New E-Z Glide Wheels for my Gammill

I've had my new E-Z Glide wheels on my Gammill Premier Vision for about 3 weeks now so I thought I'd show them off and tell you my thoughts. First off, I love them. But before I tell you why I love them I must admit I really wasn't having any issues with my old wheels and I thought they were working for me just fine. Heavens forbid they were just months old: and as much as I loved my old Premier Plus I really really Love my New Premier Vision but that's another story so back too the New E-Z Glide wheels and why I like them so much. I love the fact I don't have to concentrate so hard anymore, making sure that my machine is go exactly where I want it to go especially around curves and such. Ya know how once in a while on a curve or a feather plume, or loops etc they had a slightly flatter side here and there? Well NO more all my curves are now perfectly round and plump. I'm able to follow panto lines and curves with precession,  all my loops and curls are even and balanced now, I can hardly believe it. I've finished 6 very large quilts since the install, on one of the quilts I'd used the same Panto as I'd used just the week before on a quilt, but quilting it with the old wheels on, The difference is simply amazing I was almost embarrassed to return it to the customer. My DH could even see the difference. I love to do micro quilting, I can just sit and fill up yards of fabric with all kinds of beautiful micro quilting for no reason or purpose. Oh my pebbles are so round and my curlies are so even and cute. Anyway I really like how good these wheels are making my quilting look.
I do also want to point out so as to not mislead anyone with my glowing report on these Wheels. These new wheels don't make my machine glide any smoother than my old wheels did, Meaning I have the same amount of Vibration (which in my case is slight) than I had with the old wheels. And my quilt tops are still bouncing wildly up and down as before, can't figure out what's making this happen. I've tried every suggestion put before me.
So the bottom line at least in my case is that my machine doesn't run/ operate any better or worse with these wheels on, but the New E-Z wheels allows me to quilt more accurately with less concentration and stress, and the machine moves easier, it feels slightly lighter now; if that is even possible? This is a 'Premier" we are talking about!  The machine also feels more balanced than before, just something I've began to notice and feel although I didn't think my old wheels made my machine feel unbalanced at all...never even thought about it to tell the truth; oh by the way I don't feel I need to add sand bags for drag either. And I haven't had to use a ruler for SID since the install either. Yep I Love these wheels! Yep they ride right on top of the rails. Nope they don't wonder off, just in case you are wondering. Although beings my machine doesn't have a parking wheel or brake like the big kids do, at night I clip a clamp to my Ruler Mate, just in case we have an earthquake wouldn't want it to fall off the track; I can't afford earthquake ins. and can't even get it even if we could afford it. We have on our beach shack though, so we don't loose any sleep over this minor detail. For more information check out www.boersmas.com These wheels are exclusively for a Gammill LA, Whoops, sorry maybe I should have warned you before now.
Hope and Wishing that everyone around the World has a Very Happy Year, all year.
Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas to All

Wishing all of you a Very Merry Christmas.

Our Christmas will be very quite this year. I'll be making a big pot of Homemade chili and DH will be making buttermilk rolls. Just the 3 of us relaxing and doing what we choose. I know I will be sewing the binding on the flannel quilt I made with the wonderful Green "Cheater" Flannel from Windhams. I plan to make another one just like it but in the Red Plaid with a Blackish tweed Border. I won't make the Red one as big. The Green one is 92"x108" what was I thinking? My couch quilt turned into a bed quilt. Actually most of the customer quilts I've done lately have been Queens or bigger. This surprises me given the economy. Want to show you Shelley and Misty quilts, both these gals are new quilters of less than a year. They both do fantastic work and are self taught. Misty used a deep purple minkie for the backing on her fairy quilt, this was a first for me. The back looks as good as the front and the pattern she picked was perfect. Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone has a peaceful Merry Christmas.

