Deco 340

   

I took my first class at Alpine Sewing with my new embroidery machine.  It was a bigger class than I expected, 6 people.  Four of us had the Deco 340 and the other two each had a different machine.  This meant that I couldn't ask about using the machine for my quilt so I stayed a bit longer to figure out what I needed.

   

We made an embroidered design from the projects pre-loaded on the machine.  It gave us a good idea of how things worked, but I think I am just going to have to sit down and make a bunch of things to get comfortable using it.  My plan is to buy a bunch of towels and clothes?  napkins? who knows, but a bunch of inexpensive things from Dollar General and embroider the heck out of them to see how the machine responds to different fabrics.

I recently bought a bedskirt and when I get semi-good I intend to do a bit of embroidery on that.  I have some towels I use for the dog on rainy days.  I think RJ needs some embroidered towels!

   

After way too little practice, I started on a square on my quilt using the designs I purchased at Alpine.

   

 The first one went great. 

   

   

I wish the little bit of top thread didn't show through on the backside, but that is how it is supposed to look.  Yes, it is.  I checked!

   

I like how the variegated green thread I bought blends right in.

   

I started to get way too cocky.  This is EASY!, I thought.  I'll have this thing quilted in no time, I thought.   That's when the thread broke half way through.  It was too late to call anyone at Alpine Sewing, so I did what I TRY to do when I get frustrated.  Leave it for another day when I am fresh.

   

I then spent 40 minutes picking out the stitches.

   

 I probably could have stitched the whole square by hand by then, but that's not the point.  I gotta learn this freak machine.  The troubleshooting guide suggested it may be that the speed was too high, so I used the BOOK and figured out how to slow it down. ( Not as dumb as I look.)  The next square was successful.

I bought two designs for quilting my machine and I now have to figure out how to get the next design centered where I want it.  I guess it will take practice.   The display is not as helpful as I would like.  My recommendation is that they get a laser light to show a lit square where it will stitch.  Something like miter saws that have a little red light to show where the blade will be cutting.

I was supposed to do some outside work today, but it is once again too cold.  Which is good, because I really am having fun learning this new machine.  Notwithstanding all my whinging to the contrary.