Blogging is like…

Exercising… Once you stop, it is hard to get going again!  So sorry my posts have been few lately.  I have several things to post about (especially the quilt retreat and all the things I finished) but I have been SOOOO busy!

And you are probably saying, “Where were the quilt retreat reports you promised us?”  Well, we have upgraded our wireless router at home and SOMETHING we did during the set-up on my lap top has caused it to have a problem connecting to other wireless networks.  Others could get onto the wireless at retreat, but I could not.  So that is something else I must spend time trying to figure out…. what setting did we click on that causes my computer to want to configure other people’s networks instead of just hooking up? 

Along with all the busy-ness I have come to the conclusion that I am going to HAVE to add computerization to Gussie Fay.  I never thought I would feel this way, but I have lost the joy of quilting.  Standing there hooked to the machine for hours at a time has lost its thrill. 

Perhaps it is because I do 99% pantos.  That’s not a complaint… because I am so slow at custom I can not make any money that way.  This has become mind-numbingly boring.  Perhaps it is because I seem to be doing mostly the same patterns over and over.  Perhaps it is because I have a stack of my quilts ready to be quilted, but no time to work on them.  Whatever the cause, if I am to stay open for business I am going to have to go computerized so I can do more intellectually stimulating things while the computer stitches.  It will also make me more time efficient, and help with the aches and pains caused by standing behind the machine all day.  Most people don’t realize how physically demanding machine quilting is.  But those pains will soon be behind me, just as soon as I get Gussie Fay connected to a computer.

I am counting the days until I go to Houston for my demo on the IntelliQuilter system, then I will decide which system to buy.  It is interesting that Gammill has greatly reduced the price of their retrofit to a Statler.  That is great timing, but I am really leaning toward the IQ because it has a very important feature that the Statler does not… automatic shut-off if it encounters any resistance (such as a thick seam allowance).  Other systems can possibly get hung right there and stitch in the same spot until they have damaged the quilt.

OK… so just like climbing back on the exercise bike, I have now ventured back into Blogville.  Hopefully I can keep myself revved up to post about twice a week for the rest of the summer.  (Fingers crossed, making plans for posts, determining NOT to play computer games until I have posted, etc…).  Stay tuned… pictures coming in a day or two!

KAT