IT'S HERE -- IT'S HERE!!!!

It was a long day, just waiting for my longarm quilting machine to show up.  I did some small chores around the house, then fixed one of my favorite lunches.  I made tamales awhile back and decided they needed something else.  Mexican rice was the perfect accompaniment.  See ... sometimes I really can cook, just not very often!!

The sauce on the tamale is my own concoction which sounds really terrible, but is quite tasty, especially on tacos.  It seems my old construction crew from Mexico was a great influence when it comes to food.  Okay .. don't cringe ... it's mayo, chipotle pepper powder and a little water.  Add in sour cream if you have it.  Boy does it add good flavor and just enough heat.

At long last I heard the driveway alarm.  THEY'RE HERE!!  Box after box was unloaded and brought in.  The construction began.  I can tell you this thing is a heavyweight monster, built to last a hundred years.

It took well over an hour just to put the frame together.  At last the machine was put in place.  I snuck a few pictures here and there, but the guys didn't want to be on camera.  

There was lots of floor sitting while putting parts and pieces together.  By now it's been almost three hours and I'm wondering if I'm going to get any instruction at all!!  By this point however, I've watched dozens of videos and read all the directions, so I'm ready!!

That's when it happened.  I won't go into details, but the front connection panel had to be replaced.  A call was made to the shop and they met halfway to exchange parts off their floor machine, before putting it all back together.  YAY!!!

FOUR HOURS LATER ..... yes it takes that long to set this beauty up.  I was excited to get started as one guy left for home and the other sat me in front of the machine on a bar stool.  We played with the computer a bit before winding the quilt and backing on the machine for quilting.  

READY ... SET ... UH OH!!  We've no idea why ... just couldn't figure it out.  You can ghost quilt ... meaning it will follow the pattern but not actually stitch ... but it would not stitch the quilt pattern.  The motors locked up every time.  How disappointing, but I tried not to show it.  All we got done was the basting stitch at the top edge.  My heart sank.

As you know, things like this happen to me a lot, so I'm experienced at it.  We shut the entire thing down and he left to call the computer guys this morning ... if they are open.  My guess is I won't hear from anyone until Monday.  It may mean the replacement of the entire machine (meaning weeks), or maybe just the computer.  Who knows.  So my quilting came to a screeching halt.

To make me feel better ... food always works ... I ordered my usual Thursday night special from Arizona Pizza Company.  YUM YUM!!!!!

So today I will stare longingly at the longarm until Mr. Chance arrives and we begin the latest building project .... in the rain.  It's been coming down all night long, with snow visible on the mountain tops.  Tonight calls for freezing temps and more rain.  You know what THAT means!!  Possibly some of that white stuff may be falling.  

In the meantime, I'm sending up lots of little prayers to the Quilting Gods that my machine gets fixed before I take off.  Somehow I don't see that happening!!  Big sigh!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!!!