Wanna See My New Ride...?

I attend quilt classes. For me, it is as much about socializing as it is about learning. I do strive to get at least one block pieced in class before I drift off and start visiting with others.





Going to classes is a cardio workout for me.

--You have to run all over the house retrieving this tool or that ruler

--There is all sorts of bending and stooping to get the perfect background fabric

--Of course, you have to take an iron, starch, pins, seam ripper, chocolate, a pin cushion

--Last but certainly not least, you have to take your machine. I mean, no machine means that you are really ot going to a quilt class; you are just using that as an excuse so you can run off to the casino and gamble for a few hours.

I bought a Juki TL-98Q recently and I just love it for strip piecing. It does only one stitch, straight but it goes very, very fast. I call it turbo fast. I get started, get into my zone of strip piecing and kick that baby into turbo.

The Juki also has a "enforcer-style" quarter inch foot so I don't drift off my seam allowance while I am chatting about the neighbors cat. La, la, la, la etc. It has a huge 9" throat and and great extended table. I don't have to pull up my bobbin thread each time I start and I can cut the thread using my foot pedal. Neato, huh? What I don't like this wonderful machine is its weight.

The machine specs state that it weighs 29 pounds. Well, maybe it weighs 29 pounds on Saturn where there is no gravity but here on earth, the Juki feels more like 40 pounds when you are hauling it from your house to your car then again from your car to the quilt shop and then back again. This is not so much a cardio workout as it is a weight-lifting exercise.

Most quilters keep their classroom goodies organized in various bags, carts and carryalls. But my Juki is pretty big and would not fit in the standard tapestry bags from Joann's. When I saw the Tutto bag, I fell in love. It opens at the top and sides. It has bunches of pockets and zippers and slots for all those goodies we have to take to class. It has a handle similar to luggage and 4 roll-in-all directions wheels on the corners. It folds down to be quite flat, though I think that I will keep mine ready to hit the road. And the best part, it's PINK.