Category Archive: Serger
It was a simple day, which started with more spinning. After lunch, Mary came over and measured the wedding dress I will be wearing, so I won’t be the one sweeping the floor. It is now 4″ shorter. With that done, we enjoyed looking at many of the movies she has taken of her grandson. He was 2 in January and that is such a go-go age and so cute.
Chores, housekeeping and a simple taco supper completed our day.2017
12/28
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2017 Recap and 2018 goals
2017 Recap:
Finished 3 pair of the 12 pair of socks that I kitted, ready to go.
Finished 29 quilts, 10 of which were ready for the quilting. The other 19 were in early stages or not started.
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I also made 2 bags and 2 pillows plus embroidered 4 sets of towels. I embroidered a Hatched in Africa set each month for their challenge, two of which were jeans.
There were bowl cozies and pea pods.
Then there were the baby lambs and additional sheep and puppy. I don’t want to forget there was a garden with canning and freezing.
Plus the hospital stays. It appears to have been a very busy year. But there were things I did not finish or even start, so they can become goals for the next year.
2018 goals:
I’m expecting much more “out of sewing area” activities. My sister-in-law has Alzheimer’s and is near the end. There will be many more lambs plus sheep activities including at least one fair where I will be showing them. We are moving the garden to a more level spot this spring. DH is needing more attention. And there is a big wedding in California in April. I have fewer flimsies, so most quilts still need much work.
Quilts to do: Goal is 200 yards usage
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Mystery quilt: Merry Mayhem – NY day mystery
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Mystery quilt: “Scrappy friends” – NY day mystery
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Bonnie Hunter “On Ringo Lake” – finished clue #1
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Daffodil flimsy – to quilt
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Roses flimsy – to quilt
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Teddy Bear picnic – to quilt
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Celebrate flimsy – to quilt
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Bear paw quilt – large, cut out
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All aboard – not started twin bed size
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Fish quilt – not started applique – large wall or lap quilt
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Tulip quilt – flimsy – needs quilting
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Sunbonnet Sue #4, have sue blocks, needs setting and quilting
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Bonnie Hunter 2012, needs to be finished for King size, quilted, etc.
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Baby Hono – I want to make a child size turtle quilt
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Finish all the paper piecing blocks and finish the wall hanging with them.
Socks: I’ll keep working on my last year’s kits, since I only finished 1/4 of them.
Other goals:
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Learn Electric quilt
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Learn cutting machine
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Make 10 Alzheimer’s activity mats
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Try 2 new recipes a month
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Gym 2x week
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Make garden plan with plans for starting, fert, etc.
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Make hoop house plans as above
Obviously, I will come across items during the year that I will tuck into my weeks.
Pintuck class and Lacey comes home
Today we used the pintuck foot on the coverstitch part of our serger for a variety of looks. The first is ordinary pintucks.
Then we made pintucks the other direction for crosshatching.
This piece shows that either the back or the front of the corded pintucks can be used to make the garment interesting.
These corded pintucks have a narrow ribbon sewn on top of the pintuck as the pintuck is created.
And this is a fluffy yarn laid on top of the pintuck as it is created. There are so many interesting looks one can get with the various ways to sew pintucks. I really enjoyed this class.
After class, I went to get Lacey. She has been in the hospital since Monday, but was finally well enough to come home today. They kindly gave her a bath while she was there and she very clean. A pasture dog rarely gets a bath. She dislikes the car, so I asked the attendant to help me put all 80# of her inside the back. For the first time ever, we got the back open and she jumped right in. It seems she really was ready to come home.
When the sun came up this morning, it made a beautiful stream through the trees. And it remained a sunny day – such a treat!
Serger foot class and pumpkin potholders
Today’s serger foot class was very interesting. Here are the samples I came home with using the lace foot and the lace foot and the blind hem foot. The above is sewing lace to lace and lace to fabric as in heirloom sewing.
Then we worked on the flatlock stitch which can be used with either side as the pretty side. This was very popular on T-shirts a few years ago.
I folded a part of this fabric so you could see both the front and the back on a blind hem.
I tried, but will need more practice to hit those little sequins right in the holes that are in the middle. I was supposed to just sew in the holes, but obviously, I missed.
And here’s another place that I need more practice. The one on the left is normal quilt binding. The one on the right was using commercial bias tape. Binding potholders is a place with plenty of room for improvement.
Socks and honey
Slowly, but surely, with little minutes here and there. The gussets are nearly done. I think I’m a slow knitter because it takes me 18-20 hours to do a pair of socks -time dependent on how much cuff and how many stitches I drop and have to pick up and how many times I have to lay the project down and pick it up again.
No photo, but I spent an hour in the dentist chair this afternoon having 2 small cavities filled.
On the way there, I stopped and bought 2 gallons of honey from a friend who has many hives of bees and has them at various people’s farms. I learned that our hardware store now sells food grade buckets for food. And guess what, their logo gets spread around. DH believes that everything one sells should have something to help sales. This qualifies.
The last thing to purchase was a storm door for the hoop house which will be recovered this weekend.
And here’s a HINT: for all these holidays coming up. Buy yardage, serge or hem the edge, pop it on your table to look all cheery and when the holiday is over, you can save it for next time, or make something else from it.
September declutter
Today in serger foot class we practiced with the elastic foot both putting elastic on
and putting on a wire edge which would most likely be used on ribbon.
Then we used our bead foot for beads and
ribbons, yarn, or whatever would go through the machine for a pretty edge. The classes are fun with only 4 of us and the teacher having time to show us extra uses.
