I have a dream........

    Someday I dream of owning a longarm sewing machine. It may happen, at least I can dream. But, for now I am super happy with the setup that I have.
   Last summer we were in Sisters Oregon and I just happened to stop by the Stitchin' Post during their garage sale. Out behind the shop in the parking lot they had tables of odds and ends that they were selling at pretty cheap prices. I found two duffle bags with "Complete " on the tags and a little description of HandiQuilter on the tag. I asked the salesperson about them and she told me they were the poles end pieces and carriage to turn the domestic home sewing machine into a table top sewing system. The price tag said $100.00. My husband was skeptical, but I paid for one and put it in the car.
   After getting it home I got the How To video out and discovered we no longer had a VCR to play it on and so it sat.........until I found an inexpensive player and watched the setup. I put it on a table and set it all up. The poles were very flimsy, my table wasn't long enough, the side supports were not very well constructed, and so it sat........................................
   My husband is very handy and an engineer and so for my birthday I came home to a new custom table. I talked about sturdier poles and so he also remade the end pieces and bought 3 new sturdier poles, and then for Christmas he made a new cage to put my machine into.
   During all this time I also purchased an industrial straight stitch only, fast......sewing machine, which now I use in this setup. Recently I also purchased a stitch regulator for my machine/Juki.
   Today I finished a quilt on my system and am very happy with it. It only took 9 months to get my setup to this point! It was worth it.

See how neatly finished the cage is!

just another view. Sew much fun!

and so the quilt I just finished (well almost) was from the Paintbox Quilt Alonghttp://www.ohfransson.com/.I still have to handsew my binding and label it, but I am loving it .........

 

The front, all stippled.

and the back with a few extra blocks and pieces.

:) Happy with the way it turned out.

My spiderweb is also growing. I have decided to make 30 blocks for a square quilt. I have 13 made so far. That means only 17 left to go.......

Hope your weekend was a good one.  Jeri