Thanks Dad!

Actually I have to say I feel so thankful to my clever Dad every time I sit down to quilt. He custom made, in perspex, this great extension table for my machine (that he and Mum gave me for my 21st (err, ahem-more than 25 years ago now) and which is thoroughly reliable and good, thanks again Mum and Dad!). It's a Janome and it's been almost entirely trouble free. The only thing I've had fixed is the reverse, which was a bit iffy for a while. Quilting would be almost impossible without the extension table, as it gives a good firm place to put my hands, especially for FMQ (free motion quilting); and reduces the pull of the quilt through the machine.

It just slides into place once I've unclicked the little toolbox thingy that normally sits in front of the bobbin case.

It's quite hard to take photos of a shiny clear thing on a gloomy day, but hopefully you can get the idea.

I only half mentioned to Dad that this would be handy once when I was staying and he saw me doing some sewing. I think I said about how big I'd like it. I think I envisaged a utilitarian plywood something...

But Dad had better ideas.

He thought it would be handy if it fitted inside the sewing machine case. Sounded tricky to me and I was prepared to store it separately, you know, kicking around the bottom of some cupboard when not in use...

But he somehow curved the perspex to get it to fit inside the sloping sides of the case and cut slots so the handle of the sewing machine both folds up and holds it snug.

I wondered whether flat would be better, but curved is great for other reasons too. It slopes away towards the table just a bit, which eases the path of the quilt off the back of the machine and the perspex is lovely and smooth so the quilt slides easily.

All packed away-Yes it's in there-see? You can just see a corner of the perspex peeking out inside in front of the handle!

Thanks Dad!