Almost and almost

What a beautiful weekend. If I hadn't been on deadline for sewing I might have spent part of it out working in the yard.

Instead I just enjoyed the view from inside and made progress on my list of to-dos. I had hoped to finish quilting the Triple Star, but it's not quite there – almost. I'm over halfway done with the piano key border and just have a tiny outside border to finish. As I was quilting yesterday I started watching the thread and worrying – why didn't I buy another extra when I ordered this spool. But I think I'll have enough. I guess I'll know this evening.



Last week, while I was quilting the first sections, I got my sweetie to video me quilting one of the flowers. I had to convert it to a smaller format to post, so here it is.

My quilting design is winding vines with very simple leaves. The flowers have a spiral in the center and petals curved like the top of the heart. I think it looks great, and pretty complicated, but all of the components are simple.

Other progress, I got Boxy Stars laid out for pinning and am about half done with pinning. I need to decide how I will quilt this one quickly, as time before the show is getting short.

Changing gears yesterday, I pulled out the sewing machine that I hope to use for demonstrations at the quilt show. It's a Singer 15-30 with Tiffany decals that a friend gave me last year. It's a treadle machine, but had a motor and light added at some time. I started the cleanup by taking off the motor and light and wiping it down with a damp cloth to remove the loose dirt and spiderwebs. This picture is after wiping it. It was moving very stiff – probably not oiled in years – so I gave it a good oiling with Tri-Flow synthetic oil, and left it to sit and soak in.

With a little luck, I can put this together with a base and simple top to make a traveling treadle.

Time to get to work, more later.