Troubleshoot a Change in Sewing Machine Tension

A student recently emailed to ask:

I bought a M7 in April. My tension was perfect I didn't have to adjust the tension. Now after 51 hours of quilting my back tension is loose. I have to put it on 3.8 is this normal? I sew on a HP foot

Fine Tune that Thread Tension

It totally can be! The auto tension is just a starting point, especially if using different threads or certain stitches. For instance, the machine will increase your top tension if you set it up through the applications menu for free motion quilting. But if I decide to use a thicker thread than usual (ie: switch to 40wt Aurifil instead of the 50wt I piece with) I might not need the top to be tighter. A slippery, high-shine embroidery thread paired with a spun polyester might not react the same to the tension setting that works great for top and bottom of the same type of thread.

Troubleshoot that Tension Change

Specifically, you are using the HP foot, which means you are just doing straight stitch. You've said your top tension is loose, so that tells me you were seeing bobbin thread on the top and so you reduced it to 3.8. Sometimes needing to loosen the top tension on your standard thread combination for a commonly used stitch, like the straight stitch can indicate that the machine has some lint build up in the tension discs, making it harder for the thread to go through....hence the need to decrease tension. Frustratingly enough, sometimes a wad of lint will cause a lack of tension.

If you consistently find that the tension needs to be changed about the same amount each time, you can go into your settings and change the master tension. On these all digital machines, the numbers tend to be lower for tension than on our more manual Janomes which tend to run at balanced tension on regular sewing thread of 3-4-5, with 4 to 4.5 the most common for most regular sewing threads.

Lock the M7 before threading

Lock that Sewing Machine

Additionally, make sure you are 'locking' your machine for threading. This is something that machines like yours with the automatic presser foot lift must do when threading the top. (Janome 15000, 14000, 12000, M7, M17, 9400/9450, S9 and S7. I'm sure other brands with this kind of system have something similar) It tells the machine to OPEN the tension discs so that the thread can go between them properly. With the automatic presser foot lift being controlled by an electronic servo motor, the traditional link between the presser foot lever and the tension discs isn't as direct as on a simpler machine where threading with the foot up opens the discs. While an extra step, it is totally worthwhile.

Preventative Maintenance for your Sewing Machine It could also be time for a service. 51 hours doesn't seem like a lot, but it actually is! That is actual sewing time. The difference between hours on and time sewing can be ridiculously different. All depends on how you sew. Having bought in April, you are coming up on your 1 year anniversary. A service person can adjust the tension manually, so that it is balanced, without you having to change anything.

Self-Care for your Sewing Machine

Also, if there is lint in the tension springs of the bobbin case, that can cause the bottom tension to be loose. Here's a video that covers this issue below.

By the way, if you enjoy my videos on YouTube, I'd be so grateful if you'd give them a Like, share them with others, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss new ones.

Adjust the Bobbin Tension?

Finally, any changes you make to the bobbin case tension will also affect the top tension. It's a balancing act. Typically, we can get a good balanced stitch by just adjusting the top tension. Using 12wt or larger thread in the bobbin call for loosening the bobbin and 80-100wt thread calls for tightening the bobbin. Otherwise, the top can balance it.

Find Janome Education in the AmyQuilts Clubhouse

Want to learn more about your higher-end Janome machine so you too can learn to use it with more creativity and confidence? Want to know how to use all the "bells and whistles?" Check out the AmyQuilts Clubhouse program. Divided into one for sewing and one for embroidery, it's a monthly membership program with a ton of lessons and access to me as a "virtual Janome dealer."

Best wishes for happy stitches,

The Tunic Challenge Finale

It's the big reveal day for my tunic as part of "The Tunic Challenge" with quilting friend, Leah Day. We started the challenge as a mutual deadline to help each of us sew something for ourselves. This challenge definitely made me get it done. Well, mostly....

Remember my first muslin? Much adjusting was needed.

What was I thinking? An extra project in the midst of the Christmas shopping season while owning a retail shop and extra activities with the kids? Throw in a leaking water heater at the shop (the neighbor's, not even my own!) and this week was a real humdinger. Though this has been a week full of wonderful customers as well, so it's really still all good.

