I’ve been wanting this sewing machine for a while (and the Mothers Day sale made it possible). My MC9000 (Janome) while good was a bit old, the touch screen was a bit dodgy and it didn’t have the built in thread cutter (which I’ve come to really like on my 1600p) and it was quite tricky to manoeuvre a quilt around it.

This new one is fabulous – I bought the table as well. The table is fabulous; it makes such a difference to be working at the right height.

The acufeed system is marvellous; my in the ditch quilting is almost perfect. I’ve also done a bit of free motion quilting and that is great too (all errors due to me rather than the machine).

I’m really tempted to try applique on this machine – there seems to be several stitches that might work.  I bought two cushion patterns from Hot Possum (one a dinosaur and one a fairy) to test it out.

 I’ve been working on the pony design all day (off and on). My machine informed me it would take 46 minutes, but that’s just sewing time and once you take into account trimming the applique fabric and changing the thread it takes much longer even if you’re doing nothing else – whereas I’ve had a few other jobs to do today as well.

The tutorial (on how to create large machine embroideries) is finished you can find it here.

I made a birth sampler for Miss A (I removed her name and birth date from the above image for obvious reasons). It measures 35cm by 35cm and took 7 hoopings.

I will write a tutorial about my method (because I searched and couldn’t find anything particularly helpful).

I like use calico (Quilters muslin) as a stabiliser for my T-Shirt and Towel appliques. It seems to work really well for me.

As you can see, I hoop the fabric as well. For some other projects I don’t hoop the fabric just the stabiliser, but I’ll save that for another day.

I then stitch out the letters…

I use Robinson-Anton Rayon Embroidery thread and Janome bobbin fill (I resent having to buy the Janome Bobbin fill, but it does seem to work the best). It’s also a good idea to change the sewing machine needle every 8 hours or so.

I then cut out the letters. I usually do this while watching T.V.

I’m now ready to attach them to a towel.

I spray the back of the letters with a basting spray – currently I’m using Craft Smart Applique and Embroidery Positioning Spray (I also use this to attach fabric to the stabiliser when I don’t want to hoop the fabric). I bought it from Spotlight.

I use low tac masking tape on the towel to mark a straight line and I place the middle letter of the name in the centre of the towel – the spray will make them stick (just temporarily).

I then attach the letter. I use an ‘invisible’ thread in the needle and a bobbin thread in a colour to match the towel (in this case white). I use Sulky Invisible Thread, which you can get from here.

I sew the remaining letters using the same method – working outwards from the centre. For example, with a name like Karen I would start with the r, then the a, then the e, then the K and finally the n.

I would show you the finished product, but this one is a gift and I don’t want anyone to see it before them, but here is one I prepared earlier…

I’m really pleased with it – it seems to do everything I want. I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t come with the darning foot (for stippling) or the even feed foot,  but I will buy those in the next week or two.

The quilt in the picture I have been working on for some time (off and on). I stopped the last time because quilting on my MC9000 was just a bit too hard. In the past couple of days I have made huge progress. I’m using an invisible thread to do my quilting and it kept breaking – very annoying. I worked out that the bit coming off the reel was threaded under cotton still on the reel – I had to cut it off and waste a bit, but now it’s working brilliantly.

On a completely different note – my fabric arrived from equilter! How quick was that? And it’s lovely, exactly what I expected, which is a good thing given that I ordered it over the internet.