had more difficulty parting with the cabinet than the sewing machine. They will be living in Kingston, Ontario, where Shannon has plans to sew a dog bed and coat for her new puppy that is expected to be born next week. I'm delighted that she'll have a reliable sewing machine, as well as a lovely piece of furniture. I have replaced the Singer cabinet with a small second hand desk, at the moment Ruby my Husqvarna 6570 is set up on it. The desk has two big drawers full of surger thread and two smaller drawers full of sewing machine accessories, Ruby's cams and manual. There is tons more storage space in the desk then the old Singer cabinet.

Just before their wedding I did do some sewing but time was at a premium so nothing was blogged about. I sewed a white cotton corset Simplicity 5006 Misses' Lingerie

I used a narrow red satin ribbon and tiny round eyelet buttonholes. The pattern called for cording (?) and grommets. Both were not my idea of lingerie under a wedding gown. I made view A which is the white corset on the envelope. It fit her like a glove and reduced her waist from 29 inches to 27.5 inches. She said it was comfortable, the only problem was she couldn't eat all her wedding dinner because there was no room in the corset for her tummy to expand. I never took a single photo not even one on the dress form./span> Three of the four bridesmaids had their dresses shortened. I recycled the fabric to make handkerchiefs for the groom and his groomsmen's tuxedos. I also made two red garters for Shannon.

Véronique's fiancée Scott caught the garter. They are getting married July 7, 2012 in Montréal. I will most likely be doing some wedding sewing again next June.

Antique Drop Leaf Gate Leg Table

2011-07-28T08:34:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I purchased this table for $80 CAD in Brandon from a lady who bought it used shortly after she was married 61 years ago. The original finish is in excellent condition.

I'm posting close-up photos of the table top hoping someone in blog land can positively identify the wood. It could be oak, mahogany, maple or walnut.

When the table is smallest two leaves form the top, the third leaf is folded in half and cleverly hidden inside.

The table is 36" by 62" when fully expanded.

There are no manufacturer's labels or any writing anywhere on it. I wonder how old it is? Who built it? Where it was made? What kind of wood is it? This is a bit of a mystery table. Any information or comments are always welcome.

For more vintage treasures please visit Colorado Lady's Blog.

Congratulations Shannon & AJ July 2nd, 2011

2011-07-04T10:10:00.005-05:00

Karyann & Shannon relaxing after the official photo shoot before the reception.

Karyann Dorn

Just married!

Erich is Mr. Cool.

Motor cycle bridesmaid.

And the inside of our garage.

Poor AJ got sunburned during the outdoor photo shoot!

Shannon's big hair. She looked just like a princess. Our beautiful daughter is married! Yippee ~ my cup runneth over.

Shannon & AJ van der Velden July 2nd, 2011

2011-07-04T08:35:00.010-05:00

They got married in our backyard on the deck.

Sealed with a kiss!

At the close of the ceremony they kissed six times,

once for every year of engagement.

These photos are courtesy of the bride's uncle Robert Ludyk (my brother).

Back yard flowers June 2011

2011-06-13T19:30:00.004-05:00

Lady Slipper Orchids, they take many years to flower. This clump was moved from the garden to in front of the old wagon wheel about three years ago.

There are five blooms on it now and baby plants starting.

This photo was taken while I was laying in the flower bed with all the mosquitoes holding the leaf back to display the blossom with one hand and snapping the photo with the other hand. A very awkward photo shoot.

Red Geranium basking in the sun like a toad.

I love Begonias.

Pretty yellow Begonias.

Raindrop kisses on the Begonias.

White Geranium.

Perennials.

Peonies ready for the ants to open, Happy Monday all.

Red Oak Strip Flooring

2011-05-29T08:35:00.013-05:00

When we had our house custom built in 1987, we put old fashioned one and three quarter inch wide unfinished red oak strip flooring in our dining room. At that time, most people were was using vinyls, carpet, cermanic, porcelain and Parkay flooring. The living room had light brown jute back carpet with thick cushy underlay.

In 2005, we agreed it was time to replace our living room carpet. So Doug promptly painted all the ceilings and the living room walls because he did not want to paint over new carpet. Doug prefers carpet because it is quiet, warm and soft. I wanted the same oak flooring carried through from our dining room into the living room and down the basement stairs. We were at a stalemate, so nothing was done!

In the past two years most of our neighbours and friends have been replacing carpet flooring with either laminate or pre-finished hardwood flooring. Two weeks ago we reached a compromise: oak in the living room and carpet flooring in the bedrooms and the den. In March 2011, our dining room floor was refinished. The photo below shows where the new floor joins the old floor. The air nailer is sitting on the dinning room floor, the new floor is in front of the basement stairs.

Yesterday the final coat of Varathane was applied to our brand new living room floor!

I think it is absolutely beautiful. This floor was installed by JRL Flooring in Brandon phone number 204-761-7036. Thanks tons to Ryan and crew. Next project the basement stairs. ~dancing around the room with glee~

State of Emergency Declared in Brandon on May 8

2011-05-10T19:22:00.021-05:00

I haven't been to the flood areas at all. Instead I follow it daily on Ebrandon, MTS tv, WCG webcam and Brandon Sun online. I have a front row seat from the comforts of my south west home to the most horrific flood in Brandon's history. The photos and videos are both alarming and scary.

My heart goes out to the folks who were evacuated yesterday as well as all the people fighting the flood by working on the dikes, filling sandbags, policing the streets and directing traffic. I needed to help.
I called the Salvation Army 727-4334 after work yesterday. They are delivering food to the flood workers and accepting all donations of food including soup, sandwiches, drinks, muffins, fruit and donuts. They are located at the corner of 1st and Princess Avenue. My neighbour and I made up three dozen buns some were ham with cheese with lettuce and others were egg salad. I dropped off the bunwiches with two big bags of cookies, two dozen canned drinks and half a dozen juice boxes. The folks at the Salvation Army were very grateful. When I got back I phoned the City of Brandon 729-2186 to volunteer at the evacuee registration centre.

