If you’ve been following my adventures, you may know that I’ve been looking forward to getting a long arm quilting machine. One of my issues (besides expense) is the amount of space they require. Quilters often give up their living room or their dining room for one. I wasn’t willing to do that. My machine, then, had to fit into my writing study.

Which was crammed with boxes.

I’ve written about my six-week process of divesting myself of many possessions.

The machine was scheduled to be delivered two weeks ago, but when the installer came and saw my room, he said, “You’re not going to be happy with the eight-foot loft frame in here.”

I took out my tape measure and showed him. “I’ve got nine feet and two inches of free space here.”

“You didn’t think this through,” he countered. “You’re not going to be able to pull out your desk chair. You’re not going to be able to pull out your file cabinet drawers.”

Oh.

My poor husband was heart-broken. “Get rid of the desk! Get rid of the file cabinet!”

He was trying to be helpful. But I’m not going to divest myself of what I need to write in order to get a quilting machine.

“Can I change my frame order to the five-foot Little Foot frame?”

“That’s a much better choice for you,” the installer agreed.

So my new baby finally arrived on Monday.

It pretty much takes up the whole room. But it fits.

I am getting 6 private one-hour lessons with a Handi Quilter educator via Zoom—three on the machine and three on the Pro-Stitcher Lite robotic software. I had my first lesson Thursday, but I still feel pretty overwhelmed. I have a page of notes, and I learned how to thread the machine. Between now and my next lesson on Monday, I’m watching an hour-long video and reading the manual.

When the installer set up the machine, he did some test-stitching. He put a length of fleecy fabric on the frame and let the machine make a couple of designs—a flower on the left and a spider web on the right. He showed me a few things, but I’m not ready to experiment on my own yet—too intimidated.

I’m working on a lap quilt which will be my first project to get quilted on the Moxie. I also have a bed quilt for my son all ready to go that I’ll quilt after that. And I have two grandbabies coming in February whom I will be making quilts for.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship . . .