Today's Purchases

I went shopping for fabric for the Fiesta quilt today.  Usually I do my own color scheme but this demanded the exact same colors.  I went to JoAnn Fabrics and found nothing I wanted.  My mistake was going to Hancock Fabrics a couple of blocks down.  Keep reading and you'll find out why.

I actually found the right fabric!  Usually they don't have anything.  It's extremely bold for my taste, but it should work against the black background.  The flash made the colors look a little different but you should get the idea.

Then I made a huge mistake of walking by the Bernina shop.  They had those baby Go! cutters and I took a look.  I could see the advantages of having a small one, especially for the small dies.  The Bernina lady and I started talking about it and that brought up my "Block Of Sharon" die.  I bought the book back in August that works with this die and figured I'd get around to it eventually.  The lady mentioned that there was embroidery software that was made for the quilt and she showed me the blocks she had made.

They were absolutely gorgeous.  I was almost tempted until I took a look at how the embroidery designs worked.  You put the fabric on, the machine stitches an outline of the design, you cut around those lines and then the machine does a blanket stitch.  You now have frayed edges and even with fusible webbing, it wouldn't really be that pretty.  It's a shame since it would aid in finishing the quilt that much faster.

As I walked around the corner, I noticed Bernina has come out with a new line of machines called the 3 Series.  I played with one for a few minutes and realized these were some of the ugliest machines ever made.   They looked cheap and reminded me of a KitchenAid mixer or a toaster.  It seemed to belong sitting on my kitchen counter instead of on my table.  They are replacing the Activa line with these machines.  I'd take the Activa in a heartbeat instead of that.  So...

I got one.  

It was too good of a deal to pass up as they were clearing them out.  I've wanted a small piecing machine for some time and for taking to classes.  What I forgot about was it doesn't come with scissors.  I keep looking for the button as I've been so spoiled.  Bernina has never gotten around to adding that feature to their lines and it's too bad.  Even some of the basic machines on other brands have them.

I swore I'd never own a Bernina after the experiences I had years ago, but this was too good to pass up.  Hopefully this experience will be better.