Bonnie's New Sewing Machine...well, Old Sewing Machine

I have a new sewing machine. Well, it is new to me. When I was a little girl, one year for Christmas I received a hand crank sewing machine...and I still have that machine. Here it is:

And it is a little bit rusty...but then, so am I.

Recently someone on Facebook was talking about the "big" hand crank old sewing machines. I joined the discussion and said I was looking for one of those machines because I wanted to make a lamp out of it...and that I didn't care whether it worked or nor. Diann Becker from PA saw my comment and told me she had one and that she would bring it on the bus to Lancaster if I wanted it. Of course, I said, "Yes, please bring it with you." And she did. Thanks, Diann. And here it is:

It is a Frister & Rossmann hand crank machine, made in Germany. From the serial number, it looks to date between 1896 and 1914. So now that I owned this machine, I needed to find out more. We know that in  
1846 Elias Howe invented and patented the first automatic sewing machine for practical operation.

Frister & Rossmann started life near Berlin, Germany, in 1864. The two business partners, Gustav Rossmann and Robert Frister had started their sewing machine business by copying existing machines such as the American Wheeler & Wilson and Willcox & Gibbs under licence from the original manufacturers. Their first sewing machine, the A1 was simply a Wheeler & Wilson clone machine. However its success was unsurpassed, hardly changing for around 50 years. For decades Frister & Rossmann were the largest producers of sewing machines in Germany. By the early 1880s they had made a staggering quarter of a million machines, and by 1903 the great company had produced over one million machines.
 
Frister & Rossmann machines are known world wide, and similar models are better known in Australia and New Zealand as The Globe, and in America as Jaguar and Kenmore machines. Frister & Rossmann continues to hold it place amongst the premier sewing machine names in Great Britain.
(Frister & Rossman Info Source: http://www.sewalot.com/frister_rossmann.htm)

You can see from the photo I shot of the machine, it also has a box of attachments, some bobbins (good thing because they are very strange looking), several feet, and the instruction manual.
 
Now curious as to what kind of working it order it might be in, I took the machine on Saturday to Keith English of English's Sew & Vac here in Paducah. His motto on TV is that they "sell the best and service the rest." So we'll see if it works when I get it back. Keith said his granddaughter says he can fix anything. Now that is putting the pressure on. : )
 
Think I still will make into a lamp, but will put a wooden base under it to run the fixings for the lamp so the machine can be removed if I should want to take it to a demonstration some time. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is good running order. What a fun new machine I have - and it remains to be seen if it will actually sew or live out its life as a lamp!

Backyard Birds at the Brownings

Tonight after work, Wayne was helping the neighbor, so I grabbed my camera and sat in my porch swing to watch the birds. I saw ALL of these birds tonight as they visited our feeders in the back yard. Hope you enjoy a bit of spring in Paducah and seeing all of the fine feathered friends...and one squirrel...that happened along this evening.

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Vendors Relax on Boat at Kentucky Lake...and more

I thought you all would get a kick out of this tape from WPSD TV Local 6 about the vendors who stayed on an 80 foot houseboat at Kentucky Lake, and about the fancy portalets that we had behind the Pavilion this year.

Click here to view the tape.

Bonnie B

The 26th Paducah Show is Now History

Wow, what a busy week. We moved the quilts into the Convention Center on Friday, April 17, and it has been a whirlwind ever since. Judging took place on Saturday and Sunday; the quilts were hung on Monday and Tuesday...and the vendors set up then too; and the winners in the quilt contest were announced on Tuesday evening. The show opened on Wednesday and closed at 5 p.m. on Saturday. It was a busy week of quilts, quilters, classes, special events, and best of all - seeing quilters from all 50 states (plus Wash. D.C.), and 14 other countries around the world.

Wednesday was a very early morning - I was up at 3:45 a.m. so I could pick up Sue McCarty, the Janome Best of Show winner, and we did live broadcasts from the Expo Center from 5 to 7 a.m. Quilt Judge Libby Lehman joined us for the broadcast too. From then on, it was nonstop. We had three great evening performances on the stage at the Carson Four Rivers Center - Kaffe Fassett, Eleanor Burns, and Ricky Tims.

Kaffe Fassett and Liza Lucy sign a copy of their new book, Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts, for me.

The National Quilt Museum had their annual quilt auction on Thursday. I was the lucky bidder for two quilts and a really neat ironing/cutting board cabinet from Tracey's Tables. Ah, now I will HAVE to clean up my sewng room.

