1928 Singer 66

Last week I found a vintage Singer machine on Craigslist that looked to be in good condition. The person was asking more than I wanted to pay so when she said her price was firm I decided to just leave it at that. A day or two later she emailed me again saying she would take $20 less than the original price. I wrote to the hubby and he gave me the go ahead. I emailed her back and settled on a date and time to meet.

That’s great everything is set right? No, not so much. I have a small case of stranger danger. As I was showering and getting ready all of these crazy ideas kept popping into my head. What if it's not a woman and it’s some creepy man trying to lure women in with vintage sewing machines? What if it's a thief and they are going to beat me up and steal my money leaving me for dead? These are actual thoughts that ran through my mind. I have a very active imagination. My solution to my fears was to write back and ask if she could meet me outside because I was bringing three kids with me. Obviously I believe that the line creepy craigslist stalkers won’t cross is hurting someone that has kids with them.

I have sold and bought things before on craigslist but always had my husband with me. I was nervous the whole ride there. Turns out she was just a normal person with a young daughter nothing scary at all. Once I came down from high alert I was too excited about getting my first older machine to really check it out. I had an hour drive there and the money in my pocket so I bought it without making sure that the woman hadn’t lied to me.

Turns out she fibbed quite a bit but that's fine because I am learning a lot about how to clean and service the machine myself. The only thing that really upset me is that I found out she paid about half as much for it than what I paid. You live and you learn I guess. I am happy that I bought it and I’m really looking forward to quilting on it. This will also be the machine I use whenever my husband needs anything fixed or added to his gear because it is definitely a workhorse.

It is a Singer 66 from 1928. These pictures were taken after I had done some cleaning to the shiny bits. I will be polishing, greasing, and oiling her up this week as well as replacing her motor and belt to be on the safe side. The wires are looking a little sketchy and I'm not looking for a fire so I decided to replace it to be safe. It is actually really easy and cheap to replace the motor on this machine since it is belt driven all I have to do is screw the motor on and put the belt on.

Look at all the space for quilting!

Once I have finished cleaning her up I will post some more pictures. She also needs a name so if you have any suggestions leave them in the comments. Just remember she is 87 years old so her name should reflect that. I'm apparently very technical on how I name inanimate objects. Do you have a vintage machine? I can see this turning into an obsession. I already have a list of machines I want.

Exciting News for the Lost Lake QAL

I'm making this week a sort of by week so I can share some good news with you.

There is now a Quilting It Out facebook group for us to discuss fabric choices and anything else during the process.

All of the QAL information will be added to the 2015 Lost Lake QAL page that can be found under my blog header. If you have missed any information just check that page to get caught up.


I have created a button that you can grab!

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Now the really exciting news! We have some sponsors of prizes that will be given out at the end of the quilt along.

1. Meadow Mist Designs

Cheryl writes at Meadow Mist Designs and also has an Etsy shop. I'm taking part in her Midnight Mystery Quilt Along if you haven't checked it out yet you should I got a peek at the finished quilt and it is awesome. Cheryl is offering two of her patterns of the winners choosing. Thank you again; Cheryl!


2. Busy Hands Quilts

Myra writes at Busy Hands Quilts and also has an Etsy shop where she sells quilt patterns and quilts. She is running a Gravity quilt along right now. Myra was kind enough to offer up one pdf of her newest pattern Picket Fence. Such a cute quilt! Thank you, Myra!

3. Quilting JETgirl

Yvonne writes at Quilting JETgirl and also has an Etsy shop where she sells patterns as well as quilts.  I am completely in love with her Lucent quilt. Yvonne has donated one pattern and I will be paying for a second of her gorgeous patterns of the winners choice. Thank you, Yvonne!

Isn't that really exciting news?! I hope you all will play along with me, join the facebook group, share your progress, and win some really great prizes. We will be back on schedule for the instructions next Monday. Let me know if you are going to join!

