Sewing Machine Meme

These have been fun to read, so I thought I'd do my machine.

What brand and model do you have?
I have a Janome 6125 Quilter's Companion. I believe Janome still makes the QC series, but I have no idea if my model is still available.

How long have you had it?
I purchased it in the Spring of 2004, so it's 5 years old now. Wow.

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
I really don't remember, though I know I have the receipt around here somewhere. I think it was in the $600 range. I wanted my first sewing machine to be one I would never outgrow, so I spent a little more than I originally intended to buy a better machine.

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
Since this is my only sewing machine, I've used it for all my sewing projects - quilts, clothes, bags and pillows. Originally I wanted to learn to sew so I could make quilts, which is why I got a machine geared towards quilters.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
It really depends. I'm not sewing a lot right now, because my sewing table is a mess and I'm home with my children more since it's the Summer. I've used it a lot over the past 5 years with no issues. I've used it as little as an hour a week up to 5-6 hours a day when I'm trying to crank something out.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
I've liked this sewing machine a lot. I may love it, but as I've never sewed with another machine it is hard for me to definitively say that. I bought a Janome because my husband's aunt swears by them. She's been sewing for almost her entire life, has owned every brand of machine, and says Janomes are the best. My mother-in-law made my sister-in-law's wedding dress on a Janome Gem, and my sister-in-law makes lot of quilts and home decor projects with her Gem.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?
Like I said, I wanted to get a machine I would never outgrow. I like having so many stitches, though I mostly use the straight, stitch, zig-zag stitch, and the stitch I refer to as the fake serging stitch. It is electric (but not computerized), so the ease of use is great. It came with a lot of feet, including a walking and darning foot which I need for quilting; the feed dogs drop easily which is necessary for free motion quilting. I like the drop in bobbin case, the built-in needle threader, and built-in thread cutter a lot.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
Not really. My bobbin winder won't wind the bobbins completely full, but that started after I took my machine to be cleaned last year, so I think it is the fault of the repair place not the machine. Next time I need my machine cleaned or repaired, I'm going somewhere else. I would love to have a knee lift, and wish when I let up on the foot pedal the needle would stop in place instead of going up or down one more time. A wider throat area would be nice, because it's hard to maneuver larger quilts on the machine when quilting.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!
Can't think of anything!

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
Sure. It's been great, and is easy to use with a lot of great features for all types of sewing.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
-All metal parts, as plastic parts will wear down.

-Features that make sewing fun and easy like an automatic button hole, zig-zag and other special stitches

-Needle up/down option - My needle stays in the down position almost all the time when I'm sewing
-Repair place that specializes in your machine that is fairly close to where you live

-Electric and mechanical vs computerized - computerized machines are great, but if the computer part breaks the repair is going to be a lot of $$$

-Don't pay for extra features you don't need - I have no desire to do machine embroidery so I would never need a fancier and more expensive machine with that feature

Do you have a dream machine?
I haven't thought about this a lot, but I kind of wish I had the Bernina Aurora with the BSR. I've never gotten good enough at free motion quilting to use it on an actual quilt, so I think the BSR would help me with this problem. I probably just need to practice more instead of blaming my machine! I plan on having my Janome for a long time, and hope I'm still using it when my children are my age.

Summer and the Garden

In the South, it looks and feels like Summer long before June 21. School gets out before Memorial Day and usually the pools are already open by then. I was trying to decide when I should change my mindset from Spring to Summer, and I decided I would when the temperature reaches 90 degrees. Well, that happened this week. It's Summer.

We planted our first vegetable garden in May. I've always grown herbs - basil and lemon verbena, and now mint, are necessities for me, but I've never had the desire to grow other edibles. For the past three years, I've been part of a CSA which I loved. I was a vegetarian for a long time and I try to avoid toxic stuff in my life for health reasons, so local organic produce is very important to me. Picking up a weekly share of fruit and vegetables changed the way I shopped, cooked, and ate. I realized I love kale and beets, and that the later strawberries and cantaloupes are sweeter than the earlier ones. However, I needed a break this year. I've been sort of overwhelmed lately, and didn't want to add another layer to that mix. I'm sad on Wednesdays when I don't go to pick up my box, but I'm happy not to be throwing rotting vegetables into the compost before we had a chance to eat them. Even though it takes a little more effort, it has been nice to go to the various farmer's markets around town, which is something I never needed to do in addition to my weekly share. It's also been nice supporting many local organic farms this year, instead of primarily just one.

