My IQ Day has Arrived

I'm up early because we have to drive down the hill (37 miles) to drop off my Trailblazer for service. I only trust Bill Clark and his people with my cars. I'm fussy. Well, I think a lot of folks are. When you find the right guy for the job, you want to stay with him. No substitutes will do. So we'll get the car dropped off at 8:30, then go have a nice breakfast. I might even unpack some of the boxes in the garage. This move has taken too long.

All of this is just marking time, stalling, until Helen and her husband, Tony arrive to install my Intelliquilter computer on my Gammill Optimum Plus. I am so excited. I had to find a welder to fabricate 2 extensions for my light-bar. $60 for 2 6-inch square tubes that fit perfectly into my light bar, thank you very much. It only took me 15 mintues to find the welder in our small town and he had them ready the next day. So the machine is clean and timed to within an inch of it's life. I have a practice piece for testing the IQ stitching later. The studio blinds are open for lots of morning light. The air conditioner is sitting at 78, ready to be called into service. Helen and Tony are from the Las Vegas area so they are no strangers to heat. But I bet they run their air conditioner all day long there. We just have a thermostat and it decides when to come on and go off.


OK, I'm just blathering on. I am so excited to get this quilting robot. I plan to use it for some of my edge-to-edge work and to record some of the blockwork I do and save those for later use. But mostly, I am looking forward to sitting down while the machine does the quilting.

****Update**** It's here. I love it.

There are Faeries in My Garden

This darling quilt was made by Brenda as a shop sample for the Southern California Quilt Run coming to the CraZy 9 Patch for the next 2 weekends. It will be mayhem. So many quilters will be looking for the right next project. I'm betting that Brenda's Christmas Faeries quilt will catch many eyes...and sell a bunch of fabric.



Brenda designed the quilt pattern herself and the patterns will be given out free at the quilt shop for those buying the fabric. I wanted to use some razzle-dazzle quilting on this beauty, so make the quilt will get the glamour treatment. SID, thin border baubles, lots of ribbons and bows and double-half-circles in the border. It will all eb done in gold So Fine thread and Quilter's Dream batting.

Philanthropy - Why we do it

I think longarm quilters all do some form of charity quilting. I quilt for Camp Reach for the Sky through Rosie's Calico Cupboard in San Diego. CR4TS is for kids with cancer. Every kid that goes to camp takes home a quilt to snuggle with. I continue to do them because the rewards, though unseen, are wonderful.

This year I did church raffle quilts back to back. The proceeds from the raffle go to the Prayers and Squares group at the church. Our P&S group provides quilts for comfort and healing after surgeries, death of a loved one and any life-altering event. My group does not quilt them, they tie the quilts. The P&S group stitches embroidery thread in many plaes on the quilt to give it stability. The pastor announces the quilts for the congregation (or their relatives or friends) and they are set out between services on Sunday morning. People find the threads not yet tied and says a prayer for the receiver and then tie the thread in a knot. The receiver knows that each knot represents a prayer said for them. It is very comforting.

I'm still waiting for the $$ numbers from the Immaculate Heart of Mary raffle quilt. The catholic church had a spring carnival and one of the events was the quilt raffle.

My church, Spririt of Joy Lutheran church just had the drawing for the winner of the Spring Star on Father's Day. Our Prayers and Squares group received $666.25 from the proceeds of the raffle. They will use that to buy batting and thread. Many people, myself included, donate left over fabric from projects that we have completed at home. That group, 25 strong now, creates beauty and comfort using the bought and donated items. It is a worthwhile organization.