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I floated the quilt top and batting.  I watched the video that came with the machine and they showed to roll the quilt, but that wasn’t how I remembered doing it in the past.  I removed the leader from the top bar, and put the longarm measuring tape on that bar instead.

I’m so excited!  It’s a long ways from perfect, but it’s going much, much better that I expected.  TheClick for larger view stitch regulator is awesome, and I can’t say enough about the new “walking” feature.  There’s no way I can possibly follow the lines of a panto at any speed whatsoever, so if it weren’t for the stitch regulator I’d have months of practice ahead of me before I could do this.

I have some wobbles but overall I’m really excited how well this is turning out, plus after just a couple of hours, I’m halfway done with the quilt, woohoo!

 Click for larger viewI’m using Isacord embroidery thread to do the quilting, same color on top and in the bobbin (no point in stressing myself unnecessarily at this point) and I love the way it looks, and boy does it stitch out like a dream.  Mom wanted the Quilters Dream wool batting that I used in the same quilt I made for Jim, and I just love the loft on it.  It’s hard to capture, but I think this picture on the brown fabric shows it better.

I also wanted to rave a bit about the pantograph design I’m using.  It’s a Jodi Beamish design, from Willow Leaf Studio, called “whirlygig”.  I bought all my pantos from this designer, because I love the way she made it so easy to line them up, there’s simply no way you can mess these up!

You follow the solid line of course, but see how she added the previous and next areas in dotted lines?  Most of the panto’s I looked at head registration marks, but nothing like this.

Jim ended up working upstairs in his office until 3am, and slept all morning, so I think our weekend projects aren’t going to get done, LOL.

Click for larger viewThis morning I couldn’t stand it anymore, and since I haven’t been able to come up with a workable solution (using the stuff I have on hand, without resorting to buying special cabinets) and I pulled every last thing out of my sewing room, vacuumed, and then started putting everything back.

It’s just about back to the same way I had it when I first set it up, but minus the huge printer which takes up so much space, and minus one 3’x6’ table (I don’t think I posted pictures of the room with that table in here, it used to be on the landing prior to moving Jim’s office out there).

With the printer out of here, I moved my iMac over to the corner of the two banquet tables, and the table on the left is the cutting table with the six foot mat and grid on it, that I had custom cut to fit the table.  I have my 630 on this table, and can scoot it forward when sewing, and have ample space to the left and rear of the machine.  I also took the small TV out of here, as I wasn’t using it.

I moved the Babylock cover stitch machine over to the end of the other table, of my machines it’s the least used one, beingClick for larger view more of a specialized machine.  I made sure I left leg room underneath those two machines, but moved three of the plastic carts under the cutting table.

On my old Koala cabinet, the 730 is set up for embroidery, and the serger.  Both these need a stable surface to work on, and won’t work well on the banquet tables… tried that.

Tucked behind the swing out door to the Koala cabinet I have my makeshift ironing table, which is simply a 3’x3’ folding banquet/card table, covered with a thin layer of batting and canvas that’s just clamped down.

 Click for larger viewI moved the rest of the plastic storage carts into the HQ16 room, but I may move them back into my sewing room, I haven’t made up my mind.

Anyway, I think I can think straight now, and can get back to the fun of sewing, and my spaceClick for larger view is spotless again, nothing like pulling everything out to clean!

If anyone saw the summer issue of Quiltmaker’s Quilting and Embroidery, there is the mostClick for larger view darling toddler quilt on the front cover I think I’ve ever seen, the theme being the nursery rhyme “Five Little Monkeys”.  I don’t have any little ones in my life, but this embroidered quilt was just too cute to pass up the designs, which I purchased.  I may have to make one of these for charity.

We got tons of rain, with the remnants of Gustav passing through, and some high winds that knocked a small tree down in back and took out a small section of our fence, which Jim fixed promptly.

I’ve been putting it off for days but can’t any longer, I guess I better go to the store and get a few things, yuck.

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We still have quite a bit of work left to finish this up.  After the posts sit for a week or two and we’re sure they’re nice and solid in the ground, Jim will go back with the chainsaw and top them off at five feet in height.

Click for larger viewThen each post gets holes drilled for 3 rows of support wires, which the berries will be trained to grow on.  It’s a shame, as they all have long vines now and we could tie them onto the wires right away, but they need to be cut back all the way and start over, otherwise they won’t do well in the following years.

