The Sewing Mom

As you know, I spent weekend before last at the Quilt Festival in Cincinnati. If you’ve ever been to a Quilt show, you know there are probably more vendors than quilts, and Cincinnati was certainly no exception. I was pretty good sticking with my budget. I purchased a couple of small kits and just a little bit of pre-cut fabric. Of course, knowing that whatever I bought had to fit in my suitcase helped too!

However, on the very last day of the festival, in fact, in the very final hour before it closed, I bought myself a new toy. Now, keep in mind, I’d been shopping for this particular toy for almost 2 years, and wanting it for even longer. I all ready have a similar toy, bigger though and heavier, but my current model didn’t have a couple of features that this one did. And, when they quoted me the price with the “show special”, it was about 1/3 of what the model I had been looking at would cost me, so, a HUGE savings!

This particular model of Janome has 2 features that impressed me a lot and that my other machine does not have. The first is the automatic scissor cutter. This means, when I get to a stopping point, I can simply push the button and the machine snips the threads for me. When I’m ready to start again, it just moves right on along. This is a huge time saver when piecing quilts. The 2nd feature, something I’d never seen before, was a pressure foot adjustment. This means that I can actually change the way the presser foot is holding down the fabric as it is moving under the needle. This can be a big help when working with multiple layers of fabrics or even different types of fabrics.

The rest of the features are all pretty similar to my other machine, a Viking, although my older machine is also an embroidery machine. This new one sews so smooth and is so much quieter when it’s running. It’s also light weight so will be much easier to take to classes or to travel with.

I’ve all ready started a project, a kit I purchased at the festival in Cincinnati. This contains the smallest pieces I’ve ever worked with, some of the strips are only 1 inch wide, less now that I’ve sewn them together. This photo is of the first completed block, it’s a bit wonky, but I’m hoping it will all look right when I get done!