Circa 1880 nine-patch quilt

 I'm thrilled to say I've finished my quilt top!  This was a wonderful journey that I started in January 2020 along with many other quilters who were making the same quilt.  It's made with reproduction fabrics which I loved using. It has 7,934 pieces and 716 two-inch blocks.
 There is a facebook group of quilters who share tips and even swap blocks with each other. Now that the top is done I need to find time to longarm it!

I've already chosen my next quilt and have started the Warmth of Our Stars quilt today!  

This will be a good size, 88" x 88".

Bonnie Sullivan's flannel collection called Woolies Flannel Desert Sunset is great for this pattern.  The pattern calls for a jelly roll and yardage for the background and border.  I think it will be a great quilt to give my 20 yr old son.

A Great Buy Found on Marketplace

 I found a Baby Lock Ellageo 3 on facebook marketplace and decided to buy it.  It's a 20 yr old sewing/embroidery machine and I'm very pleased with this purchase.  I took it in for a spa day and had a new needle threader put on.  It was sewing well before I took it in but it is even quieter now that it's been lubed up.

This machine does amazing decorative stitches. It's a 9mm but has feed dogs that move sideways so even larger decorative stitches can be done. The picture below shows a regular 9mm decorative stitch next to one of the larger stitches.  I'm amazed how big it is.

But the reason I bought it was for the embroidery aspect.  I plan to offer quilt labels to my customers and this machine has 11 beautiful embroidered alphabets.

I recommend buying used machines!  You can find some pretty good deals if you're patient enough to wait for them to come along!

I've been working on this quilt for a customer.  She used a fabric collection by Loralie and I think it's a beautiful quilt!

Here's a tip for other owners of the King Quilter 2.  I placed a magnet on my handlebars using the screw that was already there.  Now my scissors hang out right where I need them.  You can find this magnet on the Home Depot website.   I also placed a small stick-on magnet that holds my self-threading needle used for burying threads.  You can see it in this photo on the far left.

A better iron has been invented

 I said I'd report on the new iron I found and here's my results on the Reliable Steam Generator iron. This is a brand new kind of household iron, a steam generator that has no hose or separate water tank. It doesn't heat the water on the sole plate, which eliminates the sputter and drip nearly every iron has.

What I can report is a better iron has been invented!

1. There is an override for the auto shut-off if you want to keep the iron on.
2. The Reliable Steam Generator has a sensor in the handle that knows when you are touching the iron. It runs the steam as long as you're touching it. The steam results on even my most challenging quilt blocks is amazing (see photo). The seams are FLAT, even better than the Rowenta. (I used to have a Rowenta Pro Master which gave good steam results. It leaked though.)
3. The steam works really well, and it's conservative in it's water usage, which makes it last longer. And not one sputter or drip!!

I highly recommend this iron! Here's the link to find it!

https://reliablecorporation.com/collections/home-steam-irons

VELOCITY 230IR COMPACT VAPOR GENERATOR IRON

His Mercy is New Every Morning!

Ode to Sewing Machines #28

Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!

No one in their right minds would continue reading, but who says quilters are in their right minds, so here's installment #28...

This is the only picture shown in this ad.  Clueless!

There was no description of this machine and the seller had 0 feedback.  

Hang your surge protector on the wall

 I have used a surge protector for my iron for 10 years with little problems.  Until last night.  I had my surge protector lying on the floor next to the ironing board all that time.  Last night it started flipping off repeatedly.  I thought the surge protector was going bad so I ordered a new one. When I plugged in the iron I realized water was dripping down the electric cord into the surge protector!  It wasn't going bad, it was doing it's job!  

I hung the surge protector on the wall as a solution should this ever happen again.  I ordered a new iron today!  Will report on how well it does in a future post.

Sewing for the Quilt of Valor group

 I'm stitching quilt tops for my Quilt of Valor group this week.  There are about 20 women in our group and we sew quite a few tops each year.  3 of us are longarm quilters that finish the tops into quilts.  Here's the one I'm working on today!

Quilting today?