My goal for the weekend was to finish up some borders on a few UFO's so that I can take them in to the long arm quilting lady to be quilted. I don't have my sewing machine back yet so I am using my mother's sewing machine. When I first plugged it in and ran it, it sounded like metal grinding on metal! Not a pretty sound! I went to the local sewing store (not a quilting store!) and purchased some sewing machine oil. I took out the manual for the machine and found the oiling instructions. I had to pop the top off the machine and oil 15 spots and then turn the machine on its side, and oil another 10 spots. I opened the side door and oiled some more. I turned the crank and spread the oil around a bit before trying the machine again. It runs very smoothly now--it's amazing what a little oil will do! This machine is totally mechanical--no computer chips in this baby. My mother had it in a wooden cabinet but I don't have room for the cabinet so I took it out. It will be my spare machine for emergencies such as this (my machine in for servicing!). My mother was not really a sewer--I talked her into buying a sewing machine and taking lessons just so there would be a machine in the house for me to use when I was a 8 or 9 years old. I used it a lot more than she ever did. I made a lot of clothes on this machine and I also made my first quilt on it.
I am working on borders for the Island Star quilt that I showed you in an earlier post. I added a dark blue narrow border and then when I put the yellow material I had purchased for the wider border beside it, it was too bright. I bought this material for the backing and wondered if it would look ok for the borders. What do you think? Do you like this or should I go out and buy another piece of yellow?
I made the table topper above this weekend on my mother's machine. It is made from a Moda charm pack called "Pine Creek Crossing". I plan on appliquing something in the corners of the border but I have not decided what that will be yet. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
I started to sew the borders on my cobblestones quilt, but no pictures yet as they are not done.
