New Addition! I Did It!

I did it! I got brave and did it! I now own an embroidery machine! I got a Janome 350e today. The dealer was SO wonderful to work with. He answered all my questions and was really honest with me. So...Here she/he is:


I know most people name their machines but haven't come up with one for this one yet. However; I haven't named it "Frustrating" LOL.

My biggest concern was that I am easily frustrated and worried about not liking the machine after I bought it. He was honest and said that I will get frustrated. It won't always work the way you want it to and I will screw up the designs. BUT..it was okay if I did. Sigh. Finally. Someone who doesn't say, "Oh..this machine is the best machine out there. You won't have any problems with it. Ever." Ummm..yeah.

He didn't try to sell me extra stuff. In fact he discouraged it until I was more proficient with the machine. He said to try the built in designs and learn from them. He explained stabilizers and the hoops. I just bought the machine, some stabilizers (not the rolls..just some packages), a starter set of thread (beautiful colors), needles, and a machine embroidery book. He threw in most of the stuff for free so that was nice. I paid half price for the book too.

He didn't have the software but said I got 10% discount with every class I took so I'd get the software and clothsetter then.

I brought my 6600 in and he got my bobbin winder to work much better.

Okay...here it is..my first ever embroidery thingy:



The only problem I had was the thread kept falling off the spool when it was unwinding. It got caught under the spool and messed up the design. If you can't find it, even better. LOL. I don't know if I described the problem right to the dealer as he was lost. He said to bring the machine in as it shouldn't do that. I think it's just I probably don't have the thread in right. I just held the thread lightly as it went through the first guide so it had the right tension. Everything else went perfect. Wow..that's a first for me. I figured it would start eating fabric or making a huge mess.

My girls went nuts over the butterfly. They each wanted one on their shirts and some down their jeans. Sigh. I've created a monster now. They were loving all the built in designs and wanted me to make more. The butterfly took 20 minutes to stitch out. I'm tired.

The machine has automatic thread cutters which I LOVE. It's so easy to change threads that way. I love that I can hit the stop button if I notice there's a mistake or just need to stop it. It starts right up where it left off. You can even move the needle back some or forward if needed to work with the design.

It does have a USB port so I can transfer designs from the computer.

It has a touch screen as well. Really cool and easy to use. That's always nice. Even the manual was user friendly.

Machine Embroidery And Janome Lesson

Sigh. Never go into a sewing machine dealer and just look. *homerdrools* She showed me a Janome embroidery machine that I think I want. It's the 350E. Now, I've never done machine embroidery but always admired it from a distance. They had a quilt that was machine embroidered that was stunning. *really homerdrools* That didn't help either. I just stood there and admired it.

I had my lesson and it is me. She showed me how to work with the seams so that the machine doesn't choke up when I get to one. She showed me how to pin fabric together so that your machine works with it. Yeah..there is a trick to that pinning. Most of all she told me to RELAX. The machine isn't going to break and the more tense you get the harder you push down on the pedal. That starts an endless cycle. Because you push down on the pedal when you tense up, lower the speed. I have generalized anxiety disorder, relaxing is something I don't do very well. Add in bipolar frustration and it can be a nasty mix.

Now..I was told that Mode 2 #13 was the piecing stitch. She said it was for using the decorative stitches and I should use Mode 1 #1 stitch. You can use it for piecing, but said because the stitches were so small, going over seams would be really difficult because the fabric isn't moving as fast. The machine gets hung up on the bulk and stalls out. Hmmm.

Machine Embroidery Questions

Okay..anyone ever used the Janome 350 embroidery machine? Is machine embroidery worth it? I just see dollar signs. You have to buy the cards (aren't cheap), threads that match the designs, and stabilizers. This one has a USB card port as well. My computer sits next to my sewing machine so if I needed to use it, I could. I know the cards came in collections but what if I wanted the butteryfly from collection A and the roses from collection B? Ouch on price. What if I only use that card a couple of times and never use it again? That's a waste. She said that it would be expensive to get started but would even out over time. I appreciated her honesty on that. Of course she said she'd give me a package deal. LOL

I hate to spend the money and find out I hate machine embroidery. All you do is sit there and watch the machine and change out threads. Would that get old? She did tell me how to do jeans. You open up the side and do it. And..everyone knows that I get FRUSTRATED so easily. I can't just go up to Omaha every time I get stuck.