While it might sound like sewing nirvana to own a sewing machine shop, I don't actually get much time to sew. I do need to know all the machines I sell, so I hop around from machine to machine. I decided to give the Janome Skyline S3 some attention. It's my current favorite pic for someone who wants more room to quilt, but doesn't have a lot of money to spend. While it has a fairly roomy 8.25 inches to the right of the needle, it lacks a few features I've grown accustomed to. There were multiple times I was trying to raise the presser foot with the non-existant knee lift.

While as a plus sized gal, I had quite a few tweaks I needed to make to the pattern even though it goes up to a 2XL, another part I struggled with seems silly..... With a placket that sat on the outside of the bodice, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around which way to layer my fabric before stitching and understitching (above). I kept checking and rechecking that I really was supposed to stitch right side to wrong side instead of the usual right sides together.

The tunic didn't get the attention I had hoped to give it, but it is done!

I think I need to fine tune my pattern pieces a little, darts mostly, but after that, I will definitely make another tunic. The Tunic Bilble is full of variations for this basic pattern. Head over to Leah's Free Motion Quilting Project to see what she's stitched up. My many thanks to Leah for proposing this challenge.

It was good to stretch my sewing skills and get back to making something for myself. Plus, now I can wear a shop sample! The denim I used was from Art Gallery and I am looking forward to making another tunic with their cotton voile. It feels absolutely luscious.

Tunic Challenge: Week 2

It's crunch time with the tunic challenge between Leah Day and myself. This is week 2 and it's probably the most crucial....fitting the muslin. AKA tweaking the pattern and really wishing that I was eating less and exercising more. Leah's got her tunic muslin all set and is looking fabulous. Take a look at Leah's blog and see.

The first attempt.

Better....

I shot another video for this week's deadline and honestly? It's not going on the YouTube channel. I'm all about being honest and real online, but a girl has her limits of just how far she needs to show herself!

The audio quality isn't all that great, so you may need to turn the volume up. 

Practicing my runway walk....

I can't believe I put all this up here. Must be I'm getting to that age where I don't give a flip what others think about me. Or it's just another late night and I'm getting slap happy.

I haven't truly met our challenge deadline as I still need to work on the sleeves, placket, and give it a few more tweaks. What will next week bring?

Leah Day and the Big Challenge

Quilter extraordinaire, Leah Day, has thrown down the gauntlet and issued a challenge to me!

Is it a quilting competition? A quilt-off? Hardly....

She saw on Instagram that I had bought the same book recently and with both of us being busy quilters and business owners, thought we could help each other complete a project that was likely to be shoved to the sidelines otherwise.

So with the help of The Tunic Bible, we are meeting weekly deadlines to complete our own tunics! We'll be posting on Instagram as we go, so if you haven't found me there, I'm amys_fmq_adventures and you can find Leah through my recent posts, and at her site.

Stay tuned and see how we've done this Saturday with our first step: cut out our tunics.

Since I've likely got quite a bit of alterations to do, I better get busy! First is to trace the pattern included in the book. Then to do a muslin before actually cutting the pattern out of my choice of fabrics. Since I've got some gorgeous fabrics from Art Gallery in my shop, I'm looking forward to that part.

Stitching on the Swirly Bird: Free Motion Quilting Swirls

I'm trying to finish up some small projects and have been free motion quilting around this bird which was appliqued using the Artistic Edge cutter and then machine embroidered on a Janome MC14000.

It was my first attempt to digitize my own MEA design and it wasn't completely successful. Watch the video to see how I dealt with the excessive thickness of the satin stitches by adjusting the foot's height as I went.

Thanks so much for all the positive comments on my quilted window from my last post. I think it was a hit!

Quilting with Rulers

I hosted and taught "Quilting with Rulers" here in my own shop last weekend. It was the first time I hosted my own class in my own shop and it was wonderful.

These four wonderful ladies traveled to my shop from Roanoke, Virginia which is a little over an hour away. As always, quilters are a great group of people to work with. There's always a lot of laughter.

