And Now For Some FUN! With the Brother SE400

Yes! Another machine! With gift cards given me by friends and family over time I have added the Brother SE400 to my sewing room. Thought that I may as well toy with a little bit of embroidery. People tell me I could get in the habit! It's kind of fun. First though I needed to check out the machine functions. Got it on Amazon at a really good price, and wanted to check out all functions in the 30 day return period of course.  Turns out it all works! And well! I am amazed at all that is packed into this baby at the price it sells for. Of course it didn't always sell so low. It is years old as a model and was mid range in the beginning and has proven itself over years of use by lots of folks who have gone on to machines with larger hoop areas.  First a shout out to Kamala who has documented this machine so well on her own site!  Her site was so useful to me and many others I am sure. Also here is a good video on how to use the USB facility to get designs to the machine. The manual is very vague on that, even though the USB has it's own little manual. I found the Burley-Sew video excellent and in passing he mentions the saving of the design to the machine. THAT is the part the manual overlooks.  Once you see it it is easy.   I will be posting more on this machine in future, but for now here are more pictures! 

Getting there...

It's getting there! Not such a wonderful picture of the quilt top, but I finished it.   Now to pin and quilt - I am going to do walking foot quilting, as I really loved that the last time I quilted.  There is a lot to be said for large scale quilting - even though it has taken me ages to do this one, I think I love the design process and the fabrics so much. Just looking at the fabrics is pleasurable and then taking the time to mull over a design is good therapy. It rests the brain and lets the data process through the tunnels of the mind until something percolates outward.  At the moment the brain is processing a quilt out of old shirts, and maybe that design will spring into consciousness one of these days. That's next.

Meanwhile, retirement is a good thing! I have no trouble with time on my hands, that's for sure. So much to do and think about and read. Read and think. And add this and that to the sewing area and take this and that out.  Next post will cover additions.  I am thinning what I am not going to use or don't want to use, and adding only what I want!   I am in love with Madeira Polyneon.   Glad I took the class last June and had to buy some!

Vintage Ironing Board Tribute...

This is my trusty vintage combo board and iron.  I have another trusty iron, much newer, but also a Sunbeam.  The Sunbeam pictured is a Made in USA model that still works just fine. I had never read the booklet of course, so when it didn't seem to steam correctly I bought another bottom line Sunbeam. THEN I read the booklet. Seems you can clean the steam holes by pushing the little steam setting lever or dial back and forth and guess what?! IT WORKS!!! So....I did that on my old iron and it works too. Then newer Sunbeam is not Made in USA, but works just fine. I love it - it's all white.   I decided to blog my board and irons because of the hype about expensive irons and boards. ALL boards seem too expensive now days. I have to admit I bought my sturdy metal legged, four legged board back in the era of about 1970. This board is a keeper - not wibbly and doesn't have any problems except a squeak that is my fault. I could clean it and oil it one of these days and get rid of that squeak I suppose.   The cover is one of the ones from Joann Fabrics with the measuring tape theme and it really works so well.  Handy for straightening up lines in ironing and in pinning together both garment pieces and quilt blocks. Helps in grain line placement as well. The legs of this board are nice thick metal and there are four of them.  I was inspired to blog about the board, boring as it may be, by a friend who also has a vintage board and who recently posted pics of her refurb of said board. You just cannot get this quality any more without spending a fabulous sum. It never occurred to me to take pictures of my ironing board before. You just never know. HAHA.  You can see in the last picture that I have left on an older cover I bought several years ago with its pad, and added the tape measure cover on over it for the depth of padding. Here is a link to my friend's review on Patternreview.com for her lovely new cover! She links to her picture tutorial on her own site, which is a lovely set of pictures and a really wonderful tutorial!

My blog is hardly that inspirational, but I do think our vintage equipment that still serves and does it well deserves to be highlighted a bit now and then! I will keep my board the Harvest Gold color it came with, as it is so indicative of the age of it's inception.

Don't we vintage ladies have Harvest Gold Tupperware as well? I know I do. As to quilting - I will get back to my Blue Quilt very soon and post a few pictures of the finished quilt top. I do need to purchase the backing and batting. I will, of course, be using Warm and Natural as usual and for this quilt flannel is the backing fabric I choose.I think flannel makes the best quilt backing there is. Warm and comfy and really good for winter as well.

The Vermont Quilt Festival and Fabric from Shibori Dragon

Last month was the Vermont Quilt Festival. As usual I went with a friend, and we had a great time. I took no pictures. The winning quilts and more are on the Facebook page of the festival, and at the link above.  Moreover I bought only a small pair of embroidery scissors from Janome purchased at the booth of Bittersweet Sewing from New Hampshire. Very nice dealer and a great festival. It was warm those two days and we had to sit outside under a tent to eat lunch, which is a change from previous years, and one I think was not good, but other than that a fine festival.

I bought no fabric at the festival! I KNOW!  But, after coming home and waiting a few days, I ordered from Shibori Dragon in Tacoma, Washington.  I ordered on a Tuesday and got the package on Saturday following. Such wonderful service, and what beautiful fabrics. Now to finish my Blue Quilt so that I can use some of those lovely Asian fabrics! The crane panel is at the top of this blog. Here is the array of loveliness I need to use!