Three Stitcheries

We're coming down to the wire with our preparations for our upcoming trip.  We leave next Saturday morning.  During the next week, I have a lot to do to get ready, especially today and tomorrow.

Erik and Mae are coming up tomorrow for dinner, mainly so we can get together before we go.  Mae is a bit of a question mark since she's scheduled for back surgery on Tuesday.  It's an overnight stay in the hospital, and I'm going to pick her up on Wednesday.  They're going to repair a disk that has been giving her no end of grief for the past six months, so I'm glad something will be done about it...for both their sakes.

I'm making some meals for them today and tomorrow so they'll have something to eat for the first few days while she recovers.  Erik is a good cook too but working full time.  I think they'll be glad for the already-prepped meals for a few days.  I wish I could do more, but our trip looms.  Erik and Mae have agreed to come up and pick some tomatoes while we're gone so that the vines will continue to produce after we get back.  Mike has a drip system hooked up now to keep them watered while we are gone, and it is working great.

I'm not taking my sewing machine on this trip since it's a bit of a hassle to set it up in the trailer, and because we probably won't be staying in any one place long enough to make it worth the effort.  Instead, I'm taking along all of my monthly embroidery blocks.  I'm a month behind now on the Promises & Borders quilt, but I may end up making the September block when it comes out tomorrow, which will give me four blocks to work on.  That ought to keep me busy.

This morning, I traced out the August block:

Also, I transferred the September block for the Vintage Miniature Sewing Machine BOM.  This one is "The Little Belle".

The information that came with the embroidery transfer says that this machine was manufactured by F.B. Taylor of the UK in 1874, but otherwise, not much is known of the factory or its maker.  It features a forward-facing drive wheel and is made of cast iron with classic gilding.  It also states:

The US based Singer/Howe and its cohorts formed the infamous patent cartel and held other makers to a $5 per machine license fee ransom.  To avoid payment many small firms produced pirate models or carried no name to make it difficult for detection by the cartel's lawyers.  Many sewing machines are labeled mysteries because of this.

This isn't the first time the information from the BOM has eluded to the competitive ruthlessness of the Singer/Howe company.  It makes me glad my sewing machine is a Bernina.  Here is a photograph of the actual machine:

Finally, I traced out the fourth block for the Love Me, Love My Cat quilt.  

Those three blocks ought to be enough to keep me busy while we're traveling, but when embroidery is my only sewing source, it tends to go quickly.  I'm hoping I'll have enough time to make up the September block for Promises & Borders so there will be no chance I'll run out of things to do.  As if I would.

Oh yes.  I almost forgot.  I think it's safe to post this because I don't think my partner in the doll quilt swap reads my blog.  I'll be putting this quilt in the mail to her on Tuesday.  The theme for September was "Harvest Time", and this is what I came up with.  I adapted the design from a free pattern I found at TLC Home.

It has raffia at the hands, feet and neck of the scarecrow.

And I used the straight stitch on my sewing machine to embroider the markings on the pumpkins and leaves.

It is free motion quilted.  And while I'm at it, I have a question for you free motion quilters out there.  I was having trouble with "eyelashes" on the back of the quilt.  At first, I thought it was the thread I was using, so I switched thread, and the problem disappeared.  Then I ran out of bobbin thread, and when I rewound the bobbin, the problem came back.  I don't see how it could be the bobbin tension because I didn't adjust the tension after I rewound the bobbin.  It follows that if the tension was right the prior to winding the bobbin, then it should have been fine after.  Right?  Say so if I'm wrong.  So my next question then, has to do with how tightly the thread is wound onto the bobbin.  Is there some sort of adjustment for that?  Is the machine out of adjustment somehow?  Any ideas would be appreciated.

So once this post is up, I'm heading out to the grocery store, which I am loathe to do on a Labor Day weekend.  Hopefully, Sunday will not be so bad.  I only need about a dozen items, and that should be quick.  And with that, I'm off.