New starts

I recently sold quite a bit of my cross stitch stash and also some ex study books using Amazon, and with the funds I gained, I bought this:



I've been meaning to try and do some quilting for ages now, plus other sewing too, but my machine was elderly and very basic and I thought a more modern machine might provide a helping hand and help me feel more comfident.
I've started a simple quilting kit that a couple of friends bought for me on my birthday a while back, and while I'm not really doing a brilliant job, I am getting a bit of a feel for the machine and how things go together. Here is the evidence...


I can't truthfully say I'm enjoying it - I'm finding it too nerve-racking for that, but the difficulties I am encountering are not exactly what I expected. I'm finding it fairly easy to do a 1/4" seam, which I expected to find hard, but what is really discombobulating is that when I stitch two pieces of fabric together on the machine, the top piece stretches a little and ends up a bit longer than the piece underneath. This happened on my old machine and I assumed it was a fault, but as it's still happening it must be user error! Not sure what I can do about that. The other problem I'm finding is that the printed pictures on the fabric are not square and so the final blocks are ending up squiffy and slightly different sizes. Also, where the shop cut the fabric, there isn't enough on one edge to give the correct clearance for the seaming. However, I am telling myself that it is all a learning experience and that the finished article wil look fun even if it's far from perfect. Thats what my friends keep telling me!
The irony is that my Mum was a trained upholsterer and made curtains and soft furnishings for a living all her life, and so is expert on a machine, but for reasons of pride, I don't want to ask her for help. And whe wouldn't 'get' modern day quilting and patchwork - she would find it obscene that people spend money on custom fabric and don't just use scraps from home. She has done some pretty cool stuff though - in the fifties she worked on the famous curtains at the London Palladium, and the starry back drops they used for the 'Sunday Night at' shows, and she has made curtains and other soft furnishings for a couple of minor celebrities, some of which were featured in a design and interiors magazine.
Anyway - with things being as they are, I have slipped on the TUSAL, but here is one I took just before I moved in with Mum and Dad for what were Dad's last few days.

I haven't done any stitching since then until this last week, so there wouldn't have been anything to see for April and May, but I shall definitely put one up next new moon!

TUSAL

Sorry I'm late. I've been helping to look after my dad who finally died last Sunday. I haven't touched my stitching since the last post, but I will get an update pic up asap.

TUSAL Feb

Here's my TUSAL pic for February. I'm quite surprised by how much more there is in the container, although I am stitching at every moment possible. I feel as if I'm wasting more thread, so eager am I to get something in the jar, but what I do put in is pretty much unusable either as it is an unworkable length or getting fluffy. I'm working on an opalescent fabric and it is much harsher on threads than a plain one. I'm also using the loop method to start where possible as it reduces the bulk at the back of the work, but it's a pretty wasteful method because of not being able to cut an individual length of thread each time.
But my jar is filling up!

TUSAL

I've finally got my act together and found a container for the TUSAL. Very little in it so far, I know, but I am miserly with thread and also there has been devastating family news which has made me late starting the TUSAL as well as limiting my stitching time. However, I will try and keep up!!
I can't post pics of my WiPS as I have entered a competition at a stitching forum called A Crafty Natter and entries have to be totally secret!! However, I can tell you that I have already been distracted from my current WiP and shall shortly be starting a new design that is related to the family situtation.
In the vase so far are quite a few sparklies!!