Janome – BARBARA HARMS FIBER ART AND MORE

June 6, 2013August 27, 2013

NEWS NEWS NEWS! I’m Excited But I Have News!

NEWS,NEWS, NEWS I have a few upcoming events. which I hope you’ll look for. It’s NEWS! One is about myself and the other is concerning Rachel Biel. Read on to find out.

The first one is a real thrill for me. I was contacted by Janome, they are starting a new series on Janome.com their page. It will be a series of brief interviews with different quilters and fiber artists and so forth who run their own small businesses that involve quilting, fiber art and the like. These are woman who depend on Janome machines in their work. I’m one of the women being featured in this series,which will be most likely sometime next week. I’ll post the date as soon as I get it and a link too if possible before hand. Please come and support me, besides this actually is a fun site to poke around in, lots to do, info, FAQs, forums, projects, tips, information about your machine, updates, lots more- and no it isn’t just a site with different models and features pictured. Oh, last but not least, there is a new series you don’t want to miss

TA DA of featured women! It’s no secret that I love my Janome 8900 QBC, if that comes as a surprise to you, well you haven’t been reading my blog, hummm. I love my machine and I am vocal about it, no one is offering me any incentives or twisting my arm, I just love it, and sound like a walking commercial I realize.

This second announcement is equally exciting, keep on reading.

I am posting an upcoming interview with Rachel Biel. She is the woman behind TAFA, which you likely are familiar with or should be if you are interested in fiber or textiles.Rachel is such a interesting person, she has been involved with fiber and textiles many years[I keep wanting to say fiber art here, she is a fiber artist in her own right] but TAFA involves much more. Rachel is one smart dynamo of a woman, I loved what she had to say, she’s honest, real and a straight shooter. Her years of experience have given her insight and a lot of savvy which she is generous in sharing, You can’t help but admire her “go get it” attitude, isn’t afraid to work hard, and do what it takes to achieve goals. What she has to say has value, it’s not fluff! You will enjoy this, she’s one interesting woman.

So that’s all my NEWS NEWS NEWS coming up really soon, look for these. I sure want to encourage you to check out my little feature and the interview with Rachel Biel is going to interest and engage you. I’ll post the

dates as soon as I can.

http://www.tafalist.com/

Home

http://www.rayela.etsy.com/

TAFA ROCKS! http:/http://www.rayela.etsy.com//www.rayela.com/

Had to throw this in somewhere, a couple of my quilts here. — Had to throw this in somewhere, my quilts are in there.

Put one of there up on your site, I'm going to if I can figure out how — Put one of these up on your site, I’m going to if I can figure out how and join!!!

January 4, 2013July 23, 2013

JANOME’S New Horizon Memory Craft 8900 QCP Progress Report

In a recent post, which was about my new sewing machine, Janome‘s new Horizon 8900 QCP, I promised a follow up. I’m laughing, only a quilter would have a whole post dedicated to her sewing machine! But truth be told, this machine is worthy of a whole post, even two!

After having a chance to try her out a bit more, I find I’m still in love with this machine. It is perfect for all you who are quilting big items with that roomy 11″ neck. The stitch quality is very good, an A+. It has so many bells and whistles, I’m having a blast trying them.There are a lot of features I could tell you about, I’ll mention only a few, my fingers and hunt and peck typing is limiting me.

One feature that will knock your socks off, is how easily the pressure plate can be changed from a wide opening to plate to a quilting single whole one. The single stitch plate is a good one for free motion quilting, it stabilizes the stitches, as all you quilters know.

If you hate screwing and unscrewing those inconvenient little screws to get the pressure plate on and off, rejoice, do a happy dance, those days are gone!!! You-just push an easily reached lever and up pops that pressure plate, no fuss at all. This is a wonderful invention, I can’t tell you how many times I have squeezed my hand into an awkward little space while trying to hold on to a tiny little screwdriver, to unscrew those blasted screws, only to drop them multiple times? This is genius.

