Preliminary Review of my Janome Memory Craft 7700 QCP, Magnolia

 

 I took Magnolia out the same day my company left last week.  I rearranged all my furniture so I could put my sewing studio back into the living room, and I put her in a nice spot right in front of the windows.  I love sewing in the living room, there is lots of light and lots of room.

   This is a preliminary review because I have only been piecing my disappearing hourglass blocks with her.  I haven't done any speciality sewing or used any of the various feet that came with her other than the 1/4" patchwork foot that I need for my piecing.  I haven't even used the knee lift yet, I keep forgetting to put it on.  I love the big acrylic table I bought for her.  It gives me lots of space to set my pieces up for sewing.

    I have to say I love the size of the machine and the sturdy feel when I'm sewing.  She's a big one.    The machine is super easy to thread.  I used the needle threader a couple of times, but I don't use it every time I have to thread the machine because I find them to be too time consuming.  Her straight stitch is perfect.  I did adjust the presser foot pressure because I found my fabric wasn't feeding through like the presser foot was too tight for my cotton seams.  I lowered it to 5 from 7.  The manual says 7 is normal.  It may be because the machine is new and I have to break it in,  Bobbin winding is easy.  The drop in bobbin is under a clear cover, but there is a glare on the cover and I'm using black  thread so it's hard for me to see how much thread is left on the bobbin before I run out unless I lift the cover up.   Other than that, I am enjoying the lighting on the machine, there are lights in the throat area and over the needle.

   I plan to quilt my current quilt project with this machine so I'll let you know how the dual feed foot works.    

Quilt Decisions

    It always amazes me when I start a quilt how many options I have once the blocks are made.  With my disappearing hourglass I thought I wanted to just make as many blocks as I had fabric for and sew them all together into a quilt top without any border or sashing, but last night I decided to sash these blocks and put four patch cornerstones in the sashing.

    I went outside my comfort zone with my idea for the cornerstones, I normally would have gone with a solid grey or black, but I was thinking of a baby blue when I did my fabric search this morning.  I stumbled on this Laurel Burch fabric with stars in it and bought it for the cornerstones and the binding.  The sashing will be white.

    Here's a picture of the fabric I purchased and also a picture of a mock up of the sashing with the blue cornerstone using a similar fabric I had in my stash.

   I have about 30 more blocks to make so progress is slow but I should have the rest of the blocks made by the time I receive my fabric for the sashing and the cornerstones. 

   I have one more decision to make on this quilt and that is what to do for the back.  I've done some fabric searches for backing fabric but I can't commit to anything.  I'ms going to wait until this top is completely finished before I do another search for backing fabric.

My Day Out

   My daughter and I went out yesterday and took a drive to the coast.  We stopped on a little island to take some pictures, then we headed to a little town called Apalachicola that we love.  We shopped, had lunch, and bought some fresh seafood before heading home.  We always have a great time when we go out together.  Here are some pictures from our adventure.

  The other night while I was watching TV, my cats were hanging out with me.  Merlin was on the back of the couch and Taffy was curled up in my bag sleeping.  Silly cats.

Progress on the Black and White Disappearing Hourglass

      I managed to get some quilting done this past weekend while I had company staying with me.  They are late sleepers, so I had plenty of time in the morning to play with my fabric.  I now have all my half square triangles sewn and I'm in the process of ironing them and trimming dog ears for the next step, making the hourglass blocks.    I have six completed blocks and another 35 to finish.  I haven't decided how I am going to set these blocks or what fabric I'm using for the back.  I'm thinking about placing some sashing in between the blocks.  I do have the batting for this quilt, at least that is something I don't have to think about.

     My company leaves today and I have a few things to do to get settled back into my bedroom, and after that I'm planning on getting Magnolia fired up (my new Janome 7700) to see how she does piecing hourglass blocks.  I want to test it with the cotton quilting thread I bought at JoAnn's that I'm using on this project.  I hope she is not going to be fussy about what thread I use on her.  I'll let you know how that experiment goes.

A Couple of Blocks Done And Lots of Household Chores

   I've been busy doing household chores and getting things done in preparation for some of the family visiting the weekend of July 4th.  My two older brothers and their families are coming to town.  It seems that everything needed fixing or cleaning.  This month I had to replace the flushing mechanism in both toilets.  I finished the second one today.  It's nice to have those done.  

    My oldest brother and his wife will be staying here at the house and I'm giving them my master bedroom and bath.  I have to give those two rooms a really good cleaning, my brother is allergic to animals and the cats spend a lot of time in the bedroom.  I'm smart enough to keep the cats out of the bathroom, so I won't have to worry about too much cat fur in that room.

    I haven't done a  lot of sewing in the last few weeks.  I did get two disappearing hour glass blocks done and I figured out what my measuring problem was with the very first attempt.


 

    I bought myself a Janome Memory Craft 7700 to enhance my sewing room.  This machine has a 11" throat and it should be the only other machine I need for the rest of my life.  Her name is Magnolia (because she's pure white).  I covered her with my yard of Tula Pink's Elizabeth and it covers her nicely.

   I'm trying to get back in the sewing groove.  I figure once my family is gone I can get back on track and get the rest of these disappearing hour glass blocks done as well as learn how to use my new machine.

New Chapter, New Project

    My life has changed in the last couple of months.  I left my job of 27 years and I'm taking some time off before I look for work.  I've been thinking about what I want to do for the rest of my life and taking care of some things around the house.  It has been very nice.

      Last year I purchased a low end DSLR  camera and I've just gotten around to taking it out and trying it out.  I took pictures of some of the flowers in my yard.  I have lots of knock out rose plants, drift rose plants, and marigolds in pots. The last picture is of the yellow knock out rose and the fragrance on those yellow blooms is amazing.

    I have started a new quilt top.  I'm making a disappearing hourglass in black and white.  The black fabric is actually a polka dot which I love.  You can get a great video tutorial on the pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company on youtube at this link.   I love the MSQC video tutorials, they are so much fun.  Here is a picture of my first wonky block.  My measuring and cutting needs some work to get this block to look nice.  I'll be more careful with the rest.

   The work on the quilt top is going slowly, but I'll have more to share soon.