High Noon Abstract in May

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What's up now?

It's the end of the month, nearly, and I am dyeing the new collection of the fabric club. Which brought a bit of sink art:

We have started a 3000-piece-puzzle of a World Map, and even my husband is joining in - he hates puzzles, but he 'wants to have the table back'! Motivation is everything you need...

I put up a practice piece on the Longarm. That was easy enough.

But getting used to each other is not quite as easy as I had hoped. For one thing, it is leaving out stitches, which I really don't fancy, and the soon-to-come-instructor could not explain away via the telephone yet:

I'll just have to try different kinds of threads etc. Patience!
Meanwhile my 10-year-old has discovered the fun of diving from a 10-m-diving board.

He had been so fascinated with divers already when he was three and four that I had thought he would do the 10m just after starting school. So I guess I must be happy he waited for so long...

Final steps in putting up the machine

... took just a bit longer than planned, mainly because my husband's job duties and my various activities somehow didn't match well over the weekend so that we could have continued together.
Plus we had a music street festival in our town, including a Sunday afternoon open air picknick on the central square. All the members of the volunteer network for the refugees, and, of course, the refugees, came to share in the celebration, we had to add more and more tables - in the end it was the longest and most international table on the entire square.

Such a nice afternoon! I think it must have been one of the nicest afternoons I have had in this town, and we have lived here for 10 years now!

In the evening, finally, my husband and I got it all together. Pictues of the stages of the setup can be seen here, this is the final portrait of the supporting quilter husband, pretending at quilting:

And this the main character of the play:

Hopefully I can load a practising piece tomorrow...

It's a ... longarm!

Last August at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham I spent a couple of hours testing a longarm machine.

First negotiations with Nate Arnesen from Handiquilter there were continued in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, then transferred to the German section. In Germany we have a saying "Gut Ding will Weile haben" - good things take their time. So after just slightly over nine months later - here is the latest development in our household. The space:

The arrival:

The boxes:

Which were then carried dupstairs by one of the Syrians.
First stages of unpacking:

First assembly steps completed:

More and more empty boxes:

The supporting quilter husband at work, so happy that he got to use the little electric screw driver he had bought a couple of years ago:

And this is the current stage - the table is complete.

It's a tight fit... we will have a harder time getting to our books! And tomorrow we will put up the machine.

What's Up

Yesterday I finished stitching the top which I am preparing for the challenge in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines. Then I dissolved the stabiliser on which I had done the stitching.

Here is a mini-detail as it appeared on the line:

By now it has been through the wash once more, and I can start on the quilting. Which will still be done on the Bernina, not yet on the longarm. I will begin with that after I return from Karlsruhe. (The longarm machine is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.) In preparation for the Nadelwelt Karlsruhe, where I am going tomorrow, I spent some time during the last days overdyeing (too) light fabrics which seemed to have colors that did not really sell, and dyeing a few more meters extra. And I was surprised at the impressive stack of additional colours I ended up with.

Then I dreaded having to load the car, which is always a lengthy procedure of carrying the boxes, then the wooden stacks etc, and by the end I am very tired, sweaty and completely crabby. Then I had the brilliant idea of making use of my brand new app, sent a message to the Syrians, and at half past three three strong young men appeared on my doorstep. Whithin less than a quarter of an hour everything had been whizzed down the stairs, the car packed except for the last tidbits, and I did not have to carry one single box. And they will help me unload on Monday after my return, too. Too bad I can't take them with me to Karlsruhe (no room in the car!) - so there I will have to do all the schlepping alone. But no stairs to cover there.

If you are a member of the German Patchworkgilde and can present a membership card at the stall, you will receive a 5% discount on your purchases. Find me at C 3.5!