outofthebasement

Saturday I drove up to Saugatauk, Michigan to meet Nellie Durand, of Nellie's Needles, who was showing her work and doing a demonstration at Good Goods gallery there. I've enjoyed Nellie's blog and admired her beautiful work for several years, so it was delightful to meet her. Here Nellie is constructing one of her lake series and in the other picture you can see another of her quilts. She works in several styles, all fascinating. If you're not familiar with Nellie, be sure to visit her blog for more examples, and to read some of her tutorials.




Nellie suggested I check out the Petter Gallery in nearby Douglas, and I was so glad I did, and had a chance to see the work of Sue Holdaway-Heys. Her fabric work is striking, combining quilting and painting to produce beautiful landscapes and floral studies. Take a look at more of her work here.

I've also been getting acquainted with the new Janome. Last Thursday, during Al Gore's speech (about ten minutes), I made this pile of triangle squares on the new machine. It is fast! It's also very accurate. The quarter inch foot has a little flange that guides the fabric very securely, making a nice straight seam.


So I'm pleased. Of course this morning I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out why I had a thread jam. I think the machine wasn't threaded right, but I'm still not sure. This learning the ropes is normal, I guess, at least for me. Mechanical I'm not.