Karen's Musings: Something old, something new

When I graduated from high school in 1963, I was going to business school while working full time at a medical center. Singer was advertising their newest line of sewing machines called Touch And Sew. It had stitches and was easier to use than the older one in our house. I had to have one. I traded in my mother's older Singer and had the delivery man install it in the old cabinet. My mother was not happy with me. I am not sure why since she never used that older machine, not even once. I just wanted that new machine and a trade-in made it more affordable, as did the monthly payment plan with the coupon book (remember those). The bobbin sat horizontally under the needle and was wound through the needle. Really cool. And it had many built-in stitches and cogs for more stitches. I was thrilled with that machine. Over the years, I made hundreds of items with it - clothing, toys, bazaar items, prom and wedding dresses, costumes and my first quilt. When I began quilting in 2005, I put that machine through its paces in a new way, even buying a walking foot and free motion foot. Then I met a Janome 6600 and fell in love again. I had to have it. It hummed a new tune as I began my new love of quilting My Singer sat in a corner of my workroom except when Abigail came to Camp Mimi and was learning to sew. Since she and I were focusing on clothing items, I taught her how to use my Singer. It is probably more of a clothing machine than a quilting friend. When I moved to my current home, I decided it was time to pass the Singer on to Abigail, but some flooding problems in her home kept us from setting up the Singer for use and it sat in an unheated garage for a year and a half. Finally, this past Saturday, I reunited with my Singer. I was a bit concerned that the cold storage may have harmed it, but was relieved when I opened up the bottom to oil and lubricate it and saw it looked just fine, a bit dusty, but fine. I remembered what Mr. Olin had told me when he did the only repair it needed in all those years -- that this machine had all metal parts and could last forever. I dusted, oiled and lubricated my old friend, then plugged it in for a test. After a very, very brief sigh, the Singer came to life and hummed along stitching on some scraps. My friend is ready for a new life with Abigail. I am happy to pass this on to her, sensing she will love sewing as I do.

I returned home to continue working on my new angels. Time for FMQing. Time to try something new. I like to 'play' on quilts I make for Project Linus. I practice new quilting designs and just have fun. After all, I don't think any of the children who receive Linus blankets belong to the quilt police or notice that my FMQ stitches are not perfect. I noticed that Mary Lou Weidman had used the feather motif in the wings of her angel featured in her book. So, I took a deep breath, cheated by using a blue pen to draw the design, and started 'feathering'. It worked. I learned a NEW thing!. About time. Here's a photo. I may even try them without drawing first in the large border. Maybe...