Whatsa WIP you ask?  A Work-In-Progress!    In this case, one for Janome-America.  I have been incredibly fortunate to be associated with Janome since late 1983.  Usually as part of the artist/teacher program, you lend Janome things, but this time I decided I would make something to give them:  a quilted banner for their new Artistic line (longarms, software, embroidery, etc…..see all about it here).  I enlarged the logo from their brochure, then transferred that to some white fabric and have begun quilting.

In preparation for this project, I bought a second “convertible free-motion presser foot set” for the Janome 7700 I use for my quilting (one of these lovelies is included with the machine–since Janome owns the one I’m using I didn’t want to cut apart *their* presser foot!). 

The set comes with three interchangeable “feet”:  the disc (for echo quilting), the closed circle (shown attached to  the presser foot deely-bob on the left), and the U-shaped open-toe.  The two metal feet are my favorite, but when I videotaped myself quilting recently (in hopes of having a “why do I need this? how would I use these?” video on here before too long that I can share here), I tried the disc for the first time and think that I will definitely use it now!

Anyway, the two metal feet are close but not quite perfect–what I wanted was a round circle with a small opening so I could see where I’m going (as with the U-shaped foot) but that would *also* let me echo quilt without having to change the end.   So I took my trusty Dremel tool to the front of the circle and removed a scant 1/8″ segment!

My new and improved free-motion quilting foot

I LOVE IT!  It did just what I want… I can see where I am going, but I can also echo-quilt around those feathers you see in the photo above with ease.  YEAH!

And a teaser…here is what I’ve done so far… I used red thread and a triple-straight stretch stitch (and the open-toe accufeed foot) to machine quilt/outline the lettering.  I then free-motion quilted the flowers using a single line of red thread.  I want the background quilting to be subtle, but seen, so I quilted some feathers using a soft peach color.  For the feathers, I marked the spine with blue pen, then stitched the spine followed by the feathers.

W.I.P. made for Janome-America, with thanks for their support these past 8-plus years!

Next, using a wash-out blue pen, I marked curved lines randomly but with thought and an eye to design and the shapes created.  I like to separate areas of the background into smaller, more manageable “chunks” and alternate linear and curved designs from one to the next.  I also marked an outline around the lettering.  I began the background quilting using a fine 50-wt So Fine matte-finish polyester thread in white and a very small stipple around the lettering to make the letters “pop.”  Then I did one or two small sections, one with a cross-hatch/plaid, another with a sinuous vine.

The next question is:  do I paint inside the lines of the letters and at the appropriate spots on the flower?  The thing is…. the color on the logo is a slightly orange-ish red.

To paint or not to paint????

I like the orange colors just fine, but they don’t match the logo.  The Inktense pencil (on the right, numbered) didn’t work so well for what I want to do.  That means the acrylic inks (used for all the other color) are the way to do.  BUT, the red looks kinda like blood on cloth.  ERK.  The large upper rectangle and the two smaller blotches in the center are the most accurate for color-matching, but look most like blood.  The “really red” long rectangle on the bottom looks OK, but is the “Janome” logo color, not the color of the Artistic logo.  So do I color it in?  or leave it be?  If I color it, do I take creative license and use an orange?  Think I’ll run this one by my contact BEFORE I add paint…. I’d hate to spend umpteen hours quilting and then have it not work because of a wrong color choice!   Stay tuned… I’ll share again when the blue is washed down the drain and it is all finished and pretty!

Hi all…great news this week:  I’ve been selected to be on the Faculty at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas…as in: I’m teaching at the best show in the world! (I taught there are few years ago, and am thrilled and considerably less terrified now return… I know I can do it!)  I will have full-day classes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, will participate in the Machine Quilting Forum on Thursday morning, and may well do a 30-minute “Meet our Teachers” demo on the quilt show floor (schedules permitting)  and participate in the “Friday Sampler” from 10-Noon.  If the scheduling for the latter two works, I’ll be demo-ing my fused collage technique at the “Meet our Teachers” and on Friday will share/demonstrate free-motion quilting!  And as always, Janome-America will be able to lend me a machine for my demos…yeah and thank you Janome!

