Improv PeaPatch Finished

I realized after my last post that I had sewed some of this together backwards and also left out a piece!  Now that our weather is back to normal, I took some of it apart and put it back together.  I used this to practice my circular quilting...still need more practice..and to test out the power and some stitches on my new sewing machine.  It's my third machine in two months and it's working reasonably well for it's size and cost, so it will be a keeper unlike the previous models.

It's called Improv PeaPatch after a gardening program here that I took part in about 35 years ago when it first started here in town.  For a small price, you could rent a 10 x 20 foot patch of ground and garden.  Lots of families and kids working on their plots so the rows weren't very straight and all the crops were mixed together...one couple grew nothing but dahlias!  Very pretty.  I don't now if it's still going on and later it got quite expensive and very regimented but it was fun in the early years.

This is one panel of my Santa's Trip quilt. I've got two and a half panels done, so only one and a half to go.  I'm hoping that I'll have enough cut and put back together by Friday so I can see how the little squares will look.

Linking with Em's Scrapbag for Moving it Forward Monday and LoveLaughQuilt for Monday Making

Disaster!!

I was happily quilting along last night when my machine suddenly stopped and all the bells went off!  The balance wheel wouldn't turn at all and I had to dismantle the needle and presser foot assemblies to get the needle out of the quilt and the quilt out of the machine.  The needle wasn't bent or broken so it's a mystery why the machine suddenly stopped.  Probably the quilt was too much for the machine.  It's a 3/4 size computerized Brother that I bought for under $200 about 7 years ago....so I've had my money's worth out of it.  I thought no problem and this morning dragged out one of my vintage machines...a Morse straight stitch dating to the 1950's.

After some switching around of parts...it's got a knee lift and doesn't fit securely in it's table..I started my test piece.  Lots of smoke!  OK, it's burning the dust from the motor and the smoke soon stopped.  It still makes beautiful stitches but I could see lots of sparks from inside the motor!  Haven't had that happen before so I unplugged before I burned out the motor.

Next machine is a 1957 Brother 260 and I've quilted large quilts on it before...in fact it's my favorite machine.

Today, for some reason, it won't form a stitch!  I've changed needles, bobbins and rethreaded upteen times and still it won't cooperate.  Maybe it's mad because I haven't used it in a long while.  When I broke my arm, my little computerized machine was out and set up.  In January, when I started quilting again after more than a year away, I had a hard time even getting my left arm up to the table to hold fabric while I sewed.  Now I have much more movement in that arm and I credit sewing with that progress but my Morse weighs about 40 pound and the Brother is over 30 pounds.  I simply couldn't lift them!  I still have a featherweight and a Singer 99 but neither of them is large enough to finish my PLAY quilt.  For those of you who have followed along, here is the final final version.

Meanwhile, I'll be sorting scraps and cleaning house until I can get a new machine.

PLAY top finally finished

As you all may remember, I'm participating in the improv quilt along called PLAY with Elm Street Quilts.  This was a weekly series of prompts including wonky log cabin. wonky stars, curves and strips, and text.  I did get them all done and will be quilting this today and tomorrow.  Hopefully, I'll be able to meet the deadline!

I'm really glad that I participated and have learned lots.....such as hue doesn't equal value in colors, start with enough fabric to finish the project, curves can be fun and my camera really hates lime green!  The washed out yellowish in the center is really a bright lime green about two shades lighter than the other green I used.

The main thing I learned is that I am my own worst enemy!  Second, third, and fourth thoughts are common and thinking back to my pile of unfinished projects that's a running theme.  For the final layout of this project, I did let it sit for a week while I stared at it, rearranged, and thought about starting over with different colors.  Then I let it sit for another week while I thought and rearranged some  more.  It's a good thing there is a time limit or I'd still re rearranging!

Linking with Em's Scrapbag for Moving it Forward Monday........and, of course, Patty at Elm Street Quilts(link above)

PLAY- Letters & Filler

We are coming to the end of the PLAY series and I still have lots to do.  This was what I had in my last post...

And this is where I'm at today.  Note...the bright pink is the back of a completed quilt.  My rug is currently covered with thread and fabric scraps!

The last prompt was to use text.  Learn seemed appropriate for this quilt.  A long while ago, I had bookmark the site Quilt Abecedary and used it for the directions .  Very clear and easy to make...saved me a ton of time and scraps!

I decided to work on the letters one evening and when I pulled out all the pieces and laid them out, they all blended together!  I now know exactly what people mean when they say they added "sparkle" to their quilt.  Even though the colors stood out in the bright daylight, they all merged together under artificial light or on a grey day. Since I live a couple of miles south of Seattle, there are lots of grey days! I pulled out the rest of my solids and added a darker grey, navy and a darker pink.  It now looks better but I'm still not happy with the blocks across the top.  I still need to add flying geese and a couple more stars.  Most of this isn't sewn together yet so I can work the new colors in evenly.

Linking with Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or not Friday

Back to PLAY

I've been neglecting my PLAY, the improve QAL lately in favor of regular, straight edged projects.   It's getting closer to the finish so I took a look at what I had and still wasn't terribly happy with my initial log cabins blocks.  They can be seen in  these posts.  I gathered up a selection of solids that have been sitting in my stash and got to work.

I haven't trimmed anything yet...I'm waiting until I finish as I always seem to cut off something I later need.  I like the way my stack and cut blocks came out.  The whirligig thing is the result of  using rectangles for my wonky triangle sets.  I still need to do the stars and the crumb blocks.   I've saved all my trimmings so I should have plenty to work with for those!  Tomorrow, a new project will be released. Looking forward to it!

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts link up. Lovelaughquilt Monday Making,and Em's Scrapbag

PLAY part 2

I'm happier with this one....and I will continue on.  The center colors photo'd  true but the two greens are very off.  The inner one is a lime green and the outer is a brighter green than shown,  The photo edit service I'm using doesn't seem to have any adjustments for greens.  I was able to turn the centers a variety of colors.....a good tool for choosing colors in the future.

I did run into an interesting problem.  I like bright colors and while I was choosing the final colors for this, it was bright and sunny outside,  When I finished sewing it had turned grey and rainy and my other choice looked better in that light.  Since I live in the Pacific Northwest grey and overcast is quite common.  My lighting is supposed to be true daylight but the shades may be interfering  with that.


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