Garden Trellis Quilt Finished

Here is another quilt based on Pam & Nicky Lintott’s Jelly Roll Quilts book. The two colour border was my own minor variation. I like that the burnt orange border hints at ochre, and in turn Australian Aboriginal art. OK, so that’s probably over-analysing it a bit but it’s how I see it. The border colours were something I settled on after my original border fabric candidate failed the audition.

Garden Trellis (thanks to my beloved for making this photo possible by mowing the lawn)

This one has a ridiculously long history. I started it way back in December 2010, as a birthday gift for a friend. It didn’t get finished in time for her birthday but went to the party anyway. I should point out that she got a handmade gift crafted by my beloved instead, so she didn’t miss out.

Now it’s going to be a gift for our friend Andrew. Hope you’re reading this Andrew. Andrew has a small but treasured collection of Aboriginal art and I’m hoping this quilt will fit in with the decor at his warehouse apartment.

A couple of details: The reverse is a black and gold. The long arm quilting is by Pam Hammer.

When is a Genuine Part not a Genuine Part?

Singer? Walking Foot

My faithful old Husqvarna doesn’t give me a very good result when I’m trying to stitch in the ditch or attach binding. It’s a generic foot. That’s important here. Unhappy with my results,  I decided to invest in a Singer branded walking foot to go with my new(ish) Singer machine. I am not going to name the Melbourne sewing machine retailer that I dealt with, and here’s why.

I rang the retailer last year to get prices and find out what they could offer me. They told me I could have a generic walking foot or a genuine Singer one which would be about $35 (I asked). OK, I thought, not that big a price difference from buying online, so I’ll go ahead. Besides, I have not yet found an online retailer who offers genuine parts and is able to ship to Australia. If you know of one, please let me know.

The retailer rang me during the week to let me know my walking foot had come in so we did a dash to pick it up. The cost: $52.80. Gasp! But I have the pyramids cot quilt to finish and I want to quilt it myself rather than sending it out. Erica’s baby is due in March, so the pressure’s on. I handed over the cash and the retailer handed over a small paper bag.

Believe it's genuine? I have a bridge I can sell you.

I took the chance to open the bag when we stopped for some morning coffee. As soon as I saw the cardboard and the print quality on the box I was suspicious. Low gloss cardboard, no branding and no graphic design on the box. No place of manufacture either.

I opened the box. Same story, no branding. Looks to me  a lot like the generic low shank walking foot that I’m unhappy with on my Husqvarna.

Back we go, “There must be a mistake.”

“You can have your money back but I assure you we (the retailer) ordered this foot for you direct from Singer. All sewing machines are made in China these days, you know.”

Yes, I do know and I decided to keep the  foot. I need it, and I believe the retailer’s response to be genuine.  My best guess is it’s a matter of margins. The retailer gets stock from a distributor and if the distributor sources genuine parts, there isn’t enough margin in it, either for them or the retailer. If they stocked genuine parts, most likely they would be so expensive no-one would buy them.

I just hope the foot works. I’ll let you know.

A 12 Inch House Quilt Block

Two Tone House Block

We did a dash to the library on a recent Saturday evening, arriving just as they were about to close for the night. I made a bee-line for the craft shelves and quickly grabbed a copy of Houses, Cottages and Cabins Patchwork Quilts by Nancy J. Martin, published by Dover Publications Inc in 1984. It’s a book that falls into the ‘worth borrowing, wouldn’t want to own it’ category, which is where libraries are perfect. The book includes finished quilts and household items built around a theme of house blocks.

The book has templates for different styles of house and school blocks in a range sizes. I decided to start with a 12 inch house block. I traced the pattern onto sandwich paper and pinned the pattern pieces to my fabric before cutting them out. I must say I enjoyed the contrast of not using the rotary cutter. Sure it was slower, but the work had a relaxing rhythm and a kind of intimacy.

This project allowed me to use the Swedish steel scissors that we picked up at a car boot sale on our European trip in 2010.

A piece of Sweden's industrial history

My scissors are stamped with the anchor that indicates they were made by Jernbolaget Eskilstuna, which was established in 1868 and continued for about 100 years after that. However there has been industry in that part of Sweden for a lot longer than that.

Eskilstuna has been a base for the steel industry since at least 1654 when the Swedish king Carl X Gustav offered Reinhold Rademacher generous export concessions in exchange for setting up a steelworks there. It’s nice to think that these scissors are a product of that long-standing industrial history, though they are of course of more recent manufacture.

Friendship Braid Quilt Finished

I had to hold off on publishing this picture until after our family celebration on Christmas Eve, as I gave it to my sister-in-law as a Christmas gift. The design is from Pam & Nicky Lintott’s Jelly Roll Quilts book, the long arm quilting by Pam Hammer.

The Finished Friendship Braid Quilt

For the first time ever, I washed the quilt before gifting it. I know many quilters do this routinely, but I don’t. It does change the appearance of the quilt a little but as I wash both my fabric and batting before starting a quilt I don’t get much of the pillowing that many quilters love.

I chose a chocolatey brown for the binding and it is hand-sewn on the reverse. It seemed a long way round and I had to really persevere to get the hand-sewing done, doing a little before work in the morning and a little more after work in the evening. It’s good to be reminded that perseverance and doing a little bit every day will get the job done.

My next task is to apply that principle to cleaning up my sewing/guest room in preparation for my houseguest’s arrival next month.

I have three more quilts to complete before she arrives, the cot quilt, the garden trellis and the coin quilt, which I’m not liking any more than I did when I first completed the top.

Happy holidays.