Meet Gertie

For all of you who have waited patiently to see my machine in her new home meet Gertie. Gertie is my APQS Ultimate 1 which I have had since February of 2001. I named her Gertie in honor of Galloping Gertie the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that fell into the sound in the 40's. She arrived in two seperate shipments. The table arrived on day 1, on day 2 we had a strong earthquake and on day 3 the machine arrived. She has been dusted and polished, oiled and ready to be threaded. We are waiting on two new carriage wheels so the warped ones can be replaced then we put on a practice piece to get her used to working again. She has been on a forced vacation while her new home was prepared.

Meanwhile, I have steadily been putting more fabric on the shelves. It is amazing how much of it there is to be put away. I'm wondering where it all came from because it didn't seem like this much in the old quilt room. I must have been really good at hiding things from myself. So I guess, I'd better get back to it and put more fabric on the shelves.

I have started another blog on wordpress which I am planning on using as my business site. You can find it here http://bedofrosesmq.wordpress.com/ . I've only done one post so far. Let me know what you think.

Surfacing again for a minute

I know I have been among the missing lately. I have been working at cataloguing and taking pictures of the fabric as I put it on the shelf. It is a slow process but I am making progress. Anything less than a yard has gone into a box to be cut into strips and squares for making scrap quilts. I am starting on my third box. I'm sorting out all the pre-printed tops and panels into another box. I have boxes of polar fleece and flannel. I'm putting things I am no longer interested in using in another box. In a couple of weeks we will probably be heading to WA to get the quilting machine and bring it down. I haven't quilted on it in a year and I miss Gertie. I am so spoiled. My husband, sister-in-law and grandson really did a nice job on the room and I'm really enjoying using it

On a different note we caught this little guy this morning doing his best to get everything from the Hollyhocks.

I have found a knitting group so I am excited about that. There are ladies that knit, crochet and spin in the group. They also get together to die yarn every so often so I'm looking forward to enjoying the group. As soon as I get alittle more organized around here I'll host the group.

We have been enjoying all the sunshine here this summer. The last month we have been having temps in the 85 - 95 degree range and afternoon thunder showers. The cats don't like the thunder. Lucy hides under the bed until they are over. Rosie has finally decided she liked it outside. She goes out about 10:30 in the evening and comes in between 6 - 10 am. She has been catching mice and bringing them to the front door so show them off.

The small Lone Star I discovered when I unpacked a box. Now I just have to decide what to use for a background. Well, I'm off to read awhile before bed. Hopefully I'll have more progress to post soon.