More Sewing Machine Love

Oops...I broke my promise to not buy anymore Christmas fabric.  I hope you understand.  But I just could not resist this bundle of Holiday in the Pines by Holly Taylor, particularly when tempted by a great deal from Green Fairy Quilts.

Dark colors don't normally catch my eye, but I am very sure the winter pine motifs will look terrific in the lake house.

Another wonderful addition to my fabric collection came thanks to my sister-in-law who picked up a bag of linens at a yard sale and found this lovely bundle of cotton fabric:

Now, that's a lot of fabric!  I can see low volume quilts, backings, donation of fabric to my friends, etc., etc. from this pile!  Yikes!

Did you see my announcement about the new baby in my sewing tool collection?  Well, not to be left out, my sewing machine received a MAJOR upgrade this week!

Shortly after I began my quilting addiction, I set up my sewing space using Ikea furniture that I had in the house and a few additional pieces (blog post here).    I love the room but the height of the sewing machine has been a problem.  Even though I purchased the extension table, the entire operation was too high resulting in a poor ergonomic solution...shoulders raised unnaturally and legs stretching to reach the pedal.   And (although it may not seem that way right  now due to my summer slow down), I spend a lot of time at this sewing machine.  A solution was needed.

 Enter my daughter-in-law's father!  David is a super talented guy, carpentry among his many skills.  I mentioned to him that I would appreciate his thoughts on this problem...and voila!

 Isn't that beautiful?  No more catching on the edge of the table and, most importantly, a table height that makes sense.  We found this tutorial by Frecklemama on customizing an Ikea table (nicely coincidental she has the same sewing machine!) but quickly realized that my Ikea table was just a hollow table top with screwed on legs, not the solid table that she modified.   The solution David came up with was to make a new table top with real wood and use her idea for sliding the sewing machine into the slot, thereby eliminating the gap behind the machine.  He matched the Ikea laminate color and attached the Ikea legs to the new top.

I am just thrilled!  Aren't I the lucky one to have such wonderful and talented in-laws?!

Finally, the Worldwide Quilt Store Tour is going to Italy next week!  Yes, it's true!  I am heading to Florence and Venice next week with three cousins!  I am looking forward to purchasing some Italian fabric!  Therefore, KayakQuilting is going quiet for a couple of weeks.  I look forward to chatting with you and sewing when I return!  It's Friday, so linking up with crazy mom amanda jean (did you see the amazing low volume quilt she just whipped up this week?!).

Ciao!
Kathy