Friday, July 24, 2015

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? It's finally here!!!

Hi, all!

Here it is, Friday again!  Can you believe it?  Summer is almost over, at least here in Tennessee - school starts up again in a little more than week!  But enough of that - it's Friday, and that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?

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My whoop whoop is a little different this week - it's a quilt ministry whoop whoop!   You may remember that we bought a Block RockIt for the quilt ministry at church when we went to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah back in April.  They told us it would arrive in about five weeks, but it actually took almost nine weeks to get it in our anxious hands.  


But when we tried to set it up, we found out that we would have to order a professional series carriage upgrade before we could mount it on our frame.  (I wish we had known that when we bought it!)  I have to give a huge shout-out to Karla at The Grace Company - she went way above and beyond the call to help us figure out what we needed, including viewing pictures of our frame to be absolutely positive we got what we needed the first time.  She shipped it out and it was in our hands three days after we spoke.  Excellent customer service!  Thanks, Karla!!

Of course, the new carriage arrived while I was on vacation, but Tommy, our one regular guy quilter, put it together and started setting up the Block RockIt.  Wednesday night we finished getting it set up - the encoders connected, the frame leveled (boy that took some doing!) and everything ready to quilt... But then we tried to pull up the bobbin thread and realized that the handles weren't marked with what each button was for!  

We looked through the manual but nowhere did we find a diagram that showed what each button did!  Fortunately I had my laptop with me, and we found a YouTube video that explained how each button worked.  And then we were off!


Everyone had a great time lining up to give our new Block RockIt a test drive!  (That's Tommy manning the machine in the video - he's been waiting impatiently to try out some new quilting designs!)  We've decided to name her Grace - because as we all know, grace covers a multitude of sins!  I've always told our new piecers that any mistakes they make will disappear after quilting and a good washing and drying....

And on another front, I decided today that I finally did get me some minions this week...


Those little clips aren't Clover Clips, but they are similar - and I love that they are yellow like my little shelf minion! I found them for a great price on Prime Day - score!  


I don't know how I ever got along without them - they've been the perfect thing today to work on the wedding dress quilt!  I used them to hold gathered lace on the top for sewing, then to hold the top, backing and batting together to sew it up around the edges.  All I need to do now is close the remainder of the seam around the quilt, then stitch in the ditch to secure the top to the back.


I can't wait to see how this looks when it's finished - but I'm loving it so far!!

And that's what I'm whooping about this week!  

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And now it's your turn!

Why are you whooping it up?


What's got you dancing the happy dance?

Share - we want to dance right along with you -

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday at midnight - 

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah



13 comments:

  1. The wedding dress quilt looks lovely. This will be a special quilt to treasure.

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  2. Wow, congratulations! You're all going to have some fun with the new toy, don't fight :)

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  3. I'm glad you guys got the machine figured out. That wedding dress quilt looks so nice!

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  4. Your wedding dress quilt is a beauty!!
    I hope you all have a lot of fun with Grace

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  5. Good customer service is *always* something to celebrate!

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  6. Oh, the wedding dress quilt looks spectacular!! Tommy has some serious skill with that machine just on the start.

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  7. Oh I'm probably going to have to break down and get myself a minion too!!! Esp. after their friday happy dance!! So excited for your mission and the new purchase!! HOW wonderful!!!

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  8. Congrats on getting the Grace machine set up & running. What a blessing for your group's Quilt Ministry efforts!
    I love the wedding dress quilt - all texture, such subtle color, and so elegant. Very nice!

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  9. Oh what a lovely "wedding dress" quilt. It looks rather vintage.

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  10. Glad you got it all figured out. The wedding dress quilt is gorgeous.

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  11. Oh how my grandson would love those Minion-like clips, well, let's be honest: he'd prefer your shelf minion! That wedding dress quilt is just beautiful, and how exciting to get (finally) this machine, Grace, up and running.

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  12. Ah, yes, I have one week of freedom left. If the day ever comes, I am so going to enjoy being a retired teacher!

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Comments make me smile!! If you want a PDF of a pattern, PLEASE leave your email address in your comment, or email me directly at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com!