All posts by Tammi

Life, Sewing Machines

Bad Seamstress Blues – Patchless darning is the same as free motion

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The day I went to post bail for Lucey, it happened – riiiiiippppp.  Oh No!  My favorite jeans!  I’ve long since passed the age (and lost the figure) where I feel like I can get away with wearing ripped jeans, but patched jeans, especially form fitting ones are so uncomfortable.   I’ve used every sort of patch I can think of and they all leave a bump where they are and seem to chafe a little.  The best one to date though was a scrap of batik fabric.

The longer I quilt, the less I seem to be willing to “sew” – and that definitely includes darning – but not having an unlimited clothing budget means I don’t get to just throw out what has fallen apart at the seams or self destructed somewhere other than a seam.

Today, I want to talk about how to make darning a little less “horrible” for us quilters.

Ready?  Pretend you’re Continue reading Bad Seamstress Blues – Patchless darning is the same as free motion →

Home, Life, Sewing Machines

Been a Long time – a new quilting studio!

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For the last several weeks, I’ve been virtually absent from both any sewing projects and the Internet.  Other than answering urgent emails and the occasional post on the QB, I just haven’t been dedicating the time.

Why?  I decided to reorganize the basement.  Previously, it was a dumping ground for everything we didn’t want to look at anymore, but didn’t have time to get rid of.  There were 15 years of company and personal financials down there.  There were 16 parts sewing machines, 9 sewing cabinets, our old TV, actually, our last 2 tvs, and all manner of other things.  In addition to this, the webserver that serves archaicarcane.com to you lives down there, as does my very neglected wet darkroom.  All of it had to be put in order, and fast.

Why?  As some of you know, I created a space crisis in the house.

How?  I traded up.  No, not Ryan.  😉

I sold the Juki and frame and put that money toward a brand new …. Kangaroo! Continue reading Been a Long time – a new quilting studio! →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Beautiful Broken – Quiet down your FMQ

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Since I brought the B-Line frame and the Juki home some months ago, I’ve managed several projects on it.  I enjoyed every single one of them, but there was one thing I couldn’t enjoy and neither did Ryan – the noise.

Note:  This post can still apply to you if you don’t quilt on a frame.  For instance, my Singer 301A is incredibly loud when doing FMQ as well.

Doing feathers and straight lines with the Juki made such a racket, that I couldn’t quilt at night once Ryan went to bed.  It sounded like a jackhammer.   Ryan’s even told me that he can hear the machine outside when I use it!

Yesterday, it was time to service the Juki again, and while I had it off the frame, I took the hopping foot off to clean the fuzz out of it, and I ended up running the machine without the foot.  What a lovely sounding machine….

Wait,.. what?  How could I love the sound off the frame, but hate it on the frame?

Continue reading Beautiful Broken – Quiet down your FMQ →

Miscellaneous, Sewing Machines

China Girl – It’s time to stop blaming China for quality issues

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This is not likely to be a well loved post. I keep hearing something that’s making me a little crazy, and I have to get it off my chest.

Made in China, Made In Taiwan, Made In India, Made in Thailand. All of these do not have to equal worse quality.

The Far Eastern factories will build to any quality that you want. If you want higher quality, it will cost you more. Continue reading China Girl – It’s time to stop blaming China for quality issues →

Sewing Machines

A little more love – What you don’t see can make your machine sick

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Sometimes people will find out that I service sewing machines and tell me that they do their own servicing.

I always ask them how involved they get, and at least 9 times out of 10 they’ll tell me they brush out (or blow out – and I usually tell them that’s not recommended) the lint, and oil where it says to in the owner’s manual.

Believe it or not, when a sewing machine repair shop does a cleaning and tune-up for you, they do more than that.  Inside your machine there are a lot more places to oil and clean and adjust than what the owner will typically see. Continue reading A little more love – What you don’t see can make your machine sick →

Life, Music

I remember you – all of my pop culture references in one place

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I’ve been meaning to do this post for a bit.  In fact, you may have seen me accidentally post it a month or so ago in its unfinished form.   A few times, I’ve alluded to the fact that many of my posts have a pop culture reference in the titles.  This is a list of those posts and links to their references on youtube.