First I talked about the need for a ruler foot when guiding your free motion quilting with rulers. Then we took a break and fitted the machines with ruler feet. Three machines were fitted with the Janome ruler foot combination and one took a Westalee foot.

Then we worked on using basic rulers for straight crosshatching, followed by working with curves. Then I supplied the rulers for an "open-bar" of sorts, giving the quilters a chance to try unique shapes, sizes and specialty rulers without obligation to purchase them.

I love the reach I have through my classes at Craftsy, but there's something extra special about being able to teach students in person, and I'd like to think that quilters enjoy classes in person as much as I do.

Speaking of my Craftsy classes, my students have been posting their own projects using ruler work and I've got to say it's pretty amazing. Below is a selection of several recent projects posted by students.

Photo courtesy of Craftsy and the student who posted it. 

First is a sampler of ruler work practice by Craftsy username DittsMon. I love that she made a practice piece and shared it. Not only did she do the first couple of designs, but also some variations. I feel like I've accomplished my goal when students take what they've learned, tweak it, and make it their own.

Photo courtesy of Craftsy and the student who posted it. 

Barb Lounsbury posted this beauty and the combination of ruler work designs and free hand fills sets this colorful quilt off fabulously. She used a double batting, with wool on top for greater texture with nearly a trapunto effect. It makes that quilting really pop.

Photo courtesy of Craftsy and the student who posted it. 

Craftsy username Schaeferhund posted this striking modern piece. Her quilting is gorgeous and I love how she's integrated ruler work throughout it as well as worked the curved lines and circles from the main part of the quilt into the centers of the borders.

I'm getting ready for our "new owner open house" event this weekend. Most of the 80's wallpaper has been covered by white batting, making for a big design wall. I painted the shelving unit white. It's so much brighter without the country blue.

If you're near the Lynchburg, Virginia area, I'd love to meet you. Maybe you'd like to sign up for a class? Should you like to see my class offerings, visit Sew Simple of Lynchburg's class page. Now, I better get back to work! The to-do list is very, very long.

Just in the Nick of Time

I finished my Big Block Baby Quilt for my niece just in the nick of time and sent it off. The USPS tells me it will get there Christmas Eve Day. I really enjoyed this project. It worked up quickly (despite the little available time I had to work on it) and was fun to quilt with an all over design and I did just a bit of quilting with rulers.

I did a bit of ruler work in the solid blue triangles, since that's the only place where it had a chance to show. A triangle, star, Celtic knot, and the letter A (for Abbie!) into a triangle. I used bark blue thread for the quilting in these spaces and while it shows up a bunch on the back now, I'm confident that one wash and the minky will cover up the stitching.

I finished the binding by machine. I stitched the binding onto the back first (with regular thread) and then stitched it down on the front with a tiny blanket stitch with very fine invisible thread. I made sure to tie off all ends very securely.

 I used the built-in walking foot attachment on my Janome 8200 for the binding and I also wore my Machingers gloves on my left hand to help me guide the quilt as I stitched. This dry winter air makes things slippery and the grip of the gloves really helps. By the way, did you know you can get these in size extra small at my shop? My hands aren't tiny, but my fingers are somewhat short. The extra small leaves no extra space at the tips of my fingers. Very (ahem...) handy.

I mailed off the last of my Christmas presents today and I'm all done with the kids' presents. Hubby is in charge of wrapping them. Shopping isn't much of a deal here as we keep Christmas pretty simple but the kids are so excited! Since they're out of school, we're planning on doing more baking and some crafting too.

Is it done? I'm sure she wonders....

Craftsy is having their last sale of the year and all classes are up to 50% off including my own. If you're done with your shopping for others, it might be time for you to buy a little something for yourself OR to "Gift a Class" to someone else as a last minute gift that doesn't require wrapping or shipping. Use my Instructor's link to get the best prices and to put a tiny bit of jingle in my pocket at no cost to you: http://www.craftsy.com/ext/AmyJohnson_holiday

This video reminds me I better make sure my hubby hasn't lost his list of my gift suggestions. I usually tell him I don't need anything and he takes that as "Don't get me anything" and then he doesn't. Silly man. You'd think that after 22 Christmases he'd learn that I do like a little something to unwrap even if it's not much. (Then again after 22 years, you'd think I'd be used to him taking me at my word about not needing a present.) I hate for him to spend money on something I won't like though, so this year I gave him a little list to choose from.