Sew Busy

I'm happy to report I've been LA quilting lots of repeat customer quilts and I've gotten some new customers too. What is amazing... well maybe it's not amazing to other well seasoned Longarmer's...this is my first year in business.. but my customers are bring in quilts for Next Year already. My January is almost full, plus I have 2 coming in  February. I truly feel blessed, even as my DH took off for the beach without me.

Here are some recent quilts. Thanks for stopping by.

Just Doodling the Time Away

Happy Thanksgiving, I hope everyone had a pleasent feast and the upcoming Holiday Season is met with happiness and cheer.
It's been awhile since I've posted, mainly I enjoy reading other people's blogs so much I simply run out of time to post on mine. I've been busy at work, I'm still working full time (this wasn't in my business plan)plus quilting lots of quilts for my customers which I'm very thankful for. Business is slowly taking off. I've gotten several repeat customers plus referred ones, plus 2 new customers who came to me after seeing a Charity Quilt I quilted for their Church, I truly feel Blessed.

I continue to PPP every chance I get, thought I'd share my lastest Cat Blankets with you. You can see a bit of crosshatching, it's my first attempt using Ronda Beyer's new curved crosshatch rulers. Can't wait until her book comes out, cuz I'm doing it wrong..looks backwards to me. My brother was here on business this week so we had our Thanksgiving Dinner on Monday. So today we will have leftovers and I'll have time PPP for awhile on a new Cat Blanket before loading a customer quilt.
I did get something New and Kool for my Studio, a digital picture frame to show pictures of my customers quilts.
Well blogger is being nasty now... so Thanks for stopping by.

Basketball Quilt

Michaels Quilt

 It seems as though I've been working

on this quilt all summer. My Nephew a

freshmen in high school plays on

4 basketball leagues, guess one can assume

he likes Basketball.

The Quilt is 65x81 inches. As long as

he quits growing, he's 6'4" it should cover him
pretty well.

I was hoping to find a better fabric match where I used the Black fabric, to me it looks too much like halloween. But then again what better color to use on a quilt for a High schooler than Black.

Next time I will show you the quilt for his sister Laura. Thanks for stopping in.

Honesty deserves Recognition

Last night Todd, the owner of A Roof Life In Oregon came to my neighbors house to give her an estimate for cleaning her roof. Upon seeing him on her roof I asked if he would give me a bid for my house also while he was here.
I thought our roof also needed cleaned because I could see some moss on our roof in a few places plus it's been 2 years since we last had it treated.
Todd comes over and goes up on the roof and comes back down quickly, I thought I had a big problem! No..he had good news..saying the patches of moss on the roof was dead and that I'd be wasting my money to have my roof treated at this point in time. Can you believe it? I was so stunned, you hear all the time about businesses out to get you. Here is a Man who could have easily gotten a job cleaning my roof. But no he was honest and told me we didn't need it.
Not the end of the story yet!
Beings there was a few patches of Moss he offered to go back up and scraped it off, and while he was up there he cleaned out the front gutters which were full of moss. All toll he spent an hour and a half just before dark on a Saturday night up on my roof cleaning the moss and gutters. Now for the incredible part..He wouldn't charge me or let me pay him. I offered him some very huge ripe Tomatoes from the garden and he was happy receive them.
So if you need your roof cleaned or need moss prevention spray call Roof Life of Oregon @ 503-925-0125. A honest company to do business with.
Thank you.

Hello

It has been awhile, life has a way of setting up a course that leads down a path that wasn't planned or intended.
My Long arm business is coming along fine although I haven't been able to promote it as much as I'd planned due to the situation a my other job. My other job was only suppose to be 2 days a week....well it's been a 5 day a week job all summer with no end in site. I could have easily quit but with my DH illness now it really not an option.
So what have I been doing? Besides reading and keeping up with everyone elses blogs, I really love to see what everyone else is doing. I've been making lots of quilts and quilt kits out of the Fabric I showed you awhile back. I intended to have a web site by now so I could sell my kits on-line. But for now I will just sell my kits to my Studio customers. Later today I should be able to get pictures and will post them later.

