Field Trip

I'm taking a quick field trip this morning where I'm heading to Cardinal Creations in Lake City. They have become a new APQS dealer and I'm going to test drive one (or more) of their machines.

The new-to-me machine I'm getting in the spring is an APQS Lenni and when I test drove the Millie in Shipshewana I was NOT impressed. Drove like a stone. I called a few techs here in Michigan about this and they feel something was wrong with the drive belts on that particular machine. Before I commit to purchasing this gently used Lenni, I want to make sure I'm spending my money wisely.

When I return this afternoon I'll be working on Joans quilt...

Lots of negative space

She wants this quilted pretty heavily so again with the pebbles. I'm going to be pebbled out by the time I finish this one I think. 

And I have to ask. Is this my responsibility or the quilt-makers? 

Seam threads

Joan's isn't bad but I've had a lot coming through lately that are loaded with seam threads. I can not, as a long armer, just ignore these so they are trimmed as I go. But that all takes A LOT of time, especially if they are still attached somewhere and don't just easily pull out. Stop the machine. Get the scissors and tweezers, pull them tight and then snip. Take care of scissors and then get my head back into the quilting. 

Maybe it's the bane of a long arm quilter, but as I watch fellow long armers on their machines, it doesn't seem like they ever have any of these in their videos. Hmmm?