So today is Sunday. Wayne was up early to go to the Pavilion to help the last few vendors load out. He, Kelly, and John will be there for a little while this morning doing that. And me, well I went back to sleep and woke up at 10 a.m. What a luxury after all my early mornings this past week.

So what's next? Registration is underway for the Knoxville show that will be July 14 - 17, and we'll be finishing up the registration materials for the Des Moines show, October 6 - 9. And we are working on all four shows for 2011. I hope to see you at one of our shows soon. For all of the latest information, you can go to the AQS Web site, http://www.americanquilter.com/ or check out the blog.

Have you entered one of your quilts in an AQS Quilt Show? You can't win if you don't enter...just ask Sue McCarty, our Janome Best of Show winner this year in Paducah. This is the first time she ever entered one of the AQS quilt shows!

The Dogwoods are Blooming!

Today was my day to go take some new photos of dogwoods for us to use in our quilt show materials. How do you like this one?

I love the red dogwoods.

And look how pristine this white dogwood is? When they first open full out, they are just beautiful too.

Other flowers are blooming too - here we have a variety of tulips, phlox, and a white dogwood tree in the background. Don't you just love SPRING when the blossoms add color everywhere?

Look at this pretty iris I found blooming - look at those yummy purples!

We drove on the Dogwood Trail, and the dogwoods look like lace as they line the streets. If you are in Paducah, don't miss driving the Dogwood Trail, in daylight or at night when the homeowners light their dogwoods and flowers. It's pretty either way.

The AQS Quilt Show is April 21 - 24, and I hope to see many of you here.

There will be plenty of beautiful quilts to see in the quilt show.

Bonnie B

Meet my Cousin Margie

While we were in Lancaster, Wayne and I had dinner at Annie Bailey's with my cousin, Margie McFayden and her husband Jeff, and her mother Shirley Kirkland (our dads were brothers). It has been years since we have seen each other...but you wouldn't know it by the way we talked and talked. Margie and Jeff live in New Jersey, and Margie plans to be back next year to the Lancaster show to take some classes. She has a brand new Janome sewing machine and is looking forward to learning all about how to use it and to make quilts.

As children, I was always the tall one and Margie was the short one...nothing has changed there. GRIN

It was really fun to have a chance to get together and catch up. It's a good thing that Jeff and Wayne are the quiet type - they could hardly get in a word. We will plan to do this again soon.

American Eagles!!

This week we have been watching the Luther College Eaglecam...and this morning we saw the first eaglet - there are two more eggs to hatch. It's amazing to watch these magnificent birds in action.
Enjoy the show...

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Think Spring...and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The flowers are starting to bloom here in Paducah. That brightens everyones mood. Hope the sun is shining where you are.

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Omaha - Turkeys, Deer, and Great Classes

This week I taught for the Cottonwood Quilt Guild in Omaha, Nebraska. Wayne and I drove and along the way enjoyed seeing lots of wild turkeys (was hard to get a photo of them though at 70 miles an hour), deer playing in the fields (I did capture a photo of some of them), and hundreds of geese flying overhead. There was enough snow in the fields that it was pretty easy to spot them.

One of the many groups of deer we saw along I-29

By the time we arrived in Omaha on Saturday evening, there was a fine snow coming down. The problem was it snowed all night long that way. By noon on Sunday, the wind was blowing the snow so there were white-out conditions and we couldn't see the cars parked in the parking lot at the hotel where the class was held - lucky for us, it was the same hotel that we stayed in.

The classes were great - on Sunday, we did the Windmill Twisted Log Cabin - this is the quilt that I showed on Simply Quilts; that quilt received more mail than any other program on the show. Several of the ladies finished one complete Windmill. Here's a photo of them showing off their work at Show and Tell during the meeting on Monday night.

Show and Tell: It's always fun to see how different they look when different fabrics are chosen. I can't wait to see their quilts finished.

Sunday evening Wayne and I had dinner with Gary and Susie VonWeihe, who live in Council Bluffs. Gary and Wayne were stationed at Richard Gebaur Air Force Base in Kansas City. Can't believe that was 40 years ago, after Wayne returned from Viet Nam. We enjoyed getting to see how the Gerber baby has grown up with teenagers of her own. We always called Robin the Gerber baby because she looked like the baby on their labels. Gary and Susie have three other children...and a total of nine grandchildren. We had a fun evening together.

