dahlias

We have a few more dahlias blooming….are they beautiful?

Michael and I took an early morning bike ride on Tuesday (6/3) after which he took off to pick up the last of our vacation stuff from Triple A, while I got cleaned up and headed over to Nancy’s.  I don’t think I’ve told you the latest on my long arm  L.  Kay (the store instructor) was scheduled to come over on Wednesday for a training session.  When I was doing the dog beds, I noticed that moving the long arm forward and backwards was delightful, but trying to move it in any side to side way did not work nearly as well.   As a matter of fact, when I was trying to baste the top of the quilt, it totally stopped stitching when I tried to make a long pass across the top….moving the width from left to right.  Kay called to make sure she understood what I was saying….and indicated that there was a problem with my encoders.  Barry (from the store) must come to adjust them, but he is in Europe at the moment and will not be back until after we leave on vacation.  I was really bummed out about this, but Kay told me about her own experiences from when she first got her long arm (a top of the line Gammel), which even 10 years ago cost 2-1/2 times what I paid for mine!)  Anyway, the second week she had it, she had taken the top off and was soldering wires within the engine!  She said I have a great machine, it just needs a few tweaks and I will love it…I just have to be patient.  I have to admit, when I was stitching on it on Saturday….I LOVED it!!!  So, I am trying to be patient J.

Anyway, my visit with Nancy was MIND ALTERING!!!!  She gave me so many things to think about with machine quilting and showed me so many tools she has that I may borrow….I am totally PSYCHED!!!!  I am going to look through my stash and get one more length of fabric ready to go….I definitely know how I want to attack the next one, and after that I really think I will be ready to practice on my first charity quilt.  I got home from Nancy’s in time to have a quick lunch, then head off with Joanne to Stitch & Chat.  I knit a bit on my baby sweater (and chatted a LOT J) before heading home and then out once again for physical therapy.  I now have some exercises to do and some posture to practice to help my shoulder.  By the time I got home, I got a chicken carcass picked and into the crockpot on the deck and Michael and I put on leftovers to heat through.  We ate together and watched a bit of TV before I headed downstairs.  I was pooped and basically sat and watched TV, or read my book for the rest of the night before heading for bed.