FINALLY - QUILTING AGAIN

 Guess what showed up at my house in sunny California.  Loads of puffy white clouds flew by all day, soon turning black.  It rained most of the night, meaning I hope to get a nap in before heading out to the Magic Castle!

As usual, my crew kept me company in the dark office while I worked on the blog.  Apparently we have ALL become night owls.  

This one is here for the moment, but will soon head out to the back yard to gopher hunt.  She especially likes it when it rains.  It must bring the critters out.

Still frustrated over the sourdough problem, I got out my book and read for almost an hour.  They say this is for beginners, but they make it SO complicated.  They lie ... it's NOT easy and the recipes are not easy to follow.  It's all about grams when I go by cups, not to mention it takes two days to make it ... rest here, punch down, rest again, stick it in the fridge overnight ... nothing is easy.  Maybe I should stick to my bread machine!

I hooked the battery charger to the van in anticipation of a long drive this weekend.  That was BEFORE I found out I have to attend two events and represent Bingo!  As I walked by, this little beauty was fighting with another for the top spot.  You can tell this is one of their preferred perches.

Finally, with a big sigh, I headed to the quilting machine.  There's no use putting it off.  It's time to try the bigger quilt and see if it is working correctly now, or if those two small ones were just a fluke.  I already loaded the backing, and now the top.

Here's the tools of the trade, most of which I had to pick up off the floor because of someone named Kitters.  Why do cats like to knock stuff off the table?

First thing, I changed out the needle.  The pins and needles are never sharp enough to go through the fabric like butter, but they sure do go through skin easily!!  Finally ready to go, I hit the QUILT button and held my breath.

Away it went.  This is the screen I monitor constantly.  It takes a lot of pattern setup and brain power to get to this point.  I held my finger VERY close to the STOP button at the bottom left.  Woohoo ... it just kept going.  No loud scraping or breaking noises could be heard.  That was SEVEN rows of holding my breath.

I did have quite a bit of trouble with the tension of the thread.  The front looked great ... the back, not so much.  After many adjustments, it finally dawned on me what the problem was.  I fixed it on the last row.  No worries, this one is for me, so I don't care if it's not perfect.  It probably won't fall apart until I'm gone from the earth anyway.

I spent 3-1/2 hours quilting this one, standing and moving around the entire time.  That was probably a good thing since my legs are so very sore from running.  It's not a good feeling, but it's a good feeling if you know what I mean.  No pain, no gain, right?

YAY ... a big one finished with NO mechanical problems.  I'm guessing all that previous trouble was caused by the expanding battery messing up the computer brain.  One more big one to go.

I celebrated with a Pepsi!  This picture is for Chef Patty.  Her hoosier came to live at my house several years ago, now home to absolutely everything that doesn't go somewhere else!

That's when I discovered this cave.  I'll give you three guesses as to who is living in it.  Whether outside or inside, Miss Kitters likes to be hiding.  Under a chair, under a table, under my saddle rack and under this quilt.

And so a long day ended with several phone calls over closing the Bingo kitchen early.  I don't blame our cooks for wanting to get out the door as soon as possible.  Nor do I want to lose ANY of them!  Volunteer cooks are like hens teeth to find. 

Yessiree ... I'm putting the armor on as I type!!!