I am excited about the future of Betty Jo’s Fabric Arts. Now that Drawing Nigh is completed, I am working to finish my Hoffman Challenge quilt. I have the top nearly finished, and only have to applique on the animals. The focus is oversized butterflies, which are flying playfully through a happy, whimsical forest. I am going to have to figure how I want to quilt this quilt, but I expect to get to the sandwiching and quilting in a day or two.
Some of you may already know the really good news…my Bernina 830 LE, named “Gibbs” was repaired yesterday by Lew, the magician tech who works at G Street Fabrics Bernina section. It had somehow gotten everything way out of timing among other things and there was a big knot of thread he pulled out of it, but I THINK that was a result not a cause of the problem. Nevertheless, he says it is in good shape and should keep going for a good long time.
More than ever now I believe I need to get a dedicated quilting machine to help move my quilting a higher level and reduce the stress on my domestic machines, especially Gibbs. I have been doing a lot of research on sit down longarms. I had a lot of you all give me some great feedback to my question about what you think I should look into. While I was at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival, I tried a bunch of them there. That left just a few to look into.
After all the research and a family conference with my sons and Beth (my daughter in law), I have decided on a Bernina Q20. The dealer is closer (a big point), the machine stitch is beautiful and smooth, and it has a really great stitch regulator (which I particularly wanted). I had some good feedback from people who have one, and the G Street Bernina dealership has provided me a very good price on one and the table, and starting tomorrow there is a 60 month interest free finance special and sale.
I am now trying to figure out how I can fit it into my studio, and I think I can. Like a computer adventure game, it starts at a different place from where it will end up and things need to be solved along the way. I first have to go through my dressers and closets and empty enough from them to remove one of my two dressers. It is high time anyway, since I still have a bunch of things I no longer wear now that I don’t have a government job that required a totally different wardrobe. Doable, but somewhat overwhelming.
After I remove the dresser, I will move the Koala cabinet that I use with my backup/alternate Berninas (the B350, and the old 1230), from my office space to my bedroom where the dresser is now. The new cabinet will fit where the Koala cabinet is now in the office side of my two-small-bedroom studio. I have my ironing board set up in there, and it will not fit after the new machine is there, since it is in a somewhat wider cabinet. So I will have to figure out what to do with that. A big job, but there you are…a way forward.
Sew happy everyone. May your machine(s) play happily with your projects.