Saturday, November 1, 2008

Vini, vidi, vinci

I came, I saw, I conquered. Well, not exactly conquered, but I did go and see....Quilt Festival in Houston that is. I wasn't planning on going this year because I've got so much work I didn't think I could afford to take the day off. Thursday was the only day I could go and I wasn't relishing driving to Houston and back in one day. But I came home from swim team that morning and declared to Abi, " Karpe diem!"(notice the Latin theme). She replied,"Huh?"(Latin's pretty much Greek to her) and I explained that we were heading to Quilt Festival.

Look how happy she is to be at Festival.

I've been going to festival for several years and what struck me about this year was a feeling that there were fewer vendors and attendees. Maybe it was just Thursday's crowd, but there just seemed to be more room in the aisles. I was also struck by how many companies were selling long arm quilting machines. I don't think I've ever seen more vendors offering these. In the past the idea of a long arm has always perplexed me. Why would you want a machine that takes up an entire room? How many large quilts would you need to make to justify this thing? Well this year I found myself inquiring about long arms. I've got several large quilts to quilt in the next few months and the thought of quilting them on my Bernina is really daunting. Also, salesman Mark at I-don't-remember-the-name-of-the-company company showed me a long arm that could be easily assembled and disassembled in 15 minutes. Suddenly, a long arm seemed like something I might be interested in.
Raise your hand if you knew that a basic long arm costs $7,000. I didn't. I thought it might run $1,000, maybe $2,000. Imagine my shock when salesman Mark quoted me the price and told me that it was a show special. I walked away claiming I would think about it, but that was just to make salesman Mark feel better about his selling prowess. Instead I've decided to rent time on a long arm locally.
Since I didn't have to figure out how I would cram a long arm quilting machine into the trunk of my Toyota Corolla I had room to bring this little dandy home.


I purchased it at ROM Woodworking and it's going to change my life or at least organize my thread.


It's called a thread barrel and has 72 dowels that once assembled by a willing, hammer-toting 11-year old can be mounted on a wall.


Isn't it pretty?

19 comments:

Jena Webber said...

I like it!!

Janis said...

It's pretty, but not nearly as much as the wonderful quilt in the foreground. I just found your blog and will be spending more time looking around. Gorgeous work!

Joyce said...

I love that thread organizer and like Janis, love the circle quilt in the foreground even better.
I have a mid arm setup that costs about $4000 (less in USA) for frame, machine and speed control. I love it but it does take up a lot of room. Luckily I have a large studio dedicated to sewing.

Erin said...

That is awesome!

I agree, that circle quilt rocks. We are going to need more pics of that.

Lauren The Artist said...

I've got thread rack envy big time! ~jen~

FatQuarterQuiltFarm said...

Sound like you were looking at an APQS Lennie!! I have been longarming on my APQS Millennium for several years now I love it. I can't even imagine having to quilt on a regular domestic machine for everything. I've been finishing mostly customer quilts but I'm so ready to get some of my own work done. APQS is a great company, they sincerely care about their customers and my machine has been so trouble free.(Can you tell I'm a Sales Rep too?;) I wish I could have gone to Houston,I've only been once....LOVE that thread rack too.I 2nd more pics of the circle quilt!!

Justine said...

That is brilliant!!

Love your dyes!!

randi said...

My threads are rolling around in a drawer getting tangled up! Your new organizer sure is neat!

susan said...

i am content with a cart with drawers for different colors that sits within reach of my sewing machine...but that barrel looks good on the wall. like the quilt hanging on the design wall too.

Lisa said...

Oh I need a thread holder like that! the spools are taking over my sewing table!!!

Kristin L said...

It's totally cool, and shall we say something about the continuity between the circles in the quilt and the circle shaped spool ends?! ;-)

Karoda said...

oh that thread barrel looks beautiful! a work of art all by itself!

sugarcreekstuff said...

I don't have a long arm but my mom does. It takes up a room in HER basement. Attempting a large quilt on my machine was a nightmare! Using her long arm was a beautiful dream.
I could never afford one unless I won the lotto, but I'm sure glad she could and lets me use it!

Funky Kim said...

Holy cow! I need one of those! What a great idea someone had!

Sheree said...

Oh this is very cool!

Anonymous said...

that thread barrel is *awesome*!! and your quilt is beautiful! :^D)

Anonymous said...

What an amazing idea.

abishop said...

I feel that I should let you know that your Latin isn't quite precise. The quotation from Caesar is "veni, vidi, vici" and the quotation from Horace is "carpe diem." The Romans didn't use the letter "K." Your blog is fabulous in many other ways, though.

Anonymous said...

question re: Dec/jan quilting arts magazine--the few dollars for the three inch circles for the discharge overdying is like one hundred forty in my area. Source for them or another product ?