Here’s my Festival schedule:

• Monday, October 29:  Fine Finishes–edge finish techniques; full day class
• Tuesday, October 30:  Birch Pond Seasons–fused collage landscape; full day class
• Wednesday, October 31:  Decorative Stitch Applique–learn to use all those fun stitches on your machine! Full day class
• Thursday, November 1:  Fun with Fancy Threads–the trick to metallics, holographics an other fussy thread; 9-Noon
• Friday, November 2 (tentative): Friday Sampler–free-motion quilting; 10-Noon
• Thursday afternoon or Friday afternoon (tentative)–a 30 minute demo at the Meet the Teacher area on the show floor
• Thursday afternoon or Friday afternoon (likely)–demo(s) at the MistyFuse booth again… love MF and Iris (the owner)!
• Saturday:  PLAYTIME!

Not sure yet if I’ll stay and see the show on Sunday, too… I just may given how busy my schedule has become!

I sure hope to see some of you in Houston and, even better, in my classes! When the show/class catalog comes out, I’ll post to the blog with pictures from the classes and links to previous classes I’ve taught so you can see student work.  FUN!

AND….. drum roll…. the portrait of my son, Joshua, has been juried into the AQS Lancaster show (March 14-17)!

The quilt is too small to fit into the categories for Paducah (must be 40 inches wide, and this one is 36 inches wide by 48 long), so this is the show for which it fits into a category.  I’m thrilled, as I think this is probably the best quilt I’ve ever made.

The Quilters Heritage Celebration show (now defunct) used to take place in Lancaster in March, and it was the first major quilt show I ever attended, driving up from when we lived in the metro DC area.  I love going there and hope some day to be able to teach at AQS Lancaster (which picked up the show-in-Lancaster after QHC ended/retire).  If I can just get my schedule clear for March then I can apply (currently there is a conflict with son’s wrestling season!).  Anyway, it’s been a good quilty start to the year!

My beloved Janome 7700 in the "sewing zone" of my studio!

Hi all!  Janome-America is hosting a challenge:  to reach 20,000 “Likes” on Facebook!  To reach that goal, they are giving away some machines and featuring some folks (including me!) on their blog!   I’m thrilled…to be included and to be able to use the phenomenal Horizon 7700 for my machine work.

You can reach the blogpost about me here — it is dated Friday, December 30, 2011, if you end up on the website homepage and need to scroll.  That post in turn has links to the three articles I did for Janome on free-motion quilting…hope you enjoy! As always, thanks to Janome for their support and encouragement.  If you are surfing in from outside of the US, click here (at the global site: http://www.janome.co.jp/e1.htm)  and then select USA from the site locator to access Janome-America’s blog.

Hi all!  For nearly 8 years now (whoosh…the sound of time whizzing by!) I have been privileged to work with Janome-America and use one of their fantabulous machines for my work, starting with the 6500, moving to the 6600, and now the delectable 7700.  Starting yesterday, they are featuring three blog lessons from me on machine quilting on the Janome-America website!

Go here to the Janome-America home page and follow the links (scroll down if you need to reach the October 14th post) to your free FMQ lesson number one.  Here’s a link directly to the lesson.  And here’s a link to the Horizon 7700, the machine I currently use and love!

I’m so happy to be able to share this information with you and through Janome.  They have been wonderful supporters, including me in the program before my first article or quilt was published.  I have done so much in the past 8 years that they have sponsored me, that it is hard to fathom–from complete unknown to exhibiting for the first time at Houston to being published in a magazine, then a series of articles for Machine Quilting Unlimited, to articles in Quilting Arts, to teaching in national venues like IQA Houston, AQS Paducah and Knoxville, NQA in Ohio, and guilds across the nation, writing my first (but I hope not last) book, and even winning an award in Houston.  It is sometimes hard to believe this has all happened to me.  And I am so thankful to Janome for their support and their machines, which have helped me do all of this.

