Well adjusting to a longarm from a midarm is such a huge difference. I have found that I have to have both hands on my machine because if not I my machine will have skipped stitches. I must be pulling it weird when I use just one hand. It is very nice to not to have to change my bobbin so frequently. I quilted almost 2/3 of the quilt before I had to change bobbins. As much as I love this machine it is harder on my shoulders. I have been taking breaks and taking Motrin to give my shoulders a break. I have arthritis in both shoulders so practacing will help get my shoulders use to this. I have spent a almost a month getting use to this machine and have not spent anytime piecing. I really need to get back to that so I can finish Justin's pirate quilt, he is being very patient. Here is what I have done so far

Well I was thinking that I was just going to have 1 private blog for just myself and then I realized that I miss the other bloggers out there that I have met. When I deleted this blog it said that I would have 60 days to change my mind and guess what I did? I miss getting others opinions on what I"m thinking and what I had made.

I have a story to tell and it is amazing how this story came to be. I had hurt my leg and was sitting around on a Thursday night about 3 weeks ago. I was surfing the quilterblogs website. I love this website. As I was paging thru looking at others blogs and quilts I came across this blog which I passed by and then backed up and read it again. Yes Cathy was giving away this longarm . I commented on the blog right away and then thinking no I am going to email her directly. Well within 10 minutes the longarm was mine. I had Nolting ship her a shipping carton and then arranged for UPS to pick it up. I was so excited and could not believe that this had happened. I kept waiting to hear that she had changed her mind and thank God she didn't. Well 1-1/2 weeks later it was at my door. I never had a clue what a difference it would be from my 9-1/2" Janome to a 18" Nolting the control is unbelievable. I was for sure if I was going to have to get a stitch regulator and I found out I don't. I'm not saying that I don't have a huge learning curve in front of me but that's ok. I am frustrated with the tension issue that I am having/had but I think as I work thru it I will come to understand how the tension works. I have read that some people never have to adjust theirs and some that have to adjust it every time they load a quilt top. I have a lot of fabric that I would never use for practice and I'm so glad that I kept all those pieces of batting that I trimmed off. I'm not sure about using pantographs my frame is all set up for it I'm just not sure about being behind the machine. I guess it will be practice, practice, practice. I bought a book on Amazon on Sunday night it is called ABCs of Longarm Quilting I think this book is going to help me alot. I am suppose to go to Mary's a longarm quilter that I have been reading for a long time. She lives very close and is willing to share her knowledge with me and I can't wait.

Well who ever read my blog before is stuck with me again. It is good to be back.

I promised myself that yesterday I was going to clean my basement and never made it there. My sewing room takes up 50% of the basement and without cleaning it up I am not going to be able to start on the 2 memory quilts I want to get going on. Just seems when summer hits Minnesota it is hard to not be outside since warmer weather here does not last longer than 5 months. Pretty soon I will be complaining about the 10 below zero weather.

I have running to do tonight after work but I have no excuses why I can't start cleaning up in the evening. Hopefully I will have something quilted to show soon.

Check out Twiddletails giveaway. I love the Moda charm packs.


Have not had much time to sew lately. I have been busy working, busy in the yard and we have been busy traveling back and forth to fix our motorhome. We will be bringing it home on Saturday. I can't wait to go camping.

Ok so even thou I turned 50 my birthday was a blast and it only lasted 4 days. On Thursday 11 of us went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and had one of my favorite meals. Steak with grilled veggies, refried beans and rice. They usually serve your favorite drink and sing to you but I choose fried ice cream instead. Yummy!


Our friends from Iowa came in on Thursday afternoon and stayed in their motor home in our driveway. I was so wonderful to have them come for the weekend. On Saturday we had about 28 of my favorite friends over. Mike made pulled pork and grilled a turkey and then of course all the different sides. He did such a great job. I think the best presents of all is that Raychel was well enough to hangout on the deck with all of our friends. She made it from 3:00 until 8pm and then headed to bed. Justin our son also hung out for awhile but he had to get to the recording studio. I'm just thrilled that everyone I wanted to be there was.

Yesterday Mike and I took Kris's quilt to her. My brother and her were power washing the house when we showed up so I think she was thrilled they had to stop for awhile. Her she is with it.


