A few comments to address.....

It's been a long, busy, happy day.  I had a class at Pieces and Patches for Simplicity Three - paper piecing - and we had a really good time.

Following a conversation I had with a friend who was at the Open House for the launch of the PQ3000 frame it seems there are a few points that need to be clarified.  Someone mentioned that the poles supplied to roll up the quilt should be round.  Well, we tried that and it was not good.  A round pole is hard to square up to the quilt edge and clip in place, and is almost impossible to clamp down to the sides.

During the seven months that we have been developing and testing the frame we tried a number of different poles and the square ones that we finally settled on were the best solution!  Over the development period I believe we have tested and solved every problem that we have encountered.  With my background as a long arm quilter I have been able to translate all the issues and counter them using my years of experience.

I believe that this product is the best that it can be at the moment, but we will never stop trying to evolve it and improve it so that it can be the best product on the market.  It will always have limitations compared to the $20,000 systems, but it will give you the opportunity to use your domestic sewing machine to quilt in the best way possible for a sensible price.

I think my final thought for today is that I really hope that people realize that the PQ3000 has been a long time in development and that we have spent a lot of development dollars to make sure that it works as well as possible within a domestic machine's limitations.  I have a lot of faith in this product - check it out at www.quiltersexpress.com.

It's been a while.....

and we have been so busy - which, of course, is a good thing.

The final piece of the PQ3000 fell into place this afternoon - the manual!!

 

Now is that snazzy or what??

 

So there are 13 PQ3000s in pieces in the studio, waiting to be packed up and delivered.

That's a lot of pieces!  We should get all that sorted out on Wednesday.

The 'Lancaster Project' is sadly lacking at the moment, but hopefully I will have time to crack out some blocks tomorrow.  'Fire and Ice' needs the binding put on, along with the label and the hanging sleeve as shipping to the show is this week - talk about last minute.

Got to go for a tennis match - I will do better tomorrow!

So blessed.....

I just had not realized that all I needed to do was to ask for help!  So I asked you guys on Facebook to like me so that I could get to 30 likes and lo and behold I got there in a few minutes!!  And then I remembered that after John died I gutted it out on my own for a long time before I realized that there were so many people that wanted to help, but I had shut them out.

I love to help, but I forget that others love to help too - so, even though this is a short post tonight, we all need to remember that we are not alone.  Even in the most dark and depressing moments our friends want to help, but we have to ask them and let them into our pain.

This is my thought for today - friends are there for all times, the good and the bad.  Don't just share your good times,  let your friends help with the bad as well.

I am so grateful for the way things have gone in the last few days and as soon as things settle down I will post pictures of Fire and Ice with the binding attached, and more blocks for Lancaster.  We also have a few bright ideas for Quiltcon - the show for Modern Quilts - more pictures to come.

Friends are so special.  All of you, thank you.

So it finally begins....

and it is even better than I expected.  The Open House was a great success and so many people were interested in the PQ3000 frame.  That meant a lot after all the hard work during the last seven months.

There is still a lot to do to get the first batch out to our customers, but we are on our way.  Lindsay is working on the manual, and is very understanding when I change things up!  We did get a slot at the show in Rock Hill SC at the end of October.  Lindsay will be adding the show schedule to the website      
this week.  She is also adding FAQ's to the PQ3000 section.  Sometimes it seems to take so long to get all this done, but we want to get it all right so that PQ3000 owners can enjoy their purchase and the wonderful things that they can do with it - I want everyone to be happy.

So it's been another long and productive day.  The future is looking bright and I am very thankful for all the support from my friends.  In the next few weeks I want to take the blog to a new level with ideas for quilting using the PQ3000, videos, tips and anything else I can think to do.

So bear with me during this launch period and watch this space for exciting stuff as we head into 2013 - scary how quickly that happened!  Final thought for today is that now that this plan is beginning to roll I wonder why I was so scared that it would not work - have faith in what you want to do and  chase your dreams with passion and belief.

And a special goodnight to my niece who talked to me today and made my day.

Ok it's late....

but a lot has been going on today.  I did write the pattern for the quilt as you go placemats - so I am ready for the class on Monday.  Lots got done in the studio this week - the snowmen custom quilt is finished and I am working on Roz's Clemson quilt.  

The Open House for the PQ3000 is on Sunday and there is still a lot to be done.  It's very scary getting this off the ground, but I am sure that it will all work out in the end.