The City of Brandon posted 34 photos on facebook of the water, dikes and workers. Officials are calling it a one in 300 year flood. On May 8th, Prime Minister Harper deployed 450 Canadian Forces Soldiers to help Southern Manitoba fight the flood. So far in Brandon 1,174 people have been evacuated from 467 homes on the south side of the Assiniboine River.

Most of these photos were taken by the ebrandon guy Adam and posted on ebrandon.ca for anyone to use and share as Adam hopes to deter people from going to the Assiniboine valley to take photos for themselves.

This is First Street North on Saturday May 7, there is a lot of water seepage and workers were running 11 pumps around the clock to keep the roadway open.

On Sunday night the pavement broke up. First Street remains closed while construction crews repair the missing road. There is a huge pile of rock dumped across the south bound lane.

The U-shape of the super sand bag dike is actually the intersection of Grand Valley Road and 18th Street North. Grand Valley Road is underwater from 18th Street North all the way west to the Trans Canada Highway approximately 12 kilometres. Super sandbags are about the size of kitchen stove and filled with a front end loader. This dike is being raised to be three super sandbags high and then an aqua dam is going to be placed on top.

This is the Highway 110 (east bypass) for dangerous goods. This highway is now closed between the bridge and Victoria Avenue. Flood workers have installed aqua dams on both sides of the highway to allow a single lane for trucks to continue transporting goods to the city.

An aqua dam is a long tube filled with water to hold the flood waters back.

An aerial view of Grand Valley Road looking west. The row of evergreen trees is the entrance way to the Brandon Research Station.

Grand Valley Road looking east. The only thing that is keeping the water away from the Corral shopping centre and the residential homes behind the mall is the super sandbag dike at 18th North and Grand Valley Road.

This is the entrance way to Turtle Crossing Campground where my daughter and her finacée have scheduled their wedding ceremony on July 2, 2011.

Turtle Crossing again on May 10, 2011.

This is the roof of the gazebo at Eleanor Kidd Gardens in Brandon.

The roof of the skating shack at the oval about two blocks south of the Thompson Bridge on 18th Street North in Brandon.

The white roof in the middle of the water is located in the soccer fields located east off First street north. The river is expected to crest between May 10 and 12. Let's hope the river crests soon and the dikes hold!

Winter again

2011-05-01T07:29:00.002-05:00

South western Manitoba which includes Brandon has been hit by yet another snow storm! It started raining Friday night then became freezing rain and ice crystals Saturday morning. It has been snowing and blowing since early Saturday afternoon. The Trans Canada Highway is closed from Brandon to the Saskatchewan border.

The Assiniboine river is now expected to crest in Brandon on May 12th. There is a great deal of concern that the dikes on 18th and 1st Street are not strong enough to hold the river back that long. There is water seepage happening at both of these dikes now and city workers are pumping the water back into the river around the clock.

Since it is still snowing... May 1, 2011 is looking like a great day to sew something!

Brandon Flood - April 21, 2011

2011-04-23T17:30:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AKcQoQ2ctKw

The Assiniboine River has not crested yet!

The famous Souris Swinging Bridge.. approximately 40 kilometres from Brandon.

I miss sewing!

2011-04-10T08:01:00.005-05:00

I'm sorry there is no sewing machine or sewing project to blog about. At the moment, my husband is finishing up the laundry/winemaking area of our basement. Wine kits, bottles, carboys, Vino electric filter and corker are being stored under, on and around my cutting table. The laundry room curtain is sitting on the ironing board while Doug has been busy drywalling, priming and painting the walls. After that he has to install approximately 200 square feet of Allure vinyl flooring Then we have put everything back. As Doug works on the road most weeks, he has been working weekends only on this since the middle of February. I miss sewing and puttering around in my craft emporium. Hopefully, we will be back to normal by the end of April.

While the basement has been out of order, I took an on-line French course with 16 tutored hours from a school in Montréal. My oral exam was on March 31, I passed the first module with a 90%. There are 16 modules in the course and I am hoping to take a few more this year. Learning French is a ton of work and quite challenging.

I have also been busy with some details for our daughter's wedding. I got my shoes, they are moonstone leather naturalizers. Last weekend I printed, stuffed, stamped, labelled and mailed the invitations. Shannon's wedding dress is hanging in her closet all ready for the big day. This week I was shopping for my dress. I bought two dresses from David's Bridal one is metallic marine blue and the other is Victorian Lilac. Both dresses were a steal of a deal in the clearance outlet. I plan to shorten them.

Once my craft emporium is useable again I'm going invest in a dressmakers form and start sewing more garments. First project is sewing a corset for Shannon's wedding gown. I have the pattern, fabric and notions, just need her measurements and we are good to go.

Vancouver walk along the sea wall.

2011-03-30T22:06:00.001-05:00

This is a floating restaurant surrounded by yachts in the marina. I took my niece Katie & her husband Kyle out to dinner here.

One of the many luxury boats.

It was sunny and plus 15 degrees on Thursday evening.

This is a clear acrylic sign with Cardero's hours of operation.

A view from further down the walkway.

The Seawall Bar & Grill is attached to the hotel where I stayed.

A local sea gull out to impress the tourists...I was impressed!

The flowers and greenery were lovely.

The sun comes out in Vancouver

2011-03-22T23:17:00.001-05:00

Vancouver work trip March 2011

2011-03-22T12:14:00.000-05:00

This is the view from the patio door of my hotel room.

This is an inside view of my room. It is a very fancy hotel and I am quite annoyed that I have to pay a nominal fee of $14.95 per day plus all applicable taxes to access the internet from my guest room.

