It's HEART Month

Yup, it's February, only a little over a week away from Valentine's day and Woman's Heart Health month as well.  Don't you just think of hearts about this time every year?  I do.  I shared the paper pieced pattern for this cute little heart block at the FW Club class this time.  Some ladies aren't so excited about the PP style of quilting but many love it, like me.

This one is my go-to heart block and I've made it in so many baby quilts and pillow covers.  It's easy and uses little strips of fabric.

So, what's up this week?  Well, I want to tell you about a couple of flea markets I'll be at this month and then, next month.  I'm in a downsizing phase to pass along a few things that I no longer need.  You know what I'm talking about,  just flea market kinds of stuff.  But I also set up a table of Featherweight things, sewing machines, parts that people need from time to time and other sewing things that I'm willing to part with so I can make room for new things.  I'll have some new things and some vintage things. My hubby sells vintage hunting and fishing things so there will be things for guys, too.  My dear son may join us this year selling some vintage vinyl from the rock-n-roll era.  That's his thing.  Maybe if you are in the Michigan area you could stop by and say, hi.

The flea market this month is February 17th and 18th at the Ingham county fairgrounds in Mason, Michigan.  That's just south of Lansing, our state capitol.  This is an antique/flea/yard/craft sale that we have enjoyed in the past.  This is our 1st time selling here.  I expect it to be great fun.  Times are:  Saturday, the 17th from 9-5 and Sunday, the 18th from 10-3.

In March, we'll be at the Jackson county fairgrounds for the Antique & Flea Market Show on Friday, March 2, and Saturday, March 3.  I'll post the times for this one soon.  It will be our 2nd year selling at this venue and we expect to have just as much fun this year as we did last year.  I sold a couple of sewing machines last year and I plan on having some this year as well.  Again, come to the show, have a fun time, and say, HI, when you pass by our booth.

So, I'm pretty busy getting machines cleaned up and ready to sell but I'm also wanting to pass along a couple of things you need to stay aware of when you're using your featherweight or any vintage machine.  I've had a couple of gals get threads wrapped around things where threads shouldn't be.  And, it made me start thinking that you might need a reminder about using your machine, especially if you're new to featherweights or just don't sew on her very often.

You probably have more than one machine.  I confess.  I have several.  Each machine needs bobbins in the bobbin case a certain way or the hand wheel gets turned toward or away from you differently for each one as well.  Unfortunately, the featherweight is especially fussy about every little thing.  If the needle isn't put in with the flat side to the left, she won't sew.  If the thread isn't threaded from the  right, she won't sew.  I know, this makes it hard to remember all these little things.  That's why some ladies are scared of their machines.  The biggest problem is when you do something that causes the thread to wind around the bobbin assembly or the shaft behind the bobbin assembly.  Then we're talking about me taking things apart and getting your sweet baby running smoothly once again.  Or, perhaps the machine will have to come home with me to get a bobbin assembly soak and some twisting and turning to get things unstuck.  I hope that doesn't happen.

How do these threads get in the wrong place?  It's usually 3 main things.  Either you didn't hold the threads at the beginning of a seam (by golly having leaders and enders does make sense here) or you've tried to get things unstuck by turning the hand wheel away from you.  That's a big NO-NO!  You can wiggle the hand wheel a bit but NEVER try to turn it away from you when there's thread on the machine. The third reason thread gets wound around things is that you might have pulled thread from your machine when the take up lever wasn't at it's top point.  Always, always, ALWAYS make sure that the take up lever is at the highest point before you pull the piece you were sewing on out of the machine.   Featherweights are notorious for getting threads wrapped around stuff.  Getting those threads unstuck takes some time and some skill.

Okay, one last thing.  One lady showed up at Club class last week and told me she took her machine into a machine repair shop because she got a thread wrapped around where a thread shouldn't be and she didn't know how to get it unstuck.  The shop charged her $95 to remove the thread and oil/grease the machine.  This lady had just learned how to oil and grease the machine so the machine didn't need that but it was part of the shop's policy to do that whenever a machine came into the shop.  Oh MY, this is highway robbery at it's finest.  We need to prevent this kind of thing happening.  Pay attention to those threads.  Listen to the sound of your machine as she runs.  Your machine will speak to you.  You know that, right?  STOP if anything sounds wrong.  And, let's continue to learn more and more about these precious gems that we want to keep sewing with forever.