I Scored a Ribbon ... and More!

I won a third place ribbon in the seasonal category at my guild's quilt show this weekend for my quilt Simple Gifts!

These are viewer's choice awards decided by quilt show attendees voting for their favorites. They are not juried or judged ribbons.

This is the placard attached to my entry. There are more details about its completion in my DianeLoves2Quilt post for June 10, 2015.

I was surprised and pleased. I had struggled with making the presents stand out, given the scrappiness of the pattern and my fabric choices. I had fretted over my FMQ lines on this quilt being crooked and of uneven stitch length. I guess the overall effect was OK because folks liked it enough to vote for it. So yay! I am excited and encouraged.

But there is more. There is a vendor, Twice Nice Shoppe, who is present at many of the quilt shows and sewing festivals in the area. This business specializes in Singer Featherweight sewing machines, refurbishing them, leaving some with their original finish, painting others snazzy colors, and then selling them. I have been drooling over the machines in this booth for several years, since each has been rejuvenated so flamboyantly. This show my husband and I agreed I should finally buy one of the machines. "Consider it a 40th wedding anniversary present," he added. Seeing the machines on Saturday, I thought about it over night, the color-loving quilter in me pouring over the many paint options in my dreams... Candy Apple Red, Lipstick Red, Harley Blue, Purple... but never really able to be decisive about which was my favorite.

When I returned to the booth Sunday and looked at the machines again I just knew. I opted for a shiny brightly repainted model, spiffed up but not deviating from the original Singer. I chose classic black. It was a gut feeling that seemed atypical for me and my love of color, but the sewing machine is a personal item in a way. The classic black reminded me of my mother and her machine and what a Singer should be. It was made in New Jersey near where I was born and it is only one year older than I am. As my husband put it in his own inimitable way, "It was manufactured in the year you were conceived." It weighs only 11 pounds. I test drove it at the show and it is whisper smooth and quiet. My husband even commented on the gentle hum it produced. I intend to use it as a light weight, convenient option when I take classes, and for travel, when visiting my son's or my daughter's home. I can sew with my daughter in Oklahoma and sew for my daughter-in-law in Southern California. Here is my most recent addition to my sewing machine family. See how bright and shiny new she looks, reflecting her surroundings?

The gold scrollwork around the edges and in the center of the throat is just gorgeous.

Even her foot pedal glows. I don't look that good and I am a year younger!

She needed a name. Singer Featherweights are a stable, reliable workhorse machine, representative of an era. They are pretty special, but they are not rare. I realized that anyone, for a fee, can own a Singer Featherweight machine. I like alliteration so I decided to name my featherweight Fiona. Here is my trio of machines, my Handiquilter Heidi, my Featherweight Fiona, and my trusty Pfaff.

Hmmm, I never named my Pfaff. I never assigned a gender either. For some reason, being made in Germany, I think had I picked a name, it would have been a boy's name. Well, now the two lovely ladies, Heidi and Fiona, can keep him company in my sewing room.

This has been a busy week, prepping for, attending, and helping with take down of the Diablo Valley Quilters Show. One of my volunteer jobs was security at one of the exit doors. I had to sit for two hours, a very difficult task indeed, during which time I started to crochet a sweater for my granddaughter. That is my only active work in progress for this week and I have no photos of it yet. For now, I will see what others are up to at this week's Cooking Up Quilts Main Crush Monday and Freshly Pieced's Works in Progress.