Over the past week, I have spent many hours a day learning to drive my new Janome. It’s one of the wide-throated sewing machines, and it’s fun to have this much room to move the fabric around.
It’s quite the transition from the 20-year old Bernina, but I am adapting quite well. I am having fun.
The smaller piece I have been working on is titled Que Onda? (What’s Up?) and is already textured. It’s ready for finishing touches. Below, 3 detail shots of the texturing.
I revisited some favorite texture patterns of mine, to see how tension settings and various threads worked out with the new “beast”…
It turns out that the Janome is really easy to manoeuvre… and remarkably quiet. Maybe that’s a hint that I should get the Bernina to the technician for a bit of maintenance. I still plan to use the Bernina for piecing.
Below, another pic showing two of the pieces in the works, the little one (Que Onda?) and the big one, It’s a jungle out there. The big one is on the floor, ready for pinning. Once that is done (tonight), I get to texture it to my heart’s content. This will put my driving skills to work!
Jungle may still get trimmed quite a bit, depending on how I feel when I see it with some texture. I am not sure, yet, about the cropping of the piece. But I’ve decided to go with the flow and let it be fun. These colours are bringing out my inner child. I am letting the child play…
While I ponder how I should texture it, I will start playing with mark-making, warming up for the big piece. Above, an example of my approach to warming up: a little bag, the result of my warm up exercise… It’s a great way to loosen up, experiment and discover how to apply new patterns on quilts.