You can see that the dirt extends past the landscape mat, but it still needs to be raked backClick for larger view over the mat, so the beds are only four feet wide versus six, and then it all gets covered with mulch.  I’ll be working on the mulch for the remainder of the year, as I have to chip it up first, and add it as I get it done.  Once that’s done, the paths are actually wide enough for the big tractor, but everything we’ll need to do here can be done with the ATV.

Anyway, it won’t really look nice until it’s complete, but it will be done before the end of the year.  One the ends, I’m debating if I want to plant something ornamental, or if I want to build 4’x4’ boxes and add another food source.  Ornamentals would look lovely, but the boxes would be perfect for my asparagus which needs a home.

We are so glad to have these in the ground, and probably wouldn’t have pushed so hard to get this all done in one weekend, except that August is a terrible time to transplant, and Hurricane Gustav is predicted to send a week’s worth of rain our way beginning tomorrow, which was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up on.

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We made it outside by 8:30, and couldn’t have been luckier, it was overcast all day with a nice breeze!  The first thing we had to do was figure out some place to “hang” the tractor auger, as we’ve just left it mounted to the tractor until we get the shop and tractor shed built, as we didn’t have any place to put it.

It weighs a ton, too much to lay on the ground and expect to be able to lift it back up in order toClick for larger view hook it up, so Jim quickly put in 3 tposts, and tied the auger to them with wire.  Fancy eh?  It works for the moment.

Bellen was tickled pink to spend the day outdoors with us, although she headed for shade whenever the sun popped out.  

 Click for larger viewNext on the agenda was to flag the area where we wanted the rows tilled.  We used Aneska’s final resting spot as our point of reference, as Jim wanted to plant a berry bush directly above here, and simply measured out from there.

Jim hooked up the tiller with a bit of trepidation.  This is the first time we’ve used it, havingClick for larger view added it earlier this year, and the ground here is mostly clay, and it’s rock hard right now, without a tractor there’d be no planting anything this time of year here.  To our delight, it dug down and pulverized the ground into the consistency of cake flour!  Amazing!  And… (Mom, are you reading this?) we have no rocks!

I was expecting the dreaded walk with the bucket picking out rock after rock as the tiller pulled them up out of the ground, but there simply aren’t any.  Thank you, Oh Lucky Star of mine!

 Click for larger viewJim made about six passes on each of the three rows.  They’re 70 feet long by 6 feet wide, the actual rows will be 60 feet by 4 feet when we’re done, allowing enough room for the riding mower or the ATV to fit between them.  If you look carefully in this picture, you can see the eleven little cypress trees we planted along the road, for privacy (when they get bigger).

Next we put the auger back on, and drilled the holes for the 18 wooden posts.  They’ll be set twelve feet apart, with three rows of wire for the berries to grow on.  The posts are plain oak fence posts, 8 feet long, 4 inches around.  We like the rustic look and this is exactly how we had our blackberries set up on the Missouri farm.

Two of the rows we were able to dig down three feet deep with no problem, but one row theClick for larger view ground was too hard and the auger only went in about 18 inches.  We decided to fill the holes with water, and hope that this morning it will have softened them up enough to dig deeper.  This would be an excellent site for a pond, the clay holds the water quite well!

This morning we’ll try and dig those holes deeper, get the posts set, the landscape mat pinned down, and get the blackberries in the ground.  Another full day, but we shouldn’t have to dig in the berries other than the largest ones, as the tiller dug down deep enough for the majority of them.

Click for larger viewNext weekend is already allocated to chipper duty, as we now need to drag enough limbs and dead trees out of the woods to chip up for mulch to cover the beds.  It’s going to take a lot!  Since we have to clear a path wide enough for the tractor into the woods for Jim’s shop, we can start clearing and chipping at the same time.

I put baby back ribs and beans in the smoker while we were out working, Jim’s request for his birthday dinner (thank heavens, sure made it easy for me!) and at 4:30 we crawled back into the house, grabbed our showers, made another trip to town for more diesel for the tractor, then came home and pigged out on ribs, beans and french silk pie.

I’m not completely mean though.  As soon as I woke up, I measured off the ingredients for pie crust and put them in the fridge to get cold, and when he wakes up so I can run the food processor, I’ll make him his favorite pie, French Silk.  But then we’re headed outside to work on the blackberries.

We had a difficult time restraining ourselves when we went back to Lowes for the landscape fabric, they had a nice selection of hardwood trees (oaks, maples, etc) that we were itching to bring home and plant along the road, but forced ourselves to wait because there’s no way we’re getting all that done this weekend.  Especially in this heat.

