Half Moon Modern Possibilities

Sometime ago, I bought a bundle of Half Moon Modern fabrics. They are washed and pressed and awaiting inspiration. For all the reasons I have stated in the past, it is ridiculous to want to use them together, but I do anyway.

Lately, these fabrics have been on my mind. Though I want to do a difficult, time consuming project as my next start, I also want to get these fabrics out of the Fabric Closet and onto a bed or a wall.

https://www.threadbias.com/projects/summer-celebration
https://www.threadbias.com/projects/summer-celebration

Some ideas have been coming my way including this Rusty Avenger pattern, called Summer Celebration.

I like the vertical look. I also like the ribbon effect.

I would use each of the colorways in one ribbon.

The question in my mind is: do I want to just use the fabric or do I want to use the fabric in a quilt that will matter? Is it possible that a quilt using the Half moon Modern fabrics will matter regardless of the design? Or will it be another flash in the pan?

Half Moon Mod Possibility 2
Half Moon Mod Possibility 2

I also saw this pattern, Raising the Bar,  in Quilts and More, Spring 2014 magazine. I was reading in an orgy of quilt indulgence one evening while I waited for the Young Man. It is by Sheila Sinclair Snyder. I really like it for a couple of reasons:

  1. I think it shows off the fabric
  2. It isn’t difficult, but it also isn’t boring
  3. Except for the border I could easily resize it to accommodate more or less fabric
  4. I really like the border, which I think makes the quilt more interesting

The issue is that someone has already made this quilt. I don’t need to make a quilt that someone else has made. I showed the pattern to TFQ and she said that it would look great scrappy. The rectangles remind me of FOTY 2008.

This whole question makes me think about whether designing from fabric first or pattern first or block first is correct. I don’t think there is a correct answer. I seem to start from different places depending. Is there something more difficult about starting from a group of fabrics? What do you think?

Creative Prompt #264: Hotel

Ladies Night at Finbar’s Hotel by Maeve Binchy et al

Hotel California by the Eagles

Finbar’s Hotel by Dermot Bolger

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

hotel room

cheap hotel

hotel booking

hotel reservations

The Grand Hotel (1932 movie)

Definition: “A hotel is an establishment that provides lodging paid on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities[citation needed], including en-suite bathrooms and air conditioning or climate control. Additional common features found in hotel rooms are a telephone, an alarm clock, a television, a safe, a mini-bar with snack foods and drinks, and facilities for making tea and coffee. Luxury features include bathrobes and slippers, a pillow menu, twin-sink vanities, and jacuzzi bathtubs. Larger hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a swimming pool, fitness center, business center, childcare, conference facilities and social function services.

Hotel rooms are usually numbered (or named in some smaller hotels and B&Bs) to allow guests to identify their room. Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In the United Kingdom, a hotel is required by law to serve food and drinks to all guests within certain stated hours. In Japan, capsule hotels provide a minimized amount of room space and shared facilities.” (Wikipedia)

lodging establishment

hoteling

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011 movie)

inn

Savoy Hotel

boutique hotels

extended stay hotels

Hotel management

Library Hotel (NYC)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014 movie)

coaching inns

Disneyland Hotel

Hotel Transylvania (movie)

Hotel Books is an expression of spirit conveyed through spoken-word poetry and ambient music

Heartbreak Hotel

 

Current Projects – June 2014

Six quilts finished this year already! Not the same as last year, but respectable.

As I look at these lists, I can hardly believe that some of the projects, which I now think of as old, were not even on the first list I made. Crazy.

Finished 2014 Quilt Projects

  1. Disappearing Pinwheel: Finished May 30, 2014
  2. Fabric of the Year 2012: Finished 4/24/2014
  3. Fresh Fruit: Finished May 3/3/2014
  4. Infinity Quilt: Finished 3/3/2014
  5. Scrapitude: Finished 6/3/2014
  6. Spiderweb: Finished 2/22/2014 WHEW!

Finished 2014 non-Quilt Projects

Still WIPs

  1. Aqua-Red Sampler – Frances and I are back at it regularly and I give Frances full credit as I have been letting her “drive the bus.” I did work on the hexagon tutorial as promised. It is ready to post, but I could have taken a few more photos and might still do that. If you look at it and think there are a paltry number of photos, check back.
  2. The Tarts Come to Tea: I still haven’t worked on this since April 2011, though, periodically, I think about working on it.
  3. Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. I still haven’t worked on this, though, I did find a bunch of squares already made. That makes me hopeful.
  4. Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. I like the piece, but don’t know where to go from where I am. Mouth? Hair? The attitude I need to have is that I can’t ruin it; there is always more fabric. Possibility for abandonment.
  5. Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much. Possibility for abandonment. I have to face reality.

Ready for Quilting

Wow! Everything on this list is new.

  1. New:* Wonky 9 Patch: needs quilting and binding. I got some batting from Kelly for this since I am thinking about quilting this myself. (Not on original list)
  2. New:* Super Secret Project #4: at the quilter

In the Finishing Process

  1. See: I have quilted about a third of it, so 2/3 needs to be quilted. Needs facing and sleeve
  2. Flower Sugar Hexagon / Attack of the Hexies – Sewing on binding.
  3. New:*Star Sampler: Quilting finished and binding machine sewed on the front. I have to go pick it up and sew the binding down by hand (not on original list)

In Process
I decided that I had better put in an ‘In Process’ category. The difference, at least in my mind, between ‘In Process’ and ‘UFO’ is that I am actively working on a project that is “In Process.”

Hunting and Gathering

  • Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
  • Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
  • Stepping Stones #2 using Bonnie & Camille fabrics Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern: made two test blocks, but still in the thinking stage while I decide on the background colors. I want the contrast to be good.
  • Super Secret Project #3: working on color choices.
  • FOTY 2014: cutting out 3″x5″ rectangles.

Abandoned

Nothing so far for 2014

You can find the last update for the Current Projects list provides a good comparison to this month.

I thought you might want to take a look at the first list I made, the one with the 26 Projects. I started the list in October 2011. I have made REALLY GOOD progress. Up until last month, I was still planning to stop this post when I had no more projects from the original list to write about, but now, that the end is in sight, I am not so sure. It is so useful to keep track of all of my projects. Since I still have some pretty old projects on the list, I don’t have to decide right now.

*New – Project started after I started working on the 26 Projects list

Amanda Jane 7 Pocket Work Apron

These had been on my list for a long time. I bought this pattern and two kits when we were on the North Coast in February. Making the aprons, which I think of as Cafe’ Aprons, has been on my list since then. I had washed and ironed the fabric and then moved the fabric carefully around my workroom for a couple of months. I finally got myself together to make them last week. I think my list, which has seen little movement in recent months, has been nudging me.

Apron Pattern
Apron Pattern

The pattern is on a little card, about the size of a postcard. I like the marketing idea, especially when I see a variety of these Villa Rosa Designs cards in stores on a rack. They are like candy and I want to buy 12. The idea is genius – one card, one project. Clever. Cheap possibilities. The size of the card, however, in terms of following the directions makes it very hard to read. I guess I am getting old, but I was squinting at the directions quite a bit.

The size also does not allow for very much explanation and several times I had to sit down, read the directions over and over, a little at a time, imagining the steps in my mind before I could take the next step. I can’t blame it completely on the size of the card. I am bad at following directions. This was especially true for the tie. Once I understood the directions, it was simple, but a photo would have been very helpful.

I see, now, also in small print, that Boutique Patterns has posted a page of tips and tricks regarding this pattern. The straps are covered on this page, so I should have looked; it would have been helpful. Once I figured out the straps, I liked the way they were attached to the apron.

As an aside, I liked how they show the apron, as made from the directions, looks on two different sized models. If I were making it for a more statuesque friend, I would definitely make the Apron front and backs taller than 13″ called for in the directions.

Bright Cafe' Apron
Bright Cafe’ Apron

When I finally made them I made three, one right after the other. I like to get accessories like this right and the only way I can do it is to go over the steps in fabric until I have the process down in my mind. I bought the kits to make a couple of gifts and the first one didn’t come out well, because I missed a crucial part of the pattern. I don’t think I want to give it as a gift, but we will see.

Little Black Dress 2 Cafe' Apron
Little Black Dress 2 Cafe’ Apron

I think that this is a fairly easy pattern to modify slightly, as described above or in terms of pockets. I thought the small horizontal pocket was kind of a dumb size so I made it larger. I also didn’t hem the pockets, but doubled them in size, folded the fabric in half and sewed them closed. This made each pocket fully lined. That kind of pocket is easier to make than doing the hems. Less chance of burning my fingers on the iron, too. I thought that not having the wrong side of the fabric showing and having everything fully lined made the apron nicer.