My next post will be about a business here in Oregon that truely deserves recognition.
Thanks for stopping by.

Hot Pink Off The Rack

This Hot Pink N Black quilt is 85"x111" and it's college bound. Although it's a simple quilt,the colors play so well together it really is a standout. It's the first "BIG" quilt I've done with my New Vision so we bonded a little more. I used the stitch counter for the first time and a whapping 324,742 stitches when into this and I stitched a total 2.11 hours. We all know I spent way more time than that, but I think the stitch count will impress the customer and is something I'll actually end up sharing with them.
I used a new panto pattern called "Novaya Nzihz" by Beany Girl Quilts. The pattern complimented designs on the fabrics. The customer requested a Shiny Thread in Pink. Well I have 7 drawers of Thread and only 2 spools of real Pink..think I need to order some Pink Thread. So I used a Hot Pink Rayon by Metro on top and a Cream So Fine in the bobbin. I'm not sure I'm crazy about Metro Thread, I had more breakage than I'm use too about 2 per row although I had 2 rows with no breakage. Not sure at this point the breakage was due to the Thread or the Machine....but I certainly know it wasn't me. The only comparison I have is Glide Thread, The Glide is a bit heavier and gives a better stitch definition and I never had breakage on my Old machine but I didn't have Hot Pink. So I went online and Glide Thread has a Sale, but If I order anymore Thread  I'll need to buy another Thread drawer too.
The customer who brought me this quilt and 3 others is a new quilter. It's going to be a delight quilting for her..this quilt was mark on square and so are the others and she didn't whince when I said I needed 8" extra on the Backing.
Another feature on my new machine that I was able to use was the Basting Stitch. I used it to baste down the side edges only, and I really liked it and it's was't a hassle to change settings back and forth at all. When I load a quilt of my own next time I'm going to try out the Basting stitch across the top.
I'm really liking the touch Carrousel on the New Vision and actually finding it's much faster and easier to navigate than the buttons on my old machine. I didn't transfer the Carrousel to the back either when I was doing the Panto and I never needed it. Before I bought this machine I was a bit concerned about transferring the Carrousel and would I miss it in back. Answer is No I don't miss it at all and have never felt the need to go back and forth with it.
Sorry this has gotten so long.
Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Safe 4th.

No UFO's in the House

Thought I'd show you a couple more quilt samples I've made using fabric from the Sarifina Collection by Maywood. I also added another border to the Patchwork PDQ quilt I posted earlier. Along with these quilts I've finished adding borders etc to 6 other quilts along with making a shopping bag. Now I'm all set to LA quilt them, or so I thought that was the plan, but today I got 3 big customer quilts, so I'll be busy with those for a few days/weeks. Actually it will give me time to consider how I want to quilt my sample quilts. I'm just happy all my quilts are done up to the point of quilting because I have a few more quilt projects dancing in my head...But I hate having UFO's..I don't classify the LA quilting step as being a UFO. I consider LA Quilting to be a "project", just like I consider the Binding Step to be a "project" in itself. I usually do my binding when I go to the beach or any other time when I need to just sit and rest.

Have a safe 4th of July.

Another "Patchwork PDQ Quilt"

Here's another Quilt I made recently where I used the pattern "Patchwork PDQ" by Swirly Girls Designs. The panto is called "Climbing Rose" by Sophie Collier. Thought I'd show you beings it just came off the rack. Actually It's the first real Panto I've done using my new machine, A Gammill Premier Vision, it's really a sweet machine and very quiet too. I can actually hear the phone ring while I'm doing a panto.I loved my old machine,

and I'm adjusting to this one pretty well. This machine glides so much easier plus with so little noise I'm having to get used to the "new beat" so to speak. I'm very please with the tension also, I used DK Gold Thread on top and Cream on the bottom. I've been playing on muslin until now testing tension. My other machine produced good tension with little effort.I rarely use the same color of thread in both the top and bottom of the quilt so I need Very good tension. Tomorrow I will quilt one more scrappy sample quilt and then I'll be ready to start quilting the quilts I've made with the fabric from the Serifina Collection by Maywood Studio's. Thanks for stopping by.