It has power to spare,no problem with heavier fabric, there is and adjustment to change the space between the needle and feed dogs. Now that is another brilliant useful feature, especially for quilting those thick quilts, I just learned about that visiting the sewing machine shop where I got my machine. I have to give credit for Whitlocks, and their staff. Maria, you rock! Todd is awesome. The owner Lynn, is the nicest man you will ever meet. I’m always bowled over by the customer service they show, unbelievable. I can’t praise and thank them enough! They have a web site http://www.whitlocks.com if you’re not in Oregon. I couldn’t resist including this, I love that store and the people.

The feed dog system is another great feature, no slipping or shifting. Speed galore. It comes with 10 feet and extension table included, the two pressure plates. And here’s an option that I would love, an optional magnifier that gives a close up look.

Well, I give an enthusiastic thumbs up on my new wonderful machine. By the way there is a very similar model at about $1000. less and most of the same features, the 8200 QC.

December 12, 2012July 23, 2013

Janome’s new Horizon 8900 QCP Want to know what I think?

Janome has recently released it’s latest Horizon 8900 Q C P. When it’s release was announced apparently many quilters began to form a line.

They have gotten the bugs out from the Horizon 8200 Q C, which some quilters had noticed, and apparently the corporation did as well. While making the changes they, beefed it up as well.

I had the 8200 QC, when I brought home the 8900 QCP I was quick to make comparisons between the two machines. My initial reaction?

I Love it!!! From the moment I took my first stitch, I felt a noticeable difference. For one thing, it purred, it hummed The motor seemed so smooth.

I liked the stitch quality. It now has 2 easy to change needle plates, one for regular stitching, the other for free motion quilting. No more silly screws to unscrew and re screw, and drop several times in the clumsy process, if you’re a butterfingers, like myself. Just pull a latch and up pops that needle plate, bim bam boom. Easy!

The previous model’s slider thingy[ a very technical term ] in the one needle plate, which changed from regular sewing to free-motion was problematic to say the least. As I mentioned it’s been replaced with a very convenient solution.

I like the way the free motion quilting went, it seemed that the fabric movement was smoother, don’t ask me how this could be accomplished, but it was my impression.

I like the idea of the jog dial, it would be a nice little convenience, although I have not used it as yet. So my initial impressions are very favorable thus far.” I like it a lot”.

How about you? If you have any thoughts, share your impressions with us.

Janome’s new Horizon 8900 QCP Got it ,want to know what I think? (asianartandquilts.com)

Barbara Harms Fiber Art & More

Barbara Harms-Up Close and Personal I'm a fiber quilt artist, working in mixed media. I come from an “arty” family. I inherited the family “arty gene” & have been involved with art my whole life, painting most of it. I had despised in my early teens to be a serious painter. I joined the Las Vegas Artist's Guild, their youngest member at the time. I was totally out of my league, a teen, in a room of adults. I tried to avoid being noticed, a kid in a room of adult artists, I’m pretty sure they noticed. Being exposed to all those serious artists, was a great experience. So, there you have it, the "glorious" beginnings of my artistic "career"! I've continued to paint for most of my life. I was introduced to quilting after moving to Oregon and instantly fell in love it. It was new and exciting, I jumped in with both feet. As enjoyable as I found quilting, I began to miss the creative freedom painting affords. Then, I discovered fiber art quilting, I was finally home. My Process & Approach For me, it's the process of creating that holds the strongest attraction. I love starting with a tiny seed of an idea; vague and blurred around the edges, then I follow where it leads. My style is fairly loose and instinctual. The choices and decisions that come up as I work on a piece, are made based on my gut feelings. This can result in quite a few changes in direction. This approach can lead to many changes in the direction. The outcome can come as a surprise. I love that element of surprise. Sometimes everything just comes together & I think that this is one of my better ones. I can’t wait to show someone. I feel like a six year old, running home from school, a drawing in hand, can't wait to show Mom. At those times I'm smiling like the Cheshire cat.