Then on Monday we did the Xquisite Scrap Quilt class. I always encourage people to bring what they have in lights, mediums, and darks. We went through my process for sorting the fabrics to get the values in the right piles. Then to just pick up a value and sew it to another square, using my formula. And they learned some tips for trimming and pressing too. About an hour before the end of class I take everyone's blocks and lay them out on the floor to show some of the variations you can make with these blocks. I did make believers out of them - value does the work and color gets the credit - if the value is correct, then it really doesn't make any difference what color the fabric is. See for yourself....

Quilt laid out using blocks from all of the students in class in the Sunshine & Shadow pattern

My Getting It Straight lectures on Monday evening and again Tuesday morning were well received. I hope everyone picked up a tip or two for making their quilts turn out flat and straight. And I even took a couple of photos of the snow piled in the parking lot of the church where the guild meeting was held. You definitely have to scoop and plow the snow they get.

Thanks, Cottonwood Quilt Guild, for inviting me to Omaha - snow and all!

Wayne and I enjoyed some nice sunshine for the drive home. Left Omaha with 14 degree temps and it was 35 degrees when we arrived back in Paducah on Wednesday.

Today (Sunday) we are enjoying 65 degrees here in Paducah and have the door open to get some fresh air into the house. Spring is on the way! Come on Spring!!

In September I flew to Boulder, Colorado, to tape a program with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims for their online program, TheQuiltShow.com. The program will be posted on their Web site, www.TheQuiltShow.com on April 26. In addition to learning how to make your borders fit your quilts every time, our interview was talking about the American Quilter's Society and my job as the Executive Show Director for AQS.

Here I am on the set getting ready to tape the show. Tune in to http://www.thequiltshow.com/ on April 26.
Episode 609 – Freeform feathers & Happy endings (Bonnie Browning / Judy Woodworth
Posts on April 26, 2010

This super show brings you two outstanding teachers for “the price of one!” First, professional machine- and award-winning quilter Judy Woodworth uses a Gammill Longarm Quilting Machine to create freeform, out-of-the-box feathers, and encourages Alex to try her hand as well. Then: Who doesn’t love a happy ending? Bonnie Browning, author of nine books, including Borders & Finishing Touches 2, involves our enthusiastic studio audience as she demonstrates a variety of innovative techniques, tips, and notions for giving our quilts the best endings ever! You’ll be learning something every moment of this jam-packed episode.

Visit with the Eagles on Kentucky Lake - February 6, 2010

Every year Wayne and I enjoy a February cruise on Kentucky Lake to see the American Bald Eagles. Yesterday we had a great time on the cruise, which is sponsored by the Kentucky State Parks and Kentucky Wildlife & Conservation Department. They have staff on board as guides and to answer questions.

We cruised in style aboard the CQ Princess, which is normally docked in Louisville. They bring this yacht to the lakes in January/February for the eagle cruises.

We saw 29 eagles, lots of ducks and geese, herons, and other birds. It wasn't sunny but at least it wasn't raining (like last year). I took my camera with the 300mm lens and an extender so I could get better shots of the eagles. It was worth the price of the cruise to see a female sitting on a nest and the male eagle sitting on a branch nearby. We were able to view it in 270 degrees since the nest was in the top of a tree that was on a peninsula. I was able to shoot lots of photos.

This was my first view of the nest, using my long lens to see the male eagle sitting on a branch, while the female sits on the nest. The captain slowed down the boat so we could go by very slowly.

How about this view? You can see the female tucked behind the crooked branch.

Now the boat is almost on the other side of the nest - the female (on the left) has hopped off the nest. Did you know that female eagles are 20-30% larger than the male eagles. And this is one type of bird where the male and female look alike - he doesn't get all of the pretty feathers.

An immature eagle - see the speckled head and breast. They don't have a white head until they are about 5 years old.

This young eagle is older than the one in the previous photo. See how it has more white on his head?

Another eagle nest that was tucked back into a group of trees. The other two nests we saw were closer to the water.

An adult American Bald Eagle. We saw 29 eagles in all; 15 were immature, 2 we couldn't tell, and the other 12 were adults. You can't miss the adults with their big white heads.

Two immature eagles sit in this tree on the point. See how they look like a big black blob sitting in the tree. They are so big that they are easy to spot once you know what you are looking for.

There were some eagles soaring close to our boat just as we were finishing our cruise. Look at that wing span.

Another nest that was close to the water.

