Things Just Not “Lining Up”!

Most days my job as a machine quilter flows smoothly.  The quilt goes in the machine, Gussie and Inetta (my Gammill machine with IntelliQuilter Robotics) do their thing of quilting, the quilt comes out of the machine, and we are all happy.

Sometimes there are slight “issues” I have to deal with… wavy borders, puffy blocks, lining (quilt backing) issues, but I am well practiced at dealing with minor issues.  MOST days things just “work”.

TODAY IS NOT ONE OF THOSE DAYS!  I will admit… this is a whiney post.  If you can’t tolerate a little whine you may want to just exit out now.

As I was loading today’s second quilt, I noticed the lining fabric was going to BARELY be enough.  Upon further inspection, I realized that the cut on both ends of the wide lining the customer supplied was way off-grain.  (PET PEAVE:  I TEAR my linings to be sure what you measure is what you get.  Why can’t other fabric sources do that?  There is no way to cut a 108” wide lining fabric on grain!)  A quick snip with the scissors, a strong tug, and I tore it across to get the grain straight.  I lost 6” of fabric!!  There is now no way this will work.  I called the customer and she chose a red lining that I sell to replace the one that won’t work. 

So, while dealing with this I decide to load another quilt in.  I get to the lining fabric, customer supplied, barely enough, both ends are way off grain.  Same scenario… except this one was so badly cut I lost 8”!!  A quick call to the other customer, she also wants the red lining.  No problem.  BUT…

I check the bolt, and there appears to be just enough.  I measure it out, and it is 6” short of what I need, so that means both linings will have to be smaller than I like on the sides in order to have enough fabric to do both quilts.  OK… I may just have to sew extra fabric strips to the side of one of them to get the larger quilt done.  I have a plan!

Then as I was loading the smaller one I realize there is super-sticky masking tape on several places on the right side of the fabric.  I pull it off and of COURSE it leaves sticky residue.  YUCK!  I worked with it for a while and finally sprayed with alcohol, then rubbed a lot.  The sticky stuff did finally come up.

I am now sitting here, a cup of strong coffee in my hand, whining to you all.  It has made me feel better (the coffee and the “unloading”).  A few more sips, then back to work on what was going to be an easy job, but now made more difficult by the short linings.  I WILL make it happen!  I am not going to let a little piece of fabric get the best of me!!

So what are YOU wrestling with today?  I hope you are able to find solutions over a cup of coffee or tea, too!  Thanks for listening!

KAT

What Happens When…

What happens when your internet service is down for 9 days?  You have 153 emails waiting for you.  I did not realize how dependent I am on the internet.

What’s the weather going to be like tomorrow?  Just go check the internet.  Oh wait… it’s not working.

Are the Saints playing today?  I can’t find the game.  Just go check… Oh wait… it’s not working.

Quilters have been calling.  “I sent you an email but I have not heard back from you!”  The internet is not working.

When #1 son got to his South America work location, he was instructed to send me an email or comment on Facebook.  But… it’s not working.  (He DID get there safe and sound.  I found this out from #1 daughter.)

My friend said, “I sent you an email about something special we could do at church for  our Christmas program.”  I just got it today, when after 9 LONG days of walking toward my office to check my email, then remembering it is not working, then turning around and heading back to the sewing machine (because if you can’t read email you might as well sew!), I am finally able to get caught up with what has happened while my misaligned Hughes.net satellite dish was not connecting us to the internet.

I am glad to say we are back connected with the rest of the world.  The good in all of this?   I got a LOT of sewing done!  Pictures to follow later.

Now the hardest part?  Catching up on what all of YOU have been up to while I was MIA!

Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving Day!

KAT

What Can You Get For $20?

A TREADLE SEWING MACHINE!!

(You would think I would have at least DUSTED it before taking pictures, but obviously I did not, as demonstrated by my fat footprint left on the footboard!)

Yes, when I stopped at the garage sale they were trying to get rid of things.  I found ONE man’s shirt that I could use for quilt making.  I paid the man $1,  got in my car, and drove around the circle drive to leave.  WAIT A MINUTE!  What was THIS I saw out of the corner of my eye?

When I stopped and got out of my car again, the man informed me that he had been asking $45 for it, but I could have it for $20.  SOLD!

It is a small cabinet and takes up very little room in my house… good thing!  This cabinet is not actually made for this machine.  There is a gap of about 1/2” on the right side, but someone has made it fit nicely.  The cabinet itself has signs of much use.  That is OK…. I am not buying it for a museum piece… I want to SEW on it!

 

The decals are in excellent shape.

Here is what I could find out on the internet.  It is German made by Adolph Knoch.  It was probably made around the early 1900s, but that is a guess from the little bit I could locate on several different web sites.  Info was hard to come by… when you type in “Knoch treadle sewing machine” on any of the search engines it assumes you are talking about a Singer brand, since that is the most common type.

