Glad for a new day.

I am sure glad yesterday is gone and today has come. Not that I want to be wishing my life away but I sure had a heck of a scare. I thought I blown up my brand new Gammill Vision!!  The computer part, that is.Whew! Thankfully I didn't..
I called my trainer in Beloit, Cathy, nearly in tears and said "I think I broke my machine". Cathy, being the calm person she is said "tell me what happened". After I told her what had happened, she walked me through how to fix it and then said "Didn't I tell you, you can't break these machines?"

I was so relieved to have my machine fixed that I was hugging her through the phone. Thanks Cathy!!!!!

Apparently I got a piece of lint and thread caught behind the bobbin assembly, so the machine got stuck and shut itself off. Once I got that cleaned out and pushed the reset button she came right back on. YAY!!!

I thought for sure I had knocked something out of whack sewing this denim throw. I am over half-way done and will finish it up today. Then I think I will have a binding party with the 2 quilts that I will have completed. :)

Now onto another topic that I keep forgetting I want to tell you about. I started a small group of people who like to foundation paper piece and we meet on the 4th Thursday (usually) every month. We aren't meeting tonite though because the gal who wants to have it at her house wanted to do it next week. Our project is the BOM by Carol Doak called Radiant Block of the Month. Carol has a yahoo group and every month she posts another block. It is really neat to see the different ways these blocks are coming together in our group.
Here are the blocks I have made so far.

This is the June block. This project started June 2010 and will end May 2011.


This is July's BOM.


Here is August's BOM.


September's is out and I have it downloaded and printed up, ready to go. I still have to put the 4 blocks together for August, as you can see. When this is done we will have 12 different blocks and there are 13 connecting blocks that are like a background to set off the BOM's. This should be a pretty cool quilt when it is done.
It's nice to have a group to do it with. You feel a little more motivated to get things done. I also love the group we have put together. They are so different and yet we all share a common interest - quilting.


That's all I have today, though I wanted to share a few gratitudes because I have much to be thankful for.

1. I am thankful for Cathy Kleinschmidt. She is an expert with Gammill machines and has a lot of great stories to tell. Thank you Cathy for helping me to get my machine up and running again.

2. I am thankful for my new Long Arm sewing machine, I am getting my quilt tops quilted so fast, and with each top I am getting more skilled with my new machine. I may never be an award winning quilter, but I pray I will be able to quilt for others so that they will be able to enjoy their finished quilts as well.

3. I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, my Shepard. Help me Lord to be a faithful servant.

Thank you all out there in blogland for stopping by.
I hope You have a great day.

Quilt #2 on The Long Arm

Yesterday I put the Denim throw on the LA machine. It took me most of the day as I was trying to do a better job getting it on.



I started quilting it today.

This is the greatest picture of the quilting, but then the quilting still looks pretty amatuerish. I probably won't try a quilt like this again because of the "lump"s. The places where 4 seams meet. I pressed it, I thought, really good and yet I still am running into the "lumps"

Oh well, back to the sewing table. :)
Hope you have a great day.




P.S. This is my 50th blog. YAY!!! At my 100th, maybe I will have a give-away. :) Okay, maybe the 75th.

Getting my Quilt for Jesus done.

 Hello everyone,

Just thought I would give a little update on my LA quilting.
My machine has a timer on it that tells me how much time I have spent sewing on her. I can clear it when I start a new quilt and then know exactly how long it takes me to quilt that particular quilt.The actual time I have been quilting on this quilt is 2 hours and 14 minutes. I didn't work on it over the weekend because I had to work my part-time job and it is 2-12 hour day. Kicks my rear everytime but oh well, it gets me out of the house.
I am more than half-way done on this quilt and will finish it up today. YAY!!!

I may have told you the story behind this quilt before but just to refresh , Back in 1994 I took a strip quilting class where I first was introduced to a rotary cutter, mat and the various rulers. This was my very first quilt that I pieced. Since it was my first pieced top I dedicated it to the Lord. I started hand quilting it and only got about 1/4 of the way through until I set it aside. This quilt has sat in a box all these years. When I got my new machine I thought it only appropriate to finish this quilt on it. So I took out the hand quilting, replaced the old batting and will finally after all these years get her done.

I can't wait to see this quilt finally done. I am so excited. I hope you all have a terrific day.

Thanks for stopping by.

2 days in Wiconsin - At The Heart of Quilting.

At The Heart of Quilting in Beloit, Wisconsin. This is where I have been the last 2 days, getting training for my new Gammill 22 long arm quilting machine.

 I left my home on Monday at 3:30 am and arrived at the shop in Wis. at 8:40 am, just in time for training at 9:00 am. There were two other ladies, Mary and Char, also in the training class. Training went all day until 5 pm with a lunch break at noon.

The morning of the first day we practiced setting up and sewing pantograph patterns. In the afternoon Cathy (the instructor and owner) went over machine maintenence. She was so thorough with step by step instructions that I wanted to go home that night just to oil and clean my machine. I realized that I hadn't been doing it properly but alas had to wait another day until I could get home to rectify that. Cathy also gave us some tips on starting a business of our own. Day one was worth the trip just in itself.

