Birch - Koivu - Betula (free chart)

WOW!!! This week is going to be FreebieWeek in MyBlog! I am going to design something connected to Finland for You all MyDearReaders! I also plan to design low cost projects so money is not a problem to make these FreebieWeek designs come true for yourself or as a gift.

This my own birch design could do just fine as a pen case, beauty bag or what ever comes into your mind. You need just 3 shades: black and 2 DMC Variegated shades. Calculated amount for green (DMC 125) is 11 meters but buy just 1 floss to see is it enough. The design is quite small so perhaps you can find 14 Count Aida from your left over box. See The Conversion Chart to find out which other fabric match with Aida 14 Count.

Why Birch design? Well, birch is a common tree in Finland. It has been a holy tree. It has been used in many ways during the years. Silver birch is Finland's national tree. There are enough reasons for Birch stitching!

Little Sheeps (free chart)

Let these Little Sheeps bound into your heart. You can find Madeira Lana tutorial here if you are not sure how to work with it. This is -of course- my own design.

More machines

Today I had guests...

...it is old sewing machine, as you can see.

It was here to cheer up a bit. 

And here's one more old sewing machine from 1920's. It is Husqvarna Central Bobbin treadle sewing machine. At the moment it is at the sewing machine service. I took Her there when taking Anne home. This machine has suffered a lot but its inside should be OK. After the service all the wooden parts will be fixed and on one day the cabinet will look just fine again. This is actually YoungLady's sewing machine She got from Granny.

CoffeeBagPatchWork

Today's upcycling sewing started with my own design work and reading old manual of Anne. 

The manual is very useful, despite it is very old...

...and have faced damages.

Sewing went fine and Anne was very happy to have bag for Her manual. Anyway I could have picked up easier material for my first project with Her.

But Anne didn't mind. She was born in Sweden and dragged to rural Finland on the time when coffee was not everyday issue to drink even  more often than pure water! So I made bag for Her manual from old coffee bags I had saved for my crafts. (As long as I breath in MyHouse is served FairTrade and organic coffee.)

Anne was very kind, happy and hard working despite the material was new to Her.

The shades of upcycled coffee bags fit so well to Anne's shads. Don't you think so too?

Into the bag I put Her manual, transmission list from Her service (to remember what all was done to Her and when) and some fabric for test sewing moments. The bag I placed in the cabinet with Anne. I heard Her humming with satisfaction. Despite the coffee bags are washed they still have the scent of good dark coffee. Hopefully the scent will fill up the cabinet and She will have cheerful coffee scented moments in Her cabinet. She has come to life!

SergerCare

I have talked a lot about Helga but only now I realized you have not seen proper pic of Her. She is Husqvarna Viking Hyskystar E20. I can not remember for sure when I got Helga because the dramatic lost of Poor Iris was so overwhelming that exact dates got lost in my mind. Anyway She is hardly 10 years old. As you know I have not been as satisfied with Her as I was with Poor Iris. But for some reason since Helga heard about Anne of Green Gables She has been doing so much better.

Today Husqvarna Viking sells My Hyskystar is H Class E20 machine but it seems to be the same; a bit improved model I guess.

I have also a serger. He is BrotherLock 929D. He doesn't have any special name because "brother" means "veli" in Finnish. And "veli" is actually official first name used in Finland. So we call Him just Brother. :) He is old too; about 15 years. He too has been hard working but during the past two years He has started to think about the retirement.

I like Him a lot and He is easy to use. I have been a bit sad when thinking about letting Him go.

Once more I tried to cheer Him up by dusting, proper cleaning & oiling.

For the first time we ended up opening Him all naked. Don't try this at home if you are not sure what to do. Opening the covers fades away the warranty. I do this only when MyMachines are too old for the warranty.

I was happy to notice there was no dust inside. It proves I have been taking good care of Him. But we oiled all the moving parts which contact another part. And TheMiracle really happened. Today He sounds like a young virile man!

Today I am very happy with MyMachies. Now when I got my first ever treadle sewing machine Anne of Green Gables with Her strong power, managed to tempt Helga to continue Her career and rose up Brother's manpower back to its magnificent level; I can do what ever I desire... in sewing! Not to mention about saving about 600€ when I didn't need to buy new machines. The service of Anne cost 70€. I needed to drive to Arctic Circle to get Her home but I was smart and arranged it to happen on our Theater Night so it didn't cause me any extra cost because we anyway had drove there and back. (She got in the service car in MyCity Kemi.)