Show n Tell April 2012

Now I really should be having a major clean up in my sewing room. I haven't been able to see the top of my two desks and the cutting table for at least a month. But I thought you would all like to see the Show n Tell from last Saturday. So I'm doing the easier thing!

Well I thought I was doing the easier thing, that is till I realised I had to learn how to use a new resizing & cropping software! So what should have taken half an hour or so has been nearly two hours so far! Oh well I know how to do it now so next time it will be quicker.

I shouldn't complain really as the reason I had to learn new stuff is because I got a new laptop. When Mark (son) was here he told Hubby, "Mum needs a new laptop, they're on sale lets go get her one." And it was as easy as that! Funny it doesn't work that way when I say things like that!  Anyway enough of my ramblings here's the eye candy.

Hazel Phillips made this beauty for her Sister's 80th Birthday.

Demeta's 50th Celebration. Rose Silvester made this wonderful quilt for her daughter Demeta's 50th.
It is amazing and has lots of photos, and messages from friends and family.  

Table Runner by Pam Car. Started in a class with Donna Ward at last years Symposium.

Bridge Crossing by Mathea Daunheimer. Free motion quilted and coloured with pastels.

Kiwi Friends and Neighbours by Mathea Daunheimer. Free motion quilting and paint.

Mathea has updated her website recently so use this link and have a look at all the interesting work she does.

This is Patricia Smith's flowers from the recent Jeanette Meyer class.
Painted silk Organza, layered over a black & white background fabric.

As we had Bruce Sowry visiting with his sewing machines,
Margaret O'Leary thought she would share her quilt featuring antique sewing machines.

Kotuku (White Heron) by Sonya Prchal. 

And this is the completed wallhanging Sonya was working on at our recent retreat.
Sonya is now happy with the border quilting (I think it was unpicked twice at the retreat!).

Dorothy Terpstra made this wallhanging from a photo she took at the entrance to Ninety Mile Beach.
Dorothy used Karen Eckmeiers techniques from her book 'Accidental Landscapes' 

Helen Barron made this row by row quilt. She said 70% of the fabric for it came from Op shop shirts.
Great recycling. 

Helen Barron made this one too from a free pattern at Moda Bake Shop. Helens hand quilting is lovely.
Check Moda's website out they have a lot of really nice free patterns.

Jennifer Cullen made this I Spy Quilt. Jennifer told me she is on a mission to use up some of her stash,
 and this quilt used a lot of  fun childrens prints. I really liked the 'square spiral' way she quilted it too. 

Okay that's it. I think I need a cuppa now before I face the mess in my sewing room.

Antique & Vintage Sewing Machine Collection

I thought I would start this post with this eye catching blue toy/miniature sewing machine. Isn't she a beauty? Ok now I have your attention sit back and enjoy a few photos, with a little bit of info too.

We were very lucky to have local collector Bruce Sowry bring some of his sewing machine collection & speak at our club meeting last Saturday. I asked him if he could pick a couple of his favourites to hold while I took his photo. I really enjoyed listening to him speaking as he has a real passion for sewing machines and collecting. The stories of his finding bargains at garage sales, to chasing certain machines for years was very entertaining.

Some of Mr Sowry's collection, toy sewing machines in front.

The toy/miniature machines really appeal to me the most. The little machine in the centre is a Muller (made in Germany). Muller was the first company to ever make toy machines and this is one of their earliest models. So you could say it it the Mother of all these machines.

This machine still has the original box it came in.

There was an interesting story about this 'Bernina' apparently it was made in Nelson by a man who then sold them to shops so they could put there own brand name on them. Unfortunately the design was a copy of an Elna I think and as he hadn't asked permission to use the design, he had to stop selling them!

This machine is rare because it has been 'electrified' so that the toy could be sold as a portable sewing machine. Mr Sowry said that the instruction book was unusual as it was intact, and not covered in holes. He said it was very common to find books that have needle holes all around the edges, as children were rarely given fabric to sew with, so they sewed holes into the books instead!

Isn't this singer a beauty? I love it has its own seam guide and original box.

I love this fire engine red Vulcan.

This full size sewing machine had the most beautiful mother of pearl work. Mr Sowry said that this would have been a special order machine for a rich client. He estimated that when new a machine without this decoration would have been about 5 pounds, but with the decoration it would have been between 10 to 15 pounds! So that's a lot of extra money for the decoration.

Love the arch shape on this one.

This is one of Mr Sowry's favourites and probably the most valuable of his collection. He chased this sale for several years. The previous owner did not want to sell for many years, and then when she did, Mr Sowry's best offer was well below an Australian collectors. After being sure he had missed out, he was contacted by the lady's son who said his mother had decided she didn't want it leaving the country, so a deal was done!

Club members were asked to bring their oldest sewing machine for Mr Sowry to see. This little plastic toy was one of the machines bought along, the card says 'bought in New York, at least 65 years old'. Obviously it has been a treasured keepsake to still be here today.

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the machines on display.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone out there is having a good time this Easter. Here in New Zealand it is one of THE holiday weekends as we have Friday and Monday off work and some lucky people even get the Tuesday too. It is also the beginning of a two week holiday for schools. So if you are on holiday I hope your are enjoying it.
Last weekend was an exciting one for me as I had my Son Mark home from Australia. It was really good to see him again and catch up with all his news. He recently went to America for work (he’s a Software Engineer at Google) and of course bought us a few little things back. Everyone got something as this photo of Oscar shows

Hubby wanted bags, pens, drink bottle etc. All I wanted was an little Android figurine.  But they had sold out of them at Google. Lucky when he went to the Computer Museum in Silicon Valley (where else would it be!) He found me one there. They are packaged in foil so it’s a lucky dip what you get like a Kinder Surprise. 

SO here he is my little Android! Isn’t he cute There’s his friends some android apps in the background. Oh and see the app by the left antenna? The one with RK? is it a free quilting app from Robert Kaufman. It has calculators for borders, binding, how many squares you can cut form any size of fabric and many more things too. So if you have a smart phone or tablet download it (it’s free).

Here's Mark outside the Android building, Mountain View.

and with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. 

He also managed to buy me a little bit of fabric too. It’s all USA themed so I think I will have to keep it aside to make something special with it.

Anyway that’s it from me, I hope you all are enjoying your weekend, and for Whangarei P & Q Club members remember next Saturday is club day, I’m looking forward to it so see you there.

April Fools

I love a good April Fools joke so I thought I’d share a couple that I found this morning. Straight Up Fares from Air New Zealand.

On Google Maps they have the option of ‘Quest’ which is quite fun. See Satellite version above and Quest below.


It even works in street view mode, here’s Quayside Whangarei above, and what it look like in ‘Quest’ mode below.

As New Zealand is ahead time wise of the rest of the world I haven’t found any quilting ones yet. If I do I’ll share them later.
Hope your April Fools Day is going OK where ever you are!