Day 2, we started right away loading up a small top that Cathy had prepared beforehand with areas drawn on it for specific stitches and techniques that she wanted us to learn and practice. I thought I was pretty good with some patterns that I had been practicing at home but quickly realized I still needed a lot more practice. We ended the day around 4:30 and I was back on the road to home by 5. My car was loaded with my roll of batting that I got with my gift certificate and a few extra items to help me along on this adventure of owning a long arm quilting machine,

After picking up my dogs in Des Moines from my daughters house I finally arrived home at 12:30am. I was soo tired right before I pulled into the driveway but by the time I got the dogs settled back in and the car unloaded I couldn't wait to go and oil my machine. I had to tell her (my machine) how sorry I was for not giving her enough oil and hoped that from now on our relationship would go a lot smoother. By 1:30 am I was ready to go to bed.

7:30 this morning I was up, letting the dogs out and checking my machine. No oil drips!! She was dry. WOW!
I have spent all morning practicing various stitches and winding bobbins and now at almost noon I am getting ready to load my first quilt.

Here are a few pictures of At The Heart of Quilting Shop and Classes.


This is the one side of the shop. They carry a lot of thread for the LA quilter and machine parts for your machine. I bought another bobbin case and an item to clean my rails of oil and lint. They also carry batting by the bolt and I got a bolt of 80/20 cotton/poly batt for all of my quilt tops at home.


This is the classroom and as you can see it will accomodate at least 6 quilters - 2 at each table.



Here is Cathy teaching different stitch techniques. She had a lot of great stories that made it all so interesting. The time really flew.



Cathy showing us a different way to draw leaves.
That was my training in beautiful Wisconsin. What a great 2 days and now I am home ready to get started.

Here is my machine all loaded and ready to go.




So now I am off to go a-quilting.
I hope you have a wonderful day.

Thanks for stopping by.

My Brothers Quilt

This year my brother Jim turned 50, August 10 to be exact. Happy Birthday Jim.
My Mom turned 70 in May this year as well, that is another quilt story. Anyways, back to my brother...

I saw this quilt on the cover of the August issue of BHG's American Patchwork and Quilting and thought of my brother Jim right away. I thought this would be a great pattern for him. He lives in Texas, which is very sunny and well he is turning 50 this year so I wanted to do something special for him. He is a very special guy.

Here are some pictures of what I am doing so far.

This is a picture of the quilt, if you didn't see that magazine.


The pattern.


The fabrics  for the points.


Piecing.

Here are some of the completed half circles. I need to add the centers and the outside edge to finish the block. I am doing all of the paper piecing first.


Here is a completed block.



I need to make 64 blocks for the quilt top. I have one complete block and 17 half circles done. It is coming together pretty well.
At this rate he might get it for Christmas. :)

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful day.

The New Machine is Here!!

The new machine is here, all set up and running great so far. I am having an electrician come today to check the electrical and make sure that there is enough to go around.

Here are some pictures of her arrival.
This is the table before being put together. Let me tell you, that baby is heavy. I helped carry it in and we had to make a few stops to rest before the final resting place. (Rest for me that is. )  :)


This is the table all together. It has a pivot bar in the front that helps with loading the quilts and then quilting.


And here she is.. My new Gammill 22:10. It is the newest machine in their line. She just came on the market a little over a month ago, I am told.


I have been practicing stitching. When I finished the piece that they brought to practice on I bought some inexpensive fabric and loaded her up myself. These are some loops that I stitched.

I have 2 days of training with the shop that I bought this machine from. That will be in September, the shop is called At The Heart of Quilting  in Beloit Wis. I can't wait!

I hope you are having a wonderful day. I will be practicing and keeping you posted.

Thanks for stopping by.

New Machine!!

Good Morning,
I am stepping out of my comfort zone. OH NO!!
Yesterday I ordered a long arm sewing machine by Gammill. It is their new 22 inch long arm machine and right now if you order from Gammill you can get a digital camera that shoots the underside of your quilt for free. YAY!!! Now You can see what is going on under the quilt as well as on top. The table also has a pivotal front. I'm not sure what exactly I will use that for but I got it. :)
This glorious machine is set to be delivered and set up on August 9th. OOOhhhh, that is only a little over a week away.

I am starting a long arm sewing service out of my home and it is very scary. I want to be able to work at home to make money, quilt my own pieced tops and offer a service here in M-town and the surrounding communities for others to be able to get their pieced tops quilted.

But then there are the What If's-
What if I don't make enough money in quilting each month to make my payments?
What if my quilting really isn't that good?
What if I mess up someone else's quilt?

OK, so Think Positive!!

ARRGGG!!!

This week and next week are going to be spent getting my studio ready for my new machine. Painting, organizing, rearranging and reorganizing. Yikes!!

Here are the things I am grateful for this week:
1. The Lord Jesus Christ for reminding me that no matter what, He does provide according to His word- the bible. I have been praying about this for a long time now.
2. My husband, who is so supportive of all my crazy endeavors. Thank you Schweety. I try to keep him in the loop as much as he can stand. He really only likes to see the bottom line though, or the finished product.
3. A new long arm sewing machine - to be able to quilt my quilts and help others to get their quilts quilted too. Finally a mission I think I can handle.

Stay tuned for more updates. I hope you have a wonderful weekend..

Thanks for stopping by.