Sunday Slow Stitching and Stash report.

Today on her Sunday Stitching post, Kathy talked about hand stitching as being a way to relieve stress, and that we who love it should not feel guilty for taking the time to do it. Not only that, but it’s an essential part of relieving the stress of life. She is so right! It isn’t a big thing in the overall scheme of things, but yesterday I was so stressed. It was time for some maintenance on my long arm machine. She was doing some pretty weird things with the stitch regulator. I had some new parts here, so yesterday was the day we decided to install them. APQS, the maker of my machine always sends out very detailed and easy to follow instructions on how to install new parts when necessary. We had to take it apart, and this is how the insides look..... very scary! We went step by step through the process, in this case installing new circuit boards, following the instructions exactly as written and the pictures as shown. Once we got to the part of the instructions that said to turn the machine on and test the needle up/down speed, We did that....... zero, zip, nada happened. The machine turned on but not a move did she make. Have I mentioned before that there are times, not many thankfully, that I would cheerfully throw this thing out the window, assuming that I could lift it? Well, yesterday was one of them. By the end of the day I’d calmed down. Going to church to worship helped immensely. And today, I’m doing what Kathy suggests is necessary to my sanity and my health. I’m slowly hand stitching on La Passacaglia. The third side of the border is almost done. I should be able to get the fourth border pinned in place and started today. I’ve had a very loose mental goal of getting this finished by the end of April. If it continues this way, I just might make it.
Between the fabric for these borders, and making a backing for Northern Tree Line, I’ve had some stash used progress.

Used last 2 weeks:                             7.7 yards
Used this year:                                 17.85 yards
Added last 2 weeks:                              0 yards
Added this year:                                  5.5 yards
Net stash busted:                               12.35 yards

I’m linking up with Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching, Judy’s Stash Report and Angie’s WIPs Be Gone. I think I’ll take some time for a cup of tea and a browse through some of those links, and then it will be back to more stitching.

Friday Night sew in

I've been working away at RRCB, and I've finally ground to a halt with sewing the main body of it together. Not because I don't want to get it done, but because I finally declared "enough" with my old machine. It simply will not feed over the seams. Every time I hit a seam where a square meets a half square triangle unit, the machine seems to catch on it, and sews in place. So I have to be constantly reaching in behind it, and pulling the quilt through. I've tried all the adjustments, but frustration has finally won.
I've been researching machines for a while now, and it came down to 2 choices of makes..... Bernina or Janome. Bernina's are way over my comfort range for price, even when they are on sale. Plus the store that sells them is at least a half hour drive away. So, Janome it is. I have one on order, hopefully coming today.The page for the sale is found here, and the one I finally decided on was the 4120 QDC. I thought that was a fabulous price for what the machine has. I especially like the fact that it has 7 feed dog units, to the 4 my current machine has. And it comes with all the feet, including the walking foot, which is great for putting on bindings, or at least I had to use it with my old one. With all the extra feed dogs, I might not need to use it.
In the meantime, I've been working on customer quilts, (I'll do a separate post about that), and the border units for RRCB. The old machine will still do those. I'm going to participate in the Friday Night Sew-in, sponsored by Heidi. I'll post tomorrow about what I get accomplished tonight, hopefully the borders finished for Roll Roll Cotton Boll. See ya tomorrow.