My hubby and I occasionally do a sewing day with the local Quilts For Kids chapter, and a couple of weekends ago we had such a great time sewing with our friends. All in all 10 quilts were brought in or finished that day. Here are some pictures.
Wool Applique and a Couple of Small Quilts
Here is a cute little quilt my mom and I did for a baby shower recently. It is a pattern using hexagon pieces without set in seams, and is really quite clever. I think it came out pretty good.
A few months/weeks ago I talked about doing some wool applique, and that my mom and I had felted some wool sweaters. Here are a pin cushion and small sewing kit I made from that wool. I love how rich the colors are. I am not big on hand work, but I enjoyed doing these. I took them to the Kern County Fair to work on while we were babysitting the guild’s quilt.
I belong to a doll quilt swap on an online quilting forum, and here is one of my latest DQs that went across country to my secret partner. I like this one!!
It is neon colors of batiks. I wish the colors showed up better, but sometimes the camera washes out the color. It was really “electric”!!
I almost forgot….here’s a photo I took of our little cat Iris. She went to sleep on the arm of the chair after I shooed her off my lap about 6 times. She was pouting, and just fell asleep like that!! LOL
My Quilt on My Friend’s Blog
Thanks to my friend, Kay Pennington, who has the Quiltedtime blog, for putting up a picture of one of my quilts. It’s the Big Red Ocean Waves I blogged about a few months ago. We had our bi-weekly quilting group get together last night, and I showed the quilt there. Anyway, I feel very honored to be on Kay’s blog…she does the most astonishing work!! Be sure to check her blog out!!
An Update on My Low Dose Naltrexone RA Treatment
Just a quick update on my RA condition…I have now been on the Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for 1 year 9 months. I am feeling very well. Well being the important word. I feel WELL. Not like I have an incurable disease. Sometimes my feet still hurt some, and when it’s bad allergy time here (late spring and late summer), then I don’t feel as well. But honestly, 80% of the time I do feel WELL. How many of you RA people out there can say that with your biologic meds treatments? Look at all the potential side effects of those meds…infections, increased chance of cancer, etc. It’s true! Many people (more than they would like you to know) get infections and cancers. Look into the LDN…it’s ridiculously safe and inexpensive, and I can tell you that it will Change Your Life!!
Another OLD Davis Vertical Feed 1 Treadle
A couple of months ago I saw this Davis on our local Craigslist. Too much money, and besides I don’t need another Davis. Right? Well, I couldn’t get my mind off of her…I knew she was probably in poor shape, but that’s almost always a big attraction to me. So….a week later, there she is again, at almost half the original price. I sent a message….where do you live, and do you want cash? Next day we go get her. Sure enough…cabinet and coffin top are very rough, but hubby says he can fix. She won’t ever be top notch condition, but we have been working on her mechanicals, and I got her to sew. DH still has a clamp on part of her cabinet to hold it together so it won’t rattle apart when I’m treadling, but she’s definately a keeper!! I wish I knew the owner’s great-grandmother’s name who owned the machine, but he didn’t remember. I like to name my machines after the original owner if I can find it out. Well, here she is. No decals left after baking in a hot Central Valley garage for 35 years. Boo!
Pinterest…..Need I Say More?
Wow…just got into Pinterest. It was recommended to me by my quilting friend Sheila. I knew it was out there, but I hadn’t taken the time to get acquainted. Now I see the potential, and I’m learning all the fun things to do there. I’m already building some of my boards. Come follow me!! 
Dang it!! First Serious Treadle Sewing Attempt
Hahahaha!! I feel pretty dumb about now. For the past 2 days I have been attempting to sew a very small quilt on my Singer 15-88 treadle machine, and having only a very frustrating experience. I was also tired and hot after moving furniture with the outside temperature over 100 deg., so that didn’t help either!! LOL Anyway, I was trying to sew it, and I thought I had done everything right, but the top thread keeps breaking. No matter what I do, every time I go across another seam, the thread breaks, and the bobbin thread bunches up. GRRRR!!!! I changed the bobbin case, I changed the bobbin, I changed the thread, I changed the needle. I opened up the needle plate and found some lint and dirt, so cleaned all that out. I checked all around the bobbin case area with a flashlight to be sure there’s nothing in there. Clear. Sooooo, after a few hours of tinkering and tinkering and tinkering, I finally gave up! 
I don’t usually give up. But I was getting really tired and I needed to finish the little quilt. So I finished it on my Singer 301a. Done in about 30 minutes. I knew all along the 301a would be much faster, but I wanted to say that I made that little quilt on the treadle. It would have been my first! Oh well….
So, today I Google Singer 15-88 thread breaking, and up comes a discussion about being sure the needle is in the right way and threaded the right direction. Hummmm, yes, you can guess what I did. The needle is in backwards. I was threading through the needle the right direction, but the flat side of the needle needs to be to the left, not the right. We’ll see what happens when I get home and try it out again.
These old ladies can be really fun, but sometimes frustrating. In this case, it was totally Operator Error!! LOL