Patchwork PDQ Quilt

In an earlier post I said I'd received my order of the entire collection of "Serifina" by Maywood Studio's. I plan to sell kits and so far I've made 3 different sample quilts. This quilt utilizes the red fabrics in the collection. There are 3 color waves in the collection, red, green and black. Every piece is wonderful, the only thing that would make it better is if the collection was available in flannel. I love making Flannel Quilts.
The pattern I choose for this quilt is quickly becoming one of my all time favorites, it's fast, easy, scrappy, and fat-quarter friendly. You only need 12 fat-quarters to make this nice lap quilts. The pattern is called "Patchwork PDQ"
by Swirly Girls Designs.
Next time I'll show you the other 2 Quilts I've made using the green and red fabrics in the collection. I haven't used the black color wave yet, but think I'll again use Patchwork PDQ for the pattern, it'd sure make a great quilt for a girls college dorm. Until next time.

Mt. Hood is Glowing

It's 8:30pm and I can't sleep and I have to be to work at midnight, so I got up and looked out my front window. This is what I saw. Mt. Hood glowing a pale pink at sunset. I almost missed the shot looking for the camera. One of these days I need to buy a better camera, but I've said that for the last 35 years. Sorry I included the pole, but I'm in my jammies, I went outside to take this picture, I had to make it quick before the glow disappeared and before a car or two came by. The glow only lasts a few minutes.This view is why I call my quilting business"Cityview Quilting". I have unobstructive views(except for the darn pole)of Portland and Mount Hood right out my front windows. I'll show a picture of Portland glowing the next time I catch it. Just wanted to share this beautiful shot of Mt. Hood. Hope to get a few hours of sleep now. Oh by the way I've been busy making quilts and quilting. I have 6 quilts to share with you soon. The Safrina Collection by Maywood is so beautiful.

Yummy New Fabric Collection

New Fabric and patterns...Oh My What to Do?

The Fabric line is By Maywood, the Serifina Collection, yep I had to order all 23 pieces in the collection because I couldn't choose which to leave out. I'm not disappointed as every piece is yummy and wonderful. I hope to sell a bit of fabric and some kits along with doing my Longarm Quilting. I'm short of time but just had to show off my new fabric.

Thanks for stopping by.

Life's New Vision

Life seems to be filled with never ending challenges and obsticles these days. I certainly have lots of subjects to blog about but will stick to the arrival of my New Gammill Vision Longarm. She really is a beauty and stitches very nicely, we haven't bonded so to speak as she is a little stiffer (hasn't been broken in yet)than my other Premier. Although she runs very smooth and quiet and I do mean quiet, a few quirks have appeared, both I'm sure will be remedied by my dealer once he's back in town. Until then I'm just practicing away trying to loosen her up a bit...
The sole reason I traded my other perfect machine in on the New Vision was I really wanted the "Coast" feature on this machines Stitch Regulator. I really love to do custom quilting with lots of micro quilting and feathers. Well I'm not disappointed one bit I'm really liking the New Stitch Regulator. I just wish I'd remember to use the new tie off feature as that is really cool too.
There were a couple of features on the New Vision that actually I was alittle concerned about not knowing if it would end up being more of a pain than not. One was moving the computer head to the back..in order to do panto's etc. Well I've found so far I've never even needed to move it. I set it up in front and then the back handles respond to my settings. Even using the tie off feature at the end of a panto row..no problem. I always went around to the front of the machine anyways to advance the quilt so I just tie off then. 
The other feature I was concerned about was having the touch pad instead of buttons. I'm finding I needn't worried about that either,,to change settings and stitch lengths etc now seems actually faster and easier ..besides now I have way more controll over my speed settings and stitch lenghts.. it's heaven.
Another feature I'm loving is the "Basting Stitch" I've always stitched down the sides of my quilts...Now I can do a 1/2" to 1" baste stitch down the sides. This will remedie those edge situations where the customer wants to fold over the backing and use it for binding. Actually I can set the baste stitch up to 4" apart if I want. Anyway I'm beginning to Love this machine.

