Ongoing Quilt Projects, Continued from the "No Appreciation...." Thread

[speckledhen]

Oh bother! Well, they are quite gentle curves. I would love to do one some day.

I have that machine as well. It's a TL98E instead of TL98Q so it's a slightly older version, but what a powerhouse! I love it for sewing on bindings and doing strip piecing.
Mine is in the shop right now having a Spa Day and getting a good cleaning and hopefully I will have it back this next week.

What does it cost for the "spa day", Terrie? I have stayed up on cleaning and oiling my machine, but never had it serviced. I'm afraid of the cost. And what do they do that I can't do on my own? Do they take it apart, or just open it up and clean where I can't reach myself?

 

[DuckLady]

I think it's about $75. They go over the whole machine, deep cleaning, testing tension, making sure it's lubricated and working properly. I get mine serviced every 3 or 4 years. My grandmother had her Elna serviced once a year, which is why it's in perfect condition.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, I was thinking it was about $80 or so.

This is what I've decided to do with the spring quilt to lengthen it and make it a twin. I'm putting 2" border top and bottom only, adding rows top and bottom of 9" star blocks, same star block as in the center, just smaller, and then, I'll border around the entire thing with the same deep purple as the dividing border between the main quilt and the two strips of smaller stars. I need sixteen 9" star blocks and I've made two and have to quit for the day on this project. Ran out of steam.

**if you see trash on my carpet, it's shavings off my socks, LOL. I wear my chicken shoes and leave them outside the kitchen door, but my socks have shavings on them that I can't always knock off before I come inside. Too cold not to wear socks! I swear I vacuum this craft room rug multiple times a week just because of the shavings issue.

 

[jeria]

What does it cost for the "spa day", Terrie? I have stayed up on cleaning and oiling my machine, but never had it serviced. I'm afraid of the cost. And what do they do that I can't do on my own? Do they take it apart, or just open it up and clean where I can't reach myself?

The shop by me charges $100.00 for my vintage ones!! I do my own. If I have something that needs to be done that I cannot figure out, maybe calling him soon if I can't figure out why this new to me 1934 machine of mine runs full blast but very smoothly and quietly when I plug it in. I keep my machines pretty spotless (except for the kitty paw prints that always seem to be there) and oiled often. I know this man who is a magician with machines, mostly retired, but works on them for others and also buys, fixes and sells machines. His charges are very reasonable, maybe look for someone like that in your area, if you were here I'd give you his name and phone#. The newer machines don't use oil but a different lubricant--the name escapes me at the moment. I have pretty simple older machines though with nothing computerized.

I actually open mine up as much as possible at least once a year, blow out any dust with my little compressor and oil any moving parts.

 

[User395221]

Here is one from Pinterest in my greens/purples.

I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was challenging when I came across the design, I just thought with the triangles it would be straight lines....
That's a lovely quilt,that's how I imagined your fabrics would look good in that design.
I failed at quilting because I didn't like the bulk of the quilt trying to hand-sew through it and didn't like how my stitches weren't perfectly even, but I could probably do ok with the piecing because I used to do dressmaking.
Maybe I could still make a quilt if I got a fancy machine to do the quilting with.....
J/K, I'll live vicariously through you talented people instead

 

[jeria]

I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was challenging when I came across the design, I just thought with the triangles it would be straight lines....
That's a lovely quilt,that's how I imagined your fabrics would look good in that design.
I failed at quilting because I didn't like the bulk of the quilt trying to hand-sew through it and didn't like how my stitches weren't perfectly even, but I could probably do ok with the piecing because I used to do dressmaking.
Maybe I could still make a quilt if I got a fancy machine to do the quilting with.....
J/K, I'll live vicariously through you talented people instead

Potato chip--- I make quilts on vintage straight stitch machines, defiantly not fancy. . They usually have amazing stitch quality. You can also quilt them on one if you choose. It takes buying a cover for your feed dogs and tons of practice. Someone I know here has quilts hanging in Paducah that she pieced and quilted on a 1940's Singer featherweight (straight stitch only). She is so talented. I can't quilt on one as physical limits.

Perfect 1/4 seam get a 1/4 inch foot. The rest is fabric choice and accurate cutting.

 

[User395221]

and tons of practice.

then it's not going to happen

 

[jeria]

then it's not going to happen

The piecing doesn't take lots of practice just paying close attention. The quilting itself takes practice. Straight lines with a quilting foot don't take much practice it's the freehand designs that do. You can also tie quilts. I have one of my first ones that had straight line quilting on a regular machine and I also tied it. Tying isn't my thing as it hurts these arthritic hands. Another option is to have someone else quilt it. I quilted for others for 5 years full time. I didn't make and sell quilts like Speckledhen.

 

[User395221]

The piecing doesn't take lots of practice just paying close attention. The quilting itself takes practice. Straight lines with a quilting foot don't take much practice it's the freehand designs that do.

Piecing doesn't bother me, I can sew quite well. I looked up on youtube some people machine quilting on their treadles and some webpages as to how to do it. Getting the quilting to look like something nice does seem to be the challenge. My main question is how to deal with the bulk of the quilt if you've pieced and backed it with lining. That's what I couldn't cope with with handsewing it. I'm pretty sure I could do it with a flat piece, but once you've got some bulk concertinaed up at the side it would change the ease with which you could keep it flat.

Another option is to have someone else quilt it.

Perhaps because of our climate, quilting isn't a huge "thing" here (we really don't need quilts, ever, it's not really cold, even in winter) and even if you could find somebody it would cost an absolute fortune. I did try to get somebody before I gave my unfinished quilt away.
I'll probably keep admiring others' efforts as artworks, but there's no harm in imagining, is there?

 

[jeria]

I love mine in the summer with the air on. I leave mine @ 73. They aren't super warm with the batting I use most of the time and breathe more than my blankets. In the winter I turn my heat down to 68 at night to save a bit on the heat bill and add more blankets.