Linking up with Cooking up Quilts

Orchid Quilt Finished

I finished The Orchid Quilt on Wednesday.  The piecing went quickly and easily I didn't really run into any trouble until I was quilting it. My seam ripper got a really good workout this week. Even though I had basted like crazy I kept getting creases and folds in the backing. I left a few of them but for the most part they all got taken out and requilted.

This made me decide that I need to try a new method of basting. I picked up some 505 adhesive at Joann's today so hopefully that works out a little better for me.

As I said before this quilt was made for my mother-in-law. She has only seen pictures of it but seems to be very happy with the outcome. I'll be getting it packed up to send to her next week.

Quilt Info:
Quilt Kit from Craftsy
Fabric Kona Cotton
Finishes at 95" by 95"
Started June 22 Finished July 22

What's up next?

I will be working on a 95" square Carpenters Star quilt for my sister. I'm hoping to get it done before she moves across the country.

I'm also starting a pattern tester quilt for a Nightingale Quilts pattern.

Of course, I will be working on the Lost Lake quilt along, which has some very exciting news that I will be announcing on Monday.

I'm also following the Midnight Mystery Quilt Along over at Meadow Mist Designs.

Would you guys like for me to write out my steps on creating my Carpenter's Star quilt? I'll be doing it with half square triangles so no y-seams.

Linking up with Richard and Tanya Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Crazy Mom Quilts go check out all of the other awesome projects!

Awesome Customer Service

Every now and then a company goes above and beyond to provide outstanding customer service. Recently I had a great experience with Massdrop (referral link) and wanted to share it with you guys. As I have mentioned before I was waiting on an order of quilters safety pins, pin grip covers, and a Kwik Klip tool. Massdrop had some problems with the vendor and they didn't get shipped on time. I was emailed and given the option to receive a $10 credit or I could cancel my order. I decided to cancel because it had been awhile and I didn't want to wait any longer. They were prompt with refunding me and apologized again for the inconvenience.

When I got back from the camper this past weekend I checked my mail and there was a box from Massdrop in there. I was pretty confused and was thinking they accidentally sent me the pins anyway. I opened it and to my surprise there was a note, apologizing for falling short of the high expectations they hold themselves to, along with a bundle of fabric!

Bundle of ten fat quarters.

The fabric is really random but pretty cute. The one that is at the very top of the picture is larger than a fat quarter and its made of very thin silky material. The pink is like a linen I think. I love the mushrooms but I have no idea how I am going to use it.

Between this and the giveaway that I won last week I'm feeling pretty lucky. You think I should buy some lottery tickets? Have you had a good customer service experience lately?

Lost Lake QAL Week One

Thank you for joining me in my first quilt along. This week I’m going to be covering cutting the fabric. I decided to give instructions for making the small half square triangles either 8 at a time or 2 at a time and you can decide whichever you are comfortable with. The large HST units are done with the two at a time method to prevent waste. Here are the week one instructions in the Lost Lake QAL:

Eight at a time method

Fabrics A and C

Cut 1 10 inch strip and sub cut that into 2 10 inch squares

Cut 2 8 inch strips and sub cut into 8 8 inch squares


Fabric B

Cut 1 10 inch strip and sub cut into 4 10 inch squares

Cut 4 8 inch strips and sub cut into 16 8 inch squares

Fabric D

Cut 2 10 inch strips and sub cut into 8 10 inch squares

Cut 7 8 inch strips and sub cut into 32 8 inch squares

Two at a time method

Fabrics A and C

Cut 4 4 inch strips and sub cut into 32 4 inch squares

Cut 1 10 inch strip and sub cut into 2 10 inch squares

Fabric B

Cut 7 4 inch strips and sub cut into 64 4 inch squares

Cut 1 10 inch strip and sub cut into 4 10 inch squares


Fabric D

Cut 13 4 inch strips and sub cut into 128 4 inch squares

Cut 2 10 inch strips and sub cut into 8 10 inch squares

If you have any questions please ask I'm here to help. I would love to see the fabrics that you guys are using. You can share pictures with me on Instagram by tagging me @quiltingitout or using #lostlakeqal

Linking up with Cooking up Quilts MCM please go check out all the other fun projects!

