Monday, February 20, 2017

Best Family Ever--Or the Cat's Out of the Bag-- Or If I'm Dreaming Don't Wake Me!!!!


Fair warning...this will be a long post covering a few things.  New fabric, BOM progress and the secret news I was hinting at last week.  I'm not sure I'll have much writing time this week and I wanted to cover a little bit of everything.  This weekend, I was able to work on a few of the QAL's I'm following.

First up, pictured above, is the 2017 Aurifil Thread Designer BOM.  This year each designer is working with a color on the color wheel.  February's designer is Maureen Cracknell and she gave us the block Dutch Treat in blue-purple.  You can read Pat Sloan's interview with Maureen and download the free block here.  Since I know the next two months will bring me blocks in purple and red-purple, I picked up a few FQ's at a LQS this weekend.  My stash of purples is quite lacking.


Let's keep talking fabric additions...during the LQS visit, while petting all the pretty bolts of fabric, I discovered they still had two bolts of Moda's Flirt by Sandy Gervais.  I still have a UFO made in these fabrics I would like to put borders on, so why not, I picked up a couple yards of these two prints.


And for my last fabric score...on Tuesday I received an email from Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts letting me know that I had won a copy of her Teenie Weenie Bikini Quilt Pattern and...

Get your copy of Teenie Weenie Bikini at Lorna's Etsy Shop

a 10" stacker from Fat Quarter Shop of Into the Garden by Riley Blake Designs.


A big thank you to Lorna and Fat Quarter shop for all the lovelies.  I just can't stop looking at these pretty prints.

And the last quilt along item for this post is the literal quilting of Living Water Quilter's block and quilt along she has going on right now.  Last Monday, Geraldine posted the first post breaking down the quilting of the HST blocks.  (You can find the post here)  She has two different videos breaking the process down and a pdf file for more information.


If you ever wanted to try ruler work, now's the time.  Even if you don't have a ruler foot and rulers, mark that quilt up with your favorite marking utensil and break out that walking foot.  Basically, join us!  :)

Now to my news...


Dreams can come true!  There is a stand-up computerized long arm for me to learn to use.  Let's take a minute to let that sink in, because I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, myself.  My family has always been very supportive of this kind of crazy quilting dream I have.  Even going to quilt shows with me.

Doug's hat is behind David's head.

This is a picture of David and my cousin (more like brother), Doug, playing with the Gammill long arms at a quilt show a few years ago.  When we returned from the show, my uncle, Doug's father, was at Doug's house and we all set around and talked about long arm machines.  We talked about how awesome they are and expensive.  My uncle has always had an interest in quilting, having lots of loving memories of quilting with his grandmother as a child.  So anytime we get together, he always asks what I'm up to.

A few weeks ago, Doug started asking me all kinds of random questions about long arm machines.  Completely out of the blue.  As I rattled off answers I kind of stopped and said, wait, why are you asking me this???  Turns out, in his dad's ventures he ran into someone with a friend who had a long arm they wanted to sell and he wanted to know if it was a good deal.  After sending me pictures, we were able to determine it was a Husqvarna Megaquilter 1200.  Basically, it was a 10ft frame with a sewing machine mounted to a rolling platform.  The next question was could I use it?

I did feel as an investment, just because of the asking price, they could probably make money off of it.  The current owner has a HQ Sweet 16 and had purchased it at an estate sale in a lot and just wanted rid of it, because of the space the table took up.  Could I use it?  I was honest and told them that I appreciated what they were trying to do, but because of the limited throat space, I thought my Sweet 16 would be better for me.  I told them the table would be worth keeping if you could find say, the Husqvarna 18" by 8" Megaquilter to go on it, but that I didn't even know if it would fit the table.  At this point, I kind of figured the conversation was over.  Nope.