I’ve been keeping an eye out on Hurricane Gustav, and saw that this morning it’s been upgraded to a Category 3.  I hope that anyone in its path will heed the warnings and evacuate themselves and their belongings early, they’ve been warning folks for days that it could hit as a category 4 or 5 when it makes landfall.  If it hits New Orleans at that level, I don’t think those levees will hold.  I’d certainly be clearing out of there, and taking my sewing machines with me!

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I imported the waypoints off of the GPS into Google Earth, so you can get an idea of how our place sits here.  It’s a long skinny 5 acre piece, the house sits just on the edge of the woods (about 3.5 acres in woods) and the front is open up to the road.  In front of us is all farmland, with several small farms.

Between our driveway and waypoint #1 is the clearing where we intend to plant our orchard, the fruit trees, the grapes, and the blackberries.

The clearing in front of the house will mostly get landscaped.  And the center of the woods behind the house will get cleared, so we have a private interior.  The south side of the woods is a hill, and there’s 2 wet weather creeks that flow fairly frequently back there, making two small ravines around the center, almost like an island.  It’s that “island” that we went to clear, leaving the creek and woods around it.  The land is worthless for anything except landscaping, but it’s a landscaper’s dream, with lots of character.

We’re headed back to town shortly for 4 inch by 8 foot oak posts, and we’ve already picked up flags and wire and tomorrow we’re going to start planting the blackberries.

Did I remember to mention that our braided rug (the cheap one I got on sale through JCPenneys catalog) arrived 2 nights ago, and we hated it on sight?  I took it back to the store yesterday, blech.  Nylon is just not wool.  It felt horrid, and looked horrid.  This morning we ordered the wool rugs we liked from LLBean, a 9’x12’ oval for the living room, a runner for behind the sofa, and a 3’x6’ for the window bay.

They had one in chestnut browns with blues that we really like, very earthy looking, but we felt that it’s so dark in here already, that something bright and cheerful would work better, and this one blends well with the colors I favor when it comes to quilts.

Later on this weekend I’ll post pictures of what we got accomplished planting.  First we’re going to till the rows, then add the posts and wires, and the blackberry plants.  There’s 33 of them to plant, and they’re not teeny little things anymore, so we’ve our work cut out for us.  But those fruit trees and grapes will be here before we know it, and we also want to start planting trees along the road front soon too.

I had a glass of wine and called Jim and had him bring pizza home.  It was if I’d died and gone to heaven!

However, I’m not admitting defeat, just accepting that I enjoy food too much to go on some diet.  So Jim and I discussed the treadmill more, and this morning I placed an order for a Sole F80.  It has excellent reviews, and more importantly, it folds up (slightly).

I would have opted for a larger unit, the Smooth 9.45ST would have been my first choice, but it doesn’t fold and our space is very limited.  This one I can roll out in front of the TV and walk for an hour (after I work my way up to it) and then roll back into a corner. (The treadmill, not me).

I compared treadmills to elliptical trainers, but I like to walk and I never like stair steppers, so I don’t think I’d care much for the elliptical, plus they don’t fold.

So we’ll see if I can go about this the good old fashioned way, reduce my calorie intake a bit (not a lot, I’m not doing the self torture thing again!) and burn off more than I’m eating.

No excuses of bad weather, rabid dogs or mountain lions on the prowl outside.

Deep breath, okay back to my boring glass of water.  I’m probably not going to make it on a diet.  I’m likely going to have to get off my fat lazy ass and work this weight off, I think I love food too much to give it up, LOL.  I haven’t caved just yet though.

 Click for larger view I have some of the blocks done on the first of the quilts for the kids.  Jim and I decided they’d like them better if we pulled all the red fabrics out, I ordered the fat quarter bundle of the Kansas Troubles Wildflowers line.  I’d like it much better with the red fabrics in, but the kids wouldn’t.

Anyway, these are the string blocks from the pattern (class handout) that I bought.  They’re really fun to make, and more interesting than the typical string bean layout, although you waste more fabric with these, as there’s a lot of overlapping material.

Do I want to go through life without Clafouti, ice cream, and pizza?

Oops okay back to blogging.  The braided rugs we ordered for the living room will arrive this evening, the delivery company said around 5 or 6pm.  I hope they look nice, it’s hard to shop colors online.  Then we can move the recliner to the living room from it’s little corner by my HQ, and perhaps I can work something out so my other sewing room isn’t such a war zone.  If we ever move again, I’ll keep in mind that we need about 1800 square feet to live in, and 1800 square feet for me to sew in.