And no, I don’t expect this to be one of my most popular posts at all. 😉

This one is more of a “Get to know me” post than a “let’s get greasy with Tammi” post.

Uh.  That sounded less weird and less vaguely creepy in my head….

There’s a lot of diversity here for a number of reasons.  Continue reading I remember you – all of my pop culture references in one place →

Home, Life, Sewing Machines

Into the Labyrinth – quilt top is complete

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This marks a real milestone for me.  A quilt I planned from the beginning.   One that needed to be a particular dimension, and had a destination from the outset.

Probably 9 months ago I said I wouldn’t make another quilt “as big” as the out of control lap quilt I did around Christmas last year.  Looking back, I think it’s because I didn’t love the quilt.  I don’t think I even liked it to be honest.  I found the piecing tedious and fiddly.  I found the repetition “offensive” to my eyes and mind.

I still don’t love it, but it is true when “they” say that quilting makes it a different quilt. I do enjoy the “homeyness” of the FMQ that I did on it, now that it’s washed.

My cousin, Jo said that we’d have to get me piecing, but I was happy just quilting on the frame.  I just kept thinking back to my “first quilt” and couldn’t get interested in that experience again.  Of course eventually it happened – I ran out of things to quilt.  Now what?  Continue reading Into the Labyrinth – quilt top is complete →

Life, Sewing Machines, Site News

Socialite – AA gets social!

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Today, while perusing the site stats, I noticed that we’re suddenly getting a ton of hits from Facebook, Twitter and other sharing places.

A great big “Welcome!” to our new readers!!  This is so exciting!  I’m a closet introvert, but I just love that what I’m talking about is important to you, and I look forward to your comments and our discussions!

I humbly thank you very much for sharing this site with your friends.

In case you’re interested, here are our top 5 most popular articles as chosen by you, my lovely readers!! Continue reading Socialite – AA gets social! →

Sewing Machines, Site News, VSM Repair

Greased Lightning – Singer motor lube in Canada

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Update 06-30-2016:  The latest batch of Singer Lube I received from the supplier is no longer suitable for use in Singer motors.  As such, I’m recommending the use of Petroleum jelly.

People far smarter than me are recommending it and White Sewing machine motors of the same time period used it.

 

Over the last few months, I’ve been hearing that Singer Lube / Lubricant / Motor Lube (S2129)  is getting really hard to find, especially here in Canada. This has been my experience as a consumer as well.  Walmart used to carry it, but no longer.  I believe that it may have been at Fabricland at one point.  Also, no longer.  With the loss of the Singer store in Edmonton, there were no longer any options I was aware of in my area. Continue reading Greased Lightning – Singer motor lube in Canada →

Food, Gardening, Home, Life

Is there life out there?

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I found this post yesterday while going through my drafts.  It’s about 4 months old, but I thought it still worth posting.  🙂  Today, the garden’s a disaster area – the rhubarb overtook everything, the zucchinis may have routed it finally, the tomatoes are enormous, the peppers are hot as h… well you know, and our Oregamint* is going like gangbusters.

*Oregamint.  What happens when you plant Oregano and mint too close together.  It seems that they might be cross breading, because some days I can’t tell which one I’ve picked.  Makes for some weird Mojitos and spaghetti both.  Works fine in salads though…

May 5, 2013

Yes!! Finally, yes.  Winter hopefully has taken its last kick at us, with the 4 – 6″ of snow we got on Monday (Ryan was driving in a whiteout while the radio stations were reporting “light flurries”), I’m officially so done with Winter, I may up and move if I see any more flurries in the next 6 months.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for tenacity, but I think it’s time for spring.

What better way to show that spring has arrived, and “life” is out there, than spotting these in the garden?

Continue reading Is there life out there? →