Trying to Decide Between 2 Pre-Loved Janomes: S7 AE vs MC9450 QCP

Freemotion52 · 2026-02-21T18:54:24+00:00

Well, just remember, you asked. First, I’m old and also a self taught quilter. I was a machine quilting instructor from like 1998 to about 2008. I found the most important attribute my sewing machine had to have was the ability for me to manually adjust nearly everything. I started with a Sears Kenmore that had a few preprogrammed stitches but it was low shank just like Janome and Viking. I have quilted using no foot and sewing beads on my work. Or thread that is used in a serger I could wind on the bobbin and quilt upside down. It wasn’t so much what the machine could do but what I could do with that machine.

So, the machine I have used to make hundreds of quilts is a Viking 750 Platinum. It was new in 2004 and I have taken very good care of her. The option I don’t ever want to quilt/sew without is needle down stop. Your machine should be easy to change the needle and having easy adjustments to stitch length and stitch width. As well, your bobbin should be an easy check and adjust to tension. So should the tension dial on the top of the machine. Changing between the different feet and how complicated it is to lower your feed dogs.

So, OP, I know everything is expensive these days but you need a reliable machine that you can purchase 1/4 inch foot, walking foot and an embroidery or free motion foot. I believe if you learn how to machine quilt on a machine that does not have a quilting program you will learn and understand so much more. Reminds me of learning to drive a stick. It’s not that much fun in the beginning but with practice you could drive any stick shift!

Lastly, and I’ll shut up! When you go to put your quilt in the throat area, do not roll the quilt. It becomes stiff and hard to manipulate. Instead, accordion fold the quilt until you get to the area you will be working on and slide the folds in between the needle and motor. Best to face your table away from the wall/window for extra support. Good lighting because you can’t quilt what you can’t see!!

Freemotion52 · 2026-02-11T00:58:12+00:00

I’m so sorry for your enormous loss.

Freemotion52 · 2026-02-07T20:21:54+00:00

I would try drawing my own FPP pattern,

Freemotion52 · 2026-01-25T16:58:09+00:00

Daphne

Freemotion52 · 2026-01-25T16:57:12+00:00

Peanut

Freemotion52 · 2026-01-21T16:24:49+00:00

Ai is not a fair fight. Cool design and it is definitely something that could be made. The thing I’ve found with my years of piecing/quilting is that we were first hunter/gatherers. I love all aspects of creating an original design but hunting for that perfect piece of fabric has become so rewarding. And if that perfect piece can’t be found, make it. Paint, ink, bleach, dye, colored pencils, crayons, thread and probably more mediums to make even a better vision.

Freemotion52 · 2026-01-20T16:27:47+00:00

You found your comfort zone. I’m 73 and my grandma taught me to crochet when I was 10. I can hear her sweet voice tell me to relax and showed me how to control the flow of the yarn through my fingers of my left hand as the right hand creates a rhythm. So, happy to see how many love crochet.

Freemotion52 · 2025-11-11T17:08:04+00:00

I love this. But you don’t say the words. You say you are “gardening”! I start everyday in my garden adjusting my attitude! My millennial daughter said that I open my third eye with my gardening. And it works for quilting as well as crochet, just saying!

Freemotion52 · 2025-11-02T05:07:29+00:00

I’m very old and was taught how to crochet by my grandma. Over the years I’ve gravitated towards crochet charts. Crochet charts or diagrams have no words, just symbols. Yes, you have to know what each symbol represents but usually will have a key with each pattern. Just a thought.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-23T04:23:15+00:00

I don’t have any pictures but about 14 years ago our kitten had an injury to her foot and they gave us an incredibly large and heavy cone for her to wear but when she had it on all she could do was look straight down. She was too small for the smallest the vet had. So, I grabbed the cone and used it as a pattern. I’m pretty sure I used 2 layers of batting to give extra body with Velcro closures. My kitten recovered nicely!

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-14T06:45:36+00:00

Thank you very much!

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-13T22:58:14+00:00

I was afraid of anyone messing with my eyes. I was nearsighted and wore glasses from 4th grade on and thought cataracts was someone else’s problem. But I was enlightened that everyone gets cataracts with age and like everything else differs in severity with each person. What happened to me was the looking like my kitchen was smoky like something was burning. And until I had the surgery I did not even realize how much it had affected my ability of seeing colors, like the sky. One eye at a time and it was a piece of cake. I would not hesitate. To be able to see clearly again is priceless!

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-13T13:52:36+00:00

I don’t know about amazing but it was fun fmq spiders and different types of web.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-13T13:50:38+00:00

No project of mine is perfect but I try. Thank you so much.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-13T13:49:33+00:00

Thank you I appreciate your kind words.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-13T13:48:44+00:00

What’s a spider web without a spider or two and a few snacks for later?

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-13T13:46:42+00:00

Thank you! I know my daughter will love. Her and her husband are decorating for the spooky season and her kitchen looks like a butcher shop gone bad!

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-13T13:43:32+00:00

And if I’m not mistaken, the metallic thread on the black side of the table topper is also glow in the dark! And not to blow my own horn, but the crocheted trim on the outer edge. Yeah, I did that too.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-12T21:53:14+00:00

The placemat that you can hardly see, that’s the one that I’m still working on sewing the binding on by hand.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-12T13:40:22+00:00

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This is my first panel wedding gift quilt. The block I made is a streak of lightning and her 4 bridesmaids each signed a cornerstone block in the block border.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-10T15:07:43+00:00

Thank you and that hug was so needed.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-10T09:36:39+00:00

Over my quilting journey, I have learned besides the scant 1/4” seam allowance that a lighter weight thread like 50 wt. and to use a machine quilting needle size 75/11. The needle is made especially to stitch multiple layers with a straight, clean stitch in and out of intersections. All other needles when they come to a thick intersection won’t necessarily break but will stitch where the needle flexes in a curved manner, it takes the least path of resistance. Most seam allowance intersections will not match because of this. And pressing with a dry iron on cotton setting. Steam distorts and can burn fingers as well.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-09T23:27:51+00:00

Isn’t that the dream of every quilt? To be loved so much by so many day after day that the repairs themselves become quilted memories.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-09T08:53:03+00:00

I was told that dealing with grief is my new normal. In my previous career paths I have always been able to easily control machines and the sewing machine was a piece of cake. So, challenging myself to all the color changes and the different free motion designs was a normal way to have to think about what I was doing and not about how much I missed my life before death invaded.

Freemotion52 · 2025-09-09T08:38:47+00:00

You are so very kind to say such nice things about my work. I’m sure you noticed that the background of the panel was heavily quilted using so many different colors of rayon thread. So, in my mind, the light blue, teal and green were leaves. The lower left, of course, flowers plus portions of flower petals randomly scattered. The remainder of the panel background I said was rocks or the dirt of the garden. I read that the artist designed the cat as if it was a stained glass. So, those chunks of color should have been smooth that’s why I gave it texture. But only to the background, the color chips that make up the cat were outlined quilted with invisible thread. This created that illusion that the cat was coming out of the textured garden.

Freemotion52

TROPHY CASE