Behold: A Southern Blizzard! "Snowed In" With the Best Beginner Long Arm Quilting Tutorials

Okay, Wisconsin and Minnesnowta readers -- get ready to laugh yourselves silly.  School is canceled today in Charlotte, North Carolina -- in the middle of exam week -- because of treacherous weather conditions that they are calling Storm Three:

Storm Three Pounds My Neighborhood with a Sprinkling of Snow Dandruff

Not only is school closed today, but businesses are closing as well.  My in-box is full of emails from the eye doctor, interior design showrooms, etc., notifying me that they are all closed due to the "storm."  All of my appointments today have been canceled, even tonight's church choir rehearsal, and I have no reason to leave the house at all.  This is clearly a message from the Universe telling me to spend the day with Thoroughly Modern Millie, my APQS longarm quilting machine.

Although I've had Millie since late March of last year, I've only actually loaded quilts onto the frame twice.  The first one was a huge King-sized practice quilt that I loaded in May, and the second one was a printed cheater cloth practice quilt that I loaded back in October, three months ago.  I've spent a lot more time getting a feel for driving the quilting machine around to "draw" quilting designs than I have with the basic process of getting started with a quilt, so now that I'm ready for my first real quilt I've been procrastinating, apprehensive and unsure about how to begin.  I'd walk into my studio and sort of circle around the longarm frame, like she and I were sizing one another up for a bullfight.

The Look My Longarm Machine Has Been Giving Me

But I'm not even the matador in this scenario -- I'm the BULL, y'all!  And I've been like, "You know what?  I'm just going to leave the ring and find a nice cork tree where I can lie down and smell the flowers!  Or cut up the flowered fabric into triangles, or pick out flowers for a new applique project...  You get the idea.

...And I Am Ferdinand the Bull, Who Would Rather Go Smell the Flowers

Ferdinand and I have the same bangs now, by the way.  They look way cuter on him than they do on me.

But no; this is NOT going to be a bull fight!  Longarm quilting is not a violent, barbaric "sport."  No one has to die, the only bloodshed is going to be if I stab myself with a pin, and Millie and I are going to work TOGETHER to create quilty goodness and not as mortal combatants.  I just need to refresh my memory on some basics, boost my confidence, and get over it already! 

"Bullfight: Death of the Toreador," by Pablo Picasso, 1933

So last night I spent some time on YouTube, hunting down the best beginner longarm quilting tutorials.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video demonstration has got to be worth a million words!  YouTube is great, but I wish it was organized better so I didn't have to scroll through so many videos to find what I'm looking for.  There are TONS of videos showing how to quilt various freehand designs, but what I need right now are the basics that a seasoned longarm quilter takes for granted and could do in his or her sleep.  That's why I'm posting these links here, so that I can quickly find them again whenever I need to refresh my memory.  If other beginning longarm quilters find these resources through this post, well, that's all the better!  I watched all of these videos last night and I feel MUCH more confident again.  I plan to rewatch these videos in my studio today as I finish loading my Math quilt today (partial float, I think), thread the machine (variegated thread or invisible?), adjust tension for beautiful stitches on the top AND back side of the quilt, and quilt it with a simple, allover pantograph design.  

Best Beginner Longarm Quilting Tutorials on YouTube:

• ·       How to Load a Quilt on an APQS Frame, Full or Partial Float Methods:

• Sparrow Quilt Co./APQS How to Load (Full Float), Baste, & Quilt a Pantograph: 

• How to Thread an APQS Long Arm Machine:

• How to Fill a Bobbin With the APQS Turbo Bobbin Winder: 

•  How to Adjust & Troubleshoot Bobbin Tension, APQS:

• How to Use a TOWA Bobbin Tension Gauge, from Superior Threads: 

• How to Adjust Top Tension on an APQS Long Arm Machine: 

•  Perfect Tension On Any Model Long Arm Machine, from Jamie Wallen: 

• Using Invisible Thread on an APQS Long Arm Machine, Top and/or Bottom: 

• How to Bury Thread Tails, from APQS:

• How to Unpick Machine Quilting Stitches, from Natalia Bonner:

•  APQS Pantograph Quilting Tutorial:

• Sparrow Quilt Co./APQS How to Align an Edge to Edge Pantograph Pattern: 

• APQS Beginner Tips for Quilting With Long Arm Rulers:

• Angela Walters' Long Arm Ruler Tips:

I plan to update this blog post with additional longarm tutorials as I find them, so please send me links to any great video tutorials that I've missed!  And of course, free to bookmark this post if there's information here that you find useful.

And now, let the quilting games begin!

Today I'm linking up with:

• ·       Let’s Bee Social at www.sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/
• ·       Midweek Makers at www.quiltfabrication.com/
• ·       WOW WIP on Wednesday at www.estheraliu.blogspot.com
• Needle and Thread Thursday at www.myquiltinfatuation.com

Snow Munchkins and Cinnamon Mocha Chip Cookies

Anders with his Snow Dwarf

I got a few more cute pictures from our snow day yesterday.  Here Anders is posing with his diminutive snow man.  He was unable to find any pine cones, prickle balls, or lumps of coal, so I brought out the craft supplies -- hence the seashell nose, triangular button eyes attached with pipe cleaners, and feathers.  I couldn't even produce a decent carrot for the nose.