Another eagle soaring - the staff called this one the greeter, it's the first eagle we saw as we left the dock and the last one we saw when we returned. He stays in a group of trees just across from the boat dock.

Part of this Visit with the Eagles program was an evening talk on Raptors (Birds of Prey) by Dale and John Stokes. They are associated with S.O.A.R. - Save our American Raptors. From May to September they present programs at the Rock City Raptors Birds of Prey at Rock City near Chattanooga, Tennessee. During the rest of the year, the give programs at schools and at state parks. All of the birds they display have been "humanized" - that is they have been raised by humans (and often depend then on humans for their food) or have been injured and cannot be released back to the wild.

I took a few photos, but they asked us not to use any flash, so the lighting isn't the best. You can see what the birds look like anyway.

Many of us have probably heard Screech Owls - here is what they look like. These two small owls are the only birds that live together at their sanctuary for these birds of prey.

The barn owl has such a funny shaped face.

This broad-winged hawk flew very fast...and this one came right over my head, parting my hair it was so close. But I got his picture anyway. Phew, that was close.

Red-tailed hawk has such beautiful coloring. I didn't get a photo of his back, but the back and tail feathers are really pretty. We have one of these hawks that torments the squirrels in our back yard (and catches one of them sometimes).

This black vulture flew back and forth over the heads of the audience. BIG bird.

This American Bald Eagle was rescued after being shot; his wing had to be removed as a result of that shot. Still a beautiful bird, but can never be released to the wild again. (The bald eagle is the bird up front...not the head you see in the photos...grin.)

There were people on this cruise from all over. If you are ever going through Kentucky in late January or early February, be sure to check out the Eagle Cruises through the Kentucky State Parks. We are really glad that they have this program and enjoy cruising to see the eagles every year!

Radio Interview on the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah

Yesterday I taped an hour-long radio interview with Sally Terry. We talked about many of the changes for this year's AQS Quilt Show in Paducah.

Here is a link to so you can listen to a replay of the program:

http://www.AttendThisEvent.com/?eventid=11107371

We were just informed this afternoon that there are some rooms available at the Hampton Inn (270-442-0200). Call immediately - these rooms won't last long.
Or, you can call the Paducah Visitor's Bureau (1-800-PADUCAH) for an application for the AQS Home Bed & Breakfast Program.

See you in Paducah in April!

Stay tuned...we'll be taping a program on the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, soon.

Paper Piecing Patterns - Now in an eBook Downloadable Format

My book, Paper Piecing Patterns, published in 1999, is no longer available in print. You've been asking for this book, and it is now available as a downloadable eBook in Adobe PDF format. You can download the book, and print the pattern pages you want to stitch.

What is in this book? I've been paper piecing since the late 1960's and have shared my technique in easy-to-see photographs. Besides the step-by-step instructions for paper piecing, you'll find a selection of patterns that can be paper (some call it foundation) pieced. I like to use vellum paper, so I call it paper piecing. Why vellum? Because you can see the lines from either side of the paper. You can print directly onto the vellum, and sew on the side with the printing. The vellum is very easy to tear away too.

Here are some of the patterns: Teapot, Tea Cup, Cupcake, Coffee Pot, Coffee Cup, and Chocolate Cake - and those are just the designs on the inside front and back covers. Then there is a Barn, Cabin and House; Squirrel Eating Corn, Hummingbird, Tree 1, and Tree 2. Traditional patterns include Snowball Variation, Pineapple, Log Cabin Courthouse Steps, Diamond in a Square, Double Pinwheel Whirls, Job's Troubles, 3-D, Mosaic Rose, Palm Leaf (one of my favorites), Airplane, Sailboat, and a Heart (on the title page).

As you can see, it is chock full of some fun patterns to sew, and it's all straight line sewing. No fancy or difficult sewing here.

Click here to purchase the eBook and download it right onto your computer. It's just $8.00 or only $6.40 if you are an AQS member.

Send me some photos of quilts you make using my Paper Piecing Patterns.

Happy piecing!

Bonnie B

Snowy & Cold....

Last year it was an ice storm on this weekend...this year it is a snow storm. We'll take the snow any time! Here in Paducah we had about 4.5 inches of snow. Wayne snapped this photo this morning as he headed to the grocery store - Food Giant, that is very close to our home.

