I'm Seeing RED!

 Whoever turned the switch OFF, thank you so much!!  The wind finally subsided, making for a nice quiet night!!  It's only 36 this morning and I'm happy to report I don't see any water dripping from under my rig from broken pipes.  YAY!!!!!

I did finally retrieve photos from the game camera, to see my favorite guys (or gals) digging in the water.  I actually think there were two, but at different times.  The three seen previously seem to have broken up their little group.  I just love these critters and certainly never expected to see them in the desert!!

They did have a little trouble digging in the ice, but this time they were early enough to catch it melted.

Finally up and running ... still listening to the crazy wind ... I donned my biggest coat in order to remove the propane tank from the rig and have it filled.  I bought tie-downs for this job, but apparently you need MAN hands, because once I got it set up, I couldn't get it to release.  Don't ask where it went.   I went back to my trusty yellow rope.

It turned out to be $2.71 a gallon.  I don't know if that's a good price or not since I've only filled them once.  I think I have finally regained most of my strength.  Although it was a struggle, I got it out of the truck and into the hole in the rig, after a lot of grunting and one bad word.  No doubt the other one will need propane soon, but hopefully it will warm up enough I can turn the heater off.

With that out of the way, I put another quilt on the frame and tried out a new pattern.  This one follows lines already quilted quite often, meaning it was a thread user extraordinaire.  I love the pattern, but fussed the entire time knowing I was going to run out.  Sure enough ..... every single row I had to fill a new bobbin.  

I have taken to heart the tip from Ray Warner about quilting ... buy TWO spools of thread, one for the machine and one for making bobbins.  I had to remove the thread, go over to the bobbin winder, fill a bobbin or two, then rethread the machine.  

It took an entire bobbin to do just one row.  There are six rows!!  I was seeing RED in no time.  Still, I'm happy to say it went really well until the very last row.  Even though I reset the machine five times, it was just tired and being stubborn at the end.  Not as stubborn as me however, since I finally got it done with literally three feet of thread left over.

Yes, I ordered more thread today, along with my previous order that hasn't arrived yet.  I'm going to be thread poor, but at least I won't run out!!  Prefilled bobbins are also on order, just to make it easier on myself.

So now the big marathon of hand sewing begins while I bind the edges of the six I've done so far.  Cooper will love that part because he can sit right beside me on the couch.  Maybe I'll even take a break to get groceries, since the cupboards are bare.  Quilting can be time consuming, but I love the challenge!!