Quilt Redux

[maggie~hamilton]

A couple of months ago we had a nice thread on quilts.

Thot I'd show y'all a Christmas present I gave myself -- a beautiful (new) handmade quilt!

It's lovely and fits right in with the colors in my bedroom since purple is my favorite color. Note the painting on the wall above the bed - painted for me by a member of my former church.

Best of all, the Teddy-Bears approve!

 

[maggie~hamilton]

 

[maggie~hamilton]

 

[crevicetool]

Beautiful!!!!

I bet it's all warm and cozy too...and judging by your wrapping presents outside under an umbrella, you'll need it out there! But enough about that. Where did you get that picture of the XXX pulling into a subway station??? GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!!

Rick

 

[volvoguy87]

XXX Subway!

No, Crevicetool. You'll have to fight me for that!
I saw one of those online once, some years ago, and I thought it must have been a print and that I would buy one later. Well, until today, I had never seen that image again.
Fess up Charles, where'd you get it and where can we get more.

Nice quilt, by the way. My grandmother, who passed last month, made quilts by hand. They are some of our most precious mementos of her life. Also, they are PERFECT! Nice weight, and not too warm, not too cold, just perfect.

Enjoy, & Merry Christmas,
Dave, celebrating "Jewish People go to the Movies and Eat Chinese Food" day.

 

[crevicetool]

Haf ta fight ya for it huh?

Well, Dave, How big a boy are ya?* LOL

*Roy D Mercer

 

[volvoguy87]

How big a boy am I?

About 5'11 and 160 pounds of fury.

Don't let the small stats fool you, I was able to supervise 4 friends at the same time as they moved my A208 into position.

Dave

 

[fnelson487]

Quilting - My New Passion

Thank you Greg Nunn. He brought me over to his Mother's house this summer and introduced me to quilting. I am having a blast. First project - a kit from JoAnn.

 

[fnelson487]

Next Project

Drunkard's Path

 

[fnelson487]

Current Project

Tumbling Blocks

 

[fnelson487]

Of Course

The problem is the investment in sewing machines. The Pfaff.

 

[fnelson487]

The Bernina

The one Greg's mom has.

 

[maggie~hamilton]

Electrolux Print on my Bedroom Wall

This 26 x 46 inch print on my wall is entitled "Michael Pedroni / Mezzotint Montage Prints."

It's an art poster from a series of mezzotints the artist (Michael Pedroni) created for an art exhibition in the late 1980s that ran, among other places, at UCLA.

I got an email from him one day in the mid 1990s, expressing admiration for my web site which he had happened to come across, or that someone had told about, I don't remember now.

He emailed me a small JPEG of this "Electrolux Train" poster. The poster itself was produced with the same Mezzotint process as the pieces in his art show. (See link) He told me he had a very few signed and numbered copies of the poster left. He made me "a deal I could not refuse" on one.

When I got it, I had it framed in a "gun metal gray" frame at a great framing store in Los Angeles.

This print is truly the "crown jewel" of my bedroom! (Not to be confused with the "family jewels" hahaha)

 

[maggie~hamilton]

P.S.: Fred, your quilts are stunning! I especially love your newest "geometric" one.

Wouldn't it be fun to make a quilt out of a bunch of vintage vacuum cleaner bags?!

 

[fnelson487]

Charles

Yikes! I don't need any more ideas, but that is a fabulous one. Didn't Stan Kann have a jacket made out of vacuum bags. I am definitely thinking about fabricating some. It is only limited by your imagination. And with the embroidery unit, the sky is the limit.

 

[ironrite]

With a little help from Husqvarna!

Santa is going to bring me an Elna 945 serger. Finally getting my cover stitch. Also got the rooms switched around here, so I may have more time for digitizing some of this stuff. Would love to try to make of those Airway bags in cross stitch.

 

[fnelson487]

Michael

I could make a business out of making Kirby 505 black bags with that embroidery. Michael emailed me the Hoover logo which I executed with the Bernina 440. These things are amazing. Thanks again. It is nice to find someone else with the madness.

Fred

 

[petek]

Stop it.. I'm beginning to want one of those machines

 

[ironrite]

Machines Easily Arranged!

Pete, just be prepared to spend a few bucks on the machines. Fred has a couple of wonderful machines there. Most of the newer embroidery machines will sew as well. Just stay away from the real cheap ones, they don't do well and just lead to frustration. Am thinking of the little Brother Disney machine that Walmart sells. Babylock makes a machine called the Elure, which uses a memory card and the Elure Plus which has a USB connection. A lot of features for a good value, plus it has a 5 x 7 hoop, which is a good size.

