NOAH'S ARK TOP IS TOGETHER!

 The top is finished! I still need to add thin batting and some backing. Then stitch in the ditch to hold it all together and then finish it with a binding and hanging sleeve. Those things are in my opinion the boring grunt work, but it must be done. So here is the top all pieced together.

I've always said I would never do a tile work design.  As is often true I've once again learned to "never say never"! They really become a tapestry with lots of seams.  They are very heavy and very stiff. Also most I have seen done have not been lined up well and I find that really distracts from the design and make them look , well, cheap.  However, I love Noah's Ark and all things that depict it and when I saw this Anita Goodesign pattern I knew I wanted to make it, but I had no use for it.  So, I asked my friend and pre-retirement boss if he would like it for his church. Yes, not only does he own a sewing/quilt shop and a repair department for sewing machines and vacuums, but he is pastor of a church. (Personally I don't think he ever sleeps.) He said yes, and I was off.

The embroidery was easy; though time consuming. Basically after I choose out all my threads and fabrics all I had to do was hoop the stabilizer, trim appliques and change threads.  My lovely Dream Machine did all the work. The sewing the blocks together after they were trimmed was my challenge. There is so much to line up.  I decided to do the sewing on my Janome Horizon rather than my Dream Machine.  I really like its built in even feed foot. So with lots of  clipping and checking I dove into the sewing. I also took time to press each seam well after sewing. In order to keep things trom slipping or my not sewing a straight line I set my machine speed down to almost as slow as it would go. I think that was one of the biggest keys to my success.

I didn't sew rows together except for the final sewing of the two halves together.  There were 4 rows of  5 blocks each.  I chose to work in pairs taking a block from row one and the one beneath it from row two and sew them together; then I took the second block from row one and sewed it to the second block of row two. I pressed them both and then sewed them together to a block of four square. Next I took the third block of row one and sewed it to the third block of row two; then the fourth block of row one to the fourth block of row two. I then pressed the two of them and sewed them together. I sewed the fifth block of row one to the fifth block of row two; pressed it and sewed it on the second of the four block units. Finally I sewed the two units together and voila half the top was together. I completed the second half using the same technique and then the [picture below show the tow halves clipped together and ready for sewing.

BLOCKS DONE AND SEWING TOGETHER HAS BEGUN

I have finished embroidering the Noah's Ark blocks.  Some days I was able to squeeze in two blocks most days it took all day to finish one!  I put just under 1,000,000 stitches on my wonderful Dream Machine 2. I used up 25 pre-wound bobbins.  That's a lot of bobbin thread. Fortunately I buy them by the gross (144 at a time). Here is a screen shot of one of the blocks on my embroidery machine screen. It is a block that had over 50,000 stitches and just he stitching took about 2 hours. Add to that thread changes, applique trimming and various interruptions is took about 4-1/2 hours. It really is fun watching the design appear as it is being stitched.

Here is a pile of all the blocks before they were trimmed. I really have not like how tile work, what this design is, go together.  It's very difficult to get everything to line up.  For example one block has the body of a zebra minus the hear and legs.  Those parts are on two other blocks and it all must be stitched together so that the head is not shifted up from the body and the bottom of the legs line up with the top of the legs.

In order to get things as lined up as possible I decided it was more important to trim each block to the exact same size  with an exact 1/2" seam allowance which the pattern called for. I was able to use my 8-1/2" square ruler with good accuracy. The trimming went fairly quickly.

The next challenge was how to be sure my blocks didn't shift while sewing them. Normally I would use pins or glue. Yes, you read that right glue. However neither of those methods would work well here.  Pins would not work because with all the thread in the embroidery the blocks are pretty stiff. Pins just won't go through the two blocks and keep things flat.  Glue wouldn't work

mainly because when you use it you need to press your seams to one side.  When doing tile work because of all the bulk and stiffness from the embroidery thread you press all seams open. So what to do?  Enter wonder clips!   Those are the little purple clips in the picture. They worked wonderfully, and the hold tightly enough I could clip the two blocks together and then fold the top one back to check the alignment.  It wasn't fool proof but I was able to get half the blocks together with only a very few small misalignments.