  

The inscription above the bobbin winder is something I can’t read… no experience with German.

If you can help me find any other info on this machine I would be very appreciative!

SOOOO, as soon as I order a new belt for it and spend a little time cleaning and oiling, I will get to sew on my new baby.  I have named my longarm, perhaps I need to name this machine?  I’ll have to give it some thought.

What can you get for $20?  A wonderful trip down memory lane.  I sewed on a treadle machine in Home Economics in high school back in 1970.  Yes, we had electric machines, but you had to SHARE the electric machines.  If you were willing to treadle, you could sew every day, so that is what I did.

From now on, I will slow down and take a good look around at every garage sale I go to looking for shirts.  Who knows what other treasures are there for $20?

KAT

It’s Not My Quilt…

 

It’s not MY quilt, but I sure would love to keep it!  These 20 hand-embroidered blocks belong to a customer.  My task was to turn them into a completed quilt.  

I have always heard that the back side of the embroidery should look as good as the front… these do!  So much so, that I turned one of the blocks wrong-side up, but thankfully discovered it as I was stitching the rows together.  They are absolutely BEAUTIFUL! 

       

I wanted them to have an old-fashioned look, so I went for 30s reproduction fabrics.  If you are a quilter, you will understand my dilemma…  it was impossible to find a sold fabric (or ANY type of small print) to match the background color of the outer border. 

The background was a very pinkish-lavender.  All fabrics I could find (shopping 5 different locations in the “Big City”) were either too dark purple or a very light lavender. 

I finally ordered something off the net listed as “Aunt Grace 30s Lavender, but it still did not match the background as well as I would have liked.  It looks fine, but it just did not match the picture in my head of what the sashing fabric should look like.  That “picture in my head” often causes MORE trouble when trying to find the right fabric!

All that is left to do is to hand-stitch the binding down, and that will be finished this week.  I’ll have just a few days to enjoy being in the presence of this lovely quilt, and then will pass it back to the owner.  I have really enjoyed working on this one, other than the fabric challenge.

Have a wonderfully blessed week!  I’ll see you on the blog next week with an update on a wonderful garage sale find.  What can you buy with $20?  You will be very surprised!

KAT

Meet the Knitwits

No, they are not crazy, they are a group of knitters who meet at the local library once a month to discuss the book we all read.  Of course, we KNIT while we discuss.  So maybe we ARE crazy… about knitting and reading!

  

Tonight was my first time to meet with them.  This is going to be WAAAAYYYYY fun!  We discussed the John Grisham book, The Confession.  I highly recommend it.  This was my first Grisham book (I usually go for light, easy reads) and I could not put it down.  I passed it on to DH, and he really enjoyed it, too.  (I also highly recommend, The Help.  Great book!)

I worked on trying to finish Mom’s pair of socks.  They are her birthday present.  I let her pick out the yarn, Felici, from KnitPicks.  I love these stripes!

So, I just thought I would post and let you know that I am still alive and doing well, but up to my eyeballs in quilts right now.  It seems I deliver 1 and pick up 3 or 4 more.  That is a good thing… I prayed for more business and the Lord is providing!

I’m also working hard because SOMEONE has a birthday soon, and SOMEONE wants to go back to south Louisiana to fish in the marshes again.  That means I really need to get some of these quilts out the door before I can go.  SIGH… I guess I will have to humor him since it is his birthday… Oh the sacrifices I make for him to be entertained.  Perhaps I’ll catch the biggest fish… AGAIN!!

Work hard, play hard.  Such is our life!

Be blessed in all you do today!

KAT

Bitten By The “Bug”

Guess where we went this weekend?  Here are a few picture clues…

It involved…      Marshes.

Kayaks.

Seashells.

The beach.  We made a trip to Lake Charles, LA.  Our main goal was to go marsh fishing in the kayaks.  We went just south of Hackberry, LA  to fish the marshes.

We caught a few speckled trout.  Guess who caught the BIG one?

It was 23” long, and weighed 4 lbs. 1 oz.  That is a REALLY nice spec!!  And then there is always the story of the “one that got away”… I lost another one just a little smaller than this one at the boat.  RATS!!  (Actually, I caught 4 of the 5 fish.  I love it when I manage to out-fish DH.)  It was too windy for fly fishing so we used casting rigs. 

After fishing we drove a few miles further to Holly Beach, LA.  This entire town was wiped out by hurricane Rita a few years ago.  NOTHING was left.  All buildings were completely leveled.

It is slowly being rebuilt.  There are now about 30 or so beach houses that have been restored.

Saturday we went to the Contraband Fly Casters Fly Fishing Expo in Moss Bluff.  I had an opportunity for some fly casting coaching.  We both bid on boxes of flies at a silent auction, and came home with 100 new flies to add to our collection. 

It was amazing to see the many different patterns the fly tiers could create! 