Because someone else isn't growing all of our food, Will and I wanted to grow some ourselves. We decided to be wise and start small this year. We dug up a 4'x7' plot (small enough to reach everything from the edges because you are not supposed to walk on your garden as it compacts the soil), and planted 4 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and basil I got from a local, pesticide-free nursery and two different kinds of okra from seed. I also planted a pear tomato and some basil in front of the office. Basil loves that awful soil and ends up being the size of a large bush by mid-Summer, and I hope the tomato will do just as well. I wanted to make raised beds* for the garden, but we decided not to invest much money in the project this year and didn't have the time to come up with scrap material. We took our compost and spread a thick layer on top of the garden (even though we've never had a garden we've been composting for years to keep organic matter out of the garbage and landfill). Within a few days, we had some unknown sprouts come up out of the compost. We watched them get larger, and realized most of them were tiny mimosa trees. That tree was cut down four years ago, but somehow it still attempts to reproduce all over our yard. A few sprouts were pumpkins, and we left those alone with new dreams of homegrown pumpkin pies and jack-o-lanterns. Soon these pumpkins took over the garden and started to choke out the tomatoes and okra. We also realized they were most likely summer squash or zucchini (which no one really likes very much) instead of the desired pumpkins. We decided to keep the plants and move them to a special new squash-only area near the garden. Apparently, you can't move squash. Squash plants are prone to root disturbance, and need to be left where originally planted from seed. We, of course, found this out only after we replanted when the leaves immediately went limp and stayed that way for days. We gave the plants lots of water, and after a week they seem to have recovered from the shock and growing again in their new home.

(an auctioneer's garden - notice the T posts?)

Every night, the five of us (the dog must come too), go outside and check on the garden's progress. We pull up weeds, and look for new blooms on the tomato plants. Sometimes, we add a new row of twine to the Florida weave that supports the tomatoes. When most of the okra area remained bare, we put new seeds in the ground then hoped and watched for new dark green sprouts. When a cutworm severed my black zebra tomato plant at its base, I put the stalk in water to root and replanted it once the roots seemed long enough. Somehow new leaves grew out of the root end of the severed plant, so now we have two black zebras growing. I planted sunflowers and zinnias at the corners to help keep bad critters away. Taking care of the garden quickly become a lovely Spring and Summer ritual for the family, and we're already talking about next year's tilling, all the new plots we want, an asparagus patch, and brussels sprouts and blueberries and corn. I think the days of small are numbered.

*I attended a workshop on organic gardening in 2006, and I learned raised beds produce the healthiest plants and those plants yield a bigger harvest. Weeds are less and your soil quality is much better because you have more control over the growing environment. Besides the workshop, I relied on these resources for our little garden: Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham and The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. Great Garden Companions taught me how to lay out my garden, and gave me the idea of adding flowers on the edges. I love the ideas behind companion gardening and would like to do more with this next year. The Garden Primer taught us how to plant all our tomato plants, herbs, and various seeds, and I think one reason all our plants are doing well is that they got a great start because of this book.

The Last Day of May

Ely,

Four years ago this morning, you were born. You were supposed to have a June birthday, but you chose May 31, the same birthday as your great-grandfather (my grandpa, my Mom's dad) who celebrates 85 today. Following Jewish tradition, we named you after one of your other great-grandfathers (my grandpa, my Dad's dad), and it has been wonderful to watch you become your own person guided by a special name.

Not only was your birth day a surprise, but your birth was too. You showed me that I was the strongest person in the world, and I used that gift so much in the weeks afterward figuring out how to feed you, how make you grow, and how to take care of you. Despite the beginning, it has been easy to be your mother, even if everyone thought the woman with the long dark hair was only the nanny to the little boy with the curly, golden blond hair in her care. You looking so much like your father was yet another surprise, since we assumed you would get my dark hair and eyes. I can't imagine your face looking any other way.

You are loving and stubborn and shy and fearless. You love your little sister so much, and I remember the day after she was born how you wanted to stay home from preschool to watch her get her diapers changed and drink her mama milk. She has continued to be a joy and delight to you, and before she was born I never imagined how each of you would light up when you see the other's face. You love your parents, your sister, your dog, your grandparents, your great grandfather, your aunts and uncles, your great aunts and great uncles, and your first cousins once removed fiercely. I know you will love your cousin and second cousin just as much when you get meet them in person, hopefully later this year. Nothing makes me happier than hearing you say "Momma, I love you."

You are an outdoors kid. When you were a baby, I would take you walks at the lake and you would look up at all the leaves in the sky and smile and laugh. You love to plant, water, and pull up weeds. This year, working outside has been fun because I've been able to do it with you. The main reason we planted a vegetable garden is that we knew you would enjoy starting it, and caring for it, and watching it grow and we've been able to enjoy all of those things so much too because you have been a part of it.