How about you? Are you done with Christmas shopping? Does your significant other need some help when it comes to shopping? Do you give a list too?

Free Motion Quilting Troubleshooting: Bad Bobbin

When it comes to free motion quilting, there's a ton of variables to address before you get great results. Once you've mastered the basics of moving the quilt, hand speed, tension, and designs you might feel like you're good to go. That's when it can get a bit mysterious.

You've been having great results and then something happens. Check the threading, change the needle, tweak the tension. Most of the time it will straighten out. But occasionally you will be beset with a perplexing intermittent problem. Perfect stitches for good long run followed by 6 or so tangled stitches and then everything is fine again.

A tangled loop of top thread on the back of my quilt.

Check all the typical variables but it keeps happening. It could be a burr in the needle plate that only hits threads when the quilt moves a certain direction. Maybe a stray thread in the thread path. Maybe the quilt is hanging up on something. Sometimes it's a run of bad thread. It can be very perplexing.

For me, it can be a poorly wound bobbin. That's what I want to focus on in this post today.

Sad to say, it is usually operator error when it comes to my bobbins. I get in a rush and don't pay attention. That's what happened to me recently. Now, I only have Janome bobbins here. That's not always the case with a lot of sewists. We get a lot of machines into the shop that are loaded with very much the wrong bobbin. That can cause a bunch of trouble that is easily fixed. Check your bobbins.

The poorly wound bobbin above was the result of me being careless and leaving my machine cluttered with extra feet and needles in the path of the bobbin winding thread path. I love the storage on top of the machine, but I wasn't paying attention and the thread was rubbing on the top of a foot that was out of place.

I stripped off that last bit of thread and started sewing. All was well for about 30 minutes, then I heard a little snick sound. I've talked before about learning the sounds your machine makes. Everything looked fine so I kept stitching and listening. Snick. Check the stitching. Fine on the top but there was a tiny nest of thread on the back. Did a little pulling and confirmed it was top thread. That tells me it was a bobbin area issue.

Check the bobbin and found this knot in the middle of my bobbin with thread wrapped around it. I had my suspicions right away but did a strip search anyway. After pulling off several yards of thread, I realized that when I held the tail of the thread while the bobbin was winding, I held it too long and the thread doubled up on itself into this tangle. Then the rest of the bobbin thread covered it up.

There's a new feature on some of the newer Janomes that completely eliminates this operator error. It's a plate that looks like a plastic saw blade that the bobbin sits on as it is wound. You set the bobbin in place, wrap the thread around the bobbin a few times and then tuck the thread between any of the plastic fingers/teeth of the the plate and it cuts off the excess thread and holds the end while the thread is wound. I don't have this lovely feature.

My solution is just to be more mindful when I wind the bobbin! I ought to know it by now, but I forget from time to time in my hurry to wind the thing and get back to quilting. Any snags, knots, and other things that cause the bobbin to go bad, will cause you grief.

In most cases, a poor bobbin will give you tension issues. In this case, the knot was keeping the thread from unwinding until it was tugged enough by the top thread, which would cause the top thread to get pulled too deep into the machine and make the hook grab it and make a nice nest.

I'm not a bird, I want no nests on my quilts!

So there's one of those things that can give you mystery issues when quilting. What's an issue you found that caused you such intermittent problems that you've figured out?

Slip Sliding Away...or Not: Free Motion Quilting Tips

It's a beautiful, not too hot, fairly humid day in Virginia (US). I've got a few extra kids over and one of my kids is at my mother's. Everybody is playing outside and I thought I'd knock out a quick design for a class I'm developing. Since I've been piecing on my machine, I dropped the feed dogs and switched out the foot for my free motion quilting foot set (with the ruler foot on it).

I started quilting and right away I noticed that the motion of my quilting was difficult; jerky and not smooth. I felt tense too. What in the world was the problem?