I'm off to check out the hotel's fitness centre before workshop starts this afternoon. Have a super duper day all.

dog booties - the pattern

2011-02-26T17:47:00.003-06:00

Wind chill warning for City of Brandon

Current Weather Updated: Fri, Feb. 25, 2011, 10:00 CST - Brandon Airport

-30

°C

Partly cloudy

Feels Like: -43
Wind: W 20km/h
Sunrise: 7:31
Sunset: 18:15

Relative Humidity: 61%
Pressure: 103.23 kPa
Visibility: 24.0 km
Ceiling: 23000 ft

As I walk Lily every day, she has a genuine need for dog booties. English Springer Spaniels are water dogs with webbed toes. Lily gets ice balls in between her toes which makes it painful to walk when the weather is in the +5 to -10 range and frost bite when it is cold like this. This is what her current set of booties look like.

See how worn out the polar fleece is? This is from her nails.

The materials required are :

polar fleece scraps
recycled leather from purses or old leather coats
elastic scraps 4 - 2" pieces
velcro (hook & loop tape) 4 - 1.5" pieces

Sometimes I take the leather off of existing worn out booties and reuse it for a new set.

The polar fleece for Lily's boots is 3.5" wide and 11.5" long. The leather strips are about 6" long and 2.5" wide.

Centre the leather strips as shown above. Cut four small rectangles of polar fleece to mount the elastic and loop tape end on. These rectangles are bigger than then the elastic and velcro. The excess is trimmed off after it is sewn.

I use upholstery thread, a leather needle and my Pfaff 7510 to sew them.

Centre the leather on the polar fleece, then top stitch the leather in place.

I use a 3-step zig zag stitch to do this rather than applique as it makes less holes in the leather.

Sew the scratchy side of the hook and loop tape one inch above the leather patch. Sandwich half an inch of the elastic between the rectangle of the polar fleece and the soft side of the hook and loop tape. Stitch the sandwich together. Trim the excess polar fleece off the elastic tab.

Fold the leather and polar fleece bootie in half. Then insert the elastic end of the tab in between the front and back of the bootie as shown in photo. Stitch both sides of bootie shut and it is done. Repeat process for all four.

Lily modeling her new booties! Happy Saturday all! Keep warm.

Shannon's Quilt - the pattern

2011-02-24T17:00:00.002-06:00

In the fall of 2009 I made this quilt for my daughter.

The pattern was published in Better Homes & Gardens Creative Collection 15th Anniversary Issue - American Patchwork & Quilting magazine April 2009 Issue 91. It looks like card trick but uses rectangles and squares rather than triangle pieces to build the card trick effect. I scanned the pattern from the magazine and added Shannon's diagram and email cutting instructions for free downloading at google docs.

More photos with building instructions for Shannon's quilt are available by googling my blog for Shannon's quilt.

Enjoy!

Créme de Menthe Cheesecake with Chocolate Glaze

2011-02-21T18:26:00.001-06:00

Or Happy Birthday to me! The cheesecake recipe is from the Company's Coming cookbook series by Jean Paré. This cookbook is called Tempting Treats & Cookies it was a Christmas gift to my daughter. Shannon is storing her cookbook at my house while she is away at school. A big thanks to her for that! My mom sent me a cheque for $20 for my birthday which I promptly cashed then went out a bought an 8 inch spring form pan.

The chocolate glaze recipe was pulled off the net by googling "chocolate glaze recipe for cheesecake."

Chocolate Crumb Crust:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
2 tbsp of granulated sugar (optional)

Place butter in microwave safe bowl heat on high about 35 seconds to melt the butter. Add chocolate wafer crumbs and sugar. Stir well. Line the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch spring form pan with parchment paper. I sprayed canola oil around the inside edge of the pan. Press crumb mixture firmly and evenly in bottom of spring form pan. Bake for ten minutes at 350 degrees F. While crust is cooling make the filling.

Filling:

3 - 8 oz or 250 gram blocks of cream cheese (softened or room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2/3 cup créme de menthe liqueur

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition just until combined. Add liqueur. Beat well. Spread evenly over crust. Bake in 350 degrees F oven for 55 minutes. Shut oven off and let sit in hot oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool cheesecake.

Chocolate Glaze:

1/2 cup heavy cream – (125ml)
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter – (7.5ml)
2 1/2 ounces finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate – (75ml)
2 1/2 ounces bitter-sweet chocolate – (75ml)

For the glaze, combine cream and butter in microwave safe bowl. Bring to a boil and then mix in chopped chocolate. Stir well, if the chocolate is not completely melted heat in microwave only long enough to melt chocolate. Pour glaze over cheesecake while still in spring form pan. Refrigerate at least 2-4 hours. Remove spring form pan and your cake is ready to serve.

Special note: The recipe in the cookbook called for 3 - 4 oz packages of cream cheese, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup liqueur. I used 3 - 8 oz (250 gr) packages of cream cheese and doubled everything. Before baking it my cheese batter was very runny, I poured it into the pan and a greasy clear fluid dripped onto the bottom of the stove while it was baking. If I made this recipe again I would cut back to 3 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 a cup of créme de menthe liqueur.

Approximate nutritional information:

1 wedge
486 calories
31.6 gr total fat
111 mg of cholesterol
41 gr carbohydrate
1 gr fiber
7 gr protein
340 mg sodium

Definitely not diet food! I spent an extra one hour and 6 minutes on my treadmill to justify eating it. My goodness it was delicious! It freezes well, so the remainder of the cake is going into the deep freeze until my grown-up kids come home to help us eat it.

Enjoy!

New Kitchen Floor

2011-02-13T09:17:00.002-06:00

It is the colour of dirt! My favourite colour for flooring.

This is a laminate floor called Kenyon slate. It looks like ceramic tile and has a 32 year warranty.

