Sweet River Studios

After cleaning the treadle, the table top and drawers, I washed all the pieces. I was worried that all the Gojo wasn't completely off the wood and before going any further, I decided to wash everything with soap and water.  Now, that the weather is getting warmer, I can take some pieces outside and use the Restor-A-Finish product by Howard. The directions indicate it should be applied with either a soft cloth or 0000 steel wool and then wiped off with a clean cloth. I'll apply it in small areas until everything is finished and then apply the Feed & Wax which is a wood polish and conditioner also by Howard to maintain it.  I chose Mahogany color of the Restor-A-Finish color line. I took one of the treadle pieces that appeared to be the closest to the original color and it was more of a reddish brown. I was concerned because of the the wood didn't seem to have any finish on it all and was still raw wood and I didn't know how much color it was going to absorb and anoth...

I worked on the treadle desk for a week or two before working on the sewing machine. So I turned the machine to the underside and got busy. I took a soft painters brush and cleaned out the heavy bits of dust first but a lot was still stuck because it was plastered in sewing machine oil but I did my best.  Next, up I slathered it in Gojo and let it sit for a while, then started the process of wiping it off, reapplying and repeat, repeat and repeat it again. I used a lot of shop towels, Q-tips and scotch brite pads. Below is some before and after pictures of the underside.                                                                                Before                       ...

After watching dozens of videos on YouTube, I got the general idea on how to clean a treadle sewing machine and what not to do, I felt confident I could begin. Now, a lot of the people who know what they're doing, take the entire treadle apart to clean it. And perhaps they're machine was so bad they had to but I'm not that confident and besides, I simply don't have enough room to do that and I'm more likely to loose important bits and wouldn't be able to put humpty dumpty back together again. So I'm taking it slow and doing one bit at a time. First, I simply took the drawers out and took a soft bristled painting brush and knocked all the heavy dirt off first. The bristles get into all the small nooks and crannies of the desk design. Then I got Murphy's oil soap and some shop towels and Q-tips and started wiping everything down.  The oil soap got a lot of grime off but not the really ground in stuff. So onto deep cleaning. I used Gojo original hand cleane...

Well, I bit the bullet. I joined a block of the month through Stitchin' Heaven . I have never signed up for a BOM simply because of the cost. I figured I can cut out my own stuff. Well, after several years of starting and never finishing sewing projects, I realized something. I don't have the patience, time or energy to do everything. If it's a simple cut fabric and sew together quilt, that's fine but if there's a lot of applique involved, forget it. I will buy all the fabric, because let's face it that's the fun part, pet it for a while and be all excited about the quilt project, get started then realize that making the thing is going to take at least a year and roughly 462 months.  And let's face it,  life gets in the way and then I spend less and less time with my project and the excitement wanes. Then I've got pieces and parts laying around and no energy to figure out where I left off. Sounds familiar, right? Don't lie it totally does. I cann...

I finished piecing together the individual pieces and started putting a few together to make bigger pieces. Now, to sew those together to make 1/8th of the center medallion. Just remember to make sure your registration points all line up or at least get pretty close. This will keep all your pieces lined up as you put the top together and believe me, you will need it. This quilt top is probably the hardest one I've had to sew. Although, I didn't enjoy sewing the Y seams (3 sections meeting together) in the Amazon Star quilt either. This one is just awkward. Here's a picture of all 8 of my quilt pieces. Think large crescent shape about 3' long. I laid them out on my bed to see how it would look. Below is some more pictures of them spread out but not sewn together. After the medallion center part is put together, I'll add the applique pieces then the 8 appliqued baskets to the outside. I've also ordered some metallic thread. I've never worked with...

The next unit to sew together is pieces G, H and background B. I admit, I'm not really sure I did a real good sewing these pieces together. Background B points rarely lined up well with the registration points on the units but I did the best I could. Here is my background B pinned to the unit. I figured I just marked the RP dots a little off on the piece. This piece is very important to get right. I apparently didn't get one of them right and when I went to sew the whole thing together it didn't fit right. Like, not even close...   Units G and H registration points lined up fairly closely. The last picture is G, H and background B all sewn together. I'll put together all the separate pieces into the main panel of the quilt, which each one is 1/8th of the quilt.

I'm putting some more units together for the Paradise in Bloom Quilt and below are units D and E. I pinned the two pieces together at the registration points and sewed them together. Then I added background piece A (the dark brown section).      Next was sections G and H. These two are dark brown with lighter fabrics. I pieced these the same way. I lined up the RP dots, pinned them and sewed the pieces together.     The fabrics for the flower on these two units are different. I wanted brighter/darker colors for the lighter background and lighter flower parts on the dark brown background, hoping they would pop a bit more.

I've got the baskets done, so now I'm ready to start putting some of the units together. Starting in the center of the quilt, which are units A, B and C. Remember to line up the registration points (RP) and pin them together as best as you can and remember to watch out for any seams that need to line up as well. This will help keep your pieces where they need to be. Part B is sewn onto A.          Part C is sewn onto A/B.   These 3 pieces form the center medallion. Now to sew the rest of the medallion together.