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When I’m not quilting, you can find me either out in the garden or in the kitchen!

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“The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.” - Arnold Bennett

Entries in APQS Millenium (5)

7:57PM

HQ16 - Back on the market

Just wanted to let everyone know, my HQ16 is still for sale, my buyer fell through.

I’m getting ready to start on a baby quilt, one of Jim’s coworkers is expecting in about six months, I might get lucky and have time to start cutting out the fabric tomorrow.

I scored the other day at Walmart and was able to pick up eight full size flat sheets for $4.50 a piece!  Perfect for me to practice with the Millennium on, so I’m having a ball playing!

6:08PM

Could we be any slower?

“A few hours is all”, everyone says, that it takes to set up the APQS Millennium.  Ha!  I guess Jim and I work slower than snails because we are still not finished!

It’s mostly setup though.  The hydraulic lift (which is OMG sooooo cool!) was rather challenging.  APQS doesn’t include any instructions.  The manufacturer’s instructions are general and not applicable to the longarm.  Since I opted for a 14 foot table, there was just enough cable… just barely.

Most of the pictures we were able to find showed the legs mounted to the outside.  That didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to either of us, so mine are mounted on the inside of the table.

Today I finished installing the ruler base plate, the motorized fabric advancer (also too cool!) and the Quiltazoid.

Tomorrow I am going to power it up and take it for a spin!

It’s so crowded in here.  The Millennium, my treadmill, and the HQ16… overload!

I got an email today from “Quilts for Kids” thanking me for my quilts, so I know they arrived safely!  I also have finished piecing another top that’s waiting to be quilted.  I’ll try and post a picture of it tomorrow, today I am plum tuckered out!  Excited though!

6:39AM

It's a GIRL!

Yep, yesterday was the momentous day.  Around two o’clock, the phone rang.  The FedEx guy called for unloading instructions.  “DON’T pull into our driveway”!  That was all I had for him.  So here I am, patiently waiting…

I didn’t have to wait long!  Mr. FedEx arrived shortly after I backed the truck down to the end of the driveway.

He happened to be the same driver that delivered our TV when we moved in.  Fortunately Jim was home yesterday to help unload.  I have to say, it was a bit of a let down… I had built this up in my head to where the boxes were going to be bigger than the truck!

The rail boxes were.  That’s what Jim is pulling out of the truck in the above picture.  Those suckers were heavy!  We lifted those over the toolbox in the bed of our truck because they were way too heavy to carry up to the house.

All loaded up!  How can so few and such small boxes take up so much space once set up?

Jim is installing new overhead lights in the garage, so that it’s absolutely blinding out there.  Honestly, you need sunglasses.  But hey I can SEE now, and I should be able to photograph quilts inside instead of dragging them out, hauling a ladder out, and draping them over the fence.  I purchased a Savage Port-a-stand to hang my quilts from for photographing.

Today we will move the HQ16 to the other side of the garage, install the second light, and hopefully (if we think both longarms will fit) Jim will start setting up the Millennium.  It’s going to be tight though, there’s no way to move my treadmill without disassembling it, which we’ve no desire to do!

2:53PM

Why I love Bernina!

Well other than the fact that they make such terrific machines I mean.  I love Bernina because they have the absolute best team of talented individuals working for them!  The Bernina 830 does everything one could possibly imagine, but some of us have bigger imaginations than we should…

We can save customized sewing settings to a “personal program’, and name these saved settings whatever we want.  Like “Piecing”.  The dual feed is amazing, truly, but I also still always reduce my presser foot pressure when piecing quilt blocks.  Only sometime, I stitch for a minute before I remember to reduce it.  So I emailed Boris Zickenberg, the head software engineer back in Switzerland, and explained to him why I really needed this setting to be able to be saved to my personal program… because I’m not bright enough to remember on my own!

Guess what?  He’s going to implement it!  How COOL is that!  

I think Boris is kind of like Steve Jobs.  He comes up with the most amazing technology that I just can’t live without!  I’m waiting for him and Mr. Jobs to collaborate and give us the iBernina! 

Can anyone guess what GREAT BIG BOX is arriving at my house tomorrow?  I’ll give you a hint… her name is Millie!