The TVR

Not to long ago my favorite brother-in-law asked if possible to create some door pockets for his 1962 TVR Grantura.  For as long as I have known him Lee has been painstakingly restoring this old lady.

Of course I was more then happy to help and brought along one weekend, as they live almost three hours from here, my Husqvarna. Well poor Husque has been out of commission since.  For some reason it seems, as I just figured out tonight, none of my sewing machines seem to like the thread I tried. Ok so I'm sure PART of it is the layer of pleather, and the two layers of heavyweight cotton I used for lining. So today I decided to work on the door panels and get them out using the Commodore.

A little short history about this car. A TVR for those who have never heard of them are hand made English coupes much like the MGB but hard top.  Each one is unique in that it is hand made and none are exactly alike.  This should ring bells with crafters.  He has collected much history on this car as you can see in the above picture of it, he has done a lot of research and collected quite a bit of data on the car.

Now that the car is nearing completion, the interior is being done and I made the pattern to recreate the pockets on the doors. So tonight the Commodore flew.

Definately not the easiest of jobs.  Its amazing that a sewing machine that has sat for so long was able to just fly through this. Granted it did not like the heavy thread I had started with but once I changed over to the cone of polyester things went smoothly.  

And they are done, I hope they look as good as the rest of the car does once they are installed. Its a real treat to be involved even in two small pieces!

For more information about this car Lee's Grantura

And for more information about TVRs http://www.tvrccna.org/

Zooma zooma

My daughter and I made several trips out on the New York Row by Row quilt shop hop.  We have visited 8 shops, my daughter along for 6 of these, yes please do feel sorry for the 14 year old we traveled from Long Island to Albany in rain so bad we had to sit it out in a gas station at one point.

Once I got home i had to start immediately on the row by row. Of course Sparky was chosen for the piecing machine, I'm sure the neighbors are loving this as even though she's a great machine the one word I can think of to describe this machine... LOUD.  Wow! But then again, whats noise when faced with stitching like this?

Next problem to solve is the speed.  For some reason, my father and husband keep saying rheostat, the machine has two speeds, off and ZOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM.  More updates soon! 

Sparky Rides Again!

Ok so after over 20 years... Sparky rides again! While I still want to rebuild the original motor I have just ordered and recieved a replacement motor for old Sparks. So today after over 20 years of setting... Sparky sewed a single line. Now remember I ran out of bobbin thread about half way through.