I'm giving this post a procrastination tag since I said I would post several days ago and didn't.



So, this is my Christmas present. A new sewing machine! My old one was a good machine, for what it was. My grandmother bought me a Brother XL-6562 as a high school graduation gift, and it's been a pretty good starter machine. But I've finally reached the point where I needed one with more capabilities. I originally fell in love with the Janome Memory Craft 4800QC, but seeing as it's an $800 machine, I could easily tell myself I didn't need nearly that many fancy features.

After shopping around a bit more and looking wistfully at some great machines that were several hundred dollars over budget, I found the Singer Quantum 9910. It has basic features, and a few little snazzy tricks that I like, such as the Needle Up/Down button, a computerized display, Drop Feed capabilities for free-motion embroidery, and it's very quiet. The old machine had to be repaired for something a few years ago and forever afterward, it made a loud banging-type sound when I sewed with it.

With my new machine I started making a little journal cover for my art journal (or one of my art journals, since I have about five...) I'm using a variety of vintage-y prints, some that I acquired from the quilt shop in town, some that came from my stash (which means I don't know where I got it...) The little bit in the corner that's green with white letters came from the Quilt Haus in New Braunfels.



The backing I'm using is a cute red fabric that I found at IKEA when picking up my table a few weeks ago. I'm handquilting around the edges of the hippos and should be finished with it pretty soon. I've been working on the stitching while watching Season 2 of Bones.



I think my next project after this will be to finally get prints of our wedding photos and get them framed. It's hard picking from over 300 pics! When eliminating all but my favorites, I still have about 80 and that may be a few too many to print...