We are starting the first day of a new month and the first day of the last third of the year. It has once again come to my attention that we are not promised tomorrow. And I wish to leave areas that are easy for someone else to step into and take care of the disposal of items – or at least not leave them a mess. When hospitalized for 3 months several years ago, I was running a business and was very organized. Others were able to step in and dissolve the business. When Mother had to move to an assisted living, we were able to easily clean out the house. So it is possible. My goal for this month is to declutter and organize the sewing room and at least one other room. I usually keep like things in the same area which really helps. How about you – Do you have a room that could use attention? Would you like to join me?
Lemon Squeeze jacket and shelves
Shelves have been replaced, so now I can load them up with jars again. That fiberboard just doesn’t hold them. I have been to Lowe’s several times to get this wood cut, but their saw has been down. I get them to cut the right size and then I can put them in myself.
I am drying the parsley I picked Friday and decided to freeze the kale. I just freeze it whole and when frozen, it is so easy to crumble off the stems. Then it is easy to add to various dishes.
When Lacey gets too hot, she splashes this water all over herself. She does not enjoy this hot weather. Beau’s coat is so different and it doesn’t bother him at all.
This is the Lemon Squeeze jacket I showed you earlier. I finally threaded the serger and sewed this up. It still needs to be hemmed, but it is all in one piece.
DH spent most of the day watering. The ground is extremely dry and we are not expecting rain until school starts. Traditionally it rains some of the first week of school.
Summer’s coming to an end, so enjoy what is left of it.
A successful day
I started the morning by opening an email that I should not have opened. Then I waited for the Geeksquad to remove the virus or whatever from my computer so I could again use it. After that a phone call to Handiquilter and I believe my machine may be more cooperative.
In between those chores, I did get a pattern copied onto pattern pellon for a jacket. I even was able to get the main pieces cut out of this cotton fabric. It will be a loose, lightweight cotton jacket using the new serger. However, I do not have the right thread, so will pick that up tomorrow.
Off to the grocery briefly for a couple very good watermelons and out to the garden. We picked the funniest shaped carrots. Next year the ground will have to be worked deeper. These poor carrots just could not break through the hardpan. Still they are delicious.
These beets were growing beside the carrots, but since they are shorter, they didn’t have the same troubles. They filled this 4 gallon bucket about 3/4 full. Oh, and there were a few potatoes that were from a potato that was left in the ground over winter. I pulled a beet and harvested 6 potatoes much to my surprise. So we will be enjoying roasted root vegetables.
Serger ruffle and cording
This year, one of my goals was to learn to use the serger for more than just finishing seams. Today I took my first serger class on how to use the various feet. These classes will occur once a month for 6 months. So we gathered on a plain piece of fabric and then we gathered and attached a ruffled at once.
Then we worked with the cording foot, first making and putting cording on a single piece of fabric and then making it and putting it between two pieces of fabric like one would do making a pillow.
Using the cording foot again, we made a “puffing strip” and inserted a zipper.
We did not have time to make the spaghetti straps, but she demonstrated it and I will get it done this week. A really nice feature is that this teacher brings the instructions in a plastic envelope with the fabric, so when you have done your sample it becomes part of your notebook. Notice that on each page, she has put the serger settings so these will easy to refer to at a later time.
July Sew Fun
Today I woke up thinking of all the things I wanted to get done, then I remembered, that’s not the important thing. I didn’t get my list done, but I pray God’s list was achieved. And I am thankful for a large garden and the work involved because of it, especially when I remember those who don’t eat 3 meals a day. I count my blessings and ask to be a blessing to others. These are 16 pints of green beans for the coming winter from the 7# picked yesterday.
The Sew Fun this week was put on by Lana Jones. She comes up with ideas in her sleep – of which she doesn’t need much. These 3 signs used sticky metallic paper on boards and mounted denim. Aren’t they cute?
Using a piece of tile that she found at Lowes, she put metallic paper on these “rocks”. And they did look like flat rocks. This is such a wonderful way to give a little inspirational gift.
These are made of “Ice Resin” a product to pour in molds. These would make lovely jewelry or nice for key chains.
The animals at the top come with stuffing in a bag that can be removed from both the body and the head to make it easy to embroider. The two bags below them were from a pattern book “Sew Useful” by Debbie Shore. There were several items in that book to help you make storage items for the home.
The black dress and the dress with the green skirt were from “Sew Pretty T Shirt Dresses” Simple little dresses that start with a recycled or purchased T shirt in the child’s size. This would be a terrific gift for the busy mom or grandmother to sew.
This is where she caught me. I loved this lightweight jacket you see in peach and black. And it can be made totally on the serger. So I will be looking for fabric to make this.
This book also had some fun projects and the items in this book have both the patterns you can cut out or if you have a Accuquilt, they have a die by Edyta Sitar to make them.
This “Buddy Blanket Bear” has only a stuffed head, so if a young child likes to take a huggie to bed, one could either hand or machine embroider on the open skirt.
It was a very good Sew Fun, well worth my time. And there were several more items that didn’t really catch my attention. All I need is time for some of the projects that I all ready have, then I can take on some new ones.
After I got home, I had company. I did not get all my steps in, but will get them all in by the end of the week.
After all this, I took a brief rest on the deck. Isn’t this a lovely view? It was such a pretty day. Tomorrow will be more garden time and maybe zucchini bread baking. Don’t hold your breath on that though.