Wednesday 27 March 2013

Round and round and round and…

 Three Round and Round blocks are now done! And I am loving them!

A garland of round and round

Here they are, all in a row! So bright and cheerful and happy.

Round and round in a line

The pattern is Round and Round by Camille Roskelley. Love her patterns. The fabric I have used is Color Weave in 8 different colours. Love this fabric. And just a regular old grey homespun background. Love this grey. Wait, what?! Yeah inner quilter loves lots of things I’m not otherwise aware of apparently.

So I’m on a bit of a roll. I even have all my pieces cut, trimmed and ready to make some more blocks. It looks a bit like this:

Round and round not yet together

And I got started on block four this morning. It looks like this:
Working on round and round

And it’s going to stay looking like this for awhile. Because I broke my machine. Okay I’m being a tad dramatic. But I did something and I don’t know how to fix it. See I was chain piecing and thought hmm, the feed dogs aren’t feeding the fabric through very well. Maybe the machine needs a bit of a clean out. And we all know how that goes. Shock and horror over much lint has accumulated inside. Including that chunk that has somehow compacted into a brick of lint in between the feed dogs. Thorough clean. Everything back together again. Can’t get the bloody screws to go in.

That looked like this:
sewing machine

And it looked like this for… I kid you not… nearly an hour. I am apparently completely crap at putting screws back into the plate of my machine. I spent most of that hour attempting to go those stupid tiny screws back in. My five year old probably could have done a better job had he been home at the time. He can certainly take things apart easily enough!

I had one last attempt (amidst much swearing and general annoyance at everything on earth) and tried it from the other side of the machine and success! The plate was back in place, time to get back to sewing. Except now the tension is super duper wonky and I think I’ve somehow messed up putting the bobbin case back in. I could cry.

So I’ll just admire the pretty progress I’ve made so far, and go back to tackle the machine again when less swearing is likely to ensue or at least when the children are out of earshot. If only I drank wine. I have a feeling that might help.

Round and round times one

To end on a brighter note, thanks to those who took up the Fridge Painting discount on my paper pieced patterns – still some time left if you’re keen! At this point, any sales may go towards funding a new sewing machine that cleans itself. Or maybe just towards some therapeutic chocolate.

WipWed

34 comments:

  1. These are wonderful, I love your colour choices, so bright and happy.

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  2. This is such a great pattern - the bright colours look lovely against the grey.

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  3. Looks fab! I hope you fix it soon, good luck with it.

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  4. Only you could make an annoying sewing problem sound funny Kristy. But hey I agree these little blocks are looking rather dashing. What will they become?

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  5. Lint. Urgh. Chin up, first time I wanted to change my regular foot to a quilting foot, I needed my husband's help to unscrew things and screw them back on. Last time I cleaned my machine I realised for the first time that I can take the bobbin case out, too. I was shocked and scared to have broken it.. lala..

    Simply love those blocks. I had an inner quilter moment as well and will post about it later.

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  6. What a beautiful block! I hope you get the machine fixed, I know how it feels I need up having to take mine in to be serviced after I attempted to fix a problem with it. Luckily it wasn't too serious.

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  7. Love these blocks!! Hope the machine comes right - I was thinking today about taking mine for a service but can't bear the thought of being without it. I think they should lend you a replacement machine like garages lend you cars :-)

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  8. Oh dear, I hope your machine is back in working order soon.

    Your inner quilter is spot on with those blocks!

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  9. I love the grey background. Really makes the colors pop. Sorry to hear about the sewing machine trouble, but I love your way of telling it.

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  10. These blocks are MSA! Are they making up the entire quilt?

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  11. Those are great Kristy! I love all the bright colors with that pattern!

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  12. Very fun blocks. I may have to try one ; ) I hope your machine behaves.....

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  13. Those blocks are beautiful. Fingers crossed your machine decides to play nice again really soon.

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  14. Those round and round blocks are great.

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  15. BooHoo you can't sew when you want to!
    Love your blocks.... they will be spectacular!

    I don't know how to clean out my bobbin area... I would mess it up completely.
    Hope it gets fixed up soon!

    Susie

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  16. Oh, sew cute!! I love your adorable friendship circles. And, I have to admit, I'm warming up to the gray too! Lovely work!

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  17. I hope your machine begins to behave for you very, very soon!!

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  18. Your progress is beautiful! Best of luck with your machine.

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  19. Oh no!! Nothing worse than machine troubles!! Hope it is an easy fix and you are up and running soon. Your blocks are gorgeous!! And really makes me want to move that pattern up to the top of my list!!

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  20. Such a fun quilt! So nice to see this pattern with such a different look!

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  21. Wow, your blocks look amazing and I hope your machine gets back together in a jiffy.

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  22. Love that block. I fell in love with that pattern the first time I saw it. Your colors are beautiful!

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  23. I'm so glad you blogged this today! I've been searching for inpiration for an anniversary quilt for my nephew and his wife. I decided this was going to be the day I found it. And thanks to you I have! These blocks are so fun.

    Good luck with your machine or maybe it's a good excuse to get a small, inexpensive backup!

    Diane,

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  24. This pattern is awesome - I've never seen it but I love it!

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  25. Oh those blocks are lovely! I love vibrant colors paired with grey. Hope your machine is back to normal soon!

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  26. The blocks just keep getting better and better. I really love the gray background fabric with all the brights.

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  27. Looking at your picture there, you have a Singer sewing machine, don't you? The screw driver that they send you to unscrew those screws is ridiculous... and the first time I cleaned mine, I couldn't get the plate snapped back into place properly, my mum managed it after half an our of me coursing lol!

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  28. Love bright colours on a grey background, always looks fresh and invigorating

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  29. I love the colourweave / grey combo, perfect! I have problems with screws on the plate, try a coin, 10p works here! As for the tension, sorry been sewing 25 years, never touched tension!

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  30. oooh....I like these what a neat idea. I love the color on grey.

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  31. I love these blocks! And if it makes you feel better your needleplate looks an awful lot like my Singer Confidence - which I always had trouble getting the screws to line up just right to get them back in. Hope it goes smoothly next time you give it a try. :)

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  32. Adorable block! Love your color choices

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