Finally, the Mexican food themed place mats are done! After checking out a couple of my machines binder feet, I opted for the old-fashioned method of applying the bias tape. Sew one fold, turn item and sew. Went faster and looks better. Wrestling with the binder feet I am not familiar with seemed silly. I guess I will capitulate to doing things the way I know how!
I used the Viking to sew the bias tape on. I love the edge stitching foot and used that.
The PR stash contest is almost over and my paltry 2 yards will stand unless I finish these placemats and hot pads before next Saturday night at midnight! These are my
South Western and Mexican Food placemats. I have quilted the three hot pads and three of the four placemats. After the free form quilting comes the binding. I didn't know that the quilting was going to make my right hand sore. I guess it is the holding it steady and guiding the fabric motion, but it did make my hand hurt, so I will resume the last placemat tomorrow!
Usually I have been too lazy to even put on the darning foot, but guess what? The darning foot works better and of course the feed dogs are down. The Pfaff is behaving like the Queen she is, and we've had some sewing fun today! Here's the other side of the mat's fabric. Both are
Hoffman fabrics.
I should possibly look for some pasta fabric and do Italian food too. I already have the Chinese food ones, so that makes a nice set of table eye candy for all the ethnic food we love!
Meet Jannie, my new refurbished Janome 115110. Bought it from Sew Vac Direct in Texas. Checks out very nicely. This Janome machine is the model sold at Sears as the 19110. The Kenmore name is removed, and the manual is an amalgam (I think) of the HT2008 machine's manual, and the 19110 Kenmore manual. 
This machine is identical under the paint to the Janome Heart Truth 2008 machine and identical under the body casing to the Janome DC3050 and the Janome Harmony 8080. It is so simple to choose a stitch, and the computerized machine sets the width and length for you. You can override this easily enough with the width and length settings though. Stitch choice, width and length are set by the buttons up top of the panel of the front. 
The one critique I have is that to get to a high numbered stitch you have to run through all the other stitches which makes the machines needle bar move around a lot as it sets each stitch on the way as you fly though the choices on your way to the one you want. No big deal though. I love the plain white pretty looks. I did a trial run of several stitches, and you can see the results in the picture. I am not doing a full review at this point. In 6 months, after a project or two or three, a full review will be forthcoming on PatternReview.
