My Barn Quilt - - - How I Made It and Why I Won't Be Making Another

   But, I made myself a barn quilt.  I'm not going to hang it anywhere but I am going to set it on the deck so I can see it from the sliding glass door in my dining room.  My barn quilt started as a almost 2' x 2' piece of plywood I purchased in 2013 for this project.  I finally bought the other materials to finish this on February 9, 2015.  I bought wood glue to seal the edges, a quart of grey exterior paint and a quart of bright purple exterior paint for the design; a quart of latex primer, a good paint brush, and a quart of Spar varnish to finish it.

   This project is really messy and I thought about fixing the messy areas and I even thought about re-painting the entire thing with a different block and different colors.  But I'm not going to do that.  I'm going to leave this as is and let this serve as a reminder to me that I hate to paint and I'm not a good painter.  I think one of the worst parts of painting is letting one coat dry so you can paint the second coat.  Boring!

On Saturday, February 14, 2015, I sealed the edges with wood glue, sanding the edges after they were dry.  I painted one coat of primer on all sides of the board and gave it a light sand.

On Sunday, February 15, 2015, I painted two more coats of primer on all sides of the board, sanding after each coat was dry and I drew my hunter's star pattern on the wood.

On Sunday, February 22, 2015.  I painted all the grey sections with two coats of paint.  Then I started putting down my painter's tape in some of the purple sections to paint them.  I gave about 4 purple sections two coats of paint.

On Monday, February 23, 2015.  I took all the old painter's tape off the piece and put more on the purple sections that needed painting.  I gave each of these sections two coats of purple paint.

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015.  I took all the old painter's tape off the piece and put more on the purple sections that needed painting.  I gave each of these sections two coats of purple paint.

On Wednesday, February 25, 2015.  I took all the old painter's tape off the piece and put more on the purple sections that needed painting.  I gave each of these sections two coats of purple paint

Today, Saturday, February 28, 2015, I will paint the back and the sides with two coats of grey paint.

Tomorrow, Sunday, March 1, 2015, I will give the piece two coats of varnish with a light sand in between each coat.

Here it is:

 

Pretty Tools Make Me Happy !

     I love a good, sharp seam ripper.  Today I found and bought a beautiful wood handled seam ripper at this etsy shop.  These hand carved colored wood handles are super cool.  I have one seam ripper with a hand carved handle that my daughter bought for me a couple of years ago that is the sharpest seam ripper I have ever had.  I try not to use it too much because I want it to last forever.  This seller carves the handles and injects them with color resin for a pretty look.  His shop is full of pretty tools and accessories.  I love that he also carves beautiful handles for awls and crochet hooks as well as carving the entire crochet hook.  I wish I could buy them all.

Making Tote Bags

       I have Crafty Gemini's Must Have Tote Bag pattern.  It's a great pattern.  You take one yard of decorator cotton and about an hour and a half and you have a super gift for a co-worker.  This time I did something a little different with my gift tote bag, I dressed it up with a pretty embroidery on the pocket.  The embroidery was done with my embroidery machine (I bought the pattern from Embroidery Library) and it was super simple to add to the pocket.  When I learn how to embroider monograms I can start using monograms on the tote bags.

    These tote bags are a great size and are very durable.  I have about three that I made about three years ago and they are still going strong.  The side and bottom seams are finished with french seams and the edges of the pocket are enclosed as well as the edges of the straps so there is no fraying anywhere on your tote bag.


    My gift tote bag for a birthday.

I made an extra one to have on hand.

   I'm currently working on my barn quilt.  I've come to the conclusion that I am not a painter.  I hate waiting for paint to dry.  I should have the varnish on it by Sunday.

Here Comes The Machine Parade!

