Pfaff Handcranks

This is my friend's Pfaff K Handcrank!

And the beautiful cover for it:

This is my Pfaff B handcrank; decals are worn, but I was still excited to find it. I do not have a top for it. There is a tin of attachments that my friend has with 'kabourtertjes' (gnomes) on it. The attachments fit on my Pfaff B. We are trying to figure out if that particular tin would have come with the Pfaff K as well.

Colonial Ladies Yard Sale Quilt

I picked up this quilt at a yard sale on Saturday! It's all hand appliqued and handquilted! It was made by the lady's grandmother, who went to a nursing home. The lady had no interest in it at all. It was extremely filthy and smelled like smoke, but I asked her what she wanted for it. She said $5.00! Well, for that price, I could see if I could clean it up a bit. I've soaked it all weekend in Amaze by Sunlight. This is what the quilt looks like (it's still wet :-):


The right side of the quilt:

There are brown stains on parts of the quilt...this blue lady has the worst stains:

There are also stains along the middle fold up and down and across. The lady said her grandmother had stored it in a trunk, so I'm not sure if the stains are from that or from nicotine. This quilt reeked like cigarette smoke! The smell is out of it now, but the stains are very stubborn!

Here you can see the stains along the center:


It seems someone has tried to bleach the quilt in the past and spilled on the edge:

I haven't really decided yet whether I like this quilt :-). I'm not fond of the orange with the pink, but there was something about this quilt that made me pick it up. It just seemed such a shame that this quilt wasn't being appreciated.

Three 1/4" low shank sewing machine presser feet

These are the three presser feet that I have found in my attachments that make a perfect 1/4" seam for quilting. I think they came in some of those metal and plastic attachment tins that we've picked up at yard sales over the years...possibly from 60's or 70's era sewing machines? I use them all the time on my Singer 15-88 treadle, Featherweights, Singer 27 treadle, electric 1940's/50's era New Williams machine, etc. One of them has little markings on the end of the right side. I have no idea what those are for...any ideas?

Daniella's Baby Quilt

We had a shower last night for little Daniella. This is the quilt I made for her. The first time I saw her, she was wearing a bright, lime green T-shirt which looked so nice on her with her black, black hair! She wears bright colours a lot and her mother is a teacher, so a bright quilt was in order for her :-). The first two pictures were taken outside and are a little washed out. The close up pictures show the actual colours better. This quilt is made with four patches cut out of four layers of exactly the same strip of fabric. I could not find the original designer of these blocks. I had heard of the concept and tried it and experimented with the method until I found the best way to do it. I designed this quilt myself and have put together the pattern for it using actual photographs of the construction of this quilt.


Closeup of the corner quilting.
Close up of the center blocks showing the colours of the quilt.

Shower gift for Heather

My youngest son, Ben is getting married to Heather on June 2, 2007. We had a shower for Heather on Saturday evening and I made a Mary Englebreidt apron and matching hotpad. The hotpad design is an 80's pattern which is becoming popular again with new fabrics! I have no idea who designed it, so cannot give credit for it. The apron is from a pattern by Lazy Girl Designs Apron Options #207.

These hotpads are a great way to use up up bits of leftover fabrics. You only need a 5" strip of each colour plus a bias binding and backing to complete a hotpad. It's also amazing how little the fabrics need to match and still look nice! As long as they have a contrast, it's works (to a point, of course :-)!


Since my trusty 15-88 Singer treadle was set up to free motion quilt the wedding quilt I'm making for them, I pulled out my Singer 27 from 1904. This machine is exactly like the one my mother has. I learned to sew on my Mom's machine at age 7 when my 6 year old sister and I bugged Mom long enough and she finally decided she might as well teach us how to sew on it properly :-). I found this machine at a yard sale at a senior's home. It is in beautiful shape and had the puzzle box of attachments in the drawer as well as the manual. It also had several coffee jars of old buttons and other sewing goodies in it. I had not sewn on a treadle machine for 21 years, but it was like riding a bike...I instinctively knew how to thread the bobbin and the machine! I sewed on my Mom's treadle 'til I was 19 and got my first sewing machine which not only had zigzag, it even had reverse! Now I'm back to sewing primarily on straight stitch machines :-).