Little Black Dress Cafe' Apron
Little Black Dress Cafe’ Apron

I wasn’t that happy with the kits I bought. I loved the fabric, of course, but there wasn’t enough for the Apron back and the fabric for the large pocket was not wide enough. Fortunately, I have plenty of fabric around and was able to fill in the gaps. It could be that this was explained to me when I bought the kits and I forgot.

I think this apron would be a nice quick gift for quilt or cooking friends. It is more of a work apron than a hostess apron, but would work for a variety of crafts as well as not-too-messy-cooking.

 

Thinking About Bags

You might have read my final analysis on making the second Petrillo Bag.  I carried that bag around for several days and doing so made me think about making bags to actually carry around.

You have probably noticed that I make a lot of bags. Mostly I give them away. There are only a few (Springy bag, Jane Market totes) that I actually carry around. Part of that is that I am one person and one person only needs so many bags. Still, I do like to make them.

As I have said in the past, I carry a bunch of stuff with me to work in a bag on public transport. The bags have to be sturdy, have lots of pockets, be on the large side and relatively stain resistant. The bags I carry to work have been Timbuktu bags for the past several years. They work but they aren’t perfect. They are large enough, have enough pockets, but they look like everyone else’s bag.  Also, I am kind of over the backpack thing with my work clothes.

When I made the Petrillo Bag, I did so because I liked the shape, mostly.

In the case of making the bag, I don’t have control over the finish, but I can choose the colors and pattern. I probably have an equal, if different, amount of control over color the as I do if I bought a bag in the store.

Using the ShapeFlex plus layers of fabric plus interfacing. That is a lot of layers to go through and my backup machine wasn’t happy. I could make a better, sturdier bag if I had a tougher machine, perhaps an industrial machine or pseudo industrial machine. There is no way I am even going to consider buying an industrial machine, but I still want to make bags. I may never do it, but there is a place where you can go and rent table saws and welding things…Tech something. They have industrial machines there. Perhaps I will go and see if I can use theirs.

I worry most about setting the bag in something and not being able to get the stain out or having the stain leak through the bag. I like my bags nice and when you take public transport, it is hard to keep things nice. This is why Sheldon has ‘bus pants.’ I tried using the fusible laminating stuff on the Scrap Lab Backpack and that worked OK. It isn’t like using regular oilcloth. I suppose I could just make a new bag if the old one got stained or boring…

Do you use bags you make?

Do you worry about staining them or ruining them?

What do you carry to work?

 

BFSI Question #2 Review

This is the last of the BFSI questions. Question #2 had to do with things that Lark Crafts wants to know about their craft books and future craft books. The original question asked:

  • What type of quilting book would you like to see on the market that’s not already out there?
  • If you could publish your “dream” book on quilting, what would it cover? How would it be set up, etc? In other words, what would be most helpful to them?

If you do another kind of craft, you can answer the same question, just substitute your craft (knit, crochet, stuffies, etc) for quilt.

Question#2-1
What type of quilting book would you like to see on the market that’s not already out there?

Frankly, I would love to see a book called Very Hard Quilts and I would appreciate it being filled with difficult patterns, perhaps from some of the Kansas City Star quilt patterns that you never see even with the boldness of the modern quilters. A few years ago, Julie and I did a little test on a block called the Snowball Wreath. The pictures in the newspaper article show crazy templates. I have never seen a quilt made from this block, but it still haunts me. I want to do something with this block.

Kati R said “I’d like to see some more ideas on secondary patterns. I know there are some books out there, but most of them focus on beginners. Also I’d like to see one that teaches all the hand embroidery stitches which I’d love to learn.” I wonder if Kati has seen my book review of Stitched Blooms by Carina Envoldsen-Harris

Polly suggested “I’m a newer quilter, so there may be a book on this…but I haven’t found it yet. I need a book that tells how to DESIGN quilts. And it would need to include the elusive quilt math.   Yes, that is the type of book that I want now. A start to finish quilt designing book!”

Pam would like “… more on two-block quilts, which I think is in the same vein as Kati’s design book request. The Easy Street mystery that Bonnie Hunter did last year is a great example.”

