April 29th, 2008 I’m almost done with the soft books which I bought from the shop almost a year back. It is not rocket science, and I have no idea why it is taking me so long to get it done! Benji’s almost over the soft-book phase! Yikes!
Now, to get to the ironing board and iron out the seams, close the openings and then join the pages. How long will that take me?
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April 29th, 2008 Finally! The Aurora 440 has landed! Actually it arrived at the shop earlier, but I could not pick it up because Benji was really ill earlier this month. Anyway, it is home with me now. Happy as can be. I have not done much sewing with it as much as I’d like to. But the BSR is a dream! I tried it out on a scrappy piece of quilt sandwich and it is much easier compared to my old Singer machine. Of course, I will need more practice with it to make decent stippling, etc but already I can feel the difference.
The instruction manual is marvelous too. Very detailed and also very clear – and that helps a lot too! The machine looked quite complicated, but it is quickly de-mystified with the instructions. Will be spending quite a bit of time playing around with the settings, the stitches, etc. I’m definitely looking forward to that ;>
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April 29th, 2008 Its been a while. Son falling ill (twice!), helping my dad to close his shop, projects, etc have kept me away from my sewings and from adding more new posts. Ironic as I’m logged on almost everyday – mainly for work!
While waiting for my new sewing machine to arrive, I decided to hand-quilt the sampler quilt. It is turning out better than I had expected! I thought it would be REALLY tough, but it is actually enjoyable! Of course, I’m not quilting 20 stiches in 10 seconds, I’m taking a really long time to get it done, but it is rather therapeutic. :>
I have chosen a nice mint-green hand/machine quilting thread. Did not want the quilt to turn out too country and I’m hoping that the green thread will give it a modern twist.
At the slow rate I’m going, with so many other projects up my sleeves, I’ll be lucky if this will be completed before end of the year!
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March 14th, 2008 I’m really excited about how the projects are turning out! The ‘banana milkshake’ shrug is waiting to go into the wash and then it will be ready for wrapping up! Still thinking about how I can package it as a belated birthday gift for my good friend. Hmmm… For my own 2-yarn shrug, I’m just finishing picking up the seams with the crochet needle… Exciting! 🙂
And then my sampler quilt is still waiting for me to finish up the border, but I’m still saving my sewings for the new machine when it arrives early next month! 🙂 Here’s a shot of the quilt just before I added all the sashings.
In the month of February, I treated myself with a couple of online shopping sprees, growing my stash just a bit more 😉 Bought beautiful fabrics from Norton House and also found some really good buys from Fabric.com. BUT I have to tell myself to keep away from the shops in March to let my wallet cool off just a little. It felt really good to have those parcels coming through thedoors! Here’s a peek at what came out of the box from Norton House!
Wish I could work more on the projects but work has been busy and a bad case of stomach virus kept me away from the studio. The upcoming arrival of the new sewing machine will be a great motivator to get the projects moving. Can’t wait! 🙂
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February 26th, 2008 I must be mad! Just placed an order for the Bernina 440 that costs me an arm and a couple of toes. So much for ‘no big ticket items’ for 2008!
How this madness started was when I took a machine quitling lesson with QNSF. First of all, the walking foot that came with my Singer was a high shank one (the shop gave me the wrong one), so that didn’t work. And I realised how hard it is to control the speed when you need precise stiching on
the drawn lines and also for free-motion quilting. The Singer (a quilter edition too) was simply put to shame when I asked that I try it on a Bernina 240 at the class. What a difference! Things I loved on the Bernina was the Free Hand System, needle down function, the great control (you can do one stitch at a time with the foot control!) and the fact that it was very smooth and quiet.
I was tempted by a Bernina when I started doing patchwork a couple of years back but decided that it was too huge an investment, and I could hand sew if I wanted. After the baby came, I really am not keen on handsewing because I don’t want to risk needles misplaced and I really do not have the time/patience to wait for it to come together so slowly.
The Singer is a good machine for what it is. It is not the cheapest machine, but it is not as forgiving to a bad sewer like me as a Bernina would be. Decided to placed my crafty money on the 440 mainly because of the BSR (Benina Stitch Regulator). That would help a idiot sewer like me! And I’m going to justify this purchase with loads of projects!
Delivery for the new machine is end of March or early April. Can’t wait for it to arrive. In the mean time, I will sew as little as possible (to save it for the new machine) and start cutting up my fabrics then! :>
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