On February 10 a crew of three guys started at 8:15 am, they were completely finished at 3:00 pm!

I know I should have put the empty water jugs in my truck before I took the photo. Oh well.

I love it! Happy Sunday all.

Pfaff 7510 (Phyllis) Manufactured in Germany 1995

2011-02-06T13:13:00.008-06:00

It has 99 stitches - 34 utility stitches (5 are buttonholes) and 65 embroidery stitches. Also, the alphabet and numbers in block and script. It has the famous Pfaff IDT dual feed system, needle threader, needle up/down button, feed dogs can be dropped for free motion stitching, bobbin thread monitor, sewing help display based on the stitch chosen. I can change the stitch density and balance on embroidery stitches. Pattern mirror left to right and top to bottom.

Phyllis sews lovely precise stitches. She has a vertical loading bobbin.

I bought her used from the Brandon Sewing Centre in 2009. She came complete with her original hard cover carrying case, accessories and operator's manual.

This is a sample of her stitches. The spider web was free motion quilted. I can alter the stitch width and length, as well as create pattern sequence of embroidery stitches and alphabet. Phyllis has nine memories to store pattern sequences. This is the only sewing machine I own with instructions in the manual for embroidering a leather belt.

I use her to sew leather and polar fleece dog booties for Lily. As well as free motion quilting, piecing, hemming denim jeans, putting in zippers and oven mitts. Phyllis is a fantastic sewing machine she will sew threw anything I can fit under the presser foot without complaint.

Necchi Mira BU

2011-01-15T19:45:00.014-06:00

Mira was manufactured in Italy in 1954 and is my first sewing machine purchase of 2011! She was delivered to my door complete with manuals, accessories, wonder wheel, cams, extra needles, bobbins, two spare light bulbs and an automatic needle threader. After a good cleaning and oiling, Mira sews absolutely gorgeous, precise stitches.

Look how pretty Mira is. The stitches under her presser foot were made using the marvelous wonder wheel with cams. The top thread is red and bobbin thread is lime green. I'm very impressed with the excellent stitch quality with very little tension adjusting. This machine is super easy and fun to sew with.

She has six cams to make 12 designs. The two steel rods connect the wonder wheel device to the needle position lever and the stitch width lever. The wonder wheel is powered exactly like a bobbin winder and gets pushed up against the hand wheel. As the wheel turns the steel rods move the needle position and stitch width levers back and forth to sew the pattern. I'm impressed with how well this works.

Not shown in the photos but included in the accessory box are a straight stitch needle plate and a needle plate that covers the feed dogs.

The green lever is pushed down to drop the feed dogs for darning or free motion quilting. The feed dog mechanism works the same way as my Necchi Lelia.

The automatic needle threader works as well or better than any of the modern ones that are attached to the sewing machine. Mira wears high shank feet, uses standard steel class 15 bobbins and standard needles.

The straight stitching, zig-zag and satin stitches around the outside were sewn with the wonder wheel disengaged. I'm very impressed with the satin stitching as I was adjusting the stitch width while sewing the seam. The picture below shows the wonder wheel without a cam and disengaged from the hand wheel.

This manual was printed in June 1954. It is complete, well written and easy to follow.

This little package contains a piece of nylon thread that looks like fishing line with knots tied in it about every inch and instructions for cleaning the upper thread tension disc with it. In the past, I used dental floss for this purpose.

Has anyone ever sewn with this scary looking foot? It is used to make ruffles.

I'm so delighted with my Necchi Mira that perhaps I'll sew my man's shirt with it in Peter's sew along next month. This is a sneak peak of Shannon's wedding gown! ~dancing around the room with glee~

For more vintage treasures please visit Colorado Lady's blog.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T09:18:00.003-06:00

Sleepy Lily. No tinsel on our tree because the dog eats it.

From my house to yours, I wish you Peace, Joy and Much Love at Christmas and always.

Flannel PJ Pants, Christmas Dinner Napkins, Potholders & Oven Mitts

2010-12-18T06:36:00.005-06:00

I sew a piece of folded bias tape on the back seam.

The seams are serged. Two more pairs to make before Christmas.

The blue napkins were serged using a rolled hem. The red ones were serged, then the serged edge was folded over and hemmed. The corners were mitered and bar tacked using my Pfaff QE 4 (Big Bertha).

The green potholder was free motion quilted and the outside edge was serged.

These potholders double as oven mitts!

The blue potholders and oven mitts were sewn on my Singer 15-91 (Pearl) then serged with my White Superlock 2000.

A little Christmas sewing going on. Happy Saturday all!

Snow.. snow and did I mention more snow?

2010-12-17T18:21:00.001-06:00

The photos of my back yard were taken from my patio doors. The front yard while standing on the front door steps with Doug yelling "close the door." We are definitely having a white Christmas in Brandon!

Christmas stockings

2010-12-17T18:13:00.001-06:00

In 1989 I made these Christmas stockings

The white satin fabric on the toes, heel and cuff of the boys' socks was left over scraps from my wedding dress. I didn't have enough white scrap for the girls so I trimmed the cuffs with lace. The sequenced names were sewn on by hand.

In 2004, AJ joined the family the cuff, toe and heel for his sock is left over satin from Shannon's high school grad dress.

Jason's wife Karyann joined the family in 2007 when I was making tablecloths, so those white scraps were used to decorate her sock. In 2010, Véronique made socks for her family in my craft emporium. I actually bought one metre of white polar fleece.

I used my Pfaff QE 4 to make the name tags then Véronique appliqued them on.

