Labor of Love

I spent part of Labor Day with my hexies. I'm becoming obsessed with these! Though my daughter is choosing to sew her directly to each other (a fun look!), I'm thinking I'll sew a "background" border of hexies around the units to connect them. Kona white, maybe???

The changes we've been making around our house have involved setting up twin beds in our guest bedroom. I think it will be nice to have these in one bedroom so we can accommodate more guests (especially my nephews). They replace a beautiful antique bed - it was very uncomfortable and it was smaller than a full size, but bigger than a twin - really not big enough for two people, especially two teenage brothers who would be grossed out at the thought of sleeping in the same bed! I'm thinking this hexie quilt will make a great statement on one of the twin beds.

Someone asked about my new light fixtures I showed on my last post - the new "chandelier" and the lamps all came from IO Metro - my new favorite furniture store. They have really cool products from all over the world, and the prices are very reasonable. If you don't have one near you, just shop online! I'm lucky enough to have one close to our home.

In other news, for the last week I've kind-of, sort-of, had a (gulp!) J - O - B. Yes, that right, a job! And it involves....quilting!!!!

I've been working with a good friend at an heirloom sewing shop. They have a long arm quilting machine (computerized!). It's been sitting there for over a year with no use. Can you imagine? So we have been assigned to learn it backwards and forwards - how to load quilts, how to run the computerized quilting module, etc.

It's been fun, but not easy. Neither of us have ever worked on a long arm. In the process, we discovered that the frame had some parts installed incorrectly - we fixed them. We spent the better part of the week trying to figure out why we couldn't get the computer module to work. After much frustration, and long calls to the manufacturer and a kind man named Ernie, we finally figured out that there were rubber O-rings missing from the wheels the machine rolls on. God bless you, Ernie! A quick trip to the plumbing department of Home Depot to find rubber O-rings, and VOILA! On Friday afternoon, we had success!

We still have some tension issues, but that should be no big deal to adjust. Tomorrow morning, we will get back at it. We're hoping to quilt some real quilts by the end of the week. Can't wait!