Polka Dot Day

The clock is winding down on it, but I just wanted to give a Tip of the Hat to National Polka Dot Day!

Yay! Polka dots! They always make me smile.

I didn't actually go through my stack of quilts or rummage through my quilt images, but I would say that many of my recent quilts have at least one polka dotted fabric in them. The first to really feature them was my fruity stars that I made about -- hmm, maybe 15 years ago. At that time, dots were hard to find (yes, dark days indeed) & I bought some of every kind & color that I found.

We are so lucky in so many ways, not the least is that polka dots -- of every stripe sort -- are available to us today!
Yay! Polka Dot Day!

Brrrrrr

This week was Houston winter at its worse. I know much of the world will think we're a bunch of wimpy whiners & they are probably right, but when the temps are in the low 30s & the humidity is over 90% & it's drizzle-y & windy, that adds up to bone-chilling cold! Those days were followed by crisper & colder days. (By the week's end, we were up to the low 60s -- I did my walk in shorts. But I was a chilly!)

I was wishing I had a quilt ready to bind, but nothing is at that stage. Instead, I've been getting better acquainted with Betty with some piecing -- some spotty Amy Butler HSTs & candy scrappy trip along. (I LOVE this machine! I'm calling her Betty the Cat -- she purrs!)









And cutting up big piles of my stash into squares & strips & triangles for donation quilts. Once I'm through with the Cutting Table it will become the Quilting Table & I'll pull out Laura's Lightning -- I guess I am about 1/4 done with it.



And I do have a bit of hand sewing to do -- sleeve & label & travel bag for Lucky.
Because?
It's going to QuiltCon!!!

And then there were nine.....

For Christmas I got another sewing machine. She was -- & was not -- a surprise.

I had seen her on eBay & told Shug that perhaps she would be a nice birthday gift (my birthday is in early February). But when we go back after our holiday travels to have our own personal Christmas at home, I found a big box under our little tree: a 1963 White! She is kind of a celadon green with an ornate face plate & nearly like new. I've decided to call her "Betty".

It took me a while to get the tensions right. There were skipped stitches at first, but a new needle fixed that. She also sounded kind of click-y, but with some oil & attention, that seems to be going away. (Both Betty & Amie had a short, refreshing trip to a sewing machine spa & returned rejuvenated & ready for play. Both sew a fine seam now.) Feather-weight she is not! -- tips the scale at 37 pounds -- I won't be toting her to any retreats! I wondered what roll Betty would have among my sewing machines. Except for the 2 family machines, which don't work right now & are more sentimental than functional, & the Singer 99 Lotus, which is mostly an art object, all my machines provide something unique: portability, deep throat for quilting, programmable stitches, off-the-grid ability for when the power is out.

I think Betty will be my downstairs machine, to set up in the dining room or on a folding table in front of the television.

Meet the new girl!

Yes, I have another sewing machine -- and I'm not going to apologize!

I didn't seek her out, she sort of sought me. She was a hostess gift (!) from mon amie francaise who came for Quilt Festival last year. A Singer Feathweight 222!! I know!!! What an amazingly, awesomely generous gift!!!! And this is the woman who has already given me a Featherweight 221!!!!! (OK, enough with the exclamation points.)

She is passionate about machines a coudre anciennes & often finds them for good prices. Her husband is involved too, he cleans them up & gets them into good working order. So it is an especially lovely gift because both of our friends are present in it. I've decided to call her "Amie". Her first project is stitching some HSTs from several Amy Butler charm packs & she is doing a fine job!

Off the Rails

OK, it is the 2nd day of the new year & I'm already deviating from my Quilting Resolutions!

Actually, my head was turned well before the year began. Shug & I have been traveling -- a lovely week in the midlands Christmas-ing with our families, 1 day home, then off down the coast for a few days of nature & relaxing. I put away my sewing machine on 18 December & have only now gotten it back out! 14 days without sewing makes one weak -- well, actually two weeks, but, well. Ahem!

 



Anyway, while I wasn't sewing, I was watching Instagram (do you Instagram? I do & I love it!) & seeing an avalanche of scrappy trip around the world blocks. So much fun! I was mentally going through my stash, trying to decide what mine would look like. As soon as the sand had settled from our travels, I was literally going through my stash, picking my fabrics. And here I go!