Trying new things.

 Making progress on Block 4.  Houses 1 and 3 are appliqued in position,

 I used to use the overlay method that I learned from Becky Goldsmith & Linda Jenkins books.  Now I favor backbasting.  I use Frixion pens and a lightbox to make the drawings on the back of the fabric. It is hard when the patterns are printed on both sides.  I have been scanning and printing so that I only have one pattern is visible when using the light box.  Unfortunately, my mother's scanner is only letter size so I have to piece this pattern together.

While reverse appliqueing the windows on Block 4, I remembered that I thought I would couch something around the edges of the windows in block 3.  As you can see from the corners of the windows on the bottom story of this house, the loose weave of the fabric started fraying a bit in the corners.  I am hoping the couching will fix the problem.  I tried using my couching foot at first, but that works better for free motion.  The perle I was using wobbled a bit during the stitch out so I switched to my #6 embroidery foot with the hole in the foot.  I always have to think a minute or so about which direction to thread the foot (front to back is correct).  I have this directional confusion learning disability that plagues me every now and again.

This enterprise was interrupted by my mother's request to hem her pants.  She had 2 pairs that were too long. They were both knit...one very light weight and one light weight.  I had to cut them off so I needed to refinish the edge.  I used my overlock foot with a double overlock stitch.  I have tried this before on wovens and not been successful.  On knits it works quite nice.  I then tried to use a twin needle to finish the hem because that was the manufacturer's original look on one of the pairs of pants.  It did not work at all.  I looked like there was a cord between the row of stitching.  I had to unstitch that double row.  Urrgh!! Oh well, try and learn.  I got out my blind hem stitch foot instead.  It worked very well.  The next day I actually got to try out the twin needle again.  My mother was stripping her bed and asked me to lift the mattress so she could change out the bed skirt.  The one on the bed needed repair.  I used the twin needle to reattach the gathered skirt to the nonwoven base fabric.  It worked quite well. I had used a ball point needle in my machine to hem the knit pants and when I went to change the needles back, I found that I had more than one out and about.  Oops.  I did not know what kind or size they were.  I tried to use a handheld magnifying glass to no avail.  Then I tried my phone's camera.  Almost worked.  I went to the app store and found a lighted magnifying glass app.  I was able to figure out that one of the needles was a Schmetz 100/16 (see below) and the other was an Organ 90/14.  I did not want either of them.  I switched to a Superior Titanium the right size for Bottom Line because that is what I wanted to use to couch the Perle.  Back to Block 3.