Merry Christmas!

Hello, everyone. I just realized that the Christmas season has been so busy that I hadn't posted in a while. Sorry about that!

This is our Flight Into Egypt ornament. That actually took place a good some months after the birth of Jesus, but the photo came out better than the glass Holy Family ornament.

We're expecting a traditional South Texas Christmas, enjoying the official food of the season: tamales! We shouldn't even need jackets for going to Christmas Mass as the cool air of these few days is supposed to slide on out.

I wish for all y'all a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.🎄🪅

Since the embroidery machine goes to class sometimes

Hello, everyone. The embroidery machine goes to Sewing Club sometimes and carrying it is rather awkward. Toting a four-year-old child in arms awkward--both arms needed and while it doesn't weigh as much as the four-year-old, it's an inanimate object and can't help at all. So I decided to look into a way to carry it. Thought about a webbing harness but couldn't figure out how to design one that would support the machine without major wobbles. Then I was looking at Sailrite.com and found a video about a tote. Theirs is a little smaller than this but it looks sturdy.

The footprint of the machine is 22"x18". 

I have now learned a lot about Dacron sail cloth (the interfacing) and Cordura. And that this project is at the very edge of the ability of my Janome HD3000 sewing machine. 

There is a little bit of extra fabric,  maybe I can make some little things out of that. 😀

Spray basting a new quilt

Hello, everyone. The weather in south Texas has finally cooled off. We walk in long sleeves in the morning now.

This is the newly spray basted quilt. It's mostly based on a panel print with a national parks theme. The happy Alaskan bear in the middle was added; there was a block of ugly text there that I didn't like.

This is the happy bear. He is an applique done with the embroidery machine, a design from John Deer. The Dipper and Pole Star above his head are embroidery. He has been echo quilted with navy blue thread, because there has to be enough quilting to hold the whole thing together when it is washed. 

As it's early days yet on the quilting,  there may be more added later on. We'll see how it looks.