My Longarm is DISASSEMBLED!

I have been in a state of indecision for months about what to do with my Gammill longarm quilting machine and its twelve-foot table while we were selling our house and moving to another location.

I could not decide whether to sell, store, or find a house to rent with a big enough room for my longarm machine.

Like Scarlett O'Hara, my usual decision was to "worry about that tomorrow." 

Finally, it got down to the last weekend before the painters were scheduled to go into the "bonus" room above the garage and paint it on Monday.  They were also scheduled to paint the stairs and stairwell.

Painting around this table and the stuff on it would not be possible.

 

 

And I sure did not want to bang up the newly painted stairs and stairwell while moving out the machine.

 

I finally decided that I did NOT want to sell my machine and then buy an upgraded version.  I looked into storing it in a 5' x 15' storage unit---very expensive! Over $100 per month!

 

What I finally did was send a letter to the Capital Quilters Guild  e-mail list.  I sought a "foster mother" who would babysit my machine in her home in exchange for my teaching her how to use and maintain it.  I sent the letter Friday, and got a response when I was walking my dog on Saturday morning.  The "Foster Mama" was eager to learn how to use a longarm, and had the space already available.  And she will let me come out and use the machine at her house if I ever get to sew again and make new quilt tops.

 

Win, win!

 

So...I had previously arranged for our son, Dave, to come out Saturday afternoon and help us load boxes and stuff into the "Pod."  I feel like I lured him out under false pretenses.  Because instead of loading boxes, he got to help disassemble and move the longarm out of our room above the garage...and into the garage!

 

My husband, Charlie, fortunately has mechanical aptitude.  (I do not.)  He intuitively knows how things go together.  They were doing great on getting the machine off the frame and taking the table apart...

 

 

 

until they got to the hydraulic system.

 

 

 

My machine table can be lowered or raised in height at the press of a button.  I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated that hydraulic feature over the years.  When you have been working on a quilt for awhile, your back, shoulders, and neck can really get fatigued.  It is amazing how much it helps to raise or lower the table a few inches.  The feature was originally designed for quilt shops who rent out their machines to lots of different users of different heights.  But, it is a wonderful relief for regular folks who put in long hours on their machines.

 

Anyway, when they got to the level of the table with the hydraulic lines attached, they were a bit stymied.  I did not want hydraulic fluid dripping all over my carpet, or leaking out of the coils.  But the lines were wrapped over and under the table supports.

 

It took quite awhile, but Charlie figured out how to remove the lines from the table and preserve the hydraulics.  After that, there was one more step...

 

Moving about a 200-lb table from the upstairs room to the garage!

 

When my machine was originally delivered, Linda V. Taylor's son-in-law, Todd, brought it to my house.  He asked, "Who is going to help with the heavy lifting?" 

 

When I replied, "Uh,,... me?"   He disassembled the table into about three layers.

 

Charlie and Dave "manned up" and carried the whole table downstairs without further disassembly.

 

And now, it is all lying on the floor of my garage!  If you look closely, you might notice that they propped up the actual sewing machine on a big bag of charcoal.  Oh, the indignity!

 

 

 

 

 

We labeled everything that goes together, and took lots of photos. Maybe it will all go back together the way it is supposed to!

 

I am going to try to take the actual sewing machine, or "head,"  AKA Grendel, to the Gammill dealer in Fayetteville next week, to get a tune-up before it goes to stay with Foster Mama.  There are a few quirks that I have dealt with for a long time that really should be fixed before going to a newbie.  If I can do that once the painters finish with my house,  I will be heading to Loving Stitches to take Grendel for a make-over!

 

And, I must mention that my preggers daughter-in-law Emily also came out and helped today.  I had already sorted out piles of stuff in the bonus room, and boxed up a lot of it, but Emily organized everything that was left and got it packed.

 

 

Of course, I forbade her from carrying anything, but it will be a cinch to get everything else out of there before the painters come back on Monday.  And then, she packed up some other stuff.  Love that girl!