So please, surf on over to the Janome site and feel free to download a copy of my lessons for your personal use! Wooohooo!

Hi all…. a review for you of a DVD and/or app for you i-Device (iPhone, iPad or iPod touch):  the Footbook by Jim and Diane Stutsman available at their website Online Sewing.  Jim is the buy behind the online group/learning mecca Club J, for Janome owners.

This DVD/App is for Janome feet, but many of the tips on the app will apply to ANY brand of pintuck foot, zipper foot, whatever.   For those of us who don’t have iPhones or iPads or an iPodTouch, they also have the info on a CD to use on a computer.  I noticed that they didn’t have the price on the description (for the CD at least), and wrote the Contact Us person to mention it would be a helpful addition.  Turned out it was none other that Jim Stutsman of Club J with his wife Diane writing the text and narrating the videos.  Jim wrote back, said good point and thanks, and offered to send a free CD to me for alerting them and the suggestion.  Nice!

I will note that this is a DVD / app that covers the uses of all the presser feet.  If all you do is straight seams and free-motion quilting, it may have a lot more information about esoteric feet, like pintuck, beading, buttonhole, rolled edge, ultraglide, overcast and whatnot, that won’t apply to your sewing.  If, however, you want to use those feet, do sewing other than straight seams and make garments and home dec items, there is a lot of great knowledge in this small package.  The photos are really sharp and clear, like this one:

I figured I’d look up a foot I knew how to use and one I didn’t.  I learned from the videos for BOTH feet!  The one I (thought) I knew how to use is the pintuck foot.  I do, but they had an added suggestion of taping a machine needle to help form the channel and guide the fabric.  Great suggestion!  I haven’t looked at all the feet/videos, but I’ve probably done about half, and have learned something with most all of the videos.  That’s pretty amazing!  (please note that, according to Jim, this video is smaller and lower quality from those on the DVD. The iPhone app uses 3 different quality videos depending on the type of data connection, with WiFi being the best.)  Here’s the YouTube-quality sample of one of the videos:

The only negatives:  when I pop the DVD into my  laptop, a MacBook Pro, there isn’t something that opens automatically or that suggests which browsers to use.  You don’t need a live internet connection, just the browser (don’t ask why…don’t know, something with how the DVD player reads the disc).    According to the website, the DVD is compatible with Windows Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.  On my laptop I usually use Firefox.  I remembered the first time I opened the DVD it had nice videos.  When I tried to play it today, no videos.  Weird, I thought, where did they go?  So I opened the DVD in Safari, and there they were.

The second time I put the DVD in the slot, I noticed the disk itself on the label tells you to click on the folder that says “Start.” (DUH Sarah…I shoulda read that to begin with!)   Operator error (as in my goof).  Anyway, I clicked on Start; since I had Firefox open, but not Safari, it told me I didn’t have Safari or Google Chrome which would play advanced features of the DVD.  I opened Safari and pasted the browser address into the Safari window and it played like a dream.  There is, apparently, a Plug-In that I could install on Firefox on my laptop to enable the necessary Whatever to play the videos.  Since I had the work-around of using Safari, I declined to download the plugin and will just remember (I hope) to play it in Safari.  (Note:  for those of you not on Macs, Safari is an internet browser designed by Apple, similar to the way Microsoft created Explorer.)

In sum, I thought the information was well very written, the little video clips (which run 2 minutes or less) very helpful….Thanks to Jim and Diane for the DVD to review and try out.  With 40 years of sewing in my checkered past I’ve learned a lot, but I learned a number of new things from this DVD.  To me, that means it does quite a fine job!  Cost is US$6.99 for the app or $24.95 for the DVD.  You can order it from them here:

http://onlinesewing.squarespace.com/

Cheers, Sarah