Bandit, the quilter's dog, is doing well and ate well tonight.  Cherios, milk and Alpo!  Good taste.

I would love to post photos from the iPad, but I haven't worked how to do that yet!!  But I'll work on it - so much to learn.

So it's definitely bedtime.  I have never been an early morning person, so I need to be in bed by 10pm.  That doesn't make sense really - seems I need to go to bed early and get up late!  Oh well - bed now and get up at 6am means 8 hours sleep - pretty standard.  

      

Sleep well everyone - it's a wonderful thing to be able to sleep - so if you cannot, I understand!

Good night All.

Nearly there......

It's been a frantic week and today - three days before the launch - we came up with a really neat enhancement to the frame, so tomorrow will be a busy one, adding the new attachment and modifying the manual.  I'm very happy about the change.  I was already sure that the frame was everything it needed to be, but now I am confident that it's the best!  PQ3000 rocks!!

My lovely assistant Lindsay has been packing the first six frames into boxes and fighting with the box stapler.  Now that's a beast of a stapler!

We are organizing to vend at shows and we may be in Rock Hill SC at the end of October.  We are just waiting to hear about a cancellation - that would be fabulous.  Just before Christmas - can I say Christmas gifts!!  Then in November we will be in Tampa FL, January is Lake Worth FL and March sees us in Charlotte NC.

Running a little behind on the Lancaster Project, but hopefully once the Open House is done and the class on Monday has half a dozen placemat sets made I will get a chance to catch up a little.

On the whole life is busy but very good and I will get some pictures up next week.  And next week we hope to start on the how-to videos, beginning with the PQ assembly instructions.  But I really want to get together a comprehensive set of videos on things like binding, borders, triangles and all sorts of other stuff that give niggly little problems.  And then Block of the Month and mystery quilts!  So many ideas, so little time.

And that leads to the final thought for today - I realize that I really cannot do everything myself and that I am probably a bit of a control freak, so I need people to help and I need to lean on my friends for support sometimes and it is not a show of strength to do it all myself.  Strength is knowing when you need help and accepting that help from those around you - and a huge thank you to everyone who as made this venture possible.

Oh boy........

I think I am in real trouble with my favorite EQ7 student, S.!  I didn't get around to blogging yesterday and so much happened over the weekend! 

My friend and I like to hit the garage sales on Saturday morning but I didn't find anything that I wanted to buy.  However when we went to Ace Hardware to pick up all the hardware for the new batch of PQ3000s I found a key blank with martini glasses on it so, of course, I had to get a new house key cut!  So I put together the hardware kits and we are on schedule for 6 units for the Open House this coming Sunday.

Apart from being lax on blogging I have also been a bit behind with the Lancaster blocks.  But I managed to get 8 done tonight, so now there are 22 and I can get back on track tomorrow. 

In order to finish the PQs and pack, ship and promote them, there has been a flurry of activity.  Boxes, box cutters, box staplers, packing paper, a camcorder for how-to videos, a smartphone for the credit card thingy (it's so tiny I can't fathom the technology!), spiral binding things for the manual, special paper, smart tags (see below - they are amazing!), new business cards, new brochures, shiny advertizing flyers and lots of wine!!

Smart tags - if you have a smartphone you can take a scan of a smart tag and it will take you to a website or video etc.!  So I have a smart tag on my business card and anyone can scan it with their smartphone and it will take them to the website www.quiltersexpress.com - amazing!  So when we finalize the manual there will be smart tags that take people to the how-to videos etc.!  Very exciting and very up there don't you think?  I can't believe that I have been missing this amazing technology for so long!

 

So this is a bigger quilt ready for the PQ3000 - I really want to quilt it and enter it in a show - watch this space!

 

 

 

Ok - this is very haphazard at the moment, but it will come together!  I have to believe that it will be a quilt worthy of entry into Lancaster - I am working on precision, quality and color.  The quilting will be a different challenge - it will be outside my comfort zone since the quilting required will be a whole different level from the work I do for my customers.  They are not looking for show quilting, just lovely quilting for bed quilts or throw quilts.  Apart from 'Lofty' this is new ground!  Remember 'Lofty'?

 

 I was so thrilled to get a 'Best machine Quilting' ribbon for this work!  I know Roz knows that I am so proud of all the recognition that 'Lofty' has recieved, but now I want to produce my own famous quilt! 

So - finally - my final thought of the day!  Believe - just believe - without belief nothing can be achieved. So - Go PQ3000 - it rocks!!!!  Bedtime......