 

Tonight,  I took Charlie out for steamed oysters and shrimp at our favorite local seafood restaurant, Shuckers.  When we sell the house, we will take Dave and Emily anywhere they want to go for dinner.  And maybe we will all get massages!

 

Of course, we are not completely done.  We will deliver the machine to  Foster Mama's house.  I told her to line up a strong back to help with the transport, so we don't have to ask Dave to do it again.  She is looking into the homeowner's insurance aspects of having the machine at her house.

 

And then, it will have to be moved again to the mountain house when it is finished.

 

But for now, I am so relieved to be able to get the room painted, the carpet cleaned, and have a "safe house" for Grendel to live in (and maybe be loved?) while we are transitioning between homes.

  

Whew!



I'm Still Here...

Hello, out there!  Checking back into Blogville after a hiatus which included lots of decluttering, room painting, packing, and some fun times as well. 

I finally got sick of painting walls, especially after missing the last rung of the ladder several times and falling.  I got my daughter-in-law Emily to recommend a power-washer, who is also a painter.  He and his partner are painting the upstairs as I type!  I totally love it when I can sit and play on the computer while other people are working on my house.

I'll have some pictures, but right now our rooms are piled up with stuff from the rooms undergoing a paint job.

The "bonus room" over our garage is where I do my longarm quilting.  This room is normally fairly clean and organized.  If you wonder why I am not doing any longarm quilting...

 

Yes, there is a longarm sewing machine parked at the end of that twelve-foot long table.  I had to clear off my cubbies and pegboards for this room to be painted.  Not only the table, but the floor

 

 

and cutting table are covered as well.

 

 

They are painting two bedrooms, the hall, and two stairways as well as the living room and crown molding and other trim in our downstairs.

 

When the painting is finished and we put all the rooms to right, all we will need is to have the carpets upstairs cleaned.   Then the For Sale sign goes up!

 

The very welcome respites to all the work include a trip to see the McBrayers in western North Carolina in August.  Charlie's brother Richard has an annual pool party, and we really enjoyed relaxing that weekend.

 

Yep, that's more like it!

 

 

I enjoyed playing with Richard's grand-daughter, Kaylee, who is very much like her mother was at that age.   She simply could not leave a kitty-cat alone!  This cat, CJ, was pretty calm around the baby.

 

 

She soon retreated behind the curtains, with Kaylee  hot on her trail.

 

 

The weekend after that, we spent a day on Jordan Lake to celebrate my son Dave's birthday.  Several of us went in to rent a pontoon boat for the day.  We cruised the lake, ate brats and stromboli at a picnic shelter on the lake, and had a ball.  One of the guys borrowed a jet ski, and the men had fun trying to splash water on us with it.

 

 

I think the birthday boy enjoyed his party!

 

 

While we were cruising around, we came across a boatload of boys who were stranded when they drove across an unmarked stump and broke the transmission on their ski boat.  We kindly gave them a tow back to the boat ramp.  Pretty cute, huh!

 

 

We went to the mountains to celebrate the Labor Day weekend.  What a pleasure to be there again, and realize that all the work on the house will hopefully result in building an addition to our tiny cabin.  We are looking forward to the day when we can be there full time.

 

 

 

My sister and her husband, along with my dad,  are moving up there in just a couple of weeks.  There were a lot of family members helping her with painting and construction.   That meant I had lots of time to play with their newest grand-baby, Holly.  She liked wearing my cowgirl hat from Hawaii!

 

 

We bought a piece of furniture at the Main Street Antique Market in West Jefferson.  I told my husband we were not taking his old side table that he keeps next to the man-chair.  Luckily, we found this very nice replica of an antique ice chest for a very reasonable price.

 

 

 

On the way home we endured lots of thunderstorms and rain.

 

 

In fact, we are having a thunderstorm right now here in Wake Forest.

