Scraps and sewing machine repair redneck style

Starting with the scraps. I'm still procrastinating finishing the Summer Sunset quilt top. Instead I spent much of yesterday playing with scraps.

When you cut diamond shapes from fabric there are a lot of odd triangles left. I had just enough to crazy piece them together for 4 placemats. If you study them carefully you will be able to tell that the one on the loser left was the last one. I think they are fun. I'll probably quilt them with an orange/bronze color thread in straight lines. I have no idea when that might happen but it will likely be a week when I feel the need for a quick finish of anything.

With the last of the leftovers I patched up some postcards. These still need backs and edges but I can knock those out some evening soon. I will save one of these to send my SIL for her birthday. 

I still have the equivalent of about 18 fat quarters left over from that fabric. I'm pondering ideas for what to do with it. I might make Karen some placemats and I might make a veterans quilt or 2. I'm debating on whether I might want to order some more fabric on one of the darkest patterns for sashing. I might be able to dye a mottled dark brown that will work. My dyed black doesn't look good with it at all but the darkest brown in Coffee and Cocoa might work. I'll think on that later.

Today I'm supposed to be at the monthly sewing with my quilt club. I'm delayed because we have to wait around for someone to magically appear between 11 and 2 to give us a quote on some work.  I hope I can at least get my station set up this afternoon for sewing tomorrow.

But before I can go I had to "fix" my travel sewing machine. I've had this Janome Gem Gold for ages and it is a wonderful machine. I think I paid about $300 for it over 15 years ago. It's never been serviced and it sews like a dream. It has the best 1/4" foot of any machine that I own. The case is soft so anything that sticks out gets abused. On this machine, that's the thread holder. It broke over a year ago and held up pretty good with duct tape for a while. It finally gave up the ghost at the river last week.

I have looked and there is a replacement part but I can't get the broken pieces from the old holder out and I'm not taking it to be repaired. It will cost more than the machine is worth and I've already bought a replacement travel machine ($75) when this one deicides to pass on to sewing machine heaven.

I rummaged around Anne's house and found a skewer in the kitchen. One piece of duct tape later and I was back in business. The problem came when I was packing up. I can't leave this thing taped to the back of the machine because it won't fit in the case. I pulled he tape off, packed up my skewer and decided to figure it out at home.

The fix was simple. I just needed to line the tape in the center so that it doesn't stick to the skewer. It can be removed for packing up and inserted for sewing.

I used the large thread cap for a base and, from the front, it doesn't look redneck at all. As long as I don't lose my skewer, I consider this a long term solution. I think the white duct tape classes it up a lot. In fact, I might even paint the skewer white and then no one will notice.