My other life story is that I'm back working full time at my old day job. I've been doing this since March now and is the reason I'm unable to post very often. My gung ho replacement up and walked out in March..now they aren't even looking for anybody and they think I want my job back...noway...but I do like the money. Not sure what I'll do yet..but this has really put a damper on me trying to promote my quilting business. But like everything else in life I'm pretty sure it will eventually resolve itself, and either way my path goes I will end up being the winner.

Thanks for stopping by.

Miles of Practice and A New Vision

 After finishing my last customer quilt a few weeks ago I decided to spend my free time practicing my freehand backfills. This seemed like a good idea beings I want to focus on Longarm custom quilting and I don't see a computerized system in my future anytime soon. All the white fabric hanging over my rack are filled with Freehand Micro quilting. All that work was also done on my "OLD MICHINE". Then My new much awaited Gammill Premier Vision arrived on Thursday, I really do and will soon love it I'm sure. But it's almost feels I'm starting from scratch. Now mine you according to the counter. I've only actually stitched for 23 minutes even though I've played with the machine for 2 days now. I think I've just been staring at it. Not that I'm glad business is slow, but I'm sure glad I'm not backed up with Customer Quilts and will have time to bond with my new machine. I really feel the biggest thing that's throwing me off balance is the new machine is sooo quiet and smooth. My other Premier certainly wasn't loud at all compared to many LA's, but now I realize I depended and quilted to the beat of the nice rhythmic sound that it had. I'm missing the beat so to speak and my stitching isn't as pretty as before. It's funny how you suddenly find out that you were dependent on things you weren't  even aware of. 
Who would have thought, I'd ever say I miss the noise. Good Grief I come home from my other job and all I want is peace a quiet. Guess the sound was music to my ears and I didn't even know it.

Now enough about the old, and in with the new. I really am thrilled with my new machine. So many new features but Those will have to wait for another post. No I didn't get the camera. I really like the New type off feature, I thought this was a feature I wouldn't ever use. Now it just dawned on me, Maybe the reason the machine has a radio is because the machine is so quiet and they knew we'd miss the noise, so they gave us a radio.
Thanks for tuning in.

Stippling Practice

Here's few pictures of my Micro stippling practice.

Enjoy 

I'm So Sorry

I certainly didn't intend to be gone for so long. I'm so sorry I left my few followers with nothing better to look at this entire time but our utterly ugly cat. Please forgive me. There simply isn't enough hours in the day for all the irons I have in the fire right now.
So what have I been up too?
First off I'm back working at my old job, because my replacement only lasted 6 weeks. You'd think they could find someone especially now, but it's been almost 3 months now and no ones in site.
Since starting my quilting business recently I've done a few customer quilts also. I really love doing customer quilts but I admit it's been a slow start so far. But I really don't want to promote my quilting business until I go back to only working Part-Time at my other job.

Oh did I tell you I got an ipad? It is really so cool. I waste maga hours just reviewing apps at the itunes store. I'm looking for an app so that I can better organize my quilting pictures making it easier for my customers. I've also wasted many hours playing with all the photo altering apps. I really like sketching my quilting designs over a photo of the quilt before I quilt it. I just wished there was a better devise for drawing with,I use the POGO Pen now.

