Happy birthday to my Janome Horizon!

One year ago today, on February 4th, 2013 (at 2:34pm, if you want to be precise, I remember this because I had just minutes to unpack the box before heading off to pick up my daughter from school) my new Janome Memory Craft 7700 QCP sewing machine arrived. I had been sewing on a $200 Singer since 1999 and this was a major upgrade for me. The major selling features were the 11" harp space, the beautiful stitches, fun features that I'd never had like an automatic buttonhole, and, to be honest, that snazzy red faceplate. Oh, and I got it for a great, hard-to-resist price thanks to a tip from some VMQG friends!

I promptly named my new machine Ruby and played around making my first automatic buttonhole. In the past year, Ruby and I have had some fun sewing adventures. I tried my first free-motion quilting in a VMQG workshop taught by Matt Wheeler.

 Free-motion quilting practice

 Playing with free-motion quilting designs. So much fun!

 In July, Cheryl Arkison came out to BC to give a Perfect Circles workshop and I was honoured that she used my sewing machine to demonstrate her technique. Fan girl moment!

 Here I am with Cheryl and one of the circle blocks I completed in her workshop.

 I absolutely love how this machine quilts and it did a beautful job on Rainbow Girl and Memories of QuiltCon, my two favourite finishes of 2013.

 As you can see, Ruby has become a part of the family and she's mostly found on the dining room table.

I can't wait to see what adventures Ruby and I get up to next!