Here's my sewing work in progress.  I decided I was not going to push myself to finish it today.  I have learned from experience that when I push too hard, as I get toward the

end I start to get sloppy and make stupid mistakes.  To make it all worse I'm sick of working on it and don't bother to correct the mistakes.  I guess that when the ADD and lack of focus kicks in big time. So I quite today after I got the first 10 blocks together.  I am very happy with that progress.







Below is the top half of the Noah's Ark wall hanging.  Tomorrow I will hopefully finish the bottom half and connect the two pieces. After that I will need to put on a backing with a layer of lightweight batting in between.  Then the next tricky part is stitching in the ditch between the blocks to hold everything together without the stitching sewing.  I don't like clear nylon thread, but I may just have to get over that for here and use it.  I haven't decided yet. Then I will finish it with a 1/2" binding so it will look like a frame around the picture.  My goal is to have it all completed by the end of next week!

I NEED MY MOJO BACK!

Several weeks ago I had to take my embroidery machine in for its annual spa treatment. It was tired and stressed out from stitching seven Noah's Ark blocks , for a total of around 375,000 stitches.  Now it's back but my interest has waned and it seems I have moved on to other things.  NO IT CANNOT BE! I need to get my mojo back.  This WILL NOT become yet another unfinished project. Everything is ready to go. I just need to overcome my lack of focus on this project. Once I do I know I will continue till finished.

This is not a new issue for me. It is one I have struggled with virtually my whole life.  I go gang busters on a project and am really enjoying it. Then something breaks my momentum, something else comes up and I am off to a new project.  I call it my OH LOOK A SQUIRREL trait. In other words ADD. I love starting new things, I find hundreds of things I want to do and learn. I can get distracted from the current task or project on a moments notice.

So wish me luck. Wish me perseverance. Wish my full enjoyment in my work.  BUT most of all wish me the will to get back to Noah and his ark!  

WHERE DID THE LAST MONTH GO?

Wow! June is gone and it is now July. Half of 2019 is gone. What have I accomplished?  I like to think I am re-finding myself. Yes, that is what I am doing. June was spent basically at home by myself. I've been reading books, sewing and embroidering, a bit of cleaning (I really do not like cleaning), and I have begun eating at home once again.  I've also been dealing with major computer issues and fears of needing to spend $1,000 or more to keep me in my virtual life and designing on the computer. I hopefully have dodged that bullet, but am still waiting to hear from the repair guy.
First for the fun....what have I sewn and finished in June?

 This is a baby quilt that I worked on as a project to learn how to design embroidery and quilted blocks using my Floriani software. I was fun and I did learn a lot. Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Well I wasn't taught, but I did learn. Keep that brain working I say.  Then when my body gives up in old age at least I'll still be able to learn.

After working on learning and putting it into action I decided it was time to finish up a few projects that had been started for classes I taught but never had time to actually finish.  So I pulled out an Easter project, an Thanksgiving one and a small Christmas or winter one. They are now completed and ready for their respective holiday.

After all that was accomplished I launched into a rather large project for my past boss and good friend.  It will be one that lasts a long time before it is done. Not only is he a quilt shop and sewing repair owner, but he is a pastor of a small church. So as a thank you for all he has done for and helped me with in the last 6 years I have decided to embroider a Noah's Ark wall hanging for the church.

=

This is one of the 20 blocks I need to embroider. Each one has about 55,000 stitches and takes about 4-5 hours to complete. Hopefully it will be beautiful when it is complete.  I was making pretty good progress on it and had 8 blocks done when my machine (Lovey) decide she needed a break and a spa treatment. (Oh that I could have such treatments when I'm over worked.) She's all cleaned up and back as of today, hopefully well rested, so tomorrow she and I will have some fun time together.

I still haven't found time to get back to my rubber stamping and card making.  Thought I might do so while Lovey was at the spa, but I had to deal with some computer issues instead. That however is a whole 'nother story, for another day, or not.