I neglected to use my Supreme Slider ! It was just a small sample and I figured there wouldn't be much drag, but I was wrong. The slider smooths out the bed of machine, especially where the machine joins the insert for my table. This would be similar to where a machine meets the edge of an extension table too.

And that humidity I mentioned earlier? It made everything a smidge tacky. So I had to use more pressure to move the quilt, which emphasized the bumps of the cracks between machine and table. I toughed it out since it was just a sample, but it was a reminder of how much that smooth slick surface aids my free motion quilting. I had my Machingers on as I always do, but the "grip and slip" work together and the slick was lacking.

If you find that free motion quilting makes your shoulders hurt, your hands cramp, or your quilting is herky-jerky, take another look at your surface. Is it smooth, flat, big enough to keep the quilt from hanging off the edges? If you don't have a table that your machine can sit flush into, you might want to consider these two options: SewEzi Portable Table and my DIY Sewing Table.

Also look to see if a Supreme Slider, Sew Slip mat, a teflon baking sheet, or even a polish or silicone spray might help. If you use the puddle method of stuffing your quilt under the machine like I do, your don't need to have a gigantic area covered my such slick covers or coatings, just the area under your hands and immediately around the machine bed. Some machine beds are smoother and flatter than others. That's something I miss about my Janome 6600. I love my 8200, but the bed has some ridges that really need that Supreme Slider.

Create Some Graffiti Quilting

Well, I cleaned up my creative mess (See the post here) and resumed getting to know my Janome 3160 again. I used the same project and had some fun just stitching. I decided to incorporate a little of Karlee Porter's graffiti quilting style.

What I did wasn't a whole lot different than what I normally do on one of my quilted word art pieces, since I do a free form mix of my favorite free motion quilting designs. But I used 2 colors, and challenged myself to include some of Karlee's more angular designs. She also orients her designs in a particular direction as she travels out from the center of a piece, and I didn't manage to do that. If you're unfamiliar with her book, Graffiti Quilting: A Simple Guide to Complex Designs , you can see a lot of it on Pinterest these days and she's got an article in the latest edition of Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine. Her quilting is COOL!

The front.

The first thing I had to do was address the tension issue that had me ripping out poorly formed stitches last week.  Using the same fabric, thread, and batting as the project, I started on the low side of the tension dial and stitched. I increased the tension a few times until it looked just right on the back. Since I was using purple on the front and white on the back, and the back wouldn't show, I didn't spend a ton of time trying to get all the purple dots to go away on the back.

The back.

There's still something not quite right with this machine and I'll have to check it out further. I also think it's due for a good cleaning and lubrication. The back of the piece had some occasional issues and I could hear my machine make some noises that didn't sound right.

Not a pretty back.

But over all, the piece came out ok. I still have to finish up the turquoise stitching and then I'll stretch it over an artist's canvas and it'll be ready to go on the wall, possibly into my Etsy shop.

While this style of stitching isn't what we'd probably use on a pieced bed quilt, being so tiny and dense, it was a lot of fun and good practice. At a larger scale, it would really add interest to a lot of negative space. Plus it will give me a nice encouraging decoration for my wall.

I'll be switching from the open toe FMQ foot to the ruler foot on this machine, both the Janome one and the one from Westalee and doing some ruler work on this machine this week.

Saturday Porch Musings on Machines

Here I sit on my porch, grabbing a few minutes to write between customers of our small neighborhood yard sale. I wouldn't have had enough stuff to bother with if it weren't for our neighbor's set up next door. In our snug cottage, clutter doesn't stick around too long, if it's not sewing related anyway.

I'm stewing over a rabbit trail I ran down last night while cruising Pinterest.

There I was, checking out the quilty goodness, when I see what looks like my old Janome 6600 but painted with tacky gold highlights and labelled a Singer! What?! Upon further inspection, I find it is a clone of the Janome 6500, called the S18. Then I found another clone, this time it's a Singer labelled version of the straight-stitch only Janome 1600, called the S16.

From all indications, these are machines made by Janome for Singer and they're priced much lower than their Janome counterparts, which are wonderful machines. Both have 9 inches of space to the right of the needle and are great for free motion quilting. Assuming similar quality to the Janome's they are based on.

