I did it!

After twenty something years I have purchased a new sewing machine. I've been happily sewing on a Bernina 1230 which has been working perfectly fine for years. But for the past year I have been looking at a Bernina 430 with a Free Motion stitch regulator and trying to find a good reason why I should purchase it. I finally took the plunge last Friday and convinced myself that I really should have one even if I did not have a good reason. It's all set up now and ready to go. But it's going to take a bit of getting use to and some learning on how to use all of those bells and whistles that it comes with. You can be sure I'm not going to retire my old machine quite yet. The shop where I purchased the machine offers some introductory classes which I have signed up for and that will be a help. More to follow over the next weeks.

2 Projects finished

I have been preoccupied with family matters over the last week. I had a quick and sad trip to New York for a family funeral. My Aunt who was just short of her 102nd birthday passed away. She was a remarkable women and involved in the world until the end. We will all miss her.

I have posted photo's today of projects I've been working on for the last few weeks. Above and below are photos of the Knot Garden Pin cushion. This was made from a pattern out of a old issue of Stitch Magazine and is hand embroidered. The fuzzy hedge is made with the turkey stitch. Which felt like it took forever to cover the area needed.

The two photos below are of another scrappy journal which I will be using on a trip to Nashville and Memphis next month. I normally tend to work in Jewel tones but this time I felt spring like and worked a a soft pallet. I'm quite pleased with the outcome. I used mostly silk fabric for the cover with a bit of hand died velvet that I made ages ago. I just love the way these scrappy journals use up bits and pieces I have in my stash for both the cover and the pages inside.

Landscape

I took a class a year ago with Sylvia Naylor which was to be a cross between machine and hand

embroidery. I decided I want to do a landscape and at Sylvia's suggestion did a mock up first using paper cut from a magazine .

Next the background fabric was painted and I added some bits of batik to create the mountains and hills. After the two day class ended I did a bit of machine stitching at home and became stuck. And my landscape gather dust in my studio for a year.

Yesterday my good friend from LA was visiting and I showed her what I had done and why I had not worked on the piece again. After some very good suggestions, I started working again and finished it today. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out, it's my first totally machine embroidered piece. At this time I can't decide if I like the finish piece with more sky (at top of post) or less. I'll live with it a while before I make a decision.