Sunday Sundry 1-22-12

Hi-ho, Silver!
First, the good news.  (There really isn't any bad news, maybe just that the weekend is always shorter than my to-do list).

The "new" vintage machine sews like a champ!  Straight stitch, anyway.  I cleaned and oiled it and took the cover and bottom plates off and lubed the gears.  It really is in great shape overall, and doesn't appear to have been used that much.  In fact, outwardly, it's in better shape than my Singer 603E, its sister.  One is silver (or gray, maybe) and the other gold!

The only glitch—okay, so maybe a bit of not-so-good news—is that one of the levers to change to a zigzag or any of the other built-in stitches seems to be seized up.  I oiled the mechanism really well from the inside, hoping it might free it up, but so far it's still stuck.  It doesn't look like anything is broken or out of place with the mechanism itself.  So it may make a trip over to the fix-it man after all.  Still, it sounds great, looks great, and sews a nice, evenly balanced straight stitch right out of the gate.  I am thrilled, and I hope dear daughter will be as well!

Knock-knock...Who's there?...Orange...
Orange you glad I found some more Pyrex at Goodwill?  Two identical casseroles, one in a lovely turquoise and the other, well, you know.  I paired them with a matching vintage fabric found a while back at the thrift store.

And lest you think I buy up all the Pyrex in the county when I find it, I'll have you know there was an entire refrigerator set that I left there for some other lucky thrill seeker.  It was a brown speckled pattern with navy blue flowers, and if I weren't feeling so lazy, I'd look the pattern up and use the correct name to describe it, but you obviously don't know me.  Wasn't it enough that I left it there?  I thought so.  ;)

I could stare at pretty Pyrex glinting in the sun all day, but you all don't have that kind of time, so let's move on, shall we?

How about a vintage recipe box glinting in the sun?

It looks happy or hungry...I can't decide.

Cut it Up and Cry
Tears of joy, that is.  (Also, that's the title to a really good song by Sonia Dada that you might take a minute or six to listen to later.)  But cut it up is what I did to that courthouse steps block.  Don't worry, there will be a happy ending.

(I am not as maniacal as I appear.)

The idea was that I wanted to try one of my quilting idol's pieced circle technique.  If you follow Dan Rouse of Piece and Press, you'll know what I mean.  Seriously, I love everything he has ever made.
 
So I looked at that courthouse block the other day and thought, now what?  I don't really need another table mat or potholder or wall hanging at the moment.  Hey, why don't I cut it up and try piecing a circle?  
And was I at all nervous about doing this?  Well, sure.  But as Shay would say, it's only fabric.

But it totally worked!  Measure a bazillion times and cut once, was my mantra.  Then I pinned the bejeepers out of it all the way around the circle and sewed slowly and carefully.  Oh, and I had stay-stitched about 1/8" from the edge of my cut-from-courthouse circle because of all the seams I had sliced through.  I was worried about those coming apart as I fiddled with fitting the circles together.

And so now what?  Well, Silver, the sewing machine up there, needs a cover.  I pulled a couple other scraps, and I'm sure I'll cobble something together.  I'm sort of making it up as I go along.

A Reminder
The Veggie Market Quilt is in its final hours of auction on Ebay, but there is still time to bid.  You can own this one of a kind quilt and support Japan Quake Relief with your winning bid.  The details can be found in the auction description and also at Mom Wald's Place.

Thanks for visiting!  T-minus four hours until Downton Abbey!  Have a great evening!