And lastly, I've been practicing quilting without having the stitch regulator on while I'm quilting. I told you earlier I really wanted to upgrade or trade my machine in for the New Gammill Vision because of the new stitch regulator it has. Well I'm trying to justify the cost of this and at the same time asking myself if I really need it in order to be able to quilt the beautiful custom fills I see on so many custom quilts. I keep telling myself I really don't need a new machine, because I could learn to quilt beautiful custom fills on my current machine if I'd just practice micro stippling for a couple hours a day. So that's also what I've been doing in my spare time lately. I actually am beginning to like what I see. I was going to show you a few pictures...but google isn't playing nice right now.
Thanks for stopping by

Happy Easter!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy Easter!

I also want to share my favorite Easter Candy with you. Our cat even likes em. Yep she openned up a package and took one bite out of every chick in the package the other night while we slept. Then she took every chick out of the package and lined them up on my sewing table. She was sitting there watching over them when I came into the room. Maybe I won't be able to share my "Peep" treats with you as blogger isn't being nice tonight, although they allowed the upload up the cat without a problem.
Thanks for stopping by.

New Patterns

I've been busy making lots of quilt tops from the new patterns shown here that I picked up at the Trend show at EE Schencks I attended recently.

I will show you the Quilts as I finish quilting them. Most of the Patterns I choose are ones that you can easily use Pre-cuts (fat Quarters) or your scraps to piece them with. I'm hoping to sell kits later on so I'm testing out patterns to see which ones I want to sell.

Along with the patterns I bought a line of Maywood Fabric and once it arrives I will make something beautiful and show you that as well.
I started a new blog just for my Longarm business called CityView Quilting, there I will share some customer quilts as well as post information and details about my longarm business. Not much there yet, but I hope you stop by once in awhile. And if you need longarm services just e-mail me.
The link for the new blog is at the top and on the side of this blog page. Thanks for stopping by.

It's A Beautiful Day

SPRING IS HERE...for one more day!!!

I Couldn't resist. Sharla brought 1 primrose home from work yesterday, so when I went to the store today I picked up 3 more to put in this really cute flowerpot.

It was so beautiful outside today, Sunny warm and 65 degrees clear as a bell. Sure felt like spring, even looks like spring. The weatherman must be wrong because he says it's going to snow next week. Oh no!! Sharla's already planted her peas and beans. The other beds are empty, her other veggie starts are in the greenhouse in the basement. yep you read it right. Her greenhouse is in the basement. Her onions are planted next door. She's beginning to take over the neighborhood as well as the house. Well I just wanted to show off her Peas...and her raised beds that are ready and waiting. She's been really working hard after work. Maybe next time if I remember I'll take a picture of her worm compost, yes they really do eat the wet garbage, I'm actually very surprised/amazed in fact. Thanks for stopping by today.

In Business Now

CityView Quilting is now open for Business!
When I read the community paper today I saw my ad, what a surprise because it wasn't suppose to be in the paper until next week. Oh well, it will work out fine. Good thing the mailman comes early, I had 1 call just after I read it. I have the weekend off, so I'll finish getting the entry ready and look for a flag of some sort. My business is in my home, I was a little surprised when the inspector said I could have a small sign and he even suggested getting a flag. Anyway this day has ended up being kinda exciting. Thanks for stopping in.

Why I need the Vision

Today I played with the CL Zig-Zag Board again. I'm sure I'll be using this board for doing lots of borders from here on out. I already use it quite a bit for E2E. I just didn't get the concept of using the hole plate to create really cool designs. Actually I got the concept but in my head I thought it'd take forever, so I didn't bother until taking Debs class at MQR.

My playtime was two-fold today; I did everything without the stitch regulator being turned on. Why would I do that? Because I thought maybe I could talk myself out of trading in my perfectly great machine for a new Gammill VISION model. Thinking if I could just learn to do the detail work without the stitch regulator being on, I wouldn't even NEED the Vision. But by the end of the day I realized I really do Need the new Vision machine. Just being able to check the stitches underneath with a camera is one good reason. Stop by again and I'll have more good reasons why I need the new Vision.