Why am I stewing? Remember I work at a Janome dealership. I know my dealer didn't know about these machines and I bet any Janome dealer would be pretty dismayed. Why not drop the dealer price on the Janome models if they want to sell to a lower price point? My dealer can't come anywhere near the current sale price on the S16, though he's pretty close on the S18. Ah, the collective bargaining power of the big box stores....

What's the value of an independent dealer? Someone who can walk you through the features and needs of your new machine? Walmart isn't quite known for its customer service. These are heavy machines--- who pays to ship them to the factory for service? Can you find a local dealer to work on these machines? My dealer will work on any machine as long as he can get needed parts, but I hear that a dealer like that's not all that common anymore. Will someone at Walmart or Amazon tell you whether you can use a ruler foot on either machine? (You can. But don't go looking for a Singer version---you'll still have to buy Janome accessories for these clones.)

It's always been pretty easy for me to turn away from the machines sold at the big box stores before. I know they're not well made. Newbies get overwhelmed without some guidance, I see them in the shop each time I work, Experienced sewers can sometimes coax the best out of these bargain machines for a time. But what if they're made like my beloved Janomes?

I want quilters to be able to enjoy a quality machine with more space for free motion quilting larger projects without having to spend too much, so therein lies my dilemma.

What are your thoughts, dear readers?

I'm linking to the machines on Amazon below. Maybe they'll suit your needs, or maybe you'll just want to check them out better. These are affiliate links so I get a tiny commission if you buy just about anything on Amazon after clicking through. Doesn't cost you anything and gives me a little pocket change.

 

Also Craftsy is having a wonderful sale site wide for Mother's Day!

Free Motion Quilting with Rulers: Parrs Reel Ruler Foot Video Review

After posting the video from Wednesday's post, I realized I had never posted my video review of the ruler foot from Parrs Reel Ruler. Silly me! The blog post version, A Ruler Foot Alternative: Parrs Reel Ruler, was posted in December.

My final verdict on this foot is that I really, really, really wish they had made the foot a standard 1/2 inch in diameter. That makes spacing a big issue and it won't work with rotating rulers like the TopAnchor Quilting Tools. I also am not wild about it being a hopping style foot, but that does have advantages when it comes to bulky seam intersections. The hopping isn't a deal breaker. I wouldn't choose it over my Janome foot, but that's me. The price is approximately $75 US, including a sew slip mat and ruler, not sure about shipping. Wish it could be bought with just the foot. It comes in low 'reach', high 'reach', and Bernina version. I don't like the rulers. You have to cut your thread to take the ruler on and off the project- no groove for threads to slide out of the center.

Now I am off to care for my little guy who has pink eye and strep. Why did I ever send him to daycare? Besides sanity and a need to work. Poor fella.

Sewing Machine Foot and Accessory Storage

One of the things I miss about my Janome 6600 is the accessory box that came with it. The 6600 is a flat bed machine so there was no little storage area built into the machine bed. This is usually built into that part of the bed that is removed to access the free arm on many machines.

The Janome 8200 does have a wonderful storage compartment on top of the machine and built into that removable part that exposes the free arm, but since my machine is set into the table with that part off, it's not too handy for foot storage. I could set it next to my machine and use it, but since it's not attached to my machine, it is difficult to open the compartments (Yes, plural. There's great storage on this thing!) without dumping the contents around.

So I emptied out the storage compartments and moved it all to a great little container I picked up in the crafts section of Walmart. It's got one large compartment and 4 long narrow compartments. Plus each compartment can be subdivided with the provided divider pieces. (The brand name is Creative Options and the model # is 3650N Made in the USA by www.planomolding.com)

I left the large compartment as is, so it could hold which ever needle plate I'm not using (Love being able to change out the needle plate with the press of a lever!), Even-feed foot, extra bobbin case and other larger bits. I subdivided the smaller areas to best fit my different feet (those that didn't go on top of the machine) and some extra bobbins.

You can also see in the first picture that I use the spool area on top of my machine to hold the current pack of whatever type of needle I'm using and my screwdriver. I bought the optional cone thread holder for my Janome 8200 and use it for most of my threads. (Love it! Though it isn't as compact as the 6600 for travel.)

