A couple of posts back, I mentioned that a friend had gifted me her Riccar 707 to use in my kid sewing classes.  This is the flatbed model designed to live in a cabinet – with of all things, a KNEE pedal  – instead of a traditional foot controller.  Thank goodness for ye olde web.

I ordered an electronic foot controller with the light/motor block.  Oh, it worked; but there was no way a student (or anyone else for that matter) was going to be able to use it as a foot pedal because the cord to the pedal was cut to “knee” length instead of “floor” length.   Yep, the pedal was designed to replace knee one used in the cabinet, NOT a pedal designed to be used on the floor.  The obvious solution was to lengthen the cord from the foot pedal to the light/motor block.  But how?  I thought I could rewire it like I did my FW foot controller…but this was way different.

Here, hubby, hubby, hubby.

So, the husband had to shift gears from tracking loads of water, generators and emergency supplies being shipped to places in need across the US to figuring out a wiring solution for my foot controller.  He not only lengthened the cord, but also replaced the light/motor block with something a little sturdier so it would stand up to classroom use.  His solution was a little unorthodox perhaps, but hey, in the immortal words of Tim Gunn, “Make it work.”

He did.

The Atlanta MQG is hosting a swap with the Irish MQG.  My swap partner lives in a rural part of Northern Ireland.  Hubs and I visited there four years ago and saw Giant’s Causeway plus some other sites on our bus tour of Northern Ireland.  The part of our trip I will never forget is actually getting to visit Orkney Island in Scotland – some 30 years after my eighth grade history teacher shared slides of her homeland with us in class. Visiting Orkney was near the top of my bucket list.  And yes, the hills are as green as they were in the slides!

So back to the mini-quilt.  The way our swap works is we were given clues as to a few favorite things – color, design element and theme – of our intended recipient.  The only requirement was the quilt has to measure at least 12″x12″ and be no larger than 12″x18″.  Each member is also responsible for postage costs in getting the mini-quilt to her swap partner.  FYI – International Priority Mail is $16.95 to the UK.  This price includes as much as you can fit in the envelope (up to four pounds).

My swap partner likes birds, the color red and polka dots.  She and I share similar taste in fabrics, so I knew I wouldn’t have a hard time finding fabrics in my stash for the mini-quilt.  Quite the opposite actually – the problem was in narrowing down the fabric choices to those selected to be used in the quilt – not in finding them.   My orderly studio fast became a mess again as I pulled out scraps and bins looking for fabrics to audition for the quilt.   Once that process was over, I made myself take 5 minutes and “file my fabric” before I moved on to pressing and cutting.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise and post pictures until after I know she’s received the quilt.  However, I will tell you that the entire quilt evolved around a fussy cut bird… 🙂

Before you fork over your hard-earned money to an online merchant for a downloadable file, at least take a couple of minutes to peruse the manufacturer’s website to see if there’s a FREE copy available.  Chances are, it’s the same exact file you’ll be charged $10-$15 for at the online merchant.

I’ve been gifted two older machines in recent weeks to use in my children’s sewing classes.  Neither came with a manual.  I saved $30 by going to each manufacturer’s website and locating the file myself.  The money I saved went to buy a replacement foot pedal for the Riccar machine I picked up this evening.