Lars Being Lars in the Driveway

Here's Lars, wearing the "snowman scarf" (scrap of fleece I brought down from the sewing room) and threatening to put boobies on his brother's snow man.  *SIGH*

Anders and I made those cookies for his class Valentine's Day party, although school ended up getting canceled again today.  We'll just send them in on Monday, I guess.  We tasted a couple, to make sure they are edible.  ;-)

Anders with his Cinnamon Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, as you can imagine, the natives are getting restless after almost an entire week off from school, confined to the limited amusements of our house and yard.  It has not helped that the snow storm trapped their daddy in Las Vegas all week, either.  After several canceled flights, we hope he really does make it home this evening, because if I have one more day alone with the Screaming Cheetah Wheelies, Bernie will come home to find me huddled under the bed with a glazed look in my eyes, muttering gibberish and compulsively banging my head on the floor.

Next week, Mommy deserves a pedicure, and a nap!

And Then There Was MORE Snow

View From My Kitchen Window

So, after an early school dismissal on Tuesday, we had no school yesterday and again today because of this Pax Storm or whatever they're calling it.  As you can see, I am finally able to enjoy a wintry scene from my window just like people in other parts of the country have been enjoying this winter.  Unlike thousands of Charlotteans, our neighborhood has not lost power (ice + tree limbs = downed power lines, unplowed streets = no repair crews restoring power).  It's toasty warm in our house, and we are well stocked with essentials such as food, milk, coffee, and dog food.

I have discovered that, once the snow gets thick enough,  the dogs can play in it without getting muddy!  If anything, they come in a little cleaner than they were when I let them out, and just need the snowflakes toweled off their furry coats so it doesn't melt when they come indoors.  This is a substantial improvement over the rainy winter days we usually experience in lieu of snow.



My Cul-de-Sac This Morning, Before the Snow Started Again

It sure is pretty, this white stuff!  The reason a moderate amount of snow is such a big deal in the South is that there are no snow plows or salt trucks to get it off the road.  It snowed all day yesterday, then sleet and freezing rain overnight, followed by more snow, and it's all still on the road, like a snow sandwich with a 1/2" thick ice burger in the middle.  Also no one knows how to drive in snow and no one has snow tires.  My kids can't even play in the snow, because we don't own sleds or appropriate snow clothing.  Anders just went out and tried to make a snowman and he lasted about 10 minutes.  He wore his winter coat, but he has no boots, no snow pants, and no GLOVES, so making one small snowball with his bare hands was enough for him.  He looks so disappointed.  :-(

I had signed up to bake cookies for Anders' Valentine's Day party at school tomorrow, and I'm wondering whether they will even have school.  The snow is supposed to turn into rain soon and then stop around 4 PM, with no more precipitation expected overnight, but temperatures won't warm enough to melt any of this and, as I mentioned before, there won't be any plows or salt trucks moving it off the roads.  It won't go away until it melts in the sun, and the back roads that are shaded by overhanging trees could still have icy patches into the weekend even if most of it melts away on Saturday.

Meanwhile, we'll just have to hunker down and enjoy it.  There have been a lot of winters in Charlotte without any snow at all, and usually even if we do have an inch or so of snow, it melts away within hours.  It's really neat to see how the snow transforms the indoors as well as outdoors -- there's a different quality to the light when it's reflected off the snow.  Everything looks different in my house.

Well, I think I'm going to plan for school in the morning, which means baking cookies and packing lunches.  It's better to be unnecessarily prepared than unprepared and scrambling in the kitchen at 6 AM.

Happy snow day, everyone!

A Snowy Day in Charlotte!

Lars Catching Snowflakes

We had a snowy day in Charlotte yesterday!  I'm always skeptical when the Carolilna weather forecasters issue dire Winter Weather Advisories -- they have cried wolf a few times too many.  Yesterday we saw a few snow flurries in the morning as Bernie was taking Lars to his Chinese tutor, but those few flakes were short-lived, melting instantly as they hit the ground, and the skies were clear when it was time for piano lessons on Saturday afternoon.  Late in the afternoon, the skies were WHITE and snow began falling heavily, dumping out of the skies as though we lived someplace that actually HAS winter.  Since we only get a snowfall like this once every couple of years, Lars and Anders raced outside to throw snowballs, build snowmen, and play in the snow until their cheeks were rosy and their toes were frozen.

Anders with his snowman, Bob

Charlotte shuts down completely just for this little bit of snow.  No one has snow tires, no one knows how to drive in ice and snow, and there aren't any snow plows or salt trucks clearing and de-icing the roads.  Our church even canceled Sunday school and worship services this morning because it's still very cold and the roads are icy. 

 

My favorite part?  I love the clean, bright white daylight reflected off the snow, pouring in through my windows.