I was away last weekend attending the Cross Stitch Guild retreat near Leicester. They held it at a new venue, a conference facility on the University of Warwick's vast campus outside Coventry. Which was perfectly comfortable but did feel more like a very nice student accommodation than a hotel - including meals in a cafeteria (food was great though). It really took me back to my uni days in Canada - a very long time ago. The retreat was pleasant - definitely an older and more staid crowd than the youngsters' retreat I've attended near Sheffield. Jane Greenoff was there for the weekend and had designed the retreat project, which is a hussif with two pockets. Unfortunately there are several charting errors, which is disappointing, and they had cut the fabric too short so had to go around handing out extra pieces for the bottom pocket. I was lucky that I hadn't actually got to the part of the chart with the errors, so I benefited from these being discovered and communicated by tablemates (there was never any public announcement which is a bit poor). I chose aida this time, and was pleasantly surprised to rediscover how much easier it is to stitch on than linen. There is definitely some snobbery in the cross stitch world about linen being superior, and I do like how linen looks. So I've been choosing linen for the last few years. But I really struggle to consistently find the correct hole between two threads which slows down the stitching process, plus I can't see without magnification, and in general it is less enjoyable for me. On the basis of this project, I have ordered aida for my upcoming Christmas Sampler start in place of the linen I had prepared. I kept stitching this week after getting home, and have now finished all three panels although I haven't made it up into a hussif yet. This is fast stitching for me, usually I'm really slow.
I came home with a head cold which knocked me out for a few days, so I ended up not blogging last weekend like I normally would. But I can report now that DH kindly took the afternoon off work last week and drove me over to the Newmarket quilt show (held on Newmarket racecourse in the main building) so that I could buy a new sewing machine. I had been to the previous incarnation of the show at Duxford but this was my first time at Newmarket. It definitely felt like fewer quilts on display, just a couple of exhibition rooms. Traders may have been about the same number but hard to judge as they were split up over various rooms and an upstairs level. There were a handful of sewing machine dealers but I was there to look at Janome and Juki in particular. I looked at Janome first, without interacting with sales staff. The 6700 is the current equivalent to my broken 8200QCP (which is still available new although I don't think it is manufactured any longer). I stood there looking at it: the weight of decades of Janome ownership on the scales on one side, but being outweighed by the past 6 years of frustration, buyers remorse, annoyance and repair expense with my current lemon. I realised I just have no trust in Janome any more, so I turned away. On the Juki stand, a helpful manager took me through the features of the Juki DX-2000QVP which is the machine marketed to quilters. It seems tiny with its 8-inch throat but otherwise had everything I need plus some really cool features like being able to program the heel-tap of the foot pedal to my choice of a half dozen actions (like thread cutter, presser foot lift, lock stitch etc.). I had brought some fabric samples to sew on in addition to the demo fabrics, and couldn't believe how it sewed like a dream with a quiet purr no matter how much bulk we were putting under the needle. No rattling or funny noises, no skipped stitches like I've been putting up with for years. I was sold. We negotiated - they were willing to take my broken machine in part exchange or I could have taken the show offer (small discount and a couple of presser feet thrown in). In the end, I went with part exchanging my lemon because I would have to pay to get it repaired before I could even sell it and would probably struggle to sell it. He kindly threw in the presser feet anyway, so I feel like I got a pretty reasonable deal.
So Monday I packed up my old machine, which took quite a while, studying the manual to see what was meant to be included. After seven years, the accessories were scattered around the sewing room - I had completely forgotten about some of them as well. I will have to do better with the new machine and try to use all the features and accessories at least occasionally. In the end, I managed to find everything except the DVD, and got it all packaged back up in the original box. It feels a little bittersweet to say goodbye, despite its issues, I have sewed a lot of quilts, bags and other things on it - including a lot of dressmaking during COVID to keep myself busy. But it also feels like a huge weight off my guilt list, and I don't have to deal with trying to get it fixed or sold. Wednesday the courier arrived with my new machine and took the old machine off into the sunset. I hope they can fix it and that it finds a new owner who is pleased with their secondhand bargain. I have since unboxed the new machine, read through the manual, and set it up. It came with a kneelift again but I still can't use one because of the machine being dropped into a table insert, but I'm used to doing without one. My first bobbin winding was a disaster, I threaded wrong and ended up winding a quarter-bobbins worth around the spindle of the bobbin winder, which had to be cut away and pulled off with tweezers. Second attempt went better and I have now sewn my first few seams on it. Purrs like a kitten.
While I was waiting for my new machine, I put the borders on the applique Dancer wallhanging using the Janome Gem. I found some nice sparkly grey fabric at the Newmarket show, to give some added festive spirit despite the subdued colour scheme. I was wondering about making it into a cushion but it's just a little bit too big at 16.5" square, so it will be a wallhanging.
I also pulled out the ShweSchwe panel and fabric that I bought from Fabrica Trading Station after the owner gave an online talk to the Quilters Guild about this African wax print textile a while ago. I don't normally go for these colours but was attracted by the bright and lively print. I'm making a squared off tote bag which will have a yellow lining. The matching webbing also came from them.
Continuing with the 3D printer, I found a stepped craft paint storage rack on Makerworld and printed two of those off to organise my acrylic craft paint collection. It looks like a lot of paint but quite a few bottles are 15-20 years old, left over from old dollshouse projects, so mostly empty or drying up. Nice to have them in a rack instead of wobbling around and falling off the trolley. I am currently printing a bunch of storage bins to sort out our wood screw collection as well, also found on Makerworld for free.
It's turned quite cold now, it was 0C this morning and a heavy frost in the garden. We bundled up to drive out to the storage yard to check on the caravan, then drove south to Milton Keynes to visit with DS and his partner. Then it was back home to tackle the huge amount of leaves our trees had dropped all over the front garden and in the back bed. I got to use the leaf blower which is always fun, but it was a lot of work. We'll have to do it again in a few weeks because there are still leaves on the trees that haven't come down yet.
(P.S. for Janice - have a wonderful trip, it sounds amazing. And cool to think you will only be about 75 miles away from me for a few days, instead of thousands. Stay warm and look forward to hearing all about it).
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