Can’t wait to pick her brain about IQ (IntelliQuilter) and have a few drinks…ahhhh

Hope I remembered to pack everything I need…

And on the machine now…Judy’s Plaid quilt…

I had a couple of people email to request pics of Filligree all-over up close. I am pretty sure I posted some pics like that before, but I am unable to find them now…so here is a fresh one…

In other news…I am sure you are all DYING to know how I looked at the party this weekend…well, I looked GOOD! But I didn’t bring my camera so you will just have to take my word for it. I ended up back at the mall on Friday because Maris decided he needed a couple of new dress shirts…so I peeked into Chico’s again and found a “little black dress” that fit me perfectly…ON SALE…I added a thin, dark periwinkle tunic length sweater over it with a pair of sweet open toe patent leather pumps ( I know they were adorable because they made my feet hurt. That’s how you can tell!) I was beautiful…that’s my story and I am sticking to it! LOL!!

I have a couple of things/events coming up really quickly that I have to sort of “dress” for…no yoga pants and hoodies or jeans (even with a NICE sweater) which has been my usual leaving-the-house attire for quite a while now…since I left the “real” work world for quilting.

I’ve stopped buying dress-up clothes because I would only wear them once or twice before they became passe’…so when something or somethings! come up I am scrambling…Maris says I have a little vicious cycle of “I don’t have anything to wear to someplace like that.” accompanied by “I am not getting that because I don’t have anywhere to wear it to.”

He’s got a point.

Don’t get me wrong. I know how to dress appropriately for weddings, funerals and semi-nice parties…I used to enjoy it…when I was a size 10…things have changed and not just the numbers on the tag. Now, the sorts of things I USED to look good in don’t look so good any more.

I tried on 5 dresses today. FIVE! They all made me look like a busha…kinda dumpy and blah…ooooookaay…a dress is out…on to skirts…no selection in January…winter stuff is on the way out and the spring collection is in…not gonna work for this Saturday…

My fall back position is dressy black slacks…I found a pair that fit beautifully Yay! The sales lady makes a point of tell me they are not on sale…I DON”T CARE…sure I would LOVE for them to be “on sale” but they FIT…they look GOOD…ring them up!

Since  I have ended up with the lovely, but traditional/classic black slacks I am thinking something trendy on top…silky, flowy, colorful…yeah, about that…8 attempts later we have two options one that looks pretty good, but is uncomfortable AND would force me to go BRA shopping (oh, HELL no!) and one that is comfortable, works with my current undergarments and looks frumpy.

I left with the slacks. Poor sales woman. She gave her all.

On to the mall…straight to Chico’s…Now, I have never shopped at Chico’s, but nearly every time I admire something that someone is wearing they tell me they “got it at Chico’s”. Every time I walk by the windows all I ever see are animal prints…not for me…those things tend to look terrific…on OTHER people…I just can’t pull that off.

But I ignored the animal prints in the window and marched in. I looked the sales woman straight in the eye and said “I need help”. After a few false starts she kinda had my number…she planted me in a dressing room and handed me a handful of hangers…”Don’t look at them on the hanger. You have to try them on.” I was desperate and for a change I did what I was told. ( I know! Maris doesn’t believe it either!)

By the way, Chico’s has a brilliant marketing ploy…if you haven’t been there you might not know this…if you are a size 14 on other planets, you are a size TWO on Planet Chico…I know, I know. It’s just a number and I am still a 14 in real life, but still…

I left the store with a tunic length, flirty, FUSCHIA, blouse that is kind of iridescent (soooo not me, right? It looks terrific!) and an unrelated purchase of a longish, dark lavender sweater with water fall lapels and fitted back. Yum! a little trendy, but flattering shape.Yay!

It only took all day…and I still need shoes…help me!

Birds!

Today 4 baby quilts! And guild tonigh! Busy day

These were designs sketched out by the client on tissue paper for me to use…well, I did adapt a little to avoid too many stops and starts for light custom. Beautiful piecing by Susan!

This one is from Tuesday…two quilts in one – the top is patriotic prints and the back is angel panels…simple filigree all-over quilting.

That’s what was on the machine yesterday…should have taken me two to three hours…took me all day…sigh*

While I was basting the top I jammed the needle…then the needle broke…damn…changed the needle…finished basting and started quilting…skipped stitches while stitching toward the take-up bar…damn…both the quilt top and the backing were batiks which I have heard can cause this problem BUT I have quilted a couple of hundred batik top and bottom quilts…no problems…check thread path…loosen tension…still skipping…grab my manual (RTFM!) not enough info…I keep hearing “timing, timing, timing” in my head…call my dealer to see if there is something ELSE simple I can check before starting the dreaded timing process (I have had my machine for over 7 years and have NEVER had to time it!)

Darling Josh suggests that I may have to adjust the needle bar and starts to walk me through it…by the third time I ask him to repeat himself, he asks if I have Rick’s Maint. DVD…well, dang! I forgot I had that! Josh tells me to watch the section on needle bar adjustment and then call him back.

The DVD is great by the way…except they have this neat enlarging capability that allows you to see the needle eye on the screen in a way that it is totally obvious and easy to make the adjustment…in REAL life the eye is tiny and tucked into the nice dark bobbin casing at the point where you need to see which way to adjust AND the set screw is …well, anyway let’s just say it freaking impossible to even SEE properly much less tighten the set screw and not shift the bar out of proper position…damn!

So I make what I THINK is the proper adjustment…put things back together…drag my lights and magnifiers out of the way and start quilting again…better, but still the occasional skipped stitches…damn…so I slow down and nurse it through the- quilt…sometimes it goes quite a while before I unknowingly speed up and …arrrrrrrgh!

Maybe it’s a combination of the batiks, the heavy cotton thread AND the needle bar not being exactly right…so I finish the quilt and decide to throw on a muslin quilt sandwich…change to my regular go-to, always works thread and see what happens…I figure if I still skip stitches then at least I know it’s the machine and not the quilt or thread combo that is the problem and I can work on it until my chief mechanic gets home.

As I am changing threads and go to slip the new thread through the needle I notice that the eye of the needle is not front and center…it’s turned not quite a quarter turn to the left (as I am facing it)…no, really?! No…that can’t be it…really?!

I begin quilting on my practice piece…I quilted for over a half hour…perfect stitches…no matter what twists and turns I put it through…no matter how fast or slow I go…un-freaking believable…

So, the moral of the story is – it’s almost never the machine…it’s the operator…if I had inserted the new needle properly…well…you get the picture.

And BTW…WHY doesn’t my quilting machine have a flat sided needle base so I can’t insert it improperly like my DSM has?!

That is my cautionary tale for today…remember to check all the little, simple things first (I thought I did!) before moving on to major adjustments…sigh*

The quilting is a free-hand feather meander (see Suzanne Early’s book Meandering Magic!) that I am calling Lettuce Leaf Meander. Superior LAVA thread – Fireworks and Hobbs 80/20 batting.