Out with the old

Well, I decided this is the day I would take my Elna in for repairs. I have been using my old singer for a while now and decided I really needed to get the elna repaired so I could use it for up coming projects. I figured a week at the shop and whiz bang I would be back in business with the computerized modern machine. Guess what, I wore the machine out. The service man asked what the problem was, I told him, my feed dogs quit working and he said "Oh! I know how to fix that." Then he took the machine out of the case and said, "Oh my! You certainly use this machine a lot!" I had to reply with a yes. I sew almost everyday, hardly a day goes by that I don't sew, sometimes just 30 minutes, sometimes for hours. I use my machine a lot. He thought the dogs were clogged with lint, I said no, I had cleaned the machine thoroughly. Guess what, I wore the machine out. The drive underneath that causes the dogs to go up and down was completely worn so the dogs did not come up to move the fabric. He did some adjusting, got them working but wouldn't work like that for long. I could have had the machine repaired for about 300.00 OR
take a trade for 300.00 and buy this new machine. Guess what I did, I bought the new machine. Now I get to become accustomed to a new brand of machine. I bought a Pfaff 2027. I think I will like it, not much different from my elna but the components are metal, which should work better for me. I really don't need anything to fancy, same stitches, but it does have IDT: integrated dual feed. I will keep you posted on how I like the machine. I will get used to it just like I did the elna and we will become good friends.

Binding done on three

This is a picture of the Lovers Knot that I wanted to try. My daughter told me I can't call it a Halloween quilt just because I used black Halloween fabric. I used a spring green that I had around, didn't want to purchase any new fabric. I did quilt it with pumpkins, does that count? This quilt will go into the charity box. I made is shorter than the pattern said, it is soooo long and not very wide. Next time I make the pattern I will make a double or larger, then the width will match the length much better. Whoever receives it will like it and that's all that counts. This is the quilt for my niece. I will sign and date it today and get it in the mail. Nelmi, if you are reading this here is your gift.
Here is the completed Leaf Season. I keep checking Judy's site thinking she might post November quilt a few days early but no luck. I really like this pattern, I have liked all the patterns Judy has posted, but this one so far is my favorite. I will make another in the future.
All for now. I have to get things done for the morning errands. Hope you all have a great day. USC will play Oregon State Beavers this Saturday. You know where I will be, either watching or listening to the game. FIGHT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Top Completed

Here are the pictures of the completed "leaf season" top designed by Judy Laquidara. What a great pattern!!!! If you have ever thought you might want to venture out and make a maple leaf pattern I suggest you try this one. I really enjoyed making this quilt top and the instructions are very easy to follow. This is a bit of a close up; here is a picture of the whole top. As you can see I am not to good at getting the quilt squared in the picture. I tried many times and could not, this is the best I could do. I did make the quilt bigger than Judy's instructions. I made it 96x96, I wanted it big enough to fit my bed.
I am really excited to load this on the longarm and quilt. I wanted to wait until today so I could get a picture to post. I used all fabric from my stash. Not all the black is the same fabric, therefore different values of black. The cream color in the back ground of the leaves is not the same on all of them, I had to use two different fabrics for that. The green leaf fabric around the boarders is fabric I had left over from making my bedroom curtains and I thought it went nicely and added punch to the quilt. I was fortunate enough to have enough Moda Marble black for the inner boarder and outer boarder. I do like this quilt.

Well I best be going, I have many things to do today and one of them is load this on the longarm.Have a great day.