Yesterday, we celebrated your birthday with lots of friends by playing in the dirt at the new "nature playground" and eating dirt and worm cupcakes. I love to watch you play, and run around, and just be. You are so very much my Ely.

A Chance to Catch Up?

Well, preschool is over for Ely. He'll go to the Summer session for one week in June and one week in July, but other than that he is home full time with me. I'm rather excited about this, because I missed him a lot this year. I spent a ton of time with Agnes, and I'm grateful I could devote so many hours of my day solely to her in her first year. But, I dearly missed doing all the stuff we used to do every week - storytime, playground time, puppet shows, playdates, and going to the Y - with Ely.

The last day of school ended with an evening picnic. I brought my family's most favorite sandwich - brie, apple, and basil on a baguette - as our food contribution and I almost missed out on getting one. Of course, it isn't truly the end of the school year without worrying about teacher gifts.

I decided (sort of at the last minute) to make tote bags from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts for the two classroom teachers. I had the exteriors already pieced and sewn from good intentions last year, so all I had to do was make the straps and interiors. Of course I love to make something quick and simple much harder, so I decided to embroider each teacher's name on the outside of the bag. I was supposed to finish the bags up Wednesday evening, but instead spent those hours with my needle and floss and had to play hooky from work the next day to finish. I hope my husband (aka the boss) doesn't read this blog...

When I make tote bags, I like to use canvas or linen or a decor weight fabric for either the interior, the exterior, or both. I chose quilting cotton for the exterior because I wanted bright colors and big patterns, and had a lovely matching brown linen in the stash for the interior. Now, I've used linen for bags many times before, but I had the most difficult time with this linen. No matter how many times I trued up my piece, the folded line was not straight and the cut edges seemed to turn wavy as soon as I lifted the ruler. I decided to ignore it, and figured it wouldn't matter too much if the inside was a little wonky. It baffled me, and I wonder if it was because the linen was a looser weave than some of the other stuff I've used in the past?

The tote bags turned out lovely. I only made one change to the pattern, and that was to topstitch an additional line 1/8 of an inch from the top edge. The 1/4 inch line didn't feel secure enough for me, and I had visions of the handles ripping out.

So, I'm hoping to be able to blog a little more over the Summer. I'm not sure if this is going to happen since I'm home with the kids just about full-time, but I'll be home more so that is a good start. One of the first tasks is to finish my Alabama Chanin post about the trunk show from over two weeks ago! Another overdue post is to show you what I made and what I received for DQS6.

I also just decided to join this quilt a-long. I've loved this quilt by Melanie ever since I first saw it (actually I love every quilt Melanie makes), and I'm trying to make all the fabric odds and ends go away so my sewing nook will be a little neater.

Mint Patch, Part 2

There is another very important reason why we have a mint patch - mojitos. I can't think of a better drink for a warm evening.

We make ours with gin, as my husband will not do rum. Now that I've made them with gin for several years, the rum ones taste a little funny to me. I won't turn one down though.

I've tried several recipes, and the two below are my favorites. The first one - a regular mojito recipe where I simply replaced the rum with gin - is great because you don't have to prep anything ahead of time, as long as you have superfine sugar (also called castor sugar). I can find castor sugar locally at Whole Foods or Fresh Market, though any gourmet kitchenware/food store should carry it.

The second recipe is a recent discovery in Frank Stitt's new cookbook, Bottega Favorita. I was thrilled to see a mojito made with gin - he calls it a Southside - in the Cin Cin! and Cheers! chapter. When we lived in Alabama, we drove the hour to Birmingham as often as we could to eat at one of Frank Stitt's restaurants, Chez Fonfon. He owns three others, and I've eaten at Highlands Grill (we received a gift certificate here as a wedding present and it was the best present ever!) and the cafe side of Bottega. Not only does Frank Stitt make wonderful food at all four restaurants, he uses local Alabama and Georgia food purveyors and has done so for a long time. The Southside is delicious, but you do need to have simple syrup which is, of course, simple to make but needs to be cool before you use it.

Gin Mojito

serves 2

- 3 oz. fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)

- 2 Tbsp. superfine/castor sugar

- 6 sprigs of fresh mint

- 3 oz. gin

- seltzer or water to taste

1. In a small pitcher, combine lime juice, sugar, and mint. Stir and muddle the mixture until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Add the gin and stir until combined.

3. Fill glasses with crushed ice. If you want, you can run a wedge of lime around the rim and dip each glass into granulated sugar.

4. Pour cocktail (you may strain if you'd like) into the glasses and top with seltzer or water to taste. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Southside

adapted from Bottega Favorita by Frank Stitt; serves 2

- 4 lime wedges

- 2 oz. simple syrup (recipe follows)

- 2 oz. fresh lime juice

- 4 mint sprigs

- 3 oz. gin

- splash of club soda or water

1. Squeeze the lime wedges into a small pitcher or cocktail shaker, then drop the wedges in.

2. Add the simple syrup, additional lime juice, mint, and muddle with a spoon or muddler to bruise the mint and extract the oils from the mint and lime peel.

