Thursday, April 29, 2010

Lots of leafy things

I said this will take a while and it is true. Such detailed quilting goes slow and strains the eyes and brain. I think I will need a day of mental rest and will be working today on info needed for my September -October Hawaii Quilting Cruise. (www.worldofquiltstravel.com)

Plenty of leafy extension remain to be quilted but it is progressing.

The different ink and thread values are creating some dimension.

A word on machines....My usual on the road sewing machine (a Juki TL98E) is acting up, so I'll move to my Bernina Artista next. This is exactly why I drive to retreat destinations whenever possible (I travel with 2 machines). I once at a retreat several hundred miles away had a computerized machine fail without a backup. Needless to say, with 3 days left at that retreat, I went to town and bought another machine. I have a healthy inventory of machines these days and don't wish to buy yet another, so I'm happy my Artista is here.
By the way... that computerized machine that failed??? It occurred in 2003 in a room with 20 plus quilters almost half of which also had personal ironing boards by their machine set up. The room was in a forest camp setting. Electrical wiring was old and probably inadequate for the number of people sewing. Here's what happened... After lunch, retreat campers all returned to their machines, turned machines AND their irons on at roughly the same time. There was such a draw on electrical power, that there was insufficent "juice" to power up computerized sewing machines. I immediatetly smelled burnt metal on my machine and turned it off quickly. Bottom line... a costly burnt circuit board. Non computerized machines without circuit boards were not affected, so HINT... thats a good traveling 'camp' type machine to carry with you. Now, whenever in a large shared environment setting, even if a newer facility I carry with me a UPS (uninterrupted power server). These are not expensive and worth every penny. They can be found in any electronics store and now in some sewing machine stores.

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