Open Season on Sewing

We got a bit of snow last night after dinner:

Technically, I would call this “graupel,” although there seems to be some controversy about whether or not that is a real meteorological term. Whatever is was, it didn’t last long because it was followed by rain. I am curious to see how low the snow level got overnight on the mountains.

My neighbor Mike and I drove to the processor on Wednesday to get the pork. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the Jeep after it was loaded. We got all of the boxes into the back, but just barely. That was quite the game of Tetris. Two hours later, we were back in Kalispell dropping off orders. I brought our pork home and the husband helped me get it into the freezer. I am particular about how it gets put away because I want to be able to find what I need for dinner.

Except for canning pumpkin—which I can do at my leisure now—food production is done for the year. I am declaring open season on sewing. I finished quilting the I Spy top yesterday afternoon. That one is ready for trimming and binding. The baby quilt is up next. And I have a huge list of other projects I want to work on. My mother would like some grocery bags; she bought the fabric and I brought it home with me. I have a few holes to fill in my winter wardrobe and lots of great fabrics in the stash. I want to play around with some quilting ideas that have percolated way too long. I do not plan to be bored this winter.

I'm also going to be teaching some classes on the sit-down longarm machines at the quilt store. Many longarm machines are mounted in frames, but some of the manufacturers also offer table-mounted options. My machine is in a table. On the frame-mounted machines, the quilt is stationary and the quilter moves the machine head. On the sit-down machines, the machine head is stationary and the quilter moves the fabric. I can quilt—and have quilted—king-sized quilts on my Q20 with the table leaves extended. It’s a great workout for my arms. 💪🏻

For some odd reason, I can quilt much more easily by moving the fabric than I can by moving the head of the machine. Perhaps it is because moving the head of the machine feels more like “drawing” on the quilt to me, and I don’t draw well. Moving the fabric makes me feel like I have more control over the quilting design. (I think that’s also why I like rulerwork.) Some quilters are exactly the opposite, which is why it is important to try out both types of machines to determine the best fit. Our store offers lots of classes for the longarm machines on frames but not as many for the machines in tables, so I’m trying to fill that gap. Some of my classes will be free-motion quilting and some will be rulerwork.

I installed the acrylic insert in my sewing table:

I like this arrangement much better than using the extended table that came with the machine. The 880 and I are going to be busy.