Perfect Timing!

Tomorrow will be the last day of long arm maintenance classes. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this company and their team of employees, from the instructors to the factory employees to the office staff. It has been a fantastic experience; Sundance can rest assured that when I return home I am going to put her through her paces, in a new and enlightened, more knowledgeable, way! Dawn Cavanaugh led the instructional classes at the showroom (pictured here) in Des Moines. We learned all that we could cram into two days, everything from loading a quilt to creating fill stitches and feathers, with a lots of other valuable tips and tricks sandwiched in between. At the end of day two we drove on to Carroll, approximately eighty miles