Black lab head holding a daisy in his mouth and with more daisies in the foreground.

Dexter quilt

When we first moved here in 1999, we brought with us — of course! — our then five-year-old dog, Dexter. He was really a sweetheart; he loved everyone, but he always made sure that he was “on duty” whenever workmen were around for the inevitable final touches a new home […]

Finished embroidered design showing wine glass, grapes, and "Time to WINE Down"

First embroidery on new machine

After making all of those stitch samples and doing a bit of other stitching on my new Bernina 790Pro, I figured I probably ought to test out the machine embroidery, too. I selected one of the designs included on the machine and got to work/play. The machine did a lovely […]

The two binders are open to show some of the stitch cards.

Thousands …

… and thousands of stitches! That’s what is included on my new Bernina 790Pro machine. I like to have a visual of what a stitch looks like, so for this machine (as for my previous one), I’ve made a stitch book, following directions on the WeAllSew site. Yes, it takes […]

Two new machine/accessory suitcases, a tote bag and huge box of extras.

Welcome, and RIP

This is the wonderful sewing machine I’ve had for more than the past five years. A few years ago, I was able to add a lovely iridescent “skin” to the plain faceplate (click the photo to enlarge for a better view!), and I’ve loved sewing on such a beautiful machine […]

lighted back of freestanding firehouse in red and black fabric with cream embroidery

Firehouse

It’s done! I have to say that putting the pieces together is pretty hard on thumbs that have some arthritis in them, but the alligator clamps that helped to grab the little “nubbins” and the button clips that held them in place afterwards made a difficult/fiddly task somewhat easier. I […]

Embroidered pieces for a free-standing firehouse not yet assembled. Fabrics are red, with black touches, embellished heavily with cream stitching.

In pieces

In fifteen pieces, to be exact!  One of the pictured pieces is actually two identical ones, so that’s why it doesn’t look like fifteen. I counted up how many stitches went into making these pieces, and the total was almost 378,000! I used up an entire roll of water-soluble stabilizer, […]