Temptation

Can't believe it is December. Where did the year go?

The Janome 6600 went in for service before Thanksgiving. Just as I was about to pull out my backup machine, the shop called to say it's ready. Great timing!

Not only does the shop provide excellent service, they also sell new machines and sewing & quilting supplies. I test drove two new machines with wider 11" throats - new Janome Horizon MC8200 and a Bernina (sorry didn't note the model). The Janome fmq'd more smoothly.

Tempting as the new machine was, I came home with my 6600. I can't really justify a new machine. Yet. Might change my mind after wrestling with the next quilt beast. In the meantime I'll finish the year with my fmq quest: samples and smaller ufos. Quest to continue in 2013 with larger works.

Meanwhile, Three 1 and Three 2 are part of the Alameda County Arts Commission Exhibition at the Alameda County Administration Building, 1221 Oak St., Oakland, CA. It opens today and runs until 2/21/2013.

Under the needle

I've been sewing with my Janome sitting atop the Gidget 2 table. Works for piecing. But when machine basting the sandwich, I discovered how much more bulk and weight I had to carry. Never mind the extra bulk and weight already around the middle.

It was time to really make use of the table I got last year. Fiddled with the platform height adjustment for an hour. Not because it was difficult. Because this older woman doesn't get up from the floor so easily. Because this finicky woman was re-engineering the height adjustment mechanism. After adding a second table in back for more support, I was set up.

I've mapped out quilting lines with pencil and paper. I've tested tension with small samples. I got into the groove of fmq. I was ready to start. This will be a lap quilt, so no heavy quilting. A couple of hours, right?

The first block: uneven stitches and uneven tension. > !@#$%^&*()_+! < Unstitched the rest of the first hour.

Off with the fmq foot! On with the walking foot! Oooh! Aaah! Sooo much better! Less fighting. Less tension. Another hour. I've quilted 5 of the 15 blocks. Called it a night, laid my gloves down and let the quilt be.

Caught up with Leah Day

If only in one respect.



For various reasons I stopped making fmq sample patterns in April. Recently I started up again for more practice before tackling an actual project.

fmq foot w/ shank only 

I was making samples when my free motion quilting foot broke - fell apart! It seemed loose a few days ago but I couldn't see anything wrong. Then a plastic chunk fell off the right side. Oh, oh. But still usable so I kept going. Then last night the whole plastic piece fell off, leaving only the metal shank. OH, OH.

sewing machine sisters

I hauled out my 37 y.o. Bernina 830 (the original mechanical one not the new fangled one). No needle down, no needle threader, limited stitch length & width, limited stitches. But I love that machine! It was just been serviced and a couple of motor brushes replaced. Unlike the Janome – it purrs. Hmm, maybe the Janome needs service as well as a new fmq foot. 

Struggled with the different control foot and the toughest filler designs, which I had avoided until now, but I plowed onward. Finally, after midnight, milestone achieved! I have made samples of all of Leah's beginner free-motion filler designs to date!

fmq samples

Many thanks to Leah Day of 365 Days of Free Motion Filler Designs! Without her encouragement and hints, her filler designs and videos, I would have quit long ago. Though I am still no master, I am ready to free motion quilt a project – a first! At only 18x18 it is a good place to start.

Road to recovery

Ever been away from something so long you forget how? After that exhausting August, no problem threading the Janome but mis-threaded the bobbin winder. Twice wound up a tangled mess. Goes to show the last thing learned is the first thing forgotten.

To jump start back into quilting, I took another terrific EBHQ workshop at the end of August. Valerie Goodwin gave map making lessons in Map Maker Make Me a Map. Not quite up to speed so I didn't get very far on either of two maps: first Why-o-Y City
Then a map of the Japanese Tea Garden. Don't see it? What about a bird on the back of a pig?

For another boost of creativity another workshop at the end of September: Painting with Machine Embroidery with Carol Shinn . The room full of sewing machines brought me back to much younger days spent at the sweat shop where my mother worked. Those weren't good times but the drone was soothingly meditative as I free-motion embroidered. First: embroidery over painted canvas which started as a rectangle.

Second: embroidery over iron-on image transfer which created a heavily plasticized surface.

For I used my Bernina 830 - no, not the arm-and-leg one, the original - to sew these. In the weekend between tried this out on my Janome 6600P: What a difference! The old Bernina was so easy to use whereas I really had to study the Janome manual to get the settings right for freemotion.

I tried out a stiff non-woven material - truth be told, weed blocker fabric. The image is a freebie from Dover Publications (sign up for their free weekly samples). It'd probably distort more with additional stitching. See Carol's new book Freestyle Machine Embroidery: Techniques and Inspiration for Fiber Art for more information about the distortion. Or take her workshops - she's a terrific instructor.

But that did it. Once again in the habit of going into my studio from 9 to 11pm. And clear headed enough to make visual decisions.

New to me

Happy New Year! That's not all that's new. I have a new (to me) used Janome 6600P sewing machine.

In 1975 I had time to sew. After many frustrations with a Singer, I bought a new Bernina 830 Record. The original receipt says I paid $730 with $55 off for the Singer as a trade-in. $675 was a lot of money for me then. I made a lot of my own clothes until about 15 years ago when I lost my sewing room and my free time.

Now I am making time for art quilts.

In classes I was eyeing the newer machines. Lighter weight. Needle down. Automatic threader. Speed adjustments. Wider, longer stitches. Start-stop button. Different fancy stitches. Easier faster foot changes.

Not that my ol' girl was letting me down. She still sews well. I’d cleaned and oiled her myself. I took her in for her first service just last year. She got new rubber thang for the bobbin winder and new brushes. Not bad for a 33-year-old sewing machine.

Nevertheless, I felt it was time for a change - an indication of my seriousness about art quilts. Found a used one on Craig's list and brought it home on new year's eve.

I've packed up Bernina. But I'm keeping the ol' gal for classes. I haven't figured out all the bells and whistles on the new machine yet, but am working through the manual and signed up for the yahoo group.

This machine will not change my life or my quilting, but I feel like I have taken my art up another notch. Machisma with a new sewing machine.