Tuning in . . .

It has been a month since "Hoke", my IQ arrived. Hoke drives my Miss Daisy, my A1. With Bob's surgery and a few other bumps in the road of life, I haven't had as much time as I had hoped to really get going, but I have played some each day. Here is a bit of progress.

First and foremost, I love it! It is easy to use and designed to be very intuitive. The onscreen help files answer each question and there are wonderful videos done by Helen Baczynski and Linda Lawson at Intelliquilter.com. So, the learning is fun!

I bought the digital pantograph "Waterworld" from Willow Leaf Studio and first played with it in different sizes. Here is a picture of my practice with it very large and very small. I can see where buying the digital patterns could become very addictive as it is so easy. There are also lots of free patterns already on the IQ.

Here is a picture of the QOV quilt that Hoke and I finished quilting yesterday. I have to do the binding and I am going to embroider the label on Madison - that is the name I have given my new Pfaff. (It is a strong, sturdy machine with unlimited potential so that name seems to fit.) I have taken to naming everything - a sure sign of senility.

And - some things I have learned . . .
1. Don't make a quilt that you are not "in love with" some part of - every moment spent working on it is too long.
2. Sometimes the answers are right in front of your nose - like "restart" means just what it says and everything you need is programmed in for a perfect "restart" no matter what.
3. When you play around with design sizes, be careful of the size you select.
4. Close your windows when there is a storm coming - backings ready to be loaded can get wet if folded on the table nearby and sometimes that is not pretty.
5. Just keep "plugging away" no matter how many interruptions or how many tears.

July was a special month with lots of learning. Bob is almost back to normal from the hip replacement surgery. My Dad is doing okay in the rehab facility and working to get stonger. My brother is recovering well from his knee replacement. My son and his wife in Portland have decided to separate and we will survive the pain of that. The refrigerator is still running although she has had a couple little fits - I won't share with you the name I bestowed upon her.

"Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into." Wayne Dyer