 

 

Thanks for your patience...I will try not to delay my next post for so long!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Bling-Bling to Start Your Weekend

Following my art quilt bee's trip to the Page-Walker house on Monday to see the Narrative Threads exhibit, we went to lunch nearby at Serendipity Gourmet Deli.  Then, it was a short walk around the corner to a fabulous bead shop called Beautimus Beads.  The store was well-named...everything in there was attractively and cleverly displayed. 

I was as happy as a Kindergarten child with a new box of crayons!

I loved these little clear bowls...with feet!

Even if you are not a beader or embellisher, you could find yourself a little something in this lovely shop.

How about a pendant/pin?

Or scarves, bags, or cuffs?

We might be having a future bee meeting at this shop for a personalized tutorial on beading.  Love that idea!

Then we visited the Purple Polka Dot gift shop next to Ashworth's Drugstore.  I would never have guessed that this block of Cary would be so artsy back when my little sister was making hot dogs and milk shakes at the lunch counter in Ashworth's!

 Lots of fun and quirky items for the home.  I like the fused glass items in frames.

  They would look good hanging in our cabin!

Here are some ideas for decorating a baby's room with simple fabric applique and rickrack on mounted gallery canvas.

Our final stop was at the Cary Gallery of Artists, on the same block. 

We were lucky that Ana Sumner was working there on this day.  She is a fiber artist who did the artwork for the Cary Lazy Daze publicity. (You can see this piece featuring well-known Cary landmarks on her website.)  We had a nice time talking with her and discussing all the lovely pieces in the gallery.  I invite you to visit their website to see some of the fine watercolors, oils, and other work produced by the artists in this group.

After visiting with my aunt in a rest home near Cary and doing a little shopping, I then met my daughter-in-law and her mother at Elegant Stitches in Cary.  There is a little girl arriving in December who needs to have a pretty nursery!  Somehow, we three opinionated women chose a selection of fabrics to make a quilt, dust ruffle, curtains, chair cover, and whatever else inspires us as we play with the ocean-themed fabrics.

I need to finish up the work on my house so I can get busy sewing again!

Narrative Threads, Part 2

Okay, trying again today to post about the Narrative Threads exhibit at the Page Walker house in Cary.  This time I have resized all the images to a lower resolution, and hope I won't have the frustration of the past attempt!

Here is another favorite of mine.  The quilt was made by my friend Margaret Jordan.  The tree is dimensional and features wrapped fabric.  The fused background of triangles diminishes in size from foreground to sky.

Winter Waiting, Quilt by Margaret Jordan, Text by Jenn Mercer

As I mentioned last time, some of the quilts had text incorporated in the piece, and some had it published on a separate display.  The next quilt has text right on the quilt.




With the heavy quilting, again, it was somewhat hard to read.

Here is a quilt in bright and happy colors with a delightful gathering of fibers.

Threads, Quilt by Jenny Williams, Text by Anora McGaha

The quilt in the next piece is by well-known art quilter Lyric Kinard, who lives in Cary, the site of the exhibit.  Her piece looks very organic, with soft earth tones and nature imagery.



Narrative Threads:  Call and Response, Quilt by Lyric Kinard, Text by Maura High

Here are detail shots of the two smaller fabric pieces.

Here is another piece with soft earth tones.  There is subtle quilting of nature images to enhance the theme.

One of the most compelling quilts in the exhibit is this one called Yet, it is all a dream.  It is a tribute to children in refugee camps.  The sheer ribbons have text of the poems, and contribute to the imagery of being trapped. The figures are heavily thread-painted.

Yet, it is all a dream, Quilt by Katy Gollahon, Text by Christine Wai.

I will share one more quilt from the exhibit.  This one is a very colorful piece called Life Force.



Life Force, Quilt by Jana Lankford, Text by Kerry Holjes

The poem was rendered in a very lovely calligraphy on a separate piece.



These are not all of the quilts, but I have chosen the ones I liked the best and which had decent pictures.  It is hard to photograph quilts  in a show without a tripod to avoid the crooked angles and keystone effects.  But, I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the Narrative Threads exhibit.

