Learning by Doing

I went back to the store yesterday and loaded another quilt. Please understand, this is NOT my own personal machine. (I wish it were!) But, a friend and I have been assigned the task of getting it up and going. It was moved to a local quilt show a couple of years ago, then set up again at the shop. No one has used it since. And apparently in the moving, some parts were reinstalled incorrectly (part of the frame) or lost (the dreaded rubber O-rings).

It been a frustrating process to get it working, but it has paid off tremendously in our skill level. Because we were forced to learn the ins and outs of the machine, now when I have a problem with the stitches or other issues, I know immediately how to fix it.
The stitches don't show up well on the photo, but if you look at the backside of the quilt rolled on the take up rail, you may be able to see the star pattern I'm using. I was going to town on this one until I ran out of thread. Murphy's Law! I figured that was a sign to quit for the day, so I stopped on the way home for more thread. Today I'll go back and finish this one. I want to get it off the frame today so my friend can test it on one of her quilts tomorrow.

I had a famous visitor yesterday - the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. He dropped off a bag of t-shirts for me to make a quilt for him (or as he called it, "a blanket.") I've pretty much stopped taking on commission projects like this, but how could I turn him down!!!

Demo starts today on our master bathroom. I'm looking forward to getting it underway, but I'm dreading the dust and noise. All will be worth it in the end, I know.
Do you know what these are? These are pine cone "cobs," at least that's what I call them. We have a very industrious squirrel living in a pine tree in our front yard. He picks the pine cones off the tree, and strips them of their little nubs. There must be something yummy to eat in those little nubs! Then he drops the uneaten part of the nub (at the bottom of picture) on the ground. If you're standing outside, it's like a slow shower of nubs falling to the ground around the tree. Once he's picked the pine cone clean, he drops the "cob." Needless to say, the ground around the pine tree is always littered with this mess. Oh well. At least the squirrel is happy!