Kelly wrote that she “… would love to see a book that lets me follow one quilter’s progress over several years. So I can see that what they are doing “now” (that is totally amazing to me) is achievable. Kind of like a five- to ten-year old blog in book form. lol

I think it would give me hope that I could make incredible quilts, and that it’s a journey. That the person I admire had some uh-oh moments, and maybe even an “ugly” quilt or two, before they really found their quilting voice.

Ohhhhh, or a quilt coloring book. Lots of pages of b/w line drawings that I could color in, cut out if I wanted, and just play. Maybe clear plastic/vinyl sheets in between pages so I could practice quilt designs, too!

Pretty sure my “dream” quilt book would be written by many authors and made up of several volumes — right now I’d love to be using the volume on ‘color and design’ — hmmmm. Maybe I’m describing the internet….lol”

Daisy Wreath had a great idea. She said “I definitely agree with the coloring book suggestion! I’d love to have an encyclopedia of blocks with a CD so I could print out scaled-down blocks and color them in.

I also wish there were more technique-focused books out there. It seems like there’s a much greater percentage of books out there that focus on entire quilt patterns. I’d love to find more books that teach a technique in detail and show different ways of applying it in a design…”

Diane (DDR Quilter) said “There are many new quilters coming into the quilting fold. I’d like to see a book of step by step photographic tutorials for quilt basics like making flying geese, etc. The internet is a wonderful resource full of many resources, but I think for many, a photographic resource book for certain basics could be a winner. My dream book would be one which discusses, depicts diversity of handwork. It would include such things as hand piecing, hand quilting with differentt threads, making and using hexagons , hand appliqué., embroidery., etc. Again, this would be a resource book with photographic or pictorial tutorials. Btw, I like all of the above comments. We all deserve to win. Whatever you bring to us, Lark Books, please keep on publishing books, real books!”

Question#2-2
If you could publish your “dream” book on quilting, what would it cover? How would it be set up, etc? In other words, what would be most helpful to them?

  • From me: spiral binding, index – a very detailed index, lots of photos or drawings
  • From Diane (DDR Quilter) – pictorial tutorials (pictorial or photographic)

What do you think? Has anything come to mind since I asked this question last Fall?

FOTY 2013 Even Better Progress

FOTY 2013: Mid-Late June 2014
FOTY 2013: Mid-Late June 2014

I am not ready to piece yet, but I am so much farther along than I was when I last checked in.

I know a number of you liked the falling water/color gradation effect, but process wins and it wasn’t working for me.

This is so much better. I couldn’t have done it without the work I did on the first version. I did extensive sorting of the colors, as you may have noticed if you enlarged the photos and looked carefully. I expect that most of you didn’t have time and will just take my word for it.

The extensive sorting that I did really helped me leap frog over the preliminary shuffling that I have done in the past. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future.

I still have a lot of work to do, but I am feeling better about the piece.

Previous Posts that Might be of Interest:

Ann Grundler Works in Progress

As you know, I am all about process. Well, I try to be all about process, but I do like finishing things.

Ann is also a member of EBHQ, but we haven’t met in person. Back in March, I posted a photo of a quilt by Ann Grundler. Kelly and I admired her quilt at the EBHQ show.

I contacted her to get her permission and we have had a few emails back and forth. Mostly, Ann has shared her work, but she reads my blog diligently, which, I guess, counts as me sharing my work as well.  😉 I have not been as good a correspondent due to other commitments. Not just Ann, but others with whom I correspond have been neglected as well.

Ann Grundler Triptych
Ann Grundler Triptych

While I was in Vancouver last week, Ann sent me a photo of a hand dyed triptych on which she is working. I am very pleased to share it here with you.

Ann writes “These are two 90” dyed panels now growing into a three panel wall hanging with skinny lines. The piecing of the center and bottom left panel is more or less completed.”

There is a real sense of dimensionality in this piece and I wonder if it is actually 3D? The center panel looks like a sunset shining behind a forest.

Ann also makes jewelry! What a talented woman!

Ann does not have a blog, but says that you can Google her and look at her Google+ and Picasa profiles.