Back to work on these blocks. I took apart the ones that had pleats and have redone them. I hope to get the rest done today.

*Edited* It works!!!! My machine isn't possessed! At least for now it isn't. The pinning was so easy! Starting with the needle down means my thread doesn't come undone from the hook thingy. Slowing down the speed has helped too. Pinning more (now that I know how to do it) has made my seams more accurate.

Being self taught and living in the middle of nowhere Nebraska makes quilting difficult sometimes. You know you are doing something wrong, but can't figure it out.

*Another edit* I figured out why my thread is coming out of my take up thingy! It gets caught under the handle and jams! Not sure why yet, but at least I know what is going on.

DVD Steelbook Quilts

Hubby was so excited. He got more steelbook DVDs in the mail and laid them out to admire them. LOL. He said "See, I can make a quilt too!" *rolls eyes* Then he says excitedly, "3 more and I have a whole quilt!" ROTFLOL





I had no idea he had this many. Most come from Futureshop, a store in Canada from someone on Ebay.

I made his day when I did a search for "steelbook" in the Ebay search. I found him the "Indiana Jones" trilogy steelbook for pre-order. He was dancing around so excited.

"I never thought of looking that way for them. I just put in titles to see if they had one", he said.

*sigh* This is the man who can find DVDs for ridiculously low prices yet can't search for them in Ebay??

He's now looking for the last X-men movie steelbook because, "It has claw marks from Wolverine etched into the box!!!" It's only found in the Futureshop stores who can't or won't send items out of Canada. (Idiots) The last copy he found went for almost 300 dollars on Ebay the other day. All this for a metal box with claw marks on it.

Finished Cathedral Windows Top

It's done!! I still have some blanket stitching around the edges but the top is done!! This was more work than I thought it would be but it turned out FABULOUS! Thank you so much to those who sent blue fabric.

It's hard to believe this started out as circles:


To a few squares:


And to a partially finished quilt:


I still need to quilt it. I'd like to tie it with baby blue yarn so my daughter can help. I'm not sure how else to quilt it except for monofilament thread and going around the inside of the squares. Any ideas?

Mariner's Compass Quilt finalization designs

I played some more with my Mariner's Compass quilts today. I'm a little closer to what I want but still not there. It's one of those "I know exactly what I want; I'll know when I see it" things.

I was hoping hubby would take me to a fabric store about an hour away today but he can't. They have funky hours and with hubby sleeping days that makes it so much harder. Epilepsy just sucks.

I've also thought about doing a whole cloth quilt using the mariner's compass. I did figure out that I can print the quilt full size (70x70) on about a zillion sheets of paper. Then I can tape them together and transfer them to freezer paper. From freezer paper to fabric and then machine quilt. I have 25 yards of white fabric. I'd have to do some more quilting to fill in the empty spaces, but it would work. Most whole cloth quilts are all flowery. I like the geometrics of this.

"Mountain Sunset" Bargello Quilt

Here's a picture of my bargello quilt. I'm almost done with the quilting but still need to do the borders. This has been a fun quilt to design. I used metallic, rayon and cotton thread to free motion quilt it. It's turned really nice and the quilting gives it texture and motion.



Here's a more detailed look at the quilting:

Fusible Batting

I ADORE fusible batting. I tried it out for the first time on my blue star quilt today and fell in love. I laid the batting out on the floor and then put the top on. Starting in the middle of the quilt I started pressing out toward the edges.  Put your iron on high and keep pressing.  I'm not sure what brand I used but it's used for quilting.  It's either Warm and Natural or a Harriet Hargrave brand.  It's fusible on both sides and it's not the 4.99 craft stuff.  (I actually sit/crawl on my top doing this) It was wonderful to have it all stay in place and not ripple all over. Next I flipped the top/batting over and pressed the backing to the batting. No pinning and the entire quilt stuck together! This is amazing!

Jenny Haskins has a fusible fleece and you can see my use with it if you click on the header as it takes you to the newest posts.  It's much thinner and softer.  

I bought one of those new marking pencils by Bohin. Choked on 12 bucks but having a mechanical chalk pencil is SO worth it. I tested it out on the fabric and it came out. I made a template of the above pattern and traced it onto my quilt. So far so good!

I got out my blue silk thread and started at it. Here's the finished square. I free motioned the entire block and NOTHING shifted or moved!! I'm so excited. Fusible batting rocks!

Here's the picture of the top.