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Well – it’s been a year since my last post!
I’ve been rather busy since last March. On March 17th 2016 my husband retired and on March 19th we decided to move! On the face of it that should not have had any effect on my sewing but that is until you take into account that I do all the DIY in our house!
Well you know how it is. You start something and then move on to something else before the first something is quite finished. We had lots of things not quite finished plus somethings still be done – including removing artex from the walls of our study/guest room. When we moved in 20 yrs ago every wall was either artexed or fully tiled and I have gradually been removing it all. The study/guest room took all of 80 hours of steaming to remove it – and the room is only small!
Anyway over this last year, until this week, I only spent 3 days actually sewing though have found some time to digitize and plan. Now we are ‘on the market’ with everything done I can relax a little and enjoy my machines.
Today was just wonderful – using 2 of my favourite Vesta machines to sew some HSTs (Half Square Triangle Blocks) for a block swap with the TreadleOn group in the US.
Here is Rennie – a beautiful c1915 transverse shuttle with Art Deco rose decals.
And here is Rae (or Raphael) – a very masculine looking 1930’s Saxonia transverse shuttle – also know as The Little Vesta. (Apologies for some fuzzy photos – I will update when I have some better ones but you can see some more photos here – https://sewingtales.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/my-sewing-machines/!)
Though old both these machines use the commonly available 15×1 domestic machine needle – which is brilliant for using them regularly.
Both machines were made by L.O. Dietrich in Germany – and it tells! The quality of the machines is so much better than any Singer machine I have so far encountered – but then again I have only encountered Singer machines made in Scotland.
All the blocks are made – 4 sets of 8 (2 sets on each machine) – so I am really looking forward to what fabrics will be in the blocks I receive in return. I already have 36 blocks from a previous HST swap so with these 32 I’ll have a total of 68 – I must get round to making something with them now I have the time!
Here they are ready to be signed with name, machine name and date plus which TOBE (Treadle on Block Exchange) they were made for. HSTs are the Spring basic TOBE subject!
Cheryl Parker said:
I need to start my HST’s. I hope I get some of your blocks. Not sure what machines I’ll use for mine, yet. I have a new hand crank that I haven’t even had time to clean and test. Hopefully next week… Good luck selling your home.
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Sue said:
It’s nice to see you back on the interwebs! I hope your sale goes smoothly and you are happily sewing in a new space soon. I’m skipping the Basic TOBE this year…too much else going on for me. Your machines are beautiful, though. Reminds me to get back to my hand cranking soon. It is very meditative.
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Sam said:
I’m keeping my fingers crossed! Just love those handcranks!
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joanspatches said:
Good to see you sewing and blogging again! You encourage me to get back to mine!
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Sam said:
It’s great to be back!
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