To make these socks we cut 4 pieces of 100% cotton Christmas fabric and two pieces of 100% quilt batting. Put right sides together and one piece quilt batting on top sew the sock together leaving the top side open. Turn right sides out and press. Then free motion quilt the front and back of the sock. Applique the polar fleece heel and toe on. Next with wrong sides together, topstitch along the edge around the sock leaving the top open. Make bias tape about 1/2 inch wide and about six inches long. Fold the bias tape in half with the folded part down pin the raw edges of your bias tape inside your sock on the back seam. Make cuff 5 inches wide and long enough to fit well around the outside of your sock. AJ's sock is 17 1/2 inches around so I made the cuff about 18 inches wide. Polar fleece has a bit of stretch to it so it is easier to fit. I usually pin the entire cuff inside then mark where it needs to be sewn to fit the top. I also fan the seam allowance out so the cuff is bigger around the bottom. Names can be printed on with fabric paint or permanent marker or sewn on by machine or hand sewn sequence.

Enjoy!

Hair Towel Tutorial

2010-11-11T07:21:00.008-06:00

With Christmas fast approaching, this is a quick, easy and practical gift.

Required materials and tools:
Terry towel fabric or bath towels
100% cotton fabric for binding
elastic 1/4 inch wide
thread
sewing machine
steam iron
serger (optional) as zig-zag stitch will also do the trick
plain brown paper to make a pattern

On the paper draw a large hump that is wider at one end and narrower at the other. At the highest point your hump is 12 inches deep. What you are drawing is a hood, the wider end is the back and the narrower end is the front. Cut two humps from the terry towel fabric or bath towels.

The straight bottom of the hood should measure 26 to 30 inches depending on how long the lady's hair is. I usually make them 26.5 inches.

To make seam binding, cut 4 inch wide strips from the 100% cotton fabric long enough to finish the straight sides of the hump. Two strips for one hair towel. Fold strips in half wrong sides together, then iron. Open folded strip, fold both sides towards centre fold, fold centre back in half and press again.

Pin binding to straight sides of terry towel fabric and sew into place.

Cut 5 to 7 inches of elastic, fold elastic in half, then pin the elastic 7 to 8 inches from the straight edge on the right side terry towel at the wide end (back) of the hump. Use longer elastic when making a longer towel. Now with right sides together sew the hump shut, leaving the binded end open.

Use a serger or a zig-zag stitch to finish the raw edges on the hump side.

Turn right side out and it is finished.

Extra finishing touches!

Special thanks to Shannon for modeling. Please feel free to use the tutorial. Also please leave a comment so I know you were here

Butter Pecan Tarts, Apple and Pumpkin Pies.

2010-10-18T20:29:00.008-05:00

A little pre-Christmas baking going on.
Butter Pecan Tart recipe:
Pastry:
6 cups of white flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Mix the dry ingredients together

In measuring cup beat 1 egg
add 1 tablespoon white vinegar and
enough cold water to make 1&1/4 cups of liquid set aside
add one pound of all vegetable shortening or lard to the dry ingredients
cut in with pastry cutter until dry mixture resembles the texture of dry oatmeal
Add the wet ingredients to make dough, work the dough until it is smooth
divide dough into three balls, wrap each separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate

While the pastry is chilling make the tart filling:
2 cups white sugar
2 cups raisins
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter
8 tablespoons heavy cream (whipping cream)
2 cups pecans or walnuts

Beat eggs then combine with remaining ingredients except the pecans. Boil at medium heat for 3 minutes or microwave 1 minute at a time on high stirring between each minute until mixture has boiled. Add pecans.

Fill unbaked tarts shells and bake at 375 degrees F for 15 - 20 minutes. Tiny tarts are filled using little coffee or baby spoons. Yield: 7 dozen little tarts from this double batch. Note: for butter tarts omit nuts.

Apple Pie

Pastry is identical to tart recipe.

Filling:
7 large peeled and sliced Macintosh apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup white flour
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves

Combine flour, sugar and spices together, add lemon juice to apples and mix together. Add dry mixture to apples and mix together.
Fill unbaked pie shell with apple mixture. brush water on rim of bottom pie shell. put top shell on and seal together.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake 20 minutes until pie is nicely browned and apples are cooked.

Pastry is identical to tart pastry.

Pumpkin pie filling:
6 eggs
6 - 7 cups cooked and mashed pumpkin (or canned pumpkin)
2&1/4 cups of sugar
1&1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1&1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cloves
5 cups of evaporated milk

Beat eggs then combine the remaining ingredients. pour into unbaked pie shell bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F then reduce heat to 350 bake until knife inserted in centre comes out clean. Serve with sweetened whipped cream if desired. Yield: 5 pumpkin pies.

Enjoy!

Identifying a Necchi Model Number

2010-10-01T20:55:00.001-05:00

I received this email:
"hi tammy
my name is fabian and i got a problem defining the type of my necchi i bought recently on ebay. it was sold as a necchi lelia 513, but the sign is missing. and all the pictures i can find on the internet showing this type look a bit different, also the machine in your manual does ( thanks a lot for scanning and putting it online :) ). but i found one picture on google showing a machine, looking the same as mine does, except for the color and the desk ( mine is in a box). could you maybe tell me wether its a type 513 or not? would be a great favour.
i already say thanks a lot and nice greets from germany"

From looking at the photo Fabian included in the email and comparing it to my machine it is a Necchi Lelia 513. Below are new photos I took today.

When lifting the front the serial number is revealed.

Hope this helps! Happy Sewing.

1976 Elna Air Electronic TSP

2010-09-24T20:00:00.005-05:00

Manufactured in Switzerland. Isn't it pretty? I bought it used in Brandon for $55 CAD from a lady who was replaced it with a Husqvarna Designer machine from the 1990s.

The manual is well-written and easy to follow. This sweet little machine arrived at the craft emporium in perfect running order. All it required some cleaning. Elna came with her manuals X 2, bobbins and accessories.

