Machine Shut Down

When we have severe lightning coming through, the big machines HAVE to be shut down. Unplugged. Removed from the outlet. I can NOT risk an electrical short in my investment. Yesterday afternoon proved to be one of those situations. 

I was working on this quilt for Tina...

For the Michigan Shop Hop

and it started getting really dark. I mean dark enough to fire up the solar lights on the deck. It was black in the south and I heard the wind start coming through the woods south of us. And then it hit. I immediately checked to see if there was a tornado warning and only a severe thunderstorm warning was issued.

Needless to say, there was lightning and lots of it. Shut down. Unplug. Remove from wall outlets. Do something else until it blows through. How about this quilt I'm making for Justin and Sabrina?

Baby quilt for their first baby

The storm only lasted about an hour and then I had the machines fired back up and was back on schedule.

I'll continue with Tina's quilt today. I have a new customer coming this morning to drop off and a previous customer coming this afternoon to pick up and a possible drop off. 

I had a nice conversation with a fellow long armer down in South Carolina. She's fairly new (under a year) and is going to be quilting the snowflake quilt I did for Linda M. about two years ago. But she's nervous about doing it as she is generally only an E2E quilter. That snowflake is a heavy free motion/ruler piece. And her customer wants it done exactly as I did it for Linda. I may end up seeing it here if the long armer feels like she's taking on too much with it. 

She had other questions about the business and general best practices. The teacher in me started coming out while we were talking and after an hour I think I've made a new friend. She is such a nice lady and I hope she succeeds in her long arming endeavor. I'll help any way that I can being so far away. 

While I was talking to her (it was well past business hours), Jim was starting the beam in the new studio...

Starting the beam

We have three more hurdles before the final inspection: That beam, the closet, and the porch. He's working diligently to make this happen and I know he'll succeed. It's just that final month, when everything starts coming together, that the excitement is almost bubbling over!