Janome makes a very nice accessory and foot box for its MC15000 model and they've made it available separately. It is nice for anyone with Janome's 9mm wide machines, having space for each available foot. But it's too bulky for what I want. My clear box sits in a narrow spot on a shelf within arm's reach of my machine.

What do you do for storage of feet and accessories? I admire what I think of as the Barbie's closet from Bernina, which holds feet and accessories so neatly. I know many quilters use boxes like mine, or a small tackle box. Plus plenty of people make do just fine with the compartments built into their machines. There are some machines that have quite ingenious built-in storage too.

I'd love to hear what works for you as it may be just the thing to work for somebody else! Please make sure you leave me a way to contact you if you are a no-reply blogger, especially if you ask a question.

Bernina Ruler Foot

I got back from the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster last night and while I'm still getting life back to normal, I had to hurry and share this with you:

Sorry for the poor picture.

 It's the new ruler foot from Bernina! Yes, it's on its way and made a little debut at the show in the Bernina booth. It was as we had suspected, made for the Bernina longarm, but will fit onto the Bernina sewing machines.

The Bernina representative told me it will be available in April. I got this sneak peek at it at the show as they had the long arm there. It's a nicely done foot, smooth and round with the desired 1/4 inch from the needle to the outside edge. It also has a small cutout for better visibility in front of the needle.

The interest in using rulers and templates with free motion quilting on a domestic sewing machine was incredible! Of course the need for a foot was a bit of a disappointment when I had all of those nifty templates at the ready from Top Anchor Quilting Tools. Especially for those who have non-Janome machines. I made sure to tell folks to check out the Westalee foot or to see if their machine is compatible with the Janome ruler foot and to pester their dealers for a ruler foot. I will have reviews of the final version of the Westalee foot sometime this week.

A Brother dealer made sure to come down and ask about buying the templates for her shop. She said all of her employees at the show kept coming down to our booth to look at the templates. She also said the Janome Ruler Foot combination (Janome Convertible Free Motion Quilt Foot Set (In the appropriate high or low shank) plus the Frame Quilting Feet Set ) worked on their Brother machines.

I was so happy to meet several blog readers at the show! Thanks for coming by and saying "hi". So nice to put some faces to your names. Especially one who gave me a hug and some well-timed words of praise when I was visiting the Janome booth! (That was awesome!)

Now I must go put my house back in order. Seems like while the cat was away, the mice played, while papa bear did some sanding in the house and there's a lovely layer of dust.....

AQS Lancaster Quilts

Sorry for the delay in posting these last few days. I've been working hard on the banner for Top Anchor Quilting Tools and then I left to come to Lancaster PA for the AQS show.

I haven't gotten to see much of the actual show, since I've been super busy demonstrating how to use long arm rulers on my domestic sewing machine. So many quilters are blown away with the idea of ruler work.

Several weeks before, I contacted a few people at Janome to let them know I'd be at the show demo'ing on my new machine, Janome 8200 and that the technique I used required the Janome Convertible Free Motion Foot Set and the ruler foot from the Frame Quilting Foot Set and would they please make sure that any Janome booths had those feet in stock. I was told they would. By this afternoon, I was told by quilters that the Janome and Elna booths were both out of those feet. Quilters are loving being able to do ruler work on their domestic sewing machine or sit-down long arm.

I snuck away this afternoon and made it down one aisle of show quilts before returning to the booth. Happily, it was the row that a quilt each from Margaret Solomon-Gunn and Bethanne Nemish were hung. The other quilts were wonderful of course, but these gals do amazing longarm work and have inspired my quilting over the years though I've never met them.

Words nor pictures do these quilts justice! Amazing quilting and fine detail work. I want to be like them when I grow up, but without the long arm. Though I'm not sure I have it in me to do such meticulous detail. Below, you can see the beaded piping that Bethanne pieced into her quilt. Those are beads stitched inside a bias strip.

I am exhausted from doing so much chatting with so many wonderful, friendly, and enthusiastic quilters! I hope to post more quilts from the show over the next few days.