On into July I go. Noah's Ark is on my to do list and I continue to work on relearning how to cook rather than eat out all the time as is The Village way. There is only one  draw back to cooking and eating at home, I do it alone. Eating out is more expensive and less healthy, but at least it is social. Oh well, you can't have everything. Fortunately I like my own company.

Till next time.....which I hope will not be a month from now. Enjoy and do be creative!
Suzanne

TEARS, SHOCK AND YES, EVEN ANGER!

Today is not what I want this BLOG to be about. Yet, if I am going to record what is going on in my life and is important in the moment I can not ignore it. We have experienced another mass shooting. It was not a foreign terrorist event. Once again it appears to have been committed by an American citizen. Once again the means used to murder 12 people was a gun.

There have been tears and shock, but mostly what I have experienced is ANGER! What have we become as a country?  When will people wake up, see, and acknowledge that there is a lot of anger and hostility here. There is a lot of mental instability. There is a lot of supposed need for retribution. And there is a lot of fear of the "other"--those unlike ourselves. When will we as a country acknowledge that the ready availability of guns and ammunition made possible by our gun laws make it all too easy to plan and commit a mass shooting. Where are the leaders of our country? What are they doing to protect us?

Look at the statistics around the world. Where there are strong gun laws there are fewer shootings! I do not want to hear our leaders in Congress or the White House once again say their thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Do something to reduce the possibility of this happening again. Then you can offer thoughts and prayers.

I live in a state where it is legal to obtain a permit to carry a gun.  I know many people who do carry one on a regular basis. I also know that many people I don't know are out there with a gun somewhere on their body. THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME FEEL SAFER! If anything it makes me feel less safe. What if I am at a movie theater or a restaurant and some one at a table next to me ticks off someone at a table on the other side of me and one of them decides they feel so threatened that they need to pull out their gun to "protect" themselves. Then the offending person feeling threatened pulls out there gun and guess who is caught in the middle. ME! This is not the wild west folks. We are supposed to be living in a civilized country. When I look at some of the things going on right now here in America I have to wonder.

Enough of this. Tomorrow I will get back to my reading, cleaning, sewing and crafting.  Maybe that there is the problem with our country. Things such as mass shootings take place and for a moment we cry, are shocked and even angry. Then the next day we go back about our life as if nothing happened.
Except, I think subconsciously we are waiting for the next tragic and traumatic event to occur.

A Week of Learning and Embroidery

I may be 69 but I am still learning new things.  I've always loved learning and discovering things. At one time in my life I thought I would have loved to be a professional student. Maybe that's actually what I am just not in a formal educational setting.

So what did I learn this week?  I learned more about what Floriani Total Control Universe is capable of doing and then how to actually begin doing it. Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would spend so much time on the computer learning and creating with various software products. Sometimes I wonder if I actually prefer creating projects on the computer more making the projects. I've played with designing quilts for years. Now, I'm working with machine embroidery designs.

Project number one involved taking an embroidery design which is too big for my largest embroidery hoop and breaking it up to stitch in multiple hoopings.  My largest hoop is 9-1/2" x 14".  To learn how to break up a design I chose one which was 6-1/2" x 15".  Turns out the splitting the design in the software is really easy.  The computer and FTCU software does it with a click on one button and a few inputted information such as what size hoop do you want to stitch it in.  Since my design was just under 7" I decided to stitch it out in a 5" x 7" hoop.  I did this in three separate hoopings.  The trick to learn was how to get the material perfectly hooped  so the design match up and stitch correctly in each hooping. I didn't get it done perfectly, but for the first attempt it turned out pretty good. I did learn some things that will help make it easier to do again and hopefully correcting the problems with lining the design up. For this design though  broke it up for a 5" x 7" hoop, I think it would have been easier if I actually stitched it out in my 8" x 8" hoop.  I could then have use my camera on my machine and had room to move the design around a bit to get perfect placement.

So here is the results of my learning.

It has a fair amount of puckering, but I know it will quilt out when I put it into a project this fall.

It's destiny is to be the front pocket in a reading pillow. 

