Hello. My name
is Heide.
I am a quilter and have bad
habits!
I
do NOT press my blocks, I iron them
I do Not Service my sewing machine
in a timely manner
(to name a few)
Ironing vs Pressing
My mother
taught me how to iron clothes at a young age. Did such a great job, it became
my permanent job growing up. Fast forward 30 some years, I am still ironing . .
. Sigh. Clothes, quilt blocks, etc. You get the picture.
My life changed for the better when I watched Karen’s video from Just Get It Done Quilts. Finally,
something that I could relate to and it works! I encourage you to take a couple
of minutes and watch the video.
Three
easy steps:
Press the seam
Open and finger press
Press
That’s it.
Been
pressing Karen’s way all week and have experienced a huge difference in my blocks!
Now, for the sewing machine…poor
thing. I have had my Elna since the late 90’s.
Never a minute’s trouble until a
few months ago. Took it in for service and got the following:
Saleslady: “Ahhh, do you know how long it’s been
since you got this machine serviced?“
Me: “No, I don’t.”
Saleslady, after she cleared her throat: “That
would be 2003”.
Me, while I was crawling under the carpet: “No way!” Weakly I
said in my defense, “Well, I haven’t been sewing since 2011”. That sure didn’t
earn me any sympathy. And then the saleslady preceded to lecture me on why
sewing machines need to be serviced, blah, blah, blah and then she says I hope
we can fix it. Yikes.
And THEN the service tech calls. If I’m not
mistaken, he is a retired school teacher and in his best teacher voice talking
to a naughty student, preceded to tell me that that was the worst machine he
had seen full of dust, lint and that I have been pulling material through which wears certain parts out, etc. (and I am thinking, how does he know I yank my material through). He said it would cost $135 to service the
machine. Wow, that’s all its going to cost? Please, yes, fix it. I got lucky, I
seriously thought I was going to have to buy another machine the way he was
going on & on. I put myself on time out and contemplated my bad habits. Got
the call that the machine was ready for pick up. Brought her home and she is
sewing like a dream again.
To address the dust issue, I decided to make a sewing machine cover, as
obviously, I wasn't using the clunky, plastic cover that came with the machine.
I found this adorable pattern for a sewing machine cover at Flamingo Toes.
Bev’s flamingo
is so darn cute (and has wings), but I decided to do a Fairy with Wings on my sewing machine cover. Since the
fairy is in purple, I am calling this "purple work". Used the stem stitch for this project. The Iris is one of my favorite flowers, so was able to finally use this fabric that has been in the stash for years.
 |
| Can you see the fairy sprinkling the fairy dust? |
I finished the cover last week and
am happy to report I am using it every day. There are pockets on the side and
one of these days I’ll figure out what to put in them.
Many thanks to Carol, from Just Let Me
Quilt, for hosting the Show Your Wings Blog Hop. I can’t wait to see what
everyone comes up with whether it would be birds, angels, fairies, planes or
butterflies.
Check out all the amazing bloggers
who will be participating---
February
18
February
19
February
20
February
21
Thank you for
visiting and I hope that you all enjoyed what I learned that life is easier when you press those blocks correctly and service the sewing machine regularly.