After I cleaned her up, I sewed six nylon shopping bags with it while watching movies. Elna sews lovely precise stitches! Then I bought a used green steel Elna case from the Brandon Sewing Centre for it. Elna along with the shopping bags and some knitted dishcloths was gifted to my lovely niece who is moving to Alaska! A huge thanks to Lindsay who scanned book 1 of her manual for free downloading to anyone who needs it. If you do download it, will you please leave a comment here so I know this was helpful?

90 Years Young! Happy Birthday Art!

2010-09-18T21:52:00.003-05:00

This is a half slab black forest cake purchased from the Heritage Coop Bakery in Brandon. Yummy!

This is my father-in-law! :D

His sons

Grand-daughter with her fiancée.

Great grand-daughter and grand-daughter.

Common-in-law boyfriend & grand-daughter.

Grand-daughter & Daughter-in-law.

Grandpa & Girlfriend

Personal Care Home Lady & Grandpa

Blowing out the candles! Then the batteries on my camera went dead... sad..sad.. sad. ~ no more photos for me. :-(

Necchi Lelia 513 Instruction Manual

2010-09-14T17:32:00.001-05:00

Today I scanned and uploaded the instruction manual to google docs. Please feel free to download and enjoy. If you do use it, would you please leave a comment here so I know this link was helpful.

Have a super duper day!

I received and replied to this email which may be helpful to others.

Hi,
My name is Patricia and I'm in the East Bay of CA. I found you via the
blog Zigzaggers, which came up in my search to find info on fixing my
Lelia's feed dog issue. I am hoping to pick you brain a bit further.
I do belong to the Necchi user group and have posted this question
there, but no joy! Here is what I wrote/how I can best explain it:
I've been a very happy owner of a Lelia 513 for about a year now. I
bought her in superb condition, with alot of great feet and right away
bought Triflow oil and made sure I kept the machine properly oiled.
I love the stitches and the heavy duty aspect of this machine, it has
taken me a year to truly get to know it. I clean, oil and trouble
shoot using the user's manual and the service manual.
However a few months ago I did start to have some problems with my
feed dog. It seemed to drop and I couldn't get it back up. I did tons
of research and found info about cleaning, oiling and 'unfreezing' the
feed dog mechanism.
I did the whole alcohol clean up, put in tons of oil and then use a
hair dryer. But the lever just goes up/down seemingly not attached to
anything.
I have a feeling I'm not aiming the hairdryer in the proper place.
Where exactly do I aim the heat from the hairdryer? Is there anything
else I can possibly try to get my feed dog to drop up and down?
Tammy, if you have any insight or advice you can give I would be
eternally grateful!
Best, Patricia

Hi Patricia,
Before you try anything more..did your feed dogs ever drop? If you have visited my blog you know I collect vintage machines. Right now my Lelia is set up for free motion quilting with the feed dogs down. Here is how it works on the Necchi 513. When the plastic lever is pushed down the feed dogs are disengaged. This is not automatic I have to turn the hand wheel towards me. The same is true to raise the feed dogs, I flip the plastic lever up and rotate the hand wheel then the feed dogs re-engage. This is different than my other vintage machines where button or lever raises and lowers the feed dogs automatically. Would you please try this and let me know if your issue is resolved?

Happy Sewing.

Jason & Karyann's Wedding September 4, 2010.

2010-09-07T17:55:00.003-05:00

The bride

The groom

Sister and father of the groom

Karyann & Ray (her dad)

Groom

Karyann's family waiting for formal photo shoot. This would have a been a great photo had I asked them to pose.

AJ and Shannon our next groom and bride - July 2011!

Doug, me, AJ, Shannon & Evelyn (my mom)

At the reception

The dip kiss.

More kissing

Cake topper

A most eventful day!

Elna Special Manual

2010-08-19T07:56:00.006-05:00

I published the manual for this wonderful sewing machine today at google docs. Unfortunately, when I scanned and converted the paper manual to electronic format the page order got reversed. It is descending rather than ascending. Page 30 is actually page 1....ooops!

If you download this file would you please post a comment to let me know if it works? Enjoy!

Cabbage Rolls from Tammy's Kitchen

2010-08-14T19:15:00.004-05:00

This afternoon my dear friend Barb came over to help me make cabbage rolls for the head table at our son's wedding. Jason and Karyann are both vegetarians so I use black beans in the rice mixture instead of ground beef. Here is my recipe:

Missing from the ingredients photos above are celery stalks, chili powder, paprika, coarse table salt, white vinegar and curry powder.

1 head green cabbage

Filling:
1 large Spanish onion
1 cup brown basmati rice
1/2 cup of butter
2 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable cooking oil
2 celery stalks
one large can of black beans or 2 pounds of lean ground beef
one large red, yellow or orange pepper
4-5 large cloves of fresh garlic
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh ground peppercorns
1 heaping teaspoon chili powder
1 heaping teaspoon paprika
1 heaping teaspoon curry powder (optional)

Sauce:
1 19 oz can diced tomatoes
1 can of condensed tomato soup
2 cups sour cream
1 can (use the soup can) of V8 vegetable juice

Procedure:
Fill a large stock pot 3/4 full of water add one tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon vinegar, cover and heat the water to boiling. While the water is heating remove the entire core from the head of cabbage. Barb used a sharp fish filleting knife for this. Once the water is boiling put the head of cabbage in and reduce the temp to medium for a slow boil. Boil the cabbage head for ten minutes (set a timer).

Put the brown rice to cook, 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, 2 tablespoons butter.

Cover rice, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 50 minutes.

Dice onions, celery and garlic saute in crushed peppercorns, canola oil and remaining butter until veggies are cooked. Dice red pepper.

This is Barb dicing onions, they made her cry! Onions really are such sad vegetables.

Once the timer goes off for the boiling cabbage head, use a pair of tongs to remove the leaves off the outside of the cabbage head. Put the loose leaves in ice water. Usually 3-4 leaves will come off easily at one time and then cook the head another ten minutes until all the leaves are free.