I already weaned myself off of caffeine last summer, so I drink decaf coffee, but I like a lot of creamer which is carb city, so now I’m using pure cream which is carb free, but I don’t like it quite as well so I’m not drinking as much coffee, probably a good thing.

Yesterday I had zero carbs all day, so decided to pig out on a bowl of steamed broccoli smothered in butter, only I was so busy drooling over the thought that I forgot to add water to the pot, and ruined not only the broccoli, but the pot too!

I think the solid black fabric that I ordered is finally going to arrive today, I need it for the kids quilts.  I had to order it again from a second place as they were out of it where I ordered the first time, so today I’ll start cutting those quilts out.  I ordered a handful of pantographs to play with as well, whatever one is the easiest is what I’ll be quilting their quilts with!

Marla’s comment about looking “matronly” really got to me!  That’s exactly how I feel, and you know how as you age in your mind you stay the same, you’re always what, 35?  That seems to about the age where my body began aging and my mind stayed put.  Except at 35 I still felt like a bad girl, certainly NOT matronly.  LOLOLOLOL

I went and did a bit of shopping yesterday.  NO pants, but I bought five really cool shirts that are a bit wild looking and bring back fond memories of granny boots, spiked heels and long, spiral permed hair.  Hehehe.

What a huge difference.  Even Jim, who thought I was being ridiculous, realized immediately how differently the machine handled on the new tracks.  No more jerks, bobbles, or gremlins playing tug of war with the machine while I try and move it.

 Click for larger viewThis picture is a bit dark as I took this photo early this morning before it was light out, but this quilt was the 2nd one I mentioned awhile back, that I dug out of storage.  The flannel star quilt was the second one I ever pieced, and the first one I ever quilted (on my first HQ16).  This one is the first one I pieced (with embroidery thread) and never quilted.  It was a quite a project for a newbie, as it’s rather large.  I got it out to see if I would be able to quilt on my new frame with it being set up at only eight feet.  I’m not sure I can, it covers the leaders entirely and leaves about 5 inches on either end of the frame open.

This is another Thimbleberries design, called “Bear Paw Scramble”.  I think the sample in the book (which I’ve not yet unearthed from whatever box it’s in) is in greens, but we all know I’m a red fanatic.

I may have to wait until I can set up at the full twelve feet.  I was so proud of myself when I finished this top, that I replaced an entire block on the front with an embroidered label!  How’s that for egotistical?  But with no quilters in the family, and no one to teach me, I was thrilled, and thoroughly hooked.  I’d like to finish this quilt as well.

The label says, “Bear Paw Scramble - quilted by CJ Tinkle in the summer of 2004”.  Hard to believe it’s only been four years since I made my first quilt, it’s become such a major part of my life since then.

Jeff (my son) had his teeth pulled today.  His diabetes has destroyed his teeth for the most part, but they were able to save 10 of them, and he’ll be getting partial dentures made next month when the gums heal up.  I hope now, that he will make a serious effort to deal with his disease. Perhaps it took something like this to make him wake up and realize that it could have been his eyes, his kidneys, or God forbid, even a limb.  I realize that may sound callous, but we’ve been fighting a losing battle with him since he became diabetic at the age of 13, he simply refused to cope with it.  I’m crossing my fingers now (again, forever, always) that this will serve as a wake up call and he’ll wish to keep his remaining body parts.

I had serious carb withdrawals yesterday, I couldn’t find enough to eat and none of it filled me up, I was craving carbs desperately!  Jim, my ever charming partner in life, delighted in moaning ecstatically over every cookie, cracker and carb laden morsel he put in his mouth yesterday.  What a butt head!  But it was funny, and I’d probably do the same to him.  The man makes me giggle, I’ll give him that.

Today I haven’t been hungry much at all and just had a small piece of smoked salmon, although my tummy is beginning to protest again, it really wants a piece of toast, or a cookie, or even some oatmeal.

Sunday is Jim’s birthday, and I’ll have to make him a pie.  That’s just going to be SO unfair!

I’d like to get a treadmill.  I enjoy walking, but Jim won’t walk with me and I won’t walk alone because I’m terrified of other people’s dogs, and there’s always one or two big ones running around loose.  I nearly had a heart attack this morning while I was out mowing.  I swear the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, I turned my head and there was this HUGE black dog getting ready to come into our yard.  I freaked like always, and started yelling at him at the top of my lungs (I’m sure the neighbors think I’m totally whacked) but he ran off.  Whew.