Monday, October 20, 2008

This and that

Things have been very busy in our neck of the woods lately. Brayden is here now. It's wonderful to have a brand new baby in the family. It's been a while since we've had one. He weighed 8 lbs, and is 20 inches long. He was born Oct 8. Brayden in his Moses basket. Buck and I babysat him on the 15th.
Brayden and Aunt Vanessa
Buck has my quilter built. I have to learn to use it now. I'm just a little scared to try machine quilting with the frame. The carriages roll very easy. I've been practicing tracing a pattern with the "stylus" without stitching. I just have to take a deep breath and give it a go!
There is a surge protector mounted between the 2 cabinets. The machine and the light plug in there. The machine can go from end to end without any tangles. The foot pedal reaches the floor. I guess I can nudge it along as I quilt. Or maybe it needs its own carriage and track, too.

I guess I'll see the design flaws as I begin to use the quilter. If anyone sees something that needs to be changed, please let me know. I will appreciate the experience you can bring to me. I don't have to reinvent the wheel, or make a mistake someone else has already worked through. I don't intend to make quilts bigger than about 4'x6'. I think that the space around the lower pipe will accomodate the batting needed for a quilt that size.
Details of the stylus: Buck will never use this screwdriver in the shop again!!!
Side tensioning devices: eyebolts, bungee cords, and clamps on a keyring
The camera didn't like the light, but it is really very well lit. The light clamps on the pvc pipe almost anywhere I want it. I can see the design I printed from Simone Struss' website very easy. (Yes, you do see staples in the design paper. I didn't have any tape in the house except duct tape or electrical tape. I'm just practicing moving the machine over the design right now, not stitching yet.)
The carriages:
This is my bonus room upstairs in my house. The contractor told the appraiser that it was a completely finished room AFTER we signed the papers to build the house. So... I got a completely finished room instead of an attic storage space. We built our house in 2005. Remember Hurricanes Katrina and Rita? Yep, they delayed our house. In fact, the bank stopped the "45 days until closing" timeline because of them. We were blessed not to have any damage to the house from Rita. (We didn't even get rain from Katrina in our parish.) But the door factory in south La was literally blown off the face of the earth, and our carpet could not be delivered from the mill in Georgia.
I am converting this space into a combination guest room and sewing room. I had been using my son's room downstairs for a sewing room until I got to buy a baby bed and a rocker for Brayden.
I moved junk all weekend.
The cabinets are red oak with a raw plywood top. I don't know what I want on the tops yet. The cabinets were in the kitchen of the house we used to live in before we built this one. We tore it down before it fell down. (The upper cabinets are in the garage.)
Don't you like the decorating theme? It is truly Early American Attic!! It includes one very ugly, but comfortable recliner from Buck's grandpa.

I think we are racing this weekend. David did very well the last time he raced, 2 2nds and a 4th.This is David's car. Buck and David built the body on this car from sheet metal. It is a Chevy Camaro with original hood and trunk lid.

This is David. I also have pictures of the things a mother of a racing son finds in her way. David's engine blew up this summer. He bought new heads for the new engine.
This is my ironing closet. This is a bonus closet underneath the stairs. The framing crew foreman refused to allow the contractor to leave this space unfinished and without a door. It is perfect for my ironing board. It can stay out all of the time.
Under my ironing board is a set of heads for the racecar. They could not stay in the shop overnight. They could not be left in the garage either. They had to be in the house. They stayed in the house until they were put in the engine.

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