Well back to normal life and back to the gym today.

Later

OMG in Minnesota yesterday it hit 97 degrees, you might say so, but on Saturday we had frost warnings. The weather here can be so weird going from spring to summer. Today it is suppose to be 94 and tomorrow 68. So unbelievable. We have company coming tomorrow from Ft Dodge Iowa and my house really needs to be cleaned. Mike is home this week and seems to think the outside needs all the attention. I will not go work out tonight (so sad) so I can come home and start cleaning.

Kris's birthday is Sunday and I only have a little bit of the binding to finish sewing down. Hopefully I can finish it while watching American Idol tonight. I will take a picture of her with it and post.

Oh by the way I turn 50 tomorrow so weird just the other day I was giving birth to Raychel and she turns 30 in July. I have friends that have journals about everything in their life and I wish I had. It would be so fun to go back and read my life's history, or maybe not there were some pretty rough patches.

These are the things nice about being this 50:
My children are grown but still need me sometimes.
The friends I have are true friends and here for the rest of our lives.
My mortgage is half paid off (we bought this house when I was 35).
I only have 12 years before I can retire and really start to party.
I really know what is important in life because I have learned from my mistakes.
I am friends with my kids not just Mom.

The only sad thing about being 50:
My Mom is 82, healthy, but my Dad is no longer here. I wish as I got older my parents had stopped growing old so we could grow old together. I love my Mom and Dad and am so happy for the life they have given me.

It is going to be a very busy weekend so I hope everyone has a great 3 day weekend. I will have a 4 day weekend since my boss seemed to think I would need a day to recover. The party is on Saturday but I won't argue and will take the day off.

Later

Last week at this time I was going on and on about how it was Mothers Day and we were going to work in the yard and go to brunch on Sunday and hang out. Well Saturday came and I headed outside and it was cold and windy. Mike did not get home from working until 2am Saturday morning so he was not up for working outside. I was out there for about 10 minutes and realized that it was to cold and windy or should I say that was my excuse for not wanting to be out there. I spent the rest of the day in my sewing room and Mike laid on the couch watching some Indy race. Sunday came and Raychel was not up for brunch so Mike and I went and the food was wonderful. Came back home and headed back into my sewing room. So no excuses this weekend we have work to get done. We are having a party next Saturday, my 50th birthday, and we don't want to wait until the last minute, but kind of feels like we have.

Working on getting the binding sew down on Krissy's quilt and got Raychel's quilt loaded on the frame while watching American Idol on Tuesday. I will work on that tomorrow night after working outside and not before. Again wanting to start on my Mom's memory quilt and will not start on that until I am done with what I am working on now.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Cathy

I know I know but I think I am going to join this 6 week quilt along. And it also is a chance to win a new sewing machine and get a quilt done Check http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ out.

Thought I would share with everyone a great Moda giveaway. Check it out at Lila Mae's sight. I would love to win these fat quarters but who wouldn't

Well it's Mothers Day weekend and you know what that means, we get to do what ever we want. Well that's how I would like it to be. I would love to wake up and go right to my sewing room with my coffee and not come back out for the day. What we are doing is picking up Raychel and then go to my son's work where he is a kitchen manager for brunch. Moms eat free where he works which is such a nice treat, not many places offer that. With Raychel being over for the day that means I will spend the day with her and Mike and that is ok. Her and her brother are the reason I am a Mom so I will spend time with them. Saturday we are going to work in our yard. We have a lot of Oak trees and the leaves are very hard on the grass and with Raychel being sick for so long our yard has been neglected. There will be a lot of racking up the dirt and putting down lime to get the dirt back to normal so grass seed will grow.

Mike will be working all day today and I am getting off work at noon to take Raychel to the doctor. I am thinking that I will be back to home by 3:00. That means that I can eat a bowl of cereal for dinner and spend the remainder of the day in my sewing room. I have two quilt tops that need to be quilted and I am hoping to get one of them done tonight. I have made a promise to myself that I will get these two tops done before I start on my Mom's memory quilt so I need to hurry. I am so excited to get that one done and give to my Mom. She is a true seamstress and really appreciates the work I put into my quilts so I always love showing her what I have done.

Hope all Moms have a great weekend and get to do what you enjoy and if not a Mom enjoy the Mom you have.