     I'm having a sewing, embroidery and serger machine parade today.  Well, not really a parade.  I'm rearranging some furniture and I wanted to put all my machines in one place to take a group photo but I didn't have a table large enough for all the machines together.  So here they are individually.   All of these machines work and I have used every one of them except the hand crank (the black machine).  That one has not been used on a project yet.  All of my machines have names.  I started naming them when I adopted the Bernina and Singer 401A.  I named them after their former owners.

   I keep a current inventory document with each machine's history on it.  I note the machine make,  model number, the serial number, when I bought or received it, how much I paid, where it came from, when it was last serviced, what each machine does the best and how I use it.  I also note what accessories I purchased for the machine and how much they cost.  I also note whether I have an owner's manual for the machine.  I love owner's manuals, they are the best resource for learning your machine.  I refer to this inventory quite often and I hope my daughter will find the inventory handy if she ever has to downsize the collection.  

Here they are in order of acquisition:

Singer 3400XL- Vesta.  Acquired in 2002.  This machine is great for regular sewing and straight line quilting with a walking foot.  I cannot free motion quilt with it because the feed dogs do not drop.  I know I can cover the feed dogs with an index card but I'm just not comfortable doing that so I got another machine for free motion quilting.  This machine is great for garment sewing and quilting.  I use this sewing machine when I'm inserting zippers and making button holes.  I also use the buttonhole stitch for machine applique.  

Bernina 1530 - Martha.  Given to me in 2010.  This machine is great from free motion quilting, straight line quilting and regular straight sewing.  There are lots of specialty stitches on the machine, but I only use it for piecing,quilting and applique.  I have two patchwork presser feet, a zipper foot, a general purpose foot, a hopping (darning) foot, and a walking foot for this machine.

Singer 401A -  Elsie.  Given to me in 2011.  This vintage machine (manufactured in 1959) came with some cool presser feet.  I have not done a lot with this machine because I don't usually have time to experiment with it, but I love the ruffler foot that came with this machine.  I played with the ruffler foot a little last year and really loved the ruffle created with that foot.

Juki MO644 D - Browyn.  Serger - I bought this serger in 2013.  I wanted a serger to make scarves and finish seams, but I'm not loving this serger.  The stitching is off on it and I have been trying to fix it.  I have to check out some of the youtube videos on tension and see if I can get it working right again.

Singer Model 15 hand crank -  Black Beauty. I bought this from an ebay seller last year.  I've not used this straight stitch machine much except to test it when I first got it.  I just love the look of it and I love the wooden base.  I'm thinking about painting the base.

Brother 770PE - Myrna.  Embroidery Machine.  This is the most recent acquisition.  Given to me as a birthday present last December.  I'm enjoying playing with this machine.  I wish I had more time to play with it.  I will share a recent project with you after it is gifted tomorrow.

    Oh, yeah, and I'm also storing a Domestic (White Sewing Machine Company) Model 801 from the 1970's.  It was inherited by my daughter from her Grandmother.  It sits in a rickety cabinet that needs to be replaced but I tested the machine when it came here a few years ago and it seems to work okay.  It probably could do with a servicing, but with the cabinet it's hard to get that done.  Her name is Carolina (after the former owner).  She does straight and zig zag stitching, button holes, came with a zipper foot, a darning foot, a seam guide, a cording foot, an extra needle plate.  I don't have any pictures of her.

Just Had To Have It

 I found this cute novelty USB drive on Amazon and I had to have it for the embroidery machine.

Link to the Amazon page here.

See All The Pretty, Pretty Buttons

   I received all the buttons I ordered last week.  I can't believe I received both those orders so quickly.  Here they are.  The wooden buttons in the first two pictures were ordered from Amazon and the plastic buttons in the jars were ordered from Artist Supply Source.  I have to say the buttons from Artist Supply Source were very reasonable, but the shipping costs equal the amount spent on the buttons.

   I have to sort through the green buttons in the jar to find 16 pretty ones to add to my little pink crocheted flowers.  Once I have the buttons attached, I have to figure out what I am going to use as the background for my flowers.  The entire project will end up as a wall decoration for my bedroom.