Practicing on the longarm...

 Another pic of my big girl!  :)  We are taking some time to get to know each other.  She sure is different than my other one.  All is going well.  I've had a few thread breaks but that is probably user error...maybe going too fast for the speed that I have her set on or whatever....we will get it figured out.  Nothing major at all and all machines are different.

 I loaded an old printed sheet on the frame and decided to practice some of my panto designs.  This is one of my new designs that I have.  It is called Mint Julep and is 13" wide.  I love it!  I used dark thread so that I could see my stitches better while practicing. 

 Practicing another design.  This is an old one that I have.  It is called Ground Cover. 

 Then I loaded a Minnie Mouse panel on the frame and quilted it up.  I think I will give it to my niece, Addison.  She loves Minnie Mouse.  I need to add some binding on it and call it done.  I used the Mint Julep design on it.

 I think I will load a small quilt on the frame today and try something that actually has seams.  LOL!

I had a wonderful weekend with my dear quilting friend, Kris.  I really hated to see her go.  Sadly on the way home they had an accident.  They are all okay but shew....I sure felt bad.  Praise God for watching over them as it could have been so much worse. 

My 30" Nolting Longarm...

 This big girl came to live with me yesterday!!!  I can't tell you how excited that I am.  If you have been reading my blog for a while you know that my mid-arm broke down a year or two ago. 

 This baby is a Nolting with a 30" throat space almost 3 times the size of my old one.  It also sets on a 14ft frame and my other was 12ft. 

 Here is the funny part....I'm only 5ft tall and do you see that step stool in front of it?  Hehehe....I have to get up on it to be able to see the needle real well on the front of the machine.  I can get to the back and see the panto stuff just fine and those handles are lower...it's just the front side that I have trouble with.  :)  I will be getting a larger step stool or a rolling stool for it soon.  This frame does not lower so I will just have to get a step stool or something.  :)

My quilting friend, Kris and her family are in for the weekend from South Dakota.  They had a little over a 20 hour drive to my place here in KY.   I am soooo enjoying this visit!  Yesterday we played around with the frame and had a little "show and tell" with quilts.  She brought several with her and let me tell you they are just beautiful.  I now have several more quilts that I will be adding to my list to make.  No pics as I just was too excited about everything that I forgot to get the camera out.  :)  

Here is a pic of one end of my front porch.  I so enjoy having my coffee out here during the mornings after Richard leaves for work.  The birds are singing and I get to watch the sunrise...love my county life. 

 That's all for now....I'll try to get some pics today to post.  :)

Hexie Update and some Canning

 Here is a little update on some of my hexie progress.  I didn't do all of this yesterday but I did about half of the cream hexies. 

 You know me...when I should be cleaning I do something else.  I had plans to do more deep cleaning as soon as Richard left for work but I ended up canning 13 pints of chili instead!  LOL!  Anyway, these will go in the pantry but probably will not last too long as we all love chili. 

 Now I will leave you with a photo of my precious niece playing in her new pool. 

 Richard has to work all weekend so I will probably be cleaning and working on my hexies and going to Church on Sunday.
Blessings...Kristie