Ten blissful years...

Today!  No one needs to tell me that I’m the luckiest girl on the planet!  Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband and best friend!

I took tons and tons of pictures while Jim and I were in Iowa at the APQS factory… and this morning I’ve finally gone through them all, thinking to share them with you.  Would you believe that ninety percent of them are simply detail shots I took for things I wanted to look at and remember, and would just look like the same picture to you over and over again?  Doh!

This image is of one of the employees pressing the bearings into the new M&M wheels… which I have and they are incredible, much better than Edgeriders!

This next shot is of the new Bliss rails… which I’d dearly love to have but I can’t talk Jim into letting me get them… yet.  Funny, he’s okay with me adding the IntelliQuilter (major chunk of cash!) but not the rails (still a chunk of cash, but only a quarter the cost of the IQ).  But I don’t want to computerize.

Jim must have taken this picture of the classroom when we’d just returned from break, since there’s just a couple of us in the room.  That’s me with my back to the camera, and those machines are ones we got to take apart and play with!

The class was absolutely amazing, as was Amy, the instructor.  She does both tech support and repairs to the machines that come in for servicing.  Jim and I both really enjoyed the hands on experience!  We learned how to time the machines, repack the gear box, adjust the position of the hopping foot and the needle bar, the speed of the needle, and much, much more.  General care and cleaning, deep cleaning…  I’d love a Bernina class like that!

Corn, beans and windmills

We’re home!  I’ll post about the APQS factory and training in a day or two.  Jim and I spent today unpacking the RV and relaxing, tomorrow I’m headed back up to Stuttgart to pick up my Bernina 830.  But I had to share some pictures that will probably bore everyone to tears…

I was totally captivated with the endless miles of lush, perfect corn rows. So incredible peaceful looking!  I think the Ozarks are very beautiful, but folks in Iowa show a lot of pride in their towns, their farms, and their homes.  Everything is neat, orderly, landscaped and so “American Apple Pie” looking!

Carroll Iowa, where the APQS factory is located, is about as close to small town Americana perfection as one can get… minus the restaurants.  Well, minus the one we visited anyway, it was SO bad we cooked the rest of our meals in the RV!

You’ve all had Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup before yes?  You know how soft and squishy the noodles are?  Could they be cooked anymore?  Picture those posing as fettuccine… with a bit of flour, milk and… salt (????) pretending to be alfredo sauce… BLECH!  Pooey!

Otherwise, the town is absolutely charming!  In fact they are in the process of ripping up Main street and laying down cobblestones… awesome!  And friendlier people I have never met.  That’s one of the reasons Jim and I love the Ozarks.  Folks are just down to earth and so nice.  They’re even nicer in Iowa!

I’ve never seen a windmill farm in my life.  There is one in Carroll, and was it ever COOL!  I made Jim drive right out into the cornfield so we could get out and take pictures looking up! 

You might have guessed we don’t do the typical touristy stuff when we travel.  Jim and I like to get a feel for a place, the way life really is there, not the dress up costumes put on for visitors.

We stayed at Swan Lake State Park.  I’m sure there were some private RV parks in the area, but this one was just a hop skip and a jump from the APQS factory, and since we could fit, that was all we needed.

It was muddy, and the sites were not spacious by any stretch of the imagination, and I’m not even sure we could have parked had the campground been full, but fortunately it wasn’t (although by Friday it was jam packed!) and we were able to get a full hook up site.

There were some larger (not full hookups) sites right on the lake, but the 5th wheel in front of us managed to get nicely stuck and we managed to avoid doing so and headed back up to the top.

There were actually some really nice secluded spots in the park, but they were meant for much smaller rigs than ours.

Sorry for the boring post, still wiped and still absorbing everything I learned!

Design Wall Monday

I only have a little bit up for this week, and won’t have anything new next week as Jim and I are headed to the APQS factory bright and early tomorrow morning.

This is going to be another toddler quilt.  It doesn’t do a whole lot for me, but will make a nice quilt to have on hand for either a boy or a girl next time Jim tells me he needs a baby quilt in a week for a co-worker!

I’ll be making a trip to the grocery store for a few last minute items for our trip, and we need to fill the truck tanks and the generator tanks (just in case, we never haul the RV without it), otherwise we generally keep the RV packed and ready to go at all times (not that we go much anymore).

I am going to grill some hot dogs and italian sausages and toss them in the RV fridge for easy reheating in the microwave, since I’m not taking a grill along this trip.

We’ll be staying (hopefully, if our honkin’ huge RV will fit) at Swan Lake State Park.  It’s only a 30 amp park, so we will only be able to run one a/c unit, but it’s only in the upper 80’s there so if we can park in shade that should be plenty.

Head over to Judy’s and see what everyone else is up to this Design Wall Monday, and I’ll see ya’ll in a week!