3. Add the gin and stir to combine.

4. Fill two glasses halfway with crushed ice; pour the cocktail evenly between the two.

5. Add a splash of club soda or water to taste.

Simple Syrup

The recipe for simple syrup is very basic - add equal parts sugar and water and heat on the stove until sugar is dissolved and mixture has thickened slightly. You can store extra in a tightly sealed jar in the fridge for several weeks, or if you have a tiny saucepan, you can reduce this recipe. If I find I'm not using my syrup up fast enough with mojitos, I make lemonade or limeade as a special treat.

- 2 c. sugar (I use natural cane which makes the syrup an amber color, but works and tastes just the same)

- 2 c. water

1. Combine sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

2. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.

I think I'm going to make some gin mojitos this afternoon for our impromptu Memorial Day grill fest.

Mint Patch, Part 1

At the beginning of last Summer, my husband got a few sprigs of mint with roots from his mother and planted them so we'd have our own mint patch. Since mint grows very enthusiastically (to put it mildly), We chose an ugly and unused long strip of grass between our ugly driveway and even uglier backyard fence. My husband is a true Southerner - he was born in the South, grew up in the South, and comes from many generations on both sides of Southern born and bred people. While I often call myself a Southerner, it's only because my parents moved here right before I was born. My husband's favorite beverage is fruit tea, also frequently known as tea punch. There are a few food and beverages unique to the part of the South we live in - one is hot chicken, the other is meat and 3, and the last one is tea punch. While you may find these three in other parts of the South, you don't find them with the same frequency and intensity as you do here. I am a huge fan of all three, but while I only eat hot chicken at Prince's and meat and 3s at Arnold's, I will make fruit tea at home.

Most people associate sweet tea with the South, but I have never been a fan. It is just way too sweet. I like my tea, both iced and hot, nice and strong. I might like sweet tea better if it was just a little sweet, instead of the all too common sickening sweet. I feel the same way about lemonade; tart is much preferable to sweet. There is only one place I know of where I like sweet tea, and that is Interstate Bar-B-Q in Memphis, where they serve a wonderful peach sweet tea I've never seen anywhere else.

Fruit tea is basically ice tea with fruit juice added to it. There are so many variations of fruit tea. Some recipes use pineapple juice besides orange juice and lemonade. Other recipes call for the addition of mint while the tea is steeping, or extra sugar. My mother in law likes to add Mountain Dew to hers. I'm sure there are many other secret ingredients I don't know about. When I moved to Alabama almost ten years ago (the real South, I thought, as opposed to the South I grew up in), I was determined to figure out how to make fruit tea.

This is what I came up with:

Fruit Tea

I like fruit tea strong and if I have mint, then I absolutely want to add it, as it adds another lovely, nuanced flavor to the brew. I think the juice makes it sweet enough on it's own, but if you are a sweet tea fan then you may want to add extra sugar. You can also play with the proportions of juice to tea.

- 6-8 black tea bags

- 4-5 mint sprigs

- half of a 12 oz. container of frozen oj concentrate (I buy mine at Trader Joe's because there is no added sugar or high fructose corn syrup; your Whole Foods or natural foods store might carry a similar product but mine doesn't for some unknown reason - don't let me get started here...)

- half of a 12 oz. container of frozen lemonade concentrate (again I buy mine at Whole Foods to avoid HFCS)

1. Boil 8 cups of water in a tea kettle.

2. In a large pyrex or stainless steel bowl, add the mint and 6-8 tea bags. I usually tie or clip the tea bags together, so they don't fall into the bowl and are easier to remove later.

3. Once the water is boiling, add it to the bowl. Let the tea steep for the recommended time.

4. When the tea is ready, remove the bags and the mint. Stir in the oj and lemonade concentrates. Since you only use half of a container, you have enough leftover to make another batch in a few days. I find that fruit tea disappears quickly in my house.

5. Chill in the refrigerator, then pour into a pitcher.

6. Serve over ice and with a mint sprig.

I learned a neat trick at the Savannah Tea Room for making any tea decaffeinated. The caffeine in the tea leaves is released in the first minute of brewing. If you want to decaffeinate any tea, discard the water after a minute of steeping, then add new hot water. The resulting tea will be decaffeinated. I use this trick a lot since I don't like to have caffeine after my much needed one cup of coffee in the morning, and I also like to avoid any chemical process that decaffeinates tea or coffee.

A Peek