   

I’ve been bitten by the “bug”.  I think I see fly tying in my near future.  DH has all tools and supplies needed, so it will just be a matter of sitting down long enough to figure this out.  Realistically, this will be an after-Christmas-quilting-rush hobby.

And of course we ate good!  Fried oysters and shrimp, then sautéed speckled trout.  YUMMO!

It was so much fun, we plan on doing the marsh fishing again very soon.

KAT

Very Special People

Today was a wonderful celebration at Zwolle FBC.  A reception honoring the lives of James Q. & Verlyn Salter was held this morning.  They are very special people in my life and the lives of many others.  They will soon be moving to Virginia to be close to other family members.  How do you say “goodbye” to people that have been a part of your life for as long as you can remember?  It is not easy knowing that you probably will not get to see them again this side of Heaven!

When I was a child we lived right next door to the Salters.  We played in their yard with their children and visited their home (often having a snack of some kind given to us).  I loved for “wash” day to come around.  Mrs. Salter used a wringer washing machine… I had never seen that before.  We would spend lots of time watching her do laundry on that machine!  It was an amazing thing to watch.  I’m sure she wanted to tell us “Go home!”  but she never did.

When I was young  they moved an oil rig onto the land right behind our houses and drilled.  (Mr. Salter reminded me this morning that it was 1962 when the well was drilled.)  The Salter kids set up a soft drink stand and sold soft drinks to the workers and those coming to sight see at the well.  (Small town excitement… there was little else to entertain us in Zwolle! ) Actually, they probably got most of their business from my brothers and I!!  It seems we were always going over to get a soft drink for a dime.  Those were the days!  When the rig moved and school started, I really missed having a soft drink stand next door.

Looking back, we were always at their house it seemed, or their kids were over at our house, playing softball in the back yard.  The Salters always made us feel welcome at their house.  Right after I turned 7 years old, my family moved out of town.  I’m sure when we moved from that old house the Salters probably celebrated… no more pesky Rials kids bothering them! 

Mr. and Mrs. Salter both played a very integral part in my spiritual growth.  Both of them taught me in Sunday School at one time or another.  Mr. Salter was the choir director for many years, and I loved singing under his leadership.

In addition, they both were teachers in the school system.  I have been in classes under both of them.  When I went into high school, Mr. Salter was our principal.  When I began my teaching career at Zwolle Elementary, Mr. Salter was principal of that school.  I really enjoyed working under him.

So how do you say “Goodbye” to someone so special.  You don’t… you just say, “God speed, and I’ll see you in Heaven!  May the rest of your days be blessed, may each step of this move go smoothly, and may you really enjoy being close to your family!”   

Love to you both for all you have taught me through the years!

KAT

Change…

There’s a change in the air hair at my house.  Really, this was brought on by a monumental event happening next week… I turn 55, and the result of that event is that I will need to renew my driver’s license.  Because that means having a new picture taken, I decided it was time for a haircut.  After the haircut, I noticed that the gray now greatly outnumbers the brown hairs on my head. 

Because of that, I have been toying with the idea of dying my hair for the first time.  (We are not counting the event in the 80s when I did the home “streaking” kit, that turned the streaks in my dark brown hair a wonderful shade of ORANGE!)  Because of THAT fiasco, I have not even been tempted to color my hair.  As I aged I enjoyed the subtle gray areas, the distinguished (HAHA!) look of graying temples. 

The joy of graying hair is gone.  I knew there was now a quick fix for the gray that is bugging me more and more these days.

I looked at that box of hair color sitting on my cabinet for a week before I got brave enough to use it.  I even asked DH what he thought… he was not much help in the decision.  Today was the day!

The box says, “light brown with highlights”.  Upon further pondering I have figured out, what that means is your brown hair will still be brown, but the gray hair will appear as “highlights”.  I really should have thought about that a little more beforehand.  Let’s go back to one of my opening statements… “I noticed that the gray now greatly outnumbers the brown hairs on my head.”  SOOOOO…

I now have a little bit of brown with LOTS of HIGHLIGHTS (read that as REDISH-brown).  The box says, “permanent… lasts for 8 weeks”.  That is a mighty temporary definition of PERMANENT.  Truthfully, as fast as my hair grows and as short as I keep it cut, it will be a very temporary situation.  I still wonder who that is looking back at me in the mirror. 

I don’t necessarily dislike it, but I’m not sure I love it.  And the wonderful news is, even if I decide not to color it again after it grows out, I will get to look at myself like this for the next 4 years because I will HAVE to get my DL picture/renewal next week! 

Perhaps I should have used good reasoning and WAITED a little longer?  Sorry, no hair pictures to go with this post.  Just check my DL the next time you see me.  Oh, and now that the deed is done, DH is VERY vocal about his opinion… wouldn’t you know it!

Good night.  I’m off to shampoo my hair 5 times and see if this changes anything.  Grow, hair, grow!!!

KAT