Making quilting bright with the PFAFF performance icon by Sarah Vanderburgh December 14, 2020 written by Sarah Vanderburgh December 14, 2020 608 Things sure are getting merry! But the flurry of gift making will soon be over, and then what? How will you reward yourself for all the mask making and finishes that have made you one busy elf? As things get checked off my list, I’ve started to notice how dark it is during my quilting time this time of year. The early darkness can make it challenging to feel like sitting down to quilt, but the PFAFF performance icon has some features that make it easier. PFAFF performance icon Adjustable LED lights There are several features on the performance icon that can be adjusted in the machine settings menu. Now that it’s dark when I quilt after dinner, I can go into the settings and increase the brightness of the LED lights. Better lighting means I can spend more time at the machine with less eye strain. Machine settings menu Background Image The ability to change the background image is one of the first settings I noticed when I unboxed the performance icon and looked at this menu, but then I got busy quilting! Now that I have some time, I decided to try out a few different colors. Background image choices in machine settings Does it make a difference to my quilting what color the screen is on the machine? Maybe! Taking the time to enjoy the machine has lifted my spirits. I’m feeling inspired again and might just play a bit more with changing the background image. Bright sunny background image I’ve just changed the background image, and since I’m already sitting down at my machine, I feel like making something new! I like to make little projects for myself with the leftover scraps from bigger projects. It’s a fun challenge and this time I have a lot of 1½” strips. I’ve been thinking of making myself a long pincushion to lay in the bed of the performance icon. (And, you’ll notice I just may have changed the background image to match my fabric choices – because I can!) Scrappy Strips pincushion To join me in making the Scrappy Strips Pincushion project, you’ll need to find: – some 1½” strips – the shortest 1½” and the longest 6½” – a piece of backing material 4″ x 6″ – crushed walnut shells or batting leftovers As you can see, the PFAFF performance icon is a great quilting companion for the winter months. Join me tomorrow to complete the pincushion project. This is part 1 of 5 in this series Go to part 2: Floating stitches make a strippy pincushion sparkle! Print this page or save as a PDF 0qs342cushionsfree patternsperformance iconpfaffpillowssewing machine reviews FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinRedditWhatsappTelegramEmail Sarah Vanderburgh I love to play with color and *quilts* are my playground! A self-taught quilter, I've been designing quilts for almost 20 years. I'm inspired by happy fabrics, selvages, traditional blocks and nature. I'm also a wife, mother, and elementary school teacher, and enjoy drinking coffee on my front porch in northern Ontario. previous post Spectrum QAL 2020 Block 6: Riley Blake Designs Blue Stitch next post Floating stitches make a strippy pincushion sparkle! YOU MAY ALSO LIKE... Stitch in the ditch AND grid quilting with... On-point quilting: Where to start with cutting and... Create or edit your stitches with the PFAFF... Creating custom stitched fabric is FUN with the... More is more with a quilted maximalist cushion... A two-panel backing completes the quilted ‘Sunshine’ cushion... A FUN way to blanket stitch with the... Stippling with different size stitches is OK [Defining... The ‘Radiant Stitch’ on the PFAFF performance icon:... Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.