New sewing machine

The great unboxing event took place last Sunday.  To begin with, I set the new machine (which I am mentally labelling 'the beast') up on top of my sewing table because it is bigger than the cutout that allowed the old machine to sit flush with the table surface.  All the accessories were present and accounted for (I eventually found the buttonhole foot hiding in the hitherto unseen storage compartment) and the lights came on when I turned on the power. 

I decided the best way to test the machine was to make something, and as it happened I had seen a free online tutorial for a zip pouch the night before. I pulled out a bunch of selvedges I had been collecting and had a go at a pouch.  I didn't have the nine-inch zipper called for so used a longer one cut down, but that's made the end-zip corner poke in a bit strangely.

The machine worked well.  It's very similar to my old one in terms of function but smoother and faster. I haven't been brave enough to try the Accufeed yet.  The main difference I am noticing is that it starts off stitching fairly slowly, no matter how hard you press the pedal, and then speeds up to quite a fast pace, faster than my old one.  Later in the week I trimmed down the set-in surround piece of my sewing table to fit the new machine so that I can drop the machine down to table level, but the working surface of the machine isn't completely flat so it's still a work in progress to get a level sewing surface.

The zip pouch didn't test the quarter-inch seam capability so, while the 30s Sampler Quilt awaits its border, I moved on to a new project which is a One Block Wonder (OBW) quilt using six beach panels from Timeless Treasures.  I saw a quilt like this on the OBW Facebook group  a few years ago and bought the panels to make my own version.  So this week I have cut the panels up into 60-degree triangles and arranged them all on paper plates ready for sewing, five hexagons to a plate.  There are a lot of plates.

So now I've started sewing them together using the quarter-inch foot and quarter-inch seam setting on the new machine. After sewing a few, I thought I had better test the quarter-inch accuracy with the usual 'cut a 1.5 inch strip' method, and discovered that it was a bit too fat.  So I've moved the needle one stop and it seems pretty good now.  Just about 150 hexagons to go...

I wanted to show you an embroidered firescreen we picked up at the charity shop.  The style of the woodwork suggests early-to-mid 20th century to me, and the embroidery reminds me of some of the table linens I've collected from the early 20th C.  I rather liked it and the woodwork isn't too bad, but the stitching is in poor shape.  I'm going to take the frame apart and give it a good clean and try washing the stitchery to see if the staining will come out .  If not then I might give it a border in a different fabric.  Somebody a long time ago put a lot of work into this and I think it's rather sweet.

Next weekend we're hosting a daytime party of sorts for the members of DH's club so we need to deep clean the house this week.  We rarely entertain so aren't very practiced at it.  I've been counting mugs, forks and wine glasses to see if we have enough, it's surprising how much is hidden away at the back of cupboards. Hopefully it will be dry and they can go out in the garden. DH isn't sure how many people are coming, it could be 6 or 35.  We've agreed we will plan for 25 so either we will have a lot of leftovers or we'll be sending DS out to the shop during the event for top-ups. I'll have to clean out all my craft projects from the living room so people can sit in there :)