Dice the pepper. We used double of everything because we made vegetarian cabbage rolls for the wedding and regular cabbage rolls for our dinners tonight. The only difference is instead of the canned black beans use two pounds of lean ground beef. For meat cabbage rolls brown the ground beef.

Combine the rice, sauteed onion mixture, diced peppers with black beans (drained and rinsed) or browned beef. Mix in the paprika, chili and curry powder. Taste it! It should taste yummy! Cut the thick vein (centre piece) out of the cabbage leaves. If they are big leaves from the outside cut the leaf in half. Put the cut out pieces in the bottom of the baking dish. Take a large tablespoon of filling and place it at one end of the cabbage leaf fold it over the back and sides then roll it up. Place the end of the roll side down in the baking pan.

In large mixing bowl combine:
diced tomatoes
condensed tomato soup
1 can V8 juice
2 cups sour cream

Scoop sauce over cabbage rolls, use left over small leaves of cabbage and vein pieces on top of cabbage rolls. Cover and bake in 350 preheated oven for two and half hours or until cabbage is tender.

Bon a petite! Enjoy.

Aristocrat Handpainted Fine China - made in Japan

2010-07-08T12:55:00.003-05:00

In spring 1977, I bought Aristocrat 5 ply stainless steel waterless pots and pans for $700 CAD. This fine bone china and a eight place setting of surgical steel flatware were included with the cookware. I was told during the sales pitch (door-to-door) that the gold paint was 24k gold. They are not dishwasher or microwave safe.

I had an eight place setting of dinner plates, soup bowls, desert bowls, salad/bread plates, cups, saucers, creamer/sugar set, gravy boat with plate, vegetable bowl and turkey platter. The salesman told me there was a 50 year open stock. Unfortunately, I do not know when the 50 years ended! Initially, (life before dishwashers) we used them daily as they are lovely. In about six months some of the soup bowls and dinner plates got chipped. When we bought our first home in 1982, we had an automatic dishwasher. The Royal Rose was packed away in boxes from 1982 to 1987. In September 1987 we moved into our newly built home in Brandon complete with a built-in china cabinet. Unpacking the box of china was just like Christmas! The china was displayed in our dinning room from 1987-2001. In June 2001, I served a grade 12 graduation dinner for our son Jason on the china. Shannon (daughter) was amazed we could actually eat off the china as she assumed it was just for display only.

After the grad party in 2001, I tried without success to find replacement pieces on internet. I could not find any information about this particular china pattern at all. So if anyone reading this blog is able to help me out, that would be fantastic!

The waterless cookware was guaranteed for life and 33 years later we still use it daily. Awesome pots and pans.. just awesome.

These are difficult to photograph because of the light reflecting off the stainless steel.

For more vintage treasures please head over to Colorado Lady's blog.

Married 30 years today!

2010-06-28T18:29:00.010-05:00

What fun it was to travel down memory lane. Doug is working out of town this week so we celebrated this past weekend. On Saturday we cooked up live lobster and bbq steaks with salad for dinner. Yesterday, we went on a date to the afternoon matinee of Toy Story 3.

Engagement photoshoot! I was all for using the umbrella shot on the invitations!

Back then confetti was used much to the chagrin of the church!

There were 255 guests at our wedding, we had a buffet dinner of roast beef, fried chicken with all the trimmings, an open bar (yes the booze was free) and a live band called Bad Blood! Doug still refers to it as the best party of his life.

We had a very economical honeymoon camping in British Columbia, we even took our dog.

Doug took this photo, using the timer on the camera, the camera was beeping and Doug told me it was going to blow up!

He picked some flowers for me that I put in a coke can. I was 22 years old even if I look about 14!

Us in 2007...there will be 2010 photos at our son's wedding in September. What a wonderful life we have shared. Even after all these years Doug is still the love of life!

1940 Singer 15-91 - Pearl

2010-06-25T17:08:00.009-05:00

This is Pearl, she is 70 years old and another rescue from the dump! Unfortunately, this one needed lots of refurbishing.

Instead of belt drive, she has a gear-driven motor, which makes her very unique in my collection. Looking at the "after" photos now, "before" photos would have been good. As always, I cleaned, oiled, replaced the rubber bobbin winder tire and thought we were good to go. The needle bar moved freely, the black finish was lovely, all the sticky residue was removed from the throat plate.

I ordered a marked throat plate, straight-stitch walking foot and deluxe darning foot for Pearl from Jenny at Sew-Classic.

What a beauty...I was smitten! So I took out the bobbin plugged her in and tried the foot pedal. Pearl's gear-driven motor was worn out. It would start off sewing but the longer I pressed the foot pedal the slower the machine sewed. After about five minutes the motor would just hum and not turn the needle bar at all. So I tried disassembling it, lubricating with singer grease. This made no difference. The Brandon Sewing Centre did not have a replacement motor and it is not possible to order a new motor. I contacted Dominion Sewing in Sudbury, Ontario, they had six used gear driven motors in stock, only one was good. I bought it and had it shipped to Brandon. The Brandon Sewing Centre installed the new motor. Next, the 70 year old electrical cords were worn and frayed. So I took the plunge, bought a new electronic foot pedal, 16 feet of heat resistant appliance wire and a new plug. On Tuesday, June 22, my husband rewired Pearl.

Now she not only looks beautiful, but sews fantastically.

This is Pearl wearing her new straight stitch walking foot.

The yellow straight stitch on white is the bottom side sewn with Pearl.

This is the top side.

Photo above is the bottom side.

This is a baby quilt for a little boy. Happy sewing all! For more vintage treasures, please visit Colorado Lady's blog.

Basement Project - Phase One

2010-06-18T17:13:00.001-05:00

My darling husband Doug is the master carpenter of this project. I have more of a supervisory/cleaning role. I picked the laminate flooring it is called Kenyon Slate. I also did most of the furniture moving and all of the cleaning. The walls were dry-walled and painted by Doug as well.

