she's here!

I got up early this morning to finish cleaning up the house for guests to arrive.

The to-be sewing room was already cleaned, but the rest of the house needed vaccuuming and there were dishes to wash...you know...housework!

We drove to my in-laws to pick up two strong men driving a truck, pulling a trailer.  Suprizingly all was ready for us and we headed out almost right away.

Down some sketchy back roads with little signage, but we found the place.  (We were coming from a different direction than home.)

The frame was halfway apart and ready for us.  It took a while to get the machine strapped down (wishing I had photos for this, but I don't) and collect all the small parts and get everything loaded.  The machine itself rode in the back of my car, strapped down using the hook-holders built right into the car!  (Yay station wagon!)

To home and cat-wrangling while the boys hauled in all the pieces. 

And then assembly.

Yep, someone sitting down on the job...  That's okay.  He redeemed himself by hooking up all the electronics and knowing how to level it and all sorts of good things.  (He's the hubby of the gal I bought the machine from.)

And finally, after too many hours (too many to have to wait through!)...she's together!  Ready to sew!

There's some cheesy fabric on there to practice.

And after a bit of instruction on threading the machine, winding and loading bobbins, changing needles, turning the stitch regulator on and off, loading the quilt and other assorted necessities, the couple who sold me the machine was off and I was ready to play.

She's a bit of a big beast for me just yet, but I'm determined to learn.

But before I could practice...lunch!  (It was getting late and my belly was making some fantastic noises!)

And then a little practice.  Not too much because I don't want to end up a ball of knotted muscles.  And because I have little light in this room other than natural and, well, it's that time of year that it's getting dark too early.

So a few doodles and I'm feeling better already. 

I'm not sure how well you all can see these.  The darker thread was what I did last Sunday when I was just trying out the machine.  The lighter thread is what I did this afternoon.  Loopy flowers are NOT a natural talent!  But I do feel okay with overall stippling and those loopy doodles.  Practice, practice, practice!

And now the kitties have taken over.  I knew they would.  Luka was laying on the fabric like it's his hammock.  (Having trouble getting that photo to load...)  I'm sure that will be a recurring problem, at least until they decide it's not all that interesting any more.

I'm a little scared of the machine, though, too.  There are a lot of little things I need to learn how to tweak to get the best performance out of it.  And there are a lot of things that can go wrong that I need to learn how to fix.  But that's what 800 numbers are for, right?

But I'm a little more confident at using it now that I've been able to do so without someone who is fantastic looking over my shoulder.  (No matter how much she said she wasn't judging, she was looking...)

And with that, I'm going to go put away the extra goodies in the box that Emma is working hard to fit herself into!

Happy quilting,

Katie

PS I've been told I need to name her.  I'm not good at naming things.  (I thought long and hard about my kittie's names or they'd be Cat, Kitty, Mr. Kitty, etc...)  Any suggestions?