Circle Lord Playtime

I'm taking the Circle Lord class series at MQResources. This month's series is on the Giant Zig-Zag Template. Although I knew these boards could be used in many different ways for long arm quilting; until now I hadn't really played with them to much. I loaded 2 yards of muslin when the class began and I barely have enough room left for the last class. I haven't even scratched the surface making all the different designs that one can do, let alone the combinations designs made by mixing the two. Deb showed us lots of ideas too; how to embellish the initial patterns; here again I haven't even started to do that yet. I've use this board quite abit and have posted pictures here. But now I'm beginning to see great potential using the board for some very cool border designs also. Will post pictures as I get the quilts. Thanks for stopping by.

Another Quilt

I was so excited when I pieced this quilt last year thinking about all the open space I'd have for quilting. Well I've been staring at it since then, wondering how I to quilt it. Why does that happen? Always waiting/searching for something better, different or new...afraid to touch it in the mean time just in case something does come along.

The top photo doesn't show the borders, but you can sort of see what the borders look like in the 3rd photo.

Except for the freehand leaf vine in the green inner border all the other motifs were executed using the Circle Lord tools. I sewed the binding on with my long-arm. I want to offer attaching quilt binding as a service so I've been practicing doing it on my own quilts. Actually I'm please with it. I even got to use my new thread. Superior Brytes for the patterned motifs. I used Glide thread for the piano keys on the outer borders. Knock on Wood... I didn't even have one thread break. So know you know why As much as I would love love to have the new features offered on the new Gammill Vision machine, I'm really hesitate to trade in my near perfect machine. Unfortunitally even within brands not all machines are created equal. So Ima's gonna stay right here for now. Thanks for stopping by.

New Vision

I talked to my dealer he will have a Vision at the quilt show in a few weeks. Can't wait to try it out. Eventually I will upgrade. I'm so busy getting my quilt business up and running along with learning a new job at work. All will fall into place in due time. In the mean time I already have a perfect machine. Here's a picture of my lastest quilt. It's 65" square. I used the Circle Lord's 48" crosshatch Long Boards to do the crosshatchedBorders, used their Spiral Template in the 6" blocks. The circles you can barely see in the center are also done with the CL tool. I used the Long Gam-Guide Ruler by Gammill to do the lines out from the center. I've had the Gam-guide ruler since I bought my machine and I'm just learning to use it. Actually It's a very cool tool. I have another quilt on my rack now and I'm using it again along with other Circle Lord templates I have. Might be awhile before I post it because I' going to try my hand at backfilling, I just can't get the hang of McTavishing so I'm trying to come up with something similar to do instead. Thanks for stopping in.

Gammill's New Stitch Regulator

Oh My, what am I going to do? Although I'm very much a novice, I really love to do custom type Long-Arm quilting. I love doing little precision quilting. I'll never make any money quilting, how much time it takes to get the quilt done hasn't been a factor; because up till now I've mainly been quilting on my own quilts. I have the perfect Machine a Gammill Premier Plus. It truly does everything and does it well, meaning I can easily fine tune it to stitch nice with about any thread. We have become partners. I really don't like the idea of trading her in...but this new stitch regulator seems just the ticket (I think) for the type of quilting I've been striving to achieve. I've got the weekend off so I Guess a trip to McMinnville is on the agenda. I've got to check this out...it's really gotta be something great...cuz I couldn't ask for a better machine than the one I have. I'll Let you all know what I find out. Thanks for stopping by.