And, so we had a lazy day here at home. I worked on the pattern for a bag to carry my new mini purple passion computer. It will have a central pocket for the computer so it is easy to pull it out at the airports, with pockets on the sides to carry the mouse, jump sticks, my mini external hard drive...and all of the other things I need to give my presentations. It will be quilted, of course. The pattern is drawn out now, so tomorrow I can cut fabric.

Hope you are staying warm and dry, wherever you are!

Oops...You Can't Iron an Iron...

Sometimes not paying attention to what you are doing leaves you scratching your head! Yesterday I was going to finish up some fabric thank you postcards and clicked on the switch to the surge protector where I plug in my iron....did something else until the iron heated.

When I returned, I smelled something kind of funny but didn't see anything. Then I went to iron. The last time I had used my iron, I had used my small Rowenta travel iron. It had fallen over on my big Rowenta iron.

You guessed it, the heat of the small iron melted the big iron. Yowser, what a mess. Now I had a nonfunctional big iron and half of the base of my travel iron was covered with white plastic. I unplugged the travel iron and proceeded to scrap off the plastic while it was still warm with a straight-bladed sharp knife. Then I plugged it back in and ironed it over paper to remove even more. That was followed with ironing on fabric.

Here's the hole it left in my Rowenta. Hard to believe that it would get that hot, isn't it? When Sharon Schamber tells us that the Rowenta travel iron is the only that gets hot enough...I certainly believe her now.

I finished pressing my postcards together by using a press cloth over the top so I could get that part done.

Tonight it looks like I did get all of the plastic off the base of my travel iron.

The moral of the story is: Make sure you know what is plugged in...and that the irons are not touching one another.

Anyone have suggestions for a new big iron? I'm in the market for an iron now!

Our Holiday Visit to See the Barn Quilts of Washington County, Iowa

Wayne, his sister Kathi Beverlin, my sister Karen Franzen, and I spent a day visiting the Kalona, Iowa area to see the Barn Quilts of Washington County, Iowa. The snow on the ground made the barns more picturesque. We had a fun day and made stops at the Family Restaurant in Kalona for lunch, and then had to stop at the General Store, Willow Creek Quilting & Gifts (great shop), and the Kalona Bakery (the peach pie and cinnamon rolls were yummy). Afterward, we picked up Wayne's Mom and Buster to go to Bryn Mawr Steakhouse for dinner. What a fun day we had!

Look at all of the different styles of barns in the Kalona area as you view these photos.

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Hope you had a Happy New Year!

Christmas in Iowa - 2009

Enjoy some photos of our visit with our family in Iowa over the holidays.

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Happy New Year!

Can you believe that another year has flown by... guess that happens when you are having fun. Wayne, my sister Karen, and I had lunch with Mom Kirkland, and left just in time to do a little eagle siting before we headed back to Durant.

This is one of the big eagles that we saw as they came back to the trees to roost in Credit Island Park in Davenport. Some trees had as many as five eagles land in them. There were so many tree branches between my camera and the eagles that the photos are not very clear. It's always fun to just watch these majestic birds flying.

Did you see the Blue Moon (2nd new moon in December) tonight? We were out eagle watching along the Mississippi River when the sun went down and the moon came up. It was a beautiful yellow moon shining brightly on the Mississippi River.

Happy New Year...hope you and I find time to do more quiltiung in 2010!

Bonnie B

Packages are Wrapped with Care....

Happy Sunday! This has been a busy weekend, trying to get the packages wrapped for our families. I made some Christmas telephone calls to some far-away friends that we won't get to see during the holidays. It's always fun to catch up with our friends.

We had a good time at the Schroeder Publishing Christmas party on Thursday evening. Billy Schroeder always comes up with some kind of trivia for us to play. He had some great questions this year - like how many stitches are in a baseball?  Or, what sport has more participants than any other? I'll put the answers at the end of this message so you can think about the answers for a bit. Dinner was catered by Patti's Restaurant from Grand Rivers, KY.

On Friday evening, Wayne and I attended the Cirque Dreams Illumination at the Carson Four Rivers Center. It was really good...great stage work, lighting, high wire work, acrobats, skits, and singing. It had a little bit of everything.

The next couple of weeks will be very busy. Wayne and I hope you are able to spend some time with your family and have a Merry Christmas together. I'll talk to you again in the new year - can you believe that 2010 is here already? See you then!

Bonnie B

The answers are: 108 stitches in a baseball, and fishing is the sport with the most participants (we should have guessed that one since Billy is an avid bass fisherman)