This is my comfy chair where I sit to watch television or my fish.

I find it difficult to take good photos of tropical fish.

Tammy's craft emporium is on the other side of the wall behind the ironing board. This is my cutting/sewing/ironing overflow that no longer fits in the emporium.

There are four bright florescent lights in this area which is super for sewing.

The wall behind the bookshelf is new as Doug extended the existing wall by six feet to buffer the noise from upstairs. This project was a ton of work for Doug, I am delighted with the results!

This is Doug posing with Shannon who is modeling the bridesmaid dress for Karyann and Jason's wedding.

1960s Imperial Sewing Machine - (Ruthie)

2010-05-20T12:05:00.006-05:00

This is Ruthie, she was manufactured in Japan and rescued from a premature trip to the dump!

She sews fancy zigzag stitches with built in cams. The cams are selected by using a stitch selector dial and switching the stitch width knob to "F" once the stitch is selected the stitch width is moved back to "O". She has an automatic four-step button holer on the reverse dial.

When I brought her home, she needed a good cleaning, was starved for oil, as well as missing her manual and accessories.

After cleaning and oiling I tried to sew with it. The stitch selector dial would not turn at all. At first Ruthie would not sew either, because the bobbin thread was completely pulled through to the top side. After fiddling quite a while with the top thread tension, there was still no improvement on the stitch quality. The bobbin tension screw was the problem, it was so loose it could have fallen out on its own. A couple of twists on the little screw and Ruthie was sewing precise lovely stitches. The bobbin winder would not turn either, so I completely disassembled, cleaned, oiled and reassembled it. Now it works perfectly. A hair-blower and sewing machine oil were used to unfreeze the stitch selector dial. The oil goes over the froze up metal parts inside the machine, then heat was applied to get the metal really hot. As the metal expands the oil penetrates the ceased up parts then like magic the moving parts are free. I had to replace the bobbin winder tire and the light bulb. Look at Ruthie's stitches!

After I phoned the lady who gave me this machine she dropped off the manual and accessories.

Ruthie uses high shank feet, standard class 15 metal bobins and regular sewing machine needles. There are two buttons control the feed dogs for free motion quilting and embroidery.

For more vintage treasures please head over to Colorado Lady's blog.

Husqvarna 6570 (Ruby)

2010-05-04T20:36:00.022-05:00

In 1979 Ruby was the last mechanical sewing machine manufactured by Husqvarna. She was the top of the line and retailed for $1200 USD.

In February 2010 I bought her online from a person in Montreal (as a birthday present to me) based on only one very poor photograph. Ruby has eight plastic cams that fit into a shaft on her backside to make fancy decorative and utility stitches.

When she arrived here, one of her eight cams was broken and another was missing. There were no accessories or manual. The worse part was that after I cleaned her up she would not sew. The transmission that drives the needlebar was worn out. I could not find anyone in Brandon to fix her so I packed her up and shipped her to the Dominion Sewing Centre in Sudbury, Ontario. I just got her back a few weeks ago.

Dominion Sewing rebuilt the transmission, replaced the entire top tension mechanism, fixed the buttonholer, the needle up/down feature, replaced the bottom screws that hold the motor and plug outlet in place and replaced the right side panel where the light switch and bobbin winder are. After all this work Ruby was shipped back to me as good as new.

I purchased all the accessories and missing/broken cams from Dominion Sewing as well. I have only sewn a few test scraps with her, but I sure do like looking at her. She is red after all. How many folks have a lovely red sewing machine to admire?

I bought an electronic copy of the manual on-line and printed it.

Ruby also has an extension table.

The light is designed to be pulled down for finer work or to replace the bulb. She also has a 5th gear, by pulling out the plastic nob behind the bobbin winder the machine will sew at 1/5th its usual speed with full piercing power for heavy duty fabrics or precise fine work.

This is a small scrap sample of a few of Ruby's stitches.

For more vintage treasures please visit Colorado Lady's blog.

Pfaff QE 4 (Big Bertha) - New Take Up!

2010-04-14T21:34:00.004-05:00

This is the take up on my Husqvarna 500. The old Pfaff QE 4 take up was almost identical to it except that Big Bertha's has a protruding upper lip at the open end.

See the black thread guard on the left hand side... it is now impossible for the thread to jump off. My Pfaff dealer also replaced the first thread guide with the guide pictured below.

I made Jason's vegetable quilt and Shannon's quilt using my Pfaff QE 4 before she was fixed. On Shannon's quilt I changed thread colours every time the block colour changed. I was using a zig zag top stitch and a quilting blanket stitch to outline the blocks. I lost count how many times the top thread broke while using the blanket stitch. Thank goodness that the needle threader works perfectly. When I got to fmq the dark green border on Shannon's quilt, Big Bertha was skipping stitches and breaking the top thread so much, that I finished the fmq on my trusty Husqvarna (Heidi).

I quilted the Strawberry Shortcake Tutu Cute baby quilt using Big Bertha after I got the new take up. The difference was amazing. I used hot pink thread in the bobbin for all the free motion quilting. On top I used hot pink thread in the centre, then white on the white border and variegated green on the striped border. No skipped stitches at all, the top thread did not break even once with the feed dogs down using both sensor motion and spring motion feet. It was wonderful! Finally it is really fun to quilt with this machine.

I am delighted to say that my love/hate relationship with Bertha is evolving into a love/love relationship!

Tutu Cute baby quilt is finished.

2010-04-02T14:41:00.000-05:00

First baby girl born in my family gets this little quilt.

Here are some close-ups for us folks who like to examine stitches.

I used hot pink thread in the bobbin for all the quilting.

This is variegated green thread.

Happy Easter Weekend All!