Creative Prompt #263: Market

Farmer’s Market

Heading to the market

MarketBar

Whole Foods Market

MarketWatch

Marketing

Marketplace

Stock market

Definition (one of many): “A market, or marketplace, is a regular gathering of people for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods.[1] In different parts of the world they may be referred to as a souk (from the Arabic), bazaar (from the Persian), a fixed mercado (Spanish) or itinerant tianguis (Mexico), or palengke (Philippines).” (Wikipedia)

One Market Restaurant

Market Street

On the market

Square Market

Guerilla marketing

marketing

market basket

Android market

world market

market day

marketing strategy

Internet Marketing expert

digital marketing

global markets

Boston Market

Flower market

Lancaster Central Market

Etsy

market leader

flea market

Writer’s Market

Spice Market

Common Market

Young’s Market Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Market or The Market may refer to:

Media

Types of markets

Aspects of markets

Physical locations of markets

Specific physical markets

See also

 

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Viewing the San Mateo County Fair Quilts

As I mentioned, I went to the county fair last week. When is yours? Have you gone? Have you entered?

I decided to take photos only of quilts I really liked or quilts which inspired me in some way. I still took about 100 photos total. I am not going to share all of them here, but my upload them to Flickr at some point.

Zebras at the Watering Hole by Elaine Lindsay, San Carlos
Zebras at the Watering Hole by Elaine Lindsay, San Carlos

One of the first quilts, after I found my winner, to catch my attention was a quilt with a round motif. I found out, from a fellow quiltmaker also looking at the quilts, that this was a class held at the Peninsula Quilters Guild and the technique was called Circle Pizazz. There is a book on the style by Judy Sisneros and she has templates for sale on her website to make the process easier. I got the impression that there was a bundle of the book and the templates, but I don’t see it anywhere.

There were a number of these quilts. I often get annoyed when I see duplicates, but I was intrigued this time by the differences in them. I was pleased to see the effect when different fabrics were used. This was an example of the power of quiltmaking: same pattern, completely different quilts.

Elaine Lindsay’s (above) was one of my favorites, if not my absolute favorite. The turquoise with the black on white and white on black fabrics is very striking.

Leila Sigler, Palomar Park
Circles, Leila Sigler, Palomar Park
Circles, Leila Sigler, Palomar Park
Circles, Leila Sigler, Palomar Park

The indigo version is wonderful as well. It looks like it is constructed slightly differently,  but it could be that the fabrics are so different that it just looks like it is constructed in a different way.

I admire the indigo fabrics for a lot of reasons, but have never wanted to collect them. I saw this quilt and immediately thought of TFQ and her collection of indigos. It also made me think that if I had a collection that would make this quilt, it would be a good use of the fabrics. However, it has been done, so why bother?

I have to say that part of the attraction of this quilt is that Sigler did not add a bunch of other fabrics in. She kept the choices simple and that creates an elegance.

The other thing I thought when I first saw these quilts is that they look like my Flowering Snowball.

I am also really glad to see people make quilts that have more difficult patterns. I think it is great and adds a lot more variety to quilt shows.

By Zan Murzelloe, San Jose
By Zan Murzelloe, San Jose

I thought this baking/kitchen applique’ quilt was quite whimsical. I also liked the colors. I thought they were nice and soft, but the red and orange add some punch to keep it from being boring.

I went straight to the quilts when we arrived and told the boys they could wander off, if they wanted. My nephew surprised me, and, I think, my son, by wanting to stay and look at the quilts for a bit. It was an interesting and enlightening experience. It was good to get an idea of what he likes, which was not at all what I thought he would like.

Lone Star by Rosalie Applebaum of Menlo Park
Lone Star by Rosalie Applebaum of Menlo Park

The black and white quilts attracted his attention. I think part of his interest may have been the pattern. One that interested him was a Stack-n-Whack in black and whites. He also liked the Lone Star by Rosalie Applebaum of Menlo Park. I guess when his turn comes up in the Niece-phews series, I’ll think about making him a black and white quilt.

There were a lot of great quilts at the show.  I encourage you to visit your local county fair and local quilt shows and see what people are making. There will be a lot more appreciation if we encourage each other in this way.

 

FOTY 2013 Better Progress

FOTY 2013 Mid-June Progress
FOTY 2013 Mid-June Progress

I know many of you liked the progress I was making on FOTY 2013. I didn’t like it, so I talked to Maureen and her son and started over.

This project is killing me and I have to get it done. I have to get it done for my own piece of mind. I also want to get it done, but the other layout was not achieving the goal I wanted to achieve. I was having a hard time gradating the colors horizontally and thought that I would need too much background.