Artsy Excursion

Yesterday was a wonderful, inspiring day...and finally I have some quilty things to write about.  I know you are tired of hearing about me peeling off wallpaper and packing boxes!

My art quilt bee, Anything Art, traveled to the Page-Walker house in Cary to view the exhibit Narrative Threads.

  Narrative Threads is a members-only exhibit that offers creative collaborations between quilters and writers with each team of artists displaying unique works that relate to their selected theme. Exhibit closes August 26. For more, call (919) 460-4963.

Our own member, Antoinette Brown, was one of the exhibitors and coordinators of this event. We have been hearing about this project for almost a year, so it was wonderful for the whole group to visit the exhibit together. Toni had two projects herself in the exhibit, as did our former member Margaret Jordan.

One of my favorite pieces was this scene of an old woman knitting in a primitive log cabin, complete with baskets on the shelf and a cozy fire in the hearth.  The knitter's face is hidden behind an unruly mass of white hair, while her dog is curled up by the hearth.

I neglected to get the name of the quilt maker or the writer with whom she collaborated on this one.

Another one I loved was used on the postcard advertising the exhibit.



The Healing, Quilt by Eileen Williams, Text by Donna Carswell

   Each quilt was made to interpret or complement the writing of a collaborating partner.  I found it somewhat difficult to appreciate or even read the accompanying text on most pieces.  Sometimes the font was too small to read, sometimes the text was artistically presented but hard to read on the wall.  I concentrated instead on the quilts.

I loved this very colorful collage of images by Romare Bearden.  The fabric collage is by Nancy Lassiter, and the descriptive text surrounding the images is by Antoinette Brown.



Jammin' with Romare Bearden, Quilt by Nancy Lassiter, Text by Antoinette Brown

I think I will stop there for today.  I have written this post twice, completely losing the images the first time, and having huge computer delays this time.  Don't know if it's my computer or Blogger misbehaving.  More next time!







Mountain Fun, Then Back to Work

Last Thursday, we headed up to the North Carolina mountains for a long weekend with our son Bryson's family.  It was their last chance to come up on a Thursday before the kids start back to school.  For me it was a welcome respite from painting the upstairs of our house.
The weather was good, and we enjoyed lots of time on the Gator, four-wheeler, and by the creek.

Our new grandson, Caden, just had a birthday and had to have an N.C.State football jersey to truly belong to this family!

My sister's family was also up there.  Here is her newest grandbaby, Holly, also rocking the Wolfpack gear!

After Bryson's family left on Sunday, Charlie and I took a ride on the Gator to the top of the mountain.  It was sunny on our side, but look what was going on across the valley at 2:00 in the afternoon!

The skies were very ominous, so we did the skee-daddle out of there. 

Have you been enjoying the London Olympics?  We have been so impressed by all the dedicated athletes and their amazing feats.  So many highs and lows as they meet their goals or end in disappointment after years of practice.  Kudos to all of them who made it to the Games.

Once home, it was back to work, this time in our dining room.  I decided to get rid of the wallpaper border that was under the chair rail.  I still like it, but it could be a deterrent for a possible home buyer that did not like the flowers or the color scheme.

It is very hard work removing wallpaper.  I made it my personal Olympic quest to see how long a strip I could tear.  Not very long.  There was much shredding of paper.  But I got'er done!  Also got everything ready to paint the walls tomorrow.  Lots of spackling, sanding, yada yada yada.

This weekend we are heading to a different part of the mountains for a McBrayer family pool party at my brother-in-law Richard's house.  Next Monday I am going to visit the Page-Walker House in Cary for a quilt exhibit, and later will do some baby fabric shopping with my daughter-in-law Emily and her mother  They have chosen a mermaid theme for the nursery.  Wonder why?

That was Emily in her college days, with the quilt I made for her 21st birthday.  Can't wait for the little mermaid to arrive in December!