Monday, August 30, 2010

Putting the puzzle together

Somebody please keep reminding me that when I start working on a machine I should not leave it sitting disassembled for weeks (months, years....) on my workbench!

Yesterday I decided to clear my workbench so I'd have room to work on the new Pfaff. That meant putting back together the Necchi Supernova that has been sitting there for ages. I'd had it pretty well cleaned up, but never done anything with it because I still needed parts (bobbin case, kind of crucial). I gave it an oiling, dusted it off and started putting pieces back on. And realized the end cover was missing. I finally found it under the workbench (where the spiders live), then couldn't figure out which of the dozen or so tiny screws sitting around were the ones to attach the cover.

I finally found what I hope was the right screw and got the machine back together, puttered with some other parts sitting there and cleared part of the workbench. But I've decided I want to redo/rearrange and evict the spiders before I bring the Pfaff in to work, so no heavy lifting.

Other than that, it was a quiet day. I finished pinning the bow tie quilt, tested a swatch with one possible quilting pattern, and finished four little sewing kits, except for snaps or closures.

One of my favorite uses for my digital camera is to take pictures of things in progress, so I can remember where I am. That's especially useful in laying out quilt blocks. Not only can you remember where you were, you can more easily see problems and possibilities in your layout.



Last night I started working on the layout of blocks from last year's Davis exchange I hosted on the Treadle On list. All these blocks were made on sewing machines made by the Davis sewing machine company, which went out of business in the 1920s. We did a maker's choice block at 9.5 inches, using blues/greens/purples with bleached muslin. I think this one will be beautiful!

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