Learning project number two was taking an applique pattern, in this case a VW Beetle, and turning it into a design to be stitch out on an embroidery machine.   Once again I used the FTCU software. I also had to use my Canvas Workspace software to change the JPEG scan I made into a .FCM cut file that I could import into FTCU in order to work with the design. It took some trial and error (actually it took a lot of trial and error) to get the design so it would stitch out as I wanted.  It's not a pretty design as far as how the stitching goes. I still have a lot to learn, but the end result was something I was proud of. For now I will accept for myself that the end result is what is important not how I got there.  I will keep working on it though and fine tune the process. 

Here is the outcome of this experience.

In the process of stitching this out I did discover corrections I needed to make and have made them to the design should I was to stitch it out once again.  

This learning project was inspired by a good friend who has a pattern for an appliqued quilt that she wants to make, but wants to do it on her embroidery machine.  The first project was undertaken for a class that I teach once a month on using FTCU.  

So the learning continues.  I have a few other things in the works. Hopefully they will show up here in the future. 

WHAT IS TAKING UP MY TIME?

It's now been over a month that I have been in my new life as a true retiree. So what have I been doing with all this free time?  I can honestly say not what I thought I would be doing.  I thought I would be sewing and embroidering like crazy.  I haven't even touched my Dream Machine. I think about sewing a lot, but always seem to find something else I would rather be doing.  I though I would get back to joining some Village craft clubs, but other than getting back to the Machine Embroidery and Quilting group I haven't done so. I've pretty much just been hanging out at home being more or less unsociable. Maybe I used up all my extrovert skills during the five years I worked and taught and now I need an extended period of nurturing my introvert self.

I have been enjoying reading.  In the last month I've finished 5 books! 😲 I thoroughly enjoyed them all! All but one was fiction.  My favorite was Where The Crawdads Sing. Read it in three days as I couldn't put it down. I've also been hand sewing and working on my Tumbling Blocks quilt of illusion. I started it on the Seminars at Sea Quilting Cruise I went on this winter. Karen Combs taught a class on English Paper Piecing which I took. I am determined to finish the top. Here is her quilt sample for the class. She is a great teacher and a fabulous quilter.

English Paper Piecing (EPP) is not new to me. I did a fare amount of it before I went back to work.  I forgot about it when I lost myself to creating classes that quilters wanted at the shop. Most don't want to do hand work. It takes too long. Or lets face it at our age, being senior, we can't see well enough or shake too bad. Fortunately I don't shake and strong readers helped the vision. I actually find hand work relaxing. It slows me down and I can enjoy the process.

Here are my Tumbling block units and the start of stitching the blocks together.   I'm about 25% done.

 The biggest change and challenge for my new life in retirement is I need to drastically reduce my spending. The easiest thing to cut out is eating out.  A benefit of eating at home besides saving money is I am rediscovering another love I had lost while working. That would be cooking. I still need to work on cooking for one. Somewhere there must be a cookbook on doing so. A con to not eating out is I eat most meals alone now rather than with friends. I guess in life there are always pluses and minuses.

One thing I need to do more of is cleaning, tossing and organizing. I guess that is what I will work on in the next month of my retirement. My goal is to have a house I am willing to invite people to. At the moment only a very select few are allowed in.

Well so much for another day. Tomorrow is going to be errand day. I will leave the house!

RETURNING TO THE WORLD

My return to blogging.  Primarily for myself as a journal of my journey though this stage of my life (though anyone is welcome to join me on this journey). The last blog post on my old site was five years ago (it has since been shut down so this is why a new site).  A lot has been happening in those intervening years. Some good some not so good. One thing I now realize is I lost myself toward the end of those years. I didn't realize it at the time. Maybe it's more accurate to say it was a stage of my life where at the time I loved what I was doing, but over time I realized it was not where I wanted to be for the rest of my life. So this is now a transition time. A time of repair of things that went wrong and a time of change as I explore who I do want to be and how I want to be living the rest of my life.

Where will this all take me I don't know. It will be a journey. Hopefully it will be an adventure. Some days will be boring and in all likelihood unproductive; others will be exciting and full of discoveries and activity.

So here I go. Welcome to my life!