Quilting, Serging, and Sewing

Pat and I met at the church yesterday morning to set up a quilt for our sewing group to work on now that we’re meeting again. I’ll get a picture of it tomorrow. It’s what we call a “cheater” quilt, because the pieced design is printed onto a single piece of fabric. Once it’s quilted, though, it will look lovely. I haven’t seen Pat in person in months—only on Zoom church—and it was good to catch up. Getting the quilt into the frame took us about an hour and then I went to town and ran errands.

I met with the owner of the quilt store to talk about serger classes. We’re aiming for a Thursday evening class in mid-June. We both agreed that having actual projects to work on will be more interesting than sitting there listening to me talk or two hours of making swatches, so I’m going to come up with a couple of baby projects to illustrate basic techniques. I’m walking into this one blind, never having taught a serger class to multiple people before. I am confident in my teaching and troubleshooting skills, but any class of 6-8 rank newbies bringing their own (unfamiliar) machines is guaranteed to come with some unforeseen pitfalls no matter who is teaching it.

When I got home from town, I pulled out my bin of baby fabric and ran up some samples. I started with a couple of flannel receiving blankets.

I am going to make a few more items today. I’m doing this not only to have visuals for the class, but also so I can work through how I want to approach the class and what needs to be in the handout. Teaching a class is going to hone my own skills and that’s never a bad thing. Long term—if this class goes well—the store owner would like to add more classes and perhaps a monthly a “serger club” for next fall and winter. Lots of possibilities there.

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I’ve got nine 10” Providence blocks—three assembled and six waiting to be assembled—which is enough for a wallhanging. I used just about every square inch of the fabric I had pulled to make those blocks, too. I am still undecided about where to go with that block and need to let it marinate for a bit.

Back at the beginning of February, I ordered myself a new cutting table from Tracey’s Tables. Each table is custom-built so I knew it would take a while to get here. After not hearing anything for almost two months, I contacted the company and got a message back that it was going to be shipped this week. I have the tracking number but no further information. I think it’s heavy enough that it’s going to be freighted, so I’m expecting a call from the freight company to arrange a delivery time.

I’ve been using one of the cheaper cutting tables from Joann’s and I am ready for an upgrade. The one I’ve got now tends to torque back and forth and the screws have to be tightened every couple of months.

Klum House, which sells waxed canvas, patterns, and bag-making supplies, is having a Me-Made May event in their Facebook group. They are encouraging people to start (or finish!) one of their bag patterns during the month of May. I thought about doing the Slabtown Backpack as I’d like to get that one done so I can start using it, but May has already filled up with other activities. Once this cutting table arrives, though, I may at least commit to cutting the pattern pieces.

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The husband beefed up security around the chicken coop in light of recent bear activity:

He added a wire across both ends of this walkway between the coop and the old herb garden. We’re still planning to expand the chicken run into that area. He has to make some infrastructure modifications, though, before that happens. We call this a “coop,” but if it had any kind of plumbing and heating system, it would be nicer than some homesteading cabins I’ve seen.