I've been trying to decide what I really want to make as my first project on my vintage Singer. I want it to be pretty, to be fun and to be for me. How very selfish!
Of course, this beautiful machine has sewn before I came along. She's a 1939 Singer 99k hand cranked machine (and my Christmas gift from hubby last year). I wonder what she has been used for in her lifetime? Wouldn't it be nice if she came with a little video montage of her work?
Anyway, I digress. I've found it surprisingly difficult to decide what I want to make on her first. So, I narrowed it down. Yes, I want it to be a quilt. I want it to be with really pretty fabric, so my Bonnie and Camille fabrics it shall be and I just want to sew simple squares.
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| My B&C stash, except for one layer cake. I promise I'm not hiding any elsewhere. |
All of that sounds pretty good to me. I don't need complicated right now, especially not as an extra, new project on top of the list of WIPs I already have. It will allow me to get used to the machine and find a consistent quarter inch seam, I hope. And, it's going to help me with my plan for 2017 to sew from my stash and reduce what I'm storing. Yes, my B&C fabrics are my absolute favourites but you know, I feel that now is the time to use them not keep them all neat and tidy in a box. I've also noticed a lot of folks destashing fabric this year because they have too much or no longer love fabrics they once couldn't wait to buy. I don't want that to happen with my B&C collection and, after all, I bought it to sew with, didn't I? It's not like there won't be further collections to come, is it?
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| High tech planning. (That's washi tape, not a quilt border!) |
So, a quilt of squares with a mix of whatever B&C lines are in those boxes? I think it's time to make an Around the World quilt, or is it a Trip Around the World Quilt?
I've been calculating. Not exciting, but it was an interesting exercise that proved to me that because most of my stash is fqs I will probably get a more varied range of fabrics in my quilt if I work from 2.5" squares. It also showed me that as the rounds of the pattern get bigger, I will be needing to buy more whole metre cuts (a considerable number) if I plan to keep each round a single fabric. So, because I want to use up what I already have, I think I'm going to work on my rounds in a single colorway, rather than a single fabric (i.e. a green round will have several different green prints in, not just one). I'm sure that's all clear as mud, but it makes sense in my head.
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| Squares on the starting block! |
I know there are clever ways to speed up the making of this quilt pattern but I plan to do it the slow, hard way. Just because. I'm in no hurry and I don't particularly enjoy that strip piecing and unpicking method anyway.
I want this to be a relaxing/de-stressing project. So, I will choose and cut fabrics a round or two at a time and sew slowly and prayerfully. Did I ever tell you how my sewing time is often my prayer time? I want to sew more prayerfully again because there is so much in this world, in the lives of my friends and in my life that I need to chat through with my Father. I look forward to that quiet time immensely.
Sounds like a plan for getting acquainted with my Singer, doesn't it?
