Friday, January 25, 2013

I planned to get started quilting my Disappearing 9-Patch today but it just didn’t happen. We were out late last night and I slept until past eight. Pat had a client coming to the house at nine to work on some website development so I disappeared upstairs before he arrived.

I bet you’re thinking that should have led to some quilting. That was the plan. I had a bit of business to take care of first though. I needed to write an e-mail to explain the issues and possible solutions for the Red Cross computer. Then I needed to clarify a few points with one of the vendors who will be coming to the quilt show. When that was finished I wanted to do a good cleaning on my machine before I started work on these three quilting projects.

While I was cleaning my machine and thinking about quilting I remembered that I didn’t have a proper walking foot for my machine. I went through all my attachments and my manual and it didn’t say anything about a walking foot. I looked online and found another name for it but that name didn’t show up in my accessories either. I called the shop where we got the machine and they told me that I had the foot already although she didn’t know what it was called. She dug out her manual and told me the name of the attachment and the page in the manual where I could find out how to attach it.

It was late morning, but I still had hope of getting a few stitches in. Next up I needed to clear off my cutting table. When I quilt my cutting table holds the bulk of the project. That meant putting away the material I had out for the borders on my tie quilt. When I was doing that I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough of one of the fabrics to use as binding. That necessitated a trip to the fabric store where I was lucky to be able to find more of the fabric I had purchased in the fall (as well as some sale fabric and some thread).

By now it was past one and I had someone coming to the house at two to talk about some quilt show work they needed some computer help with. With the bit of time I had I decided I’d better get on the treadmill and get my time in. Sue arrived just as I was finished so the timing was perfect (even if I was a little heated).

Sue has been a Guild member on and off since I arrived on the scene. After she explained to me what she needed, she stayed for coffee and a nice chat. She grew up in Saskatchewan and raised her kids on a farm near Rouleau (yes, the Corner Gas town). She knew where Elrose was, but hadn’t heard of Wartime. She has a daughter in Saskatoon as well as a son who still works the farm.

By the time Sue left I had given up on sewing and moved on to getting the big network printer up to my studio. Pat helped me get one of the three pieces moved upstairs, but when we went back for the second piece it was so heavy we thought we would need help to move it. We talked about purchasing a dolly to help us get it up the stairs, and we discussed having our mover come in and move it up for us. While we were looking for the toner cartridges (which we never did find) we decided we’d purchase a new printer because Staples had a good sale on at the moment.

I wanted a colour printer, but since the thing I use colour for the most is my quilting project book we decided that getting a photo printed at WalMart was probably more economical than the extra cost for the printer and cartridges. By Sunday I should have a working multi-function printer in my studio again.

I thought that the computer work Sue needed would involve scanning and sending the files out, which is what I did for her friend a couple of times. However she needed a couple of forms designed and she wanted them as soon as possible. I decided that with the bit of afternoon I had left I would get started. They came together very quickly and I was able to print one off on the printer downstairs.

And as luck would have it, the second document needs a colour printer!