That Left Turn at Albuequerque... Excuses for Neglecting Thoroughly Modern Millie

Ah, I KNEW I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuequerque!! 

Bugs Bunny in "Bully for Bugs" (1953)

So I don't have great things to show for myself today because I've been lost in rabbit holes, like Bugs Bunny in "Bully for Bugs."  I've been taking care of my husband, running errands, attending school orchestra concerts, overseeing drapery installations and specifying paint colors for my interior design clients, and doing lots of other things that really do need to get done.  But I've also been avoiding that left turn down the hall to my studio, where Thoroughly Modern Millie (my recently acquired APQS Millenium longarm quilting machine) has been waiting patiently for me since Bernie set her up for me on April 18th.  I still haven't plugged in the machine, let alone turned it on and started quilting. 

My Naked Millie, Waiting to Play

So, aside from other responsibilities, what's standing in my way?  Well, right after we set up the machine, my husband went into the hospital for a week for major heart surgery.  I was barely home at all that week.  And after that, I was trying to be disciplined about finishing my reorganization of the studio before I started playing with the new machine.  That involved going through my hoard of garment patterns and fabric, ditching outdated and unflattering patterns and fabrics and matching up the patterns and fabric that remained so that there's actually a chance of making some of those garments one of these days.

But I have to confess that there has also been a bit of -- well, if not fear, then at least trepidation.  We were in a bit of a rush when we swooped in to pick up the machine from my APQS dealer, and I arranged to postpone my full day of training until after Bernie had recovered from surgery.  In hindsight, that was probably a mistake, because I didn't have a chance to get familiar with the parts of the machine, how to load a quilt onto the frame, and the very basic details of how to operate the controls.  Don't get me wrong -- my dealer showed me all of this stuff when I first came to look at the machines a couple of months ago, but there's a certain amount of information overload when you are still in the phase where you haven't decided which model machine you're going to buy, let alone which model.  I wasn't paying attention to those specific operating details, and I expected that information to be in the manual.  And it IS in the manual, some of it...  Sort of!

The printed spiral bound manual that comes with the machine only covers the setup and assembly information, which is kind of silly, IMO, since the APQS dealer handles that for most customers anyway (my husband is "handy" and wasn't inclined to pay the setup fee, and he needed a project to get his mind off the upcoming surgery anyway).  The information about loading quilts as well as operating and maintaining the machine is only found in the digital version of the user manual, which I received loaded onto a flash drive.  I finally got around to pulling that up on my computer yesterday and emailing the PDF to my Kindle account so I could read it on my iPad upstairs.  That was a little annoying.  I think I'm going to have to print out some of those pages so I can highlight, take whatever notes, and refer to them more easily.

And one really weird omission?  The APQS Millenium user manual neglects to tell you how the controls work to run the machine.  In the Appendix there are instructions for the old style controls on the pre-2012 Millenium machines, but no instructions for how to work the controls on the current models! 

APQS Millenium, Adjustable Handles with Toggle Switches and Touch Screen Controls

I was able to find a YouTube video explaining that last night, and it's really simple, but it would have been nice if that information was in the user manual!!  There are toggle switches on the right and left handles at the front and back side of the machine. 

Each Toggle Switch has a White Dot on Top

All four toggle switches work in the same way, so you can easily quilt with either hand.  If you push up towards the white dot, the machine takes a half stitch up or down.  If you push downward, the machine will start or stop sewing.  Oh, and whatever needle position you have when you start quilting is the needle position the machine will stop in.  So sink your needle before you press the start/stop button, and the needle will stop in the down position as well.  The touch pad controls on the front and back of the machine for turning on and off the Stitch Regulator, Quilt Glide, Low Bobbin Indicator, adjusting stitch length (in regulated mode) or machine speed (in manual mode) are all pretty self explanatory as well, and I like that the operation of the machine is so well thought out and user friendly.  However, it would be nice if all of that was on a "getting to know your machine" page in the user manual.

There are step-by-step instructions for different methods of loading quilts onto the frame in the digital manual as well, so now that I know how to load a quilt and how to work the machine, I feel like I have the information I was missing to get started.

I bought an 80/20 cotton/poly King sized batting from JoAnn's for practice, so I'm going to piece together some bright colored "positive energy" solid fabrics for a giant practice quilt and get that loaded onto my machine.  Hopefully that will happen TODAY!  Wish me luck, and no more rabbit holes to get me sidetracked!

A Disco Kitty Followed Me Home: Tabby Road by Tula Pink for FreeSpirit Fabrics

I don't normally post about fabric collections.  I don't do any advertising or sponsorships, and I'm not trying to sell you anything.  But I'm totally smitten with Tula Pink's Tabby Road collection for FreeSpirit Fabrics, especially the Disco Kitty and Cat Snacks prints.

Tula Pink's Tabby Road Collection for FreeSpirit Fabrics

Most of you know that we're dog people at my house (Rottweillers are for snuggling.  And for singing), but I have several friends who are cat lovers and these fabrics are just PERFECT for one of my friends in particular, so never mind the yards and yards of hoarded fabric in my studio; never mind that I STILL have not finished organizing what I already have.  I HAVE TO HAVE this Tabby Road fabric, so I ordered it online and while I await its arrival in my mailbox, I played around with some design ideas in EQ7.

Priscilla Blocks

Meh, right?  My first idea was Priscilla blocks, shown above.  I really like how the stripes and dots work with those blocks.  But it feels too busy with so many prints.  If I do something like that, I'm going to need to use some coordinating solids to break up the prints.  But I'm going to wait for my Tabby Road fabrics to arrive first and then match up some solids -- maybe even some from my stash!

After spending way too much time playing with Priscilla blocks, I wanted to see whether a simpler quilt might better showcase these fun novelty prints.  So then I came up with this idea:

I Like This Better!

Those octagons have 2" sides and they are nearly 9 3/4" across, so they would be great for showcasing the kitty prints.  And despite the large pieces, it wouldn't be a total bore to piece this quilt because of all the lovely Y-seams.  Yes, I know I could simplify construction by making on-point snowball blocks instead, but then I'd have seams through the middle of my 4" squares and that would bug me until the end of time.

One more idea -- what if I chopped this collection up into 4" finished clamshells using the Accuquilt GO! Baby die cutter that I got for Christmas?

Tabby Road 4" Clam Shells

That would be cute, and I'm not afraid of the curved piecing, but there are SO MANY of them and I'm looking for something that goes together a bit faster.  Accuquilt does make an 8" finished clam shell die that would be really good for this collection, but I don't have that die (it's not compatible with the GO! Baby cutter, anyway -- only the regular GO! and the Studio GO! cutters).  So it's either 4" clam shells that I could cut out fairly quickly but would take an eternity to piece together, or else I have to print myself a larger tagboard template that I can trace onto my fabric and cut out all of my clamshells with a SCISSORS!  Talk about Old School versus New School! 

I don't know.  I have no business starting a new project right now anyway, with so many works-in-progress and so few FINISHED projects to show for myself.  I'll see how I feel about it once the fabric shows up.

Oh goodness -- How is it 11:06 PM already?!!  Goodnight!  I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday at http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/.