To my surprise the next question was, can we get one?  So I humored them and called the dealer in a town about 20 minutes away to see if 1) the bigger Megaquilter would work with the table and 2) how much they were.  After a few minutes I learned that in theory that machine should work on the table.  Then there was a pause, followed by, "I think I have one in the back."  Wait, what??  Turns out, she had one in her inventory, brand new in the box, that she had for several years.  Her store carries a wonderful variety of embroidery and domestic machines (all 3 of my domestic machines have come from her store).  Long arms are not in high demand where we are, it's just a fact.  So when the person she ordered it for decided not to purchase it, she just kind of put it in the back and forgot about it.  Let's just say she worked out an amazing deal with my uncle and he decided to purchase it.  My family is insane!  But I'm 100% glad they are.  I think my uncle and cousin are as excited to use it as I am.  

So Saturday, David and I skipped our guild's work day to head with Doug to picked up the machine.  Hopefully, they will forgive me, but hey, I can hopefully volunteer quilting services as soon as we figure it out.


Here is the frame with the Megaquilter 1200 on it.



The boys putting the rollers on the frame.  I was holding down a bean bag chair.

Then last night, I received the following pictures from Doug's wife, my BFF, Stacie.


Ta da!!  We now have a machine on a frame with a computer hooked up to it.


She mostly is all ready to go, we just have to figure out how in the heck she works.  Thank God for YouTube, right?

So that is the news, I have been hush hush about.  Mainly, because I wasn't sure if it was really happening or not.  This is also why, I've not been stressing about quilting on my 1st goal list.  We are gonna need all those unfinished tops to practice on!

So that is my crush for this Monday.  A huge machine we do not know how to use yet, but by goodness...we will figure it out between all four of us!  


Today I'm linking up with Main Crush Monday and Sunday Stash.

17 comments:

Jen said...

I am so excited for you! I haven't had the chance to try a longarm machine yet, but it is a definite item on my to-do list. What a great new adventure! It is so awesome that you have such support for your quilting. I can't wait to see you try it out!

Sharon said...

How exciting! It looks like everyone had fun getting this up and going for you...enjoy!

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl said...

How super exciting! I can't wait to see how you use it. :)

Bonnie said...

Start easy and work your way up. I bet you'll have something on and off that machine in the next week or so! Congratulations. You will really enjoy it and now you can look on line at all the wonderful quilting designs available for your computer! Fun.

Lisa J. said...

What an awesome family you have Tish! I am so excited for you and for them. This is such wonderful news and it makes me happy.

Janice Holton said...

Oh Tish! That is about the most exciting thing I've seen all week! You are so fortunate to have one member in your family who shares your passion, let alone MULTIPLES!! WOW!! I bet you can't wait to get your hands on that baby.

Nancy J said...

Families are worth their weight in gold and in long arm machines. What a dearest uncle, and I am sure in no time at all you'll be up and running. Love the block in purple, and more goodies in fabrics, after all, you can never have too many.

Stitchin At Home said...

You have an amazing family! I'm sure after a few you tube videos you'll be off and quilting like crazy.

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts said...

I can just see all the quilting parties you guys will have now! Just be careful - don't want wine on the quilts. ;D I am soooo happy for you!!!!!!

Vicki in MN said...

Congrats! I am sure there must be a FB group just for this machine-there is one for everything isn't there!! Or a Yahoo group.

Bernie Kringel said...

Very exciting Tish!! Also a very sweet story. Gotta love family!!

Cheryl said...

Congrats!!! I am so excited for you!

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

Oh goodness , fantastic ! That's a real big boy's toy! You'll have hours of fun with that and that pile of wip will be no more

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Good to know that others pet fabric. LOL Good luck with the new longarm. I wondered what the decision was made. Have fun.

Jayne said...

I have a feeling you will master the long arm in no time at all! There are people who were born to do that...you are one of them! Congrats and I cannot wait to see what you do!

Lorna McMahon said...

Oh MY GOODNESS! What a post! So happy for you and your family in the new adventures of long arming! Wow!

Paige said...

Exciting news! So happy for ya'll!

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