With a good quality machine, you can concentrate on your project and not whether the machine will be giving your grief. A good used machine can be had from a reputable dealer, that way should there be problems, they'll be there to help you.

The logos you see are digitized. If you can run say Adobe Illustrator or other design program you can digitize a logo and designs. You scan it in or use a photo. Then you trace the design and fill in the areas with various thread colors and patterns. From there, it is saved to a floppy disc, specialized card (you can see that type of card in my machine's photo) or USB port. I use a program called Embird which allows you buy the modules you need. From using your type fonts to make lettering, to doing cross stitch designs, you can add what you want. Plus the program is reasonably priced compared to the 2-3K for the Viking, Pfaff, Babylock programs. Those are great, but pricey.

For the quilters here, there are even special quilt design programs for embroidery machines that allow custom topstiching patterns, and the patterns are endless.

 

[maggie~hamilton]

AMAZING is right!! Sewing machines have come a long way haven't they. I had no idea they were now (or could be) computer-interfaced.

As to the question about Stan Kann's "Sweeper Bag Suit," see photo.

 

[gansky1]

That's a very nice new quilt you have there, CRL! Flower power - I love the vintage look of the fabrics.

Fred has done some wonderful projects so far, it's going to be fun having "quilting bees" with some of those here who enjoy the art - or even want to learn. We're going to have to plan that, Fred!

Mike, what HV Embroidery model do you have? I've seen the Designer I on Craigslist and Ebay going for a decent price but this is a whole new realm and I don't know much about the offerings from the manufacturers. I have a Bernina 1060s, the older style Bernina that I love dearly. Your Kirby logo is just stunning!

My mother made me a quilt for birthday/x-mas, etc. but it needs to be bound and finished so I'll post pics in a couple of weeks when I bring it home - it's beautiful!

 

[ironrite]

Bigger Kirby

Here's a close up of the Kirby logo. It would look great on black fabric.

Greg, I have a #1+, the + is for the embroidery feature. A #1 is sewing only, no embroidery. I think my machine is from around 1997 and this is what Viking patterned the Designer 1 from. You may be able to find these from around $500-$1200 as they're starting to get a bit on the collectable side. A new Babylock Elure will run around the $1200.00 area, plus software and a reader/writer box.

I'm not a fan of the Viking series with the "exclusive sensor foot." There is no manual lift to the presser foot. When you hit the start button or foot control the foot lowers, senses the fabric thickness, adjusts the tension and starts to sew. It sounds good, but as you know in quilting, you have to line up just right, or your stitch line can be out of whack. I've sewn on the SE and D1, but really like the #1+ for all the features it has. I do like the sensor button hole foot. Usually buttonholes are the give away of a homemade garment. With the sensor button hole foot you set the length and do get perfect button holes every time.

My embroidery card reader is a parallel contraption. I have no clue how the computer even sees it, but it does. And with 3D organizer, I can write my designs to the card.

Again, I would be very careful buying from eBay and Craigslist. Another factor with them, is some machines have been stolen. You go to get it serviced, they look up the serial number and good bye machine!! We actually had a couple stolen where I used to work. Your best bet is a local dealer. I work P/T at a sewing/vac shop and we do get trade ins and trade up machines.

Now, hint, hint, perhaps someone can send a scan of that Airway bag and I'll give it a go in cross stitch!

 

[tolivac]

The deep red window covering in the window is very interesting.Looks pretty neat with the blue curtains!

 

[maggie~hamilton]

Deep red window covering

is actually magenta - vinyl retractible (roll-up) window shades. I got them at a hardware store here in L.A. called "Builders Discount" a few years ago. That store is now gone. I don't know if you can get this type of window shades in colors anywhere else - I have only ever seen them in white.

Initially I had gone there to look for them in dark blue - I wanted something to serve as "blackout drapes" as I often am up late at night and sleep until late morning. But when I saw them in magenta, my gay little heart heaved a big sissy sigh and I just knew I had to have them in that color!

 

[tolivac]

Pretty cool-red window roll shades-remember when they came in colors like that.I use two layers of blackout shades to block out light-and summer heat when I sleep during the day from my mid shift-HATE Venetian blinds-they clank and rattle,and collect every peice of dust around them.I have taken the blinds down and replaced them with roll shades in other homes I had been in-better for mid shift sleeping.

 

[petek]

Those newer wide slat wooden venetians or the plastic faux wood ones are pretty good. The slats slide out easily in either direction for easy cleaning which was always the crappy part about the old style venetions and especially those mini-blinds.