OT cooking stoves and hand vacs

Forget the cute little tools. Take a bendable soda straw. Grab that blue masking tape that you must have in your sewing room. Tape the straw into the end of the crevice tool of the vacuum cleaner. Now you can get into all the little areas of the sewing machine where lint collects.

Julia > Does the Dyson baby have the ability to connect to the cute wee little tools

I have a similar set up using a very small shop vac, one gallon size, and those ittybitty vac tool add-ons. It is always plugged in waiting to be used. It isn't much good for anything else. Oh, by the way, I bought it for my SO for Christmas and since he wasn't suitablly impressed it ended up in my studio!

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Polly, I'm on my second convection oven (the first was built-in, so we had to leave it when we moved) and I really like them. Both came with three oven racks, and I find I can bake cookies on all three at once without having to move them around for even browning. Baking and roasting go faster, at a lower temperature. The only slight annoyance with the present free-standing one is than the cook-top rattles while the convection fan is running, presumably because it lifts up for cleaning. A heavy object set on it takes care of the noise. These are both Jenn-air, if that matters. Lee

I second the Janome Jem idea, a lady in my guild used hers to demonstrate a way of making a block. She was just whizzing through it. I knew for a fact that she has a sight problem, and a recent shoulder injury, so I checked out her little Janome Jem. It had a 1/4 in. foot with a guide, and she was making perfect 1/4 in. seams at incredable speed. That's when I learned that I could get the same style foot for my Bernina, #57.

I think that it would make a beginner into a great sewer in a short amount of time.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Yeah, that's all true ... I'm just inclined to spoil her as much as I can ... you have no idea what a great kid she is. She's the oldest and she "mothers" her little brother, does chores without complaining, and is always quick as a bunny to offer help to ANYONE who needs it. If you'd have told me that a child of MINE (I was a hellion as a kid - nothing like my girly) would turn out to awesomely I'd never have believed you! :)

I'm actually thinking that I might try to find a machine just like mine

- it survived my "early days" - meaning, when I had no idea what a bobbin case was or how to clean the thing out - and has enough fancy stitches (but not overloaded with'em - my learning curve just ain't what it used to be!!) to be interesting ... 'Sides that, she learned on my machine and it might be easier to teach her maintenance on it.

As to old machines, I have a circa late 20s machine that STILL works!! It's an old Domestic and it works like a charm. Only has one stitch, though, LOL! They made'em (even the "cheap" brands) to last back then ... unlike the plastic parts ones you find in the department stores nowadays (Singer and The Shark come to mind ...).

Not trying to sound like a total bummer here, but I really do wonder how many people - how many potential amazing quilt artists - have been turned off of the art because their sewing machine just wasn't what it SHOULD be?!

Well ... me ... I hated like heck to part with my old '77 Chevy Nova! I tend to get used to things - and only get another one if the old one dies off! Now ... when it comes to computers, I'm the same way for the most part - I've had my Mac for about 6 years (?) and I while I DO want the new Intel Mac (like Sandy has ), I probably won't get off my big ol' behind to get one until THIS Mac dies.

But I am "gotta have the newest" when it comes to cell phones and other gadgetry and software - it makes no sense to me!! :/

That really stinks! I can't believe that anyone who's got a sweet enough heart to be interested in sewing would steal a SM! But then, it could have been some jerk who wanted to give it to a sewer ... still, that was heinously low. But if he did that to YOU he probably did that to someone else - and hopefully got caught for it! >:(

Are you kidding me??!! Now, I love hand-work of all kinds (piecing, embroidery, tatting, smocking) but I have NEVER been able to crochet or knit!! I've taken classes, had VERY good friends (experts at it) with the patience of Job try to teach me and even THEY threw up their hands in disgust and told me to stick to quilting! LOL!! Knitting and crocheting just isn't in my future, I guess! :) Honestly, I thought I was the only one! :)

Oh my, she's gorgeous - what are all the various doors for?

It does have an adaptor that will take the normal Dyson tools, except two the power head and one other, but if there are itty bitty tools available for a normal Dyson then you can use then with the hand held the model is Dyson Radix 6. A powerful little beast! :-)

In article , Pat in Virginia wrote: Hi Pat, I wouldn't say I'm a 'born cook', and my mother certainly wouldn't! The booklet and manual that came with the oven were clear. All I do for most things is set the temp. 25F degrees lower than the recipe says, then start checking for doneness about 10-20% earlier than the recipe says. (If it says bake 30-35 minutes at 350, I set it at 325, and check at 25 minutes, for example.) On something like fruitcake, that bakes for

*hours*, It can make quite a difference. On 10-minute cookies, not so much. Breads rise evenly, and brown evenly, even with 4 loaves in there. The learning curve is really rather flat, I'd say. And convection baking is a choice, of course; I don't use it for a covered casserole, just for things that are open. HTH Lee ( snipped-for-privacy@memlane.com)