Random, Revisited

Lotus Patchwork Quilt - finished

The prodigal sewing machine has returned home. Ahhh!!! He is working wonderfully, purring along, and, perhaps best of all, I found out that I can trade him in for full value if I upgrade to another machine in the shop within 6 months of purchase. So he's staying, for now, but he's so on probation.

I went ahead and took in my Brother at the same time and got it working again. This one will be for the kids to use. That machine doesn't use a presser foot and can be set to sew very slowly, making it a great learning machine for the kids. It can also do embroidery and while I'm not fond of machine embroidery most of the time it's nice to have the option.

Lotus Patchwork QuiltThe first order of business was getting to work on these quilts. I can't believe I had to wait almost a week to play with them. Torture, pure torture.

I went to work on this one first, for no specific reason other than that I've received many compliments on it and couldn't wait to see it with the back and binding.

The fabric is alternating Amy Butler Lotus charm squares and white flannel. The backside is Amy Butler as well, also from the Lotus line, and the binding is a pretty coordinating stripe. I'd really wanted to use the center stripe fabric for the binding (shown in the image with the binding) but couldn't justify spending more money on that when I had the other stripe and liked the way it looked.
Lotus Patchwork Quilt with backside and binding
The fabric on the backside is from the big purchase at Hancock's of Paducah and I used it all. And that means, of course, that I must buy more fabric next time we're in Paducah (or something like that), right? We're actually looking into going to the April quilt show there so having a little space for more fabric would be a very good thing.

I initially quilted it with straight lines on both sides of the seams, and really didn't love the way it looked, it was very plain and boring. So I added some more decorative stitching in the center, straight down the ditch, hoping a slightly rounded stitch would soften the look a little and give it some character. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I dislike it less, and that's ok for today. I did the quilting with bright pink thread, thinking it'd pick up the pretty pinks in the fabrics, and again I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think it works, but maybe wasn't the ideal solution.

K eating ice creamMy oldest daughter feels I don't post enough. She thinks I should be posting daily.

Dear daughter particularly thinks I need to post more about things not sewing related ... specifically, the family and kids. I think life around here is not THAT interesting, but I just might give it a try (but probably not daily). If you find me telling you about how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the kids ate for dinner last night (A. had five) and how we tried freezing milk like America's Cheapest Family and might not do it again, which may not be that intriguing to anyone who wasn't there, or maybe it is interesting and I just don't know it, you can credit the darling daughter.

I rarely get any comments when I do post about non-sewing A eating ice creamitems but maybe that's because the family members who do read the blog don't comment? I know they're out there and reading, they tell me so, and not commenting is certainly ok ... but sometimes it's hard to find the balance here between the sewing, the family, and whatever else, while trying to be remotely interesting.

Anyway, in an effort to appease the teenager here are some pictures of A. and K. eating the KING SIZE (it said so on the package) drumsticks Daddy bought them the other day.

Want kisses?

You Might Also Like

5 Comment

  1. That's so odd...I'd always thought all sewing machines were girls...but here you are referring to yours very clearly as being 'he'. That'll teach me to make assumptions!

    Beautiful quilt! x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would like credit for commenting on the family portion of this post. Thank you.
    Cute kids. :) Did you open the milk and let a bit out before you froze it? I second the request for more family related posting.

    p.s. AWESOME quilt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like both your sewing posts and your family posts. I love hearing about the antics of your children, amazed at how you handle so many of them! I'm swamped with just three.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Florence ... he'd be a she if he'd start behaving! Only a male sewing machine wouldn't appreciate the need to work well. My old Pfaff was a she.

    ReplyDelete