Quilt 15 years old and the top is finished...

My Flying Geese Quilt is becoming a reality. it is an old fashioned use up those remnants quilt, and I can see some garment bits in there. I love that. Although the quilt is now 15 years since inception and the first square, the top is finally finished with the piecing and the sashing on the edges. It is a very odd shape. Extremely long and not that wide! It turns out to be 67" wide and 115" long! Backing and batting and tying come next. I hope to make this this winter's project. HHmmm...did I forget to mention the binding? I think I did. I have cotton from my mother's stash (that I inherited) which is the fabric I will use for bias binding. It is the dark version of the sashing fabric. So the sashing and the binding are a reverse effect. The tying and the binding are a long hand done project. I have bound one quilt in the past and found it wasn't so difficult, merely time consuming. And a good excuse to sit and watch the telly on those colder winter nights.

Ottobre tee time again!

Thinking about using up the left over fabric from my last tee, and remembering that I had bought a remnant of the same stuff on a recent visit to the fabric store, I thought about making the little guys jammies. but looking at the yardage I found there wasn't nearly enough. But, there was enough to make another tee! This time around with Ottobre Woman 2-2007 pattern 2 I raised the neckline over an inch and a half. I really like a higher neckline than I had been making. I cut the fabric yesterday and began to sew right away. Finished the complete garment today, hem, sleeve hems, and neckline. I used self-bias binding, and that really made a nice neckline. I have used this pattern so much. Ottobre does clothing for real people. Each issue has at least several things I could conceive of making. I haven't made anything but the tee so far though.

Burda dress is finished...

And a lovely dress it is! The instructions for the neckline binding were new to me, and it worked out very well. Burda has a few different ways of doing things. The dress fits perfectly. The fabric is a very light batiste, and that required some careful handling. This was my second Burda pattern. The first was the pants pattern reviewed at PatternReview.com. Both patterns have impressed me by their excellent drafting. The pieces actually fit together like they should. This hasn't always been the case with my big 4 patterns. the only alteration we did was to petite this pattern between shoulders and mid-armhole. The great part of this dress is the bias sections of the skirt and the back skirt. It hangs so very nicely, and the bodice fits so well with its four tucks. I will certainly do another Burda or two.

Pfaff 1199 comes home...

Many years ago at the same time I got my Pfaff 1222E, my mother-in-law got her Pfaff 1199. We inherited it a few years ago, but the search for a foot pedal took a long long time. Finally we got that, and then there was the hospitalization for a complete checkup and a new gear or two. Finally she is home again and sewing smoothly and beautifully. There isn't a lot of information on this model on the web yet, and the manual isn't readily available. We have the manual for the 1222E and the same threading and bobbin arrangement are common in this era of Pfaffs so that's no problem. She joins our little family of sewing machines, and has a cosy nest in her fantastically 1970s ORANGE retro case under my sewing table. You can see the fabulous case. YES, though made of metal, she is a COMPACT machine. Weighs a good bit more than my heavier Viking platinum, but way less than my 1222E. :) For her day she was a lean mean sewing machine! And spectacularly groovy in her case!

Just a Catchup...

Added a few more great links to sewing blogs...so much talent and fun out there! Yes, I have been working on the sewing too! How's this for a shirt? In the planning...the fabric is cotton medallions from Gorgeous Fabrics. So, my sewing blog seems to have overtaken the regular blog now. MORE TIME...more time is really needed in the day. To whom do I send the petition for the 35 hour day?