Fixed the Bobbin Winder

January 11, 2014 3:56 pm ⋅ Pam

About 6 years ago my husband bought me a Singer Genie at a garage sale. It has been my backup machine and on occasion, my traveling machine. This is the machine I’ve been teaching Sydney to sew on. In December we won one on e-bay and did a local pickup. The machine was in great shape, but the bobbin winder wasn’t working perfectly. None the less, we gave it to Sydney for Christmas thinking we’d get the winder fixed eventually.

I also have a Singer Red Eye 66 Treadle which was my great-grandmother’s. I got it working last April and even wound a bobbin on it but the treadle winder is not reliable — yet. Sydney & I have been winding bobbins on my Genie until I get our respective winders fixed.

So, last night I was piecing my Scrappy Trips with the intention of finishing it before I went to bed. About 11 o’clock I ran out of bobbin thread for the treadle. I went to wind a bobbin on my Genie and it wouldn’t work. I attempted to get the cover off the machine and failed. Looked on line to see if I could get a SideWinder Bobbin Winder at Walmart – I could, but I would ultimately need 2 – one for me and one for Sydney and the winder at WM doesn’t wind bobbins for my big machine. I threw my hands up and went to bed.

This morning, I found the three screws which were preventing me from removing the case. I decided the rubber ring was my problem. Called the local repair place. They have them in stock and it’s same ring for the treadle. I’ll take 3.

Came home, put the ring on my machine and it didn’t work. Lots of muttering going on. Got on line searched several vintage machine lists. Finally found where I could buy and download the Singer Service Manual for the Genie. It didn’t help. Finally decided to add more oil. Eureka! The spindle spins.

So, we pulled out the second Genie. Pulled the case, swapped the ring and adjusted the bobbin stop and it’s working now.

I’m not ready to tackle the treadle winder, but I’ve got a bobbin full of thread so I should be able to get the quilt top finished!

Posted in: Genie, treadle

M is for Monkey Wrench

January 10, 2014 8:10 pm ⋅ Pam

M is for Monkey Wrench is this month’s block in Dorothy Young’s Alphabet BOM. We are now half way though the series, but it’s still not too late to join the fun. To join the fun, join the Yahoo! Group apocketfullofmysteries.

The rest of my blocks can be seen HERE.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Finish Along 2014

January 9, 2014 11:39 pm ⋅ Pam

I found another challenge to help keep me on task. The Littlest Thistle is hosting the 2014 Finish Along. To participate make a list of your Finishes you anticipate you’ll complete this quarter and then link it up. Fortunately, there’s no penalty if you don’t finish something on your list and you can roll it over to next quarter. They do however have to be DONE, DONE, not just done to the top stage. When you finish something on your list, write a post and get an entry to win a prize and more importantly the satisfaction of completing something. Oh, and it’s not limited to quilts.

Not that I think I’ll get through this list by the end of March, I’ve decided to list nearly everything on my 2014 Tops to Quilt and Tops to Complete lists so I don’t have to make a decision today about what I’ll do tomorrow.

String HST Wall Hanging – needs border and quilting
Tetris QAL – needs quilting (shoot, I have the thing sandwiched!)
Hancock Stars BOM – working on it quilt as you go
Green & Cream Swap – working on it quilt as you go
Scrappy Trips – nearly a top, but won’t count until I get it quilted & bound for this challenge
Christmas Row Swap – I have the batting, and fabric for the backing
Compass Lone Star – still piecing stars and working on it quilt as you go
Eeyore – way early in the process as only Piglet is done
Diamond Links – need to quilt about 3 rows and the border so I can bind it.
Purple Thangles BOM – need to make a decision about the backing then quilt it!
Yellow Thangles BOM – need to make a decision about the backing then quilt it!
Double Wedding Ring – finish the hand quilting, my virtual progress can be seen on the sidebar.

The linky party for the 2014 1st Quarter Finish Along is HERE along with the official rules.

Posted in: 2014 Finish Along

Scrappy Trips Progress

January 8, 2014 11:10 pm ⋅ Pam

After putting Deadline IV into the wash, I pulled out Scrappy Trips, my treadle project. I needed to finish up about a dozen blocks. Now that I have I’m ready to sew them into a top. Earlier tonight I re-arranged blocks until I got them organized, but I think I want to swap the 4th block on the 3rd row with the 5th block on the 4th row before I sew the top right quarter together.

This is #9 on my Tops to Complete list.

Posted in: Scrappy Trips, treadle, UFO Challenge 2014

Nearly Finished

January 7, 2014 7:22 pm ⋅ Pam

I just finished stitching down the binding on Deadline IV and have made a matched pillowcase. Now I have to hand stitch down the label and the hanging sleeve. Once that’s done I can wash the quilt to see if this batting I used will shrink up. I’m thinking it won’t now that I look at The Warm Company website. I think this is Soft & Bright, not Warm & White. Oh, well, it’s done now.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Sewing Machine Needles

January 7, 2014 6:30 am ⋅ Pam

Earlier this week I was looking for yellow lead for my marking pencil – I found black, white & pink lead and kept finding packages of machine needles. I sorted them universal needles to the left, specialty needles to the right. The blue box has needles in it as well. I think I’m set for needles for a while.

Oh – the yellow lead? Never found it. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t dig deep enough or if I simply don’t have any. I did find some yellow chalk marker which worked for my project.

Posted in: Uncategorized

What’s On My Design Wall

January 6, 2014 12:19 am ⋅ Pam

There’s no piecing on my design wall – I’ve spent the last few days migrating the blog (welcome to the new site – I’d love to have you follow me here) and quilting Deadline Project IV. This is the only view I can show for a few months.

Now off to bind, label and wash the quilt to so I can cross this UFO off the list!

See what others are working on by hoping over to Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall

Claiming My Blog at Bloglovin

January 5, 2014 1:55 am ⋅ Pam

With a new blog, I have to make a new claim at Bloglovin.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Stash Report

January 5, 2014 12:53 am ⋅ Pam

Welcome to my new home — Pamela.AvaraArts.com. I’m still tweaking things, but hopefully I’ll get everything the way I want it and then can focus on what I love to do — quilting.

Last week was a very good week as far as the stash goes. I bought a yard of fabric to use for binding the quilt I’m currently quilting (Deadline IV) but then removed a tad over 8 1/2 yards from the stash. Pillowcases, backing & binding for the Frog Quilt, took a recycled shirt out of the stash when I realized it was a poly/cotton blend, the backing for Deadline IV and I cut a few more pieces for Syd’s latest quilt. — She called Friday and said she only had 95 blocks and there were supposed to be 105.

Had I stayed home instead of running around doing errands Friday night and setting up the new blog location, I might just have finished the quilting on the current quilt.

Here’s the report:

Fabric added this year: 1 yards
Fabric used this year: 8.539 yards
Net used: 7.539

To see how others have done this first reporting week of the year, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

L is for Lady of the Lake

December 31, 2013 7:28 pm ⋅ Pam

Nothing like waiting to the last-minute to finish this month’s Alphabet block.

This is Lady of the Lake from Dorothy Young’s alphabet block-of-the-month. I’m doing my blocks in recycled shirts and muslin. It’s not too late to join. Click on the “Join Now!” button.

Click to join apocketfullofmysteries.

Posted in: Uncategorized