I also didn’t want to do the same thing as FOTY 2012 despite the success of that quilt. I don’t want to do the same thing over and over.

Maureen and Andy suggested starting in the middle. I went home and started, which is what you see in the picture, and I feel like the process is going a lot better.

 

Finished: Scrapitude

I finished Scrapitude. Yay!

Scrapitude Carnivale Finished
Scrapitude Carnivale Finished

The most I had to do was the binding after Colleen quilted it. The fabric I used for the binding is okay and it was a lot easier to needle than the fabric around the edge of FOTY 2012.

We had some trouble photographing it as the thing is a BEAST so you can see parts of two chairs in the photo. Sorry about that.

Finished: Scrapitude Back
Finished: Scrapitude Back

Not comments on the back this time from the quilt holders. Oh well.

Petrillo Bag #2 Put to the Test

Petrillo Bag in Action
Petrillo Bag in Action

I finished the Poppy Petrillo Bag on June 6, 2014, then immediately left town with it for a conference. I had about a gazillion things to do that day, but managed a few minutes to finish the bag. I wanted to take it with me, because my Sherpani carry-on is too heavy and the straps are not that comfortable. It helps if I don’t bring everything I own, but let’s set that aside for a moment.

As I told you the other day, I made some changes to the bag to make it better to actually use. I liked using this bag, especially with the changes. I liked the straps, the size and the weight. It still isn’t the perfect bag, but it was really a good bag. It is lightweight and it fit well under the airplane seat, it was comfortable to carry and held the right amount of stuff. I also really like the shape.

I think there are other things the bag needs. More pockets for one and at least one outside pocket for a water bottle (or soda, if you drink soda) and the conference program. Given Sara’s excellent and stylish design of the bag, I am not sure it is possible to make all the changes I require.

I am not ready to give up, however. Stay tuned.

We Have a Winner!

Fresh Fruit: San Mateo County Fair 2014
Fresh Fruit: San Mateo County Fair 2014

I visited the county fair last week to see the quilts and eat a frozen chocolate covered banana. Why else would I go? 😉

I was pleased to see I had another winner!

Fresh Fruit got an Honorable Mention. Nothing like the bonanza last year, but respectable nonetheless. It is certainly nice to win.

The Whole Cloth Quilt got nothing. 🙁

I am happy that Fresh Fruit is a winner, but also irritated. As I told you, it is a pattern e.g. not an original design, like the Whole Cloth Quilt. I used the same fabric as the designer used int he magazine picture. There was very little that was original in that quilt, unlike the Whole Cloth Quilt, which was completely original.

Silly Boys: Fresh Fruit: San Mateo County Fair 2014
Silly Boys: Fresh Fruit: San Mateo County Fair 2014

As they did last year, I had the boys make a fuss over my quilt, mostly because they are so hilarious.

Sewing Machine Saga Continues

After Grand Parlor, I went back to Serge-a-Lot to get my 9k and brought it home, hopefully to use peacefully for the next 5 years.

Sigh.

I turned it on and it sewed great, but the screen was very faint. This machine uses a touch screen and you might remember that, a few years ago, the touch portion stopped working and I had the touch screen replaced. Looking up the dates made me realize that it was over 6 years ago and while the first screen lasted 14 years, perhaps 6 years isn’t too bad for the second screen.

It doesn’t really matter, though, because a new screen cannot be purchased. They are no longer available from Janome.

I am not sure what I am going to do. What I am not going to do is buy is a Janome 15K, which I covet. I have to face reality that I just don’t use the embroidery module. I admire Katie’s “in the hoop” projects, but just don’t think I will do them enough to justify the expense. After all, I don’t have an Etsy store or anything.

A friend had many problems with the Janome 7700 and the reviews have been scalding. That is the type of machine I am looking at, however, if I decide to buy a new machine. I saw a review of the Janome 8900 at Diary of a Sewing Fanatic that got my hopes up for that model. I don’t know if they still make it.

The part of the this whole saga that is really depressing is all the accessories I have for the 9K: Sew Steady table, sewing table insert, hoops, embroidery cards, templates, etc. Bleah!

I have to think about what I want to do.

  • Have you bought a machine recently? What kind?
  • What features do you like on your machine (new or not)
  • What do you really use on your machine?