My mini Vacation

Hi Friends. Just returned from a spur of the minute mini vacation at the Oregon Coast. When we heard the good wheather forecast on Monday for the beach we jumped in the car and headed down. I even took my camera but forgot the charger. ..Sorry no pictures.
On the way we stopped at Boersma's in McMinnville. That is who I purchased my Long Arm from. I must say if ever you are within a 100 miles of them it's worth it to stop. It has to be the largest fabric shop in Oregon next to Fabric Depot. Unlike FD it's 95% Quilt Fabric with oodles of made up quilts hanging everywhere. While you are there go downstairs and pet the Gammills. Once I stocked up on my LA supplies it was off towards the Ocean a mere 40 miles away. We stopped in Linclon City at Mo's Famous Clam Chowder for lunch. Had a great bowl of Chowder and was amazed how many people were at the beach mid week in the winter no less. There used to be a great Quilt shop in Lincoln City but it closed a few years ago and I sure do miss it. But my wallet loves it. I can fly through town now without dropping a couple hundred bucks! By this time we are heading South again on 101 a realize we will arrive at our little shack at the Beach just in time for low tide. Gee Whiz we pull into a little wayside to check out the beach to see if there are any rocks (agates) worth coming back after. Couldn't find a spot to park!!!Like I said mid week no one was suppose to be at the Beach except ME!! Finally decided we'd have to park on the side of the road, which we did. Got a 1/2 bucket each of decent Pretty Oregon Beach Rocks and very few agates. My DH has 3 rock polishers since his retirement this has become his hobby. All tole we made 3 beach runs for rocks and did ok but not great. Myself I enjoy walking on the beach and really don't care if it's a good rock day or not.
In the evenings after Jeapardy (my DH favorite show) I was able to watch my Jamie Wallen Long Arm video's. I'd had his Cotton Tracks Video forever but needed a review. Might add it's the best or at least I though until I started watching his new one called "Threadfusion" Now I don't know which is better. But if you are a Long Armer you need both. Threadfusion has 4 video's and in 3 nights I couldn't watch it all. I'm so bummed but sometime in the future soon I must view #4. I learned so much watching each one, notice I said LEARNed it'll take me years of practice to be able to learn to DO what I learned. What I really liked about Threadfusion was that he focused on micro-quilting, there aren't many if any LA video's that focus on this subject, Thanks Jamie.
It was so hard leaving the beach this morning as always, did I think it would be any different this time. No. Now it's back to the Big Red S part time on Monday. And on about March 1st I'll be ready to start my Quilting Business. Thanks for stopping by.

New Studio Part3

Part 3: The White 24"X36"boards that are resting on my Long Arm are regular Framed Artist Canvas boards I bought at Craft Warehouse. I have 3 this size and one that's 18"x24". I was looking for a way to protect a quilt left on the frame overnight that I didn't finish. It was a White Hand X-Stitched Queen size quilt for a friend, it ended up being on my frame for 2 weeks.

These Artist Canvas are cheap when they are on sale. I use them all the time and they are very sturdy and keeps the cat from using it as a hammock. Under my

frame is where I store 2 rolls of batting. I unroll what I need over the top of the frame bed then use the track as a straight edge to cut. Under the rolls of batting I keep my prayer bench. When I'm custom quilting at the front of my machine I'm sitting at a high bar stool on wheels. I rest my feet on the prayer bench which is 4' long and because of the length I can slid myself pretty easily along back an forth without getting up. I know I'm lazy. Thanks for stopping by for the update.

New Studio Part 2

The first picture shows the measuring tape attached to the backsplash. Hopefully I won't need to look for a tape measure again. Plus measuring my quilts is so much easier now.

The 2nd picture shows a 17x21 Hard Top Wire Basket Unit from Ikea's $33. The hard top makes a perfect place to store my 18" sq Circle Lord templates. I store my Panto's in the 4 wire baskets below.

The last picture shows a Glass Front Book Case which is located just past the 10' Counter top. The first shelf houses the essential supplies needed for my LA. Such

as Needles, oil etc. Again this has proven to be very

handy.

I hope you like what you've seen so far. Next time I'll show you what's on the other side of the room and under my Frame.

Thanks for visiting today.