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Sunday, February 22, 2015

Slow Stitching Sunday


This week we took a much needed vacation to the beach. I don't know how much resting we did because it was razor clam digging time. I cannot stand the smell of those creatures but I love to dig them. Ernie loves to eat them. So to earn good wife points, I dig, help clean and cook them. I cashed in a few of those good wife points at a thrift store and brought home a new to me machine. (More on that in a different post.)  We didn't spend much time in the hotel, it was a beautiful week at the Washington coast. Sunshine and warm with very little wind. We drove around looking at property, went in to several thrift and antique stores where I only bought a few men shirts and the machine. I found lots of pretty glass that I wanted to bring home and several old quilts that were priced way too high.  We went into Boardwalk Quilts and looked around. I bought a few fat quarters to add to my neutral stash and drooled over all the pretties.

At one antique store, I asked the man if he had any old sewing machines and he told me a story of taking treadle machines apart, throwing the machine away and making tables. I almost cried. He asked me why in the world I would want those old relics. Mean, mean man!!! So we bought nothing from him! I doubt I ever go back there.

I took my old relic of a featherweight with me to do some hotel sewing. I spent the drive to and from knitting on a sock. Not one hand stitch was sewn until Saturday evening at home. It was time to finish this Castle Wall block. I believe it is number 14.  Number 15 has been started and is the last block kitted up.

Today I will take my slow stitching time to finish round one-the squares onto the octagon-and then I need to kit up some more blocks.  It takes me a while to decide which fabrics to put together but once that is accomplished, the tracing of the templates and cutting happen pretty fast. This is a good project to work on during the Daytona 500.

I'm excited to see what everyone is working on at Kathy's Quilts today.

7 comments:

Quilter Kathy said...

So glad to hear you had a wonderful holiday. And warmth!! Enjoy stitching your castle wall blocks today!
Can't wait to hear about the new/old machine!

Suzanne said...

Warmth and sewing together...sounds heavenly! The block is beautiful.

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

My daughter lives in Kirkland Wa near Seattle. She and her family went to some island and played on a beach last weekend. They seem to take advantage of every sunny day this time of year. I can't believe that man was throwing those machines out! The quilters in heaven may have something to say when he shows up at the pearly gates! LOL

Deb A said...

Sounds like a great holiday. Beautiful block.

CathieJ said...

How can the proprietor of an antiques store not appreciate the beauty of an antique sewing machine and its cabinet. Shameful.

Angie said...

What a wonderful holiday! Beach time with sewing, thrifting and antiqueing - what could be better?!

Diane said...

I wanna go to the beach wahhhhh ;)
Love your block and the vacation sounds wonderful. Minus the smelly clam thing and treadle murderer