I Won a Giveaway!

Have you heard of Quilter's Bug? It is a social media site for quilters that opened at the beginning of this year. There's different groups you can join pertaining to your interests and you can make other quilting friends. Each month there is a giveaway that you don't have to do anything to enter and I won for the month of June.

Here is what I won: a Quilter's Bug bag, Shoo Fly quilt pattern (2 sizes in the pattern), quilting needles, a quilt journal, and a little quilters cheatsheet.

I have been wanting to make a quilt with reproduction fabric and I think this would be the perfect pattern for that. I'm thinking reds and creams.

Inside of the quilting journal.

This quilter's cheatsheet has a ton of useful information without having to google it.

A selection of quilter's betweens to see which works the best. When hand quilting I usually use the larger needles because I'm scared of breaking the little ones. I will have to try out the smaller ones to see if they are as fragile as they look.

I was so excited to find out that I won. I mean come on who doesn't like free stuff? Has anything exciting happened to you lately?

Don't forget to check back on Monday for the first day of the Lost Lake Quilt Along!

Craft Room and Update

Not much quilting has been going on here because we had a couple of illnesses but I did start moving stuff into my craft room and trying to arrange things. It is pretty messy right now I just wanted to get everything up there instead of down in the dining room/play room.

I have done some quilting on The Orchid Quilt but not much because the table that my husband built for me is waist height and my chair isn't quite tall enough to be comfortable.

I got these fabrics from Massdrop (referral link). I'm going to cut them into 2.5 inch squares to make hexagons with. I wanted a hand project to work on at the camper next week. We will be at there all week so this should keep me busy.

What have you been working on lately? Do you have any craft room organization tips for me?

Craftsy Class: Small Machine, Big Quilts, Better Results with Ann Peterson

Recently I signed up for Craftsy's Affiliate Program and was offered a free class for signing up. I was having trouble deciding between Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot with Jacquie Gering and the one that I chose Small Machine, Big Quilts, Better Results with Ann Peterson.

I decided to go with the second one because I was working on a king size quilt and looking for tips on the easiest way to quilt it on my domestic machine. When I quilting my Log Cabin quilt it was a struggle the whole time. I had smaller machine at the time and it was a nightmare. The center is hand quilted because I was sick of fighting my machine.

This class had a lot of good tips for beginners on basting quilts. Ann uses the spray baste method which was good to see since I normally pin baste my quilts and was skeptical about using the spray on large quilts.  She recommends stitching in the ditch to stabilize the quilt before moving on to your free motion quilting.

Some of the techniques Ann explains are: Block by Block without sashing, Split Top, and Split Batting. The method that I'm really interested in trying is split batting. Once I get comfortable with free motion quilting this is definitely what I will be doing for my larger quilts.

Since I straight line quilt these methods probably aren't ones I will be using right off but they are good to know. If you are a beginner quilter or someone that is comfortable with FMQ and want tips on quilting large quilts easier I definitely recommend taking the class. It is full of really good tips and Ann explains everything really well.

What is your favorite Craftsy class?

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Orchid Quilt Basting

It's still raining here but I found a small amount of my motivation and started laying out my quilt sandwich to be basted. The picture above is while I was doing the initial smoothing of the top.

I then pin down the center separating into quarters.

After that I spend time in each quadrant smoothing and pinning, smoothing and pinning, smoothing and okay you get what I mean.

Now I'm taking a break before working on the next quadrant. Phew that is a lot of working but definitely worth it in the end. I need to get my butt in gear though because this quilt is taking up the dining room, my sewing area, and the girls' play area. 

My fingers are killing me I can't wait to try out the Kwik Klip tool and curved pins I'm getting from Massdrop. Hopefully that will eliminate some of the fingertip pain. Have you tried out Massdrop yet? If you haven't go check it out with my referral link! ;) 

Actually you're probably better off not signing up it is way too much temptation.

What are you working on today? Is it rainy where you are? What do you do when you are lacking proper motivation to get projects done?

I'm linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social!