Fine Wine on a Beer Budget

I picked up my Sure Stitch regulator yesterday and installed it tonight after work. I had to wait for Gary (and his tools) to help out. Lots of gadgets and wires to attach. I got it all on, wired up, zip-tied on, and velcro strapped...stood back and took a look. I think it looks like a souped up, jigger-rigged Pinto when I really want a Hummer. My dream machine is a Gammill Statler Stitcher which is around $15,000. My second choice is a the HQ Handi Quilter staring around $8,000. Problem is...not in the budget right now.
It's not that I don't absolutely love my Juki. She's been an awesome machine and I've put her through a lot learning to machine quilt. She's got miles and miles to go. I just dream about upgrading some day....sigh!

It is pretty cool how this works. Little sensing wheels on the upper and lower carriages sense how fast you go and adjust the speed of the machine so you have more uniform stitches. It skips a bit now and then, but I think I just need to learn how to use it better.

P.S. Gary named this post!

Brrrr...It's cold outside

We had a few foggy mornings around here. It ices everything and makes it so pretty. It's fun to watch it fall off when the sun decides to come out. We had a pretty good snowstorm last night -- wet snow! It makes me want to stay inside and be lazy!

We had a sewing day last Saturday with my mom, sisters, daughters, cousins, etc. I cut out this quilt and got quite a few of the blocks done. I took my camera to take pictures of the other projects but was so involved with my quilt I forgot to take pictures. I quilted it up and then washed it so the centers would fray. Originally I was going to give it to my friend who is expecting a girl soon, but I hate to give a quilt that has been washed already. It's going to my granddaughter, Jayda, instead! I love the browns and pinks!

I've got quite a few quilts waiting to be machine quilted. I have 2 antique quilts for my husband's aunts. I fret about those. I get nervous that I will mess up on them so I just have a hard time putting them on and doing them. Then my sister's friends have some table toppers and lap quilts to be done. I have about 10 of my own hanging in my closet waiting. I really need to quit procrastinating and get some done. I've been wanting a stitch regulator for my quilting machine and finally gave in and bought it last week. I read the instructions (complicated) and then tried to put it on. They sent the wrong plug for my machine so I had to take it back and have them order another one. Hopefully it will be here this week.

Oh, how I miss my mind....

I have to confess why I haven't posted for a while. You see, I lost the new camera I got for Christmas a week ago. I'm forever losing things....and it's just getting worse with age. I have looked in everywhere I can think of to find it....drawers, cupboards, closets, coat pockets, etc. I didn't want my daughter (Jamie) to find out I lost it because she gave it to me for Christmas, so this morning I set out on a mission to find the exact same camera so she would never know. I went to 4 stores, every WalMart in the valley. I finally found it. Yes! I came home and took it out of the box and went to plug the battery in by the dining room table - where we always plug in phones, cameras, etc. My husband (home sick this week) was on the phone talking to Jamie about work. I pulled out the dining chair, looked down and there's my camera. It had been hidden by the tablecloth. Gary started laughing so hard. He handed me the phone and I had to explain everything to Jamie.
So, now I can show you what I'm working on. It's a pink and brown quilt with a pattern called "Chocolate Covered Cherries." I'm using a lot of the In The Pink1 and 2 fabrics from Henry Glass.

I don't like how some of the blocks turned out so I went and bought more fabric. I have 17 of 30 made, so hopefully I can sew the rest this afternoon.

I'm having one of those weeks. Besides the camera incident, I chipped a front tooth where I have a filling. It's a white filling so you don't notice it, but the chip looked bad. I called my dentist's office. I couldn't see my regular dentist but they got me into a new dentist. He replaced the filling and everything went well. I got home, looked in the mirror and yes, I had a new filling but the chip was still there. What?? How can you replace that and not fix the chip? Then I tried to eat lunch and that tooth hurts so bad when I chew now. Little things are annoying me. I almost got hit this morning by a man in a truck who had only scraped the driver's side of his front windshield. The assistant principal at my daughter's school called to have a little chat with me. I had a stressful day at work. My husband has been home sick all week. Enough!