Card Tricks

 The River Rats TOGA, virtual this year, is coming up September 18-20 with lots of workshops, gathering times for show-and-tell, and the annual quilt block exchange. I'm all signed up for most of the day on Saturday and looking forward to seeing everyone again even if we have to use Zoom to do so. This is my first year to join the quilt block exchange, not having had the time before I retired, especially since this is the start of the school year and there was just no extra time pre-retirement. The numbers kept changing and it made a difference if I need to make 5, 15, or 25 blocks but I finally settled down with around a dozen people signed up. Here's how this exchange goes: you make up a pieced quilt block for each person signed up, according to the guidelines, and send them to the "hostess" who then divides them up among the participants and sends new blocks them back to each one. There are 16 people signed up this year so I made 16 blocks that were 6.5" and in a pattern and color of my choice. Usually we go to the TOGA in person and just lay out the blocks and then walk around and take one from each stack but this year we will do this by mail. Here's my stack all done:

Card Trick pattern, 16 blocks

I know, this doesn't look like much but it IS a big deal to get them all done and looking good. First off, I tried using an online tutorial but it was a disaster with the sizing all wrong and much to much struggle. I finally came up with my own plan and kept making adjustments until they came out okay. As you can see, not only are my points not perfect, I had trouble making them so the edge points were a quarter inch from the outside edge. That way when sewn together the point won't get cut off. It was a struggle and hope I don't embarrass myself too much but I am a beginning quilter! Then there is the ordeal of signing each block so everyone knows who made what (yes, now the whole world can see who is a good quilter and who still needs practice). I had a Micron pen but it was dry so I finally found one a Hobby Lobby. Here's my practice block, trying to figure out how to put all of the information in a tiny space:

Who am I anyway?

I think it will be fun to collect these blocks and maybe make them up into a River Rats TOGA quilt but right now I'm just collecting. Oh, by the way, since this is a group for treadle and hand crank sewing machines, I had to use such machines and settled on using my Singer 66 Red Eye in her beautiful parlor cabinet:

Singer 66 Red Eye in parlor cabinet

Practice makes perfect and this was just the practice I needed.

What else have I been up to? I'm into restoration now with a Husky Lock 936 serger that's getting parts swapped out, buying a Baby Lock that truly is for parts (I had high hopes there, too), refinishing bentwood cases and a cabinet out in the garage, and adding bases to two wood box bottoms with the help of my son-in-law. Photos might follow in a later post. And today I'm going to pick up a Bernina 807 that needs a motor swap but I have the parts and hope I can do it. Cooler weather this week so I need to get the garage projects done before winter. This year it looks like I won't have any cabinets in the garage over winter and will have those projects done way ahead of the first freeze. That's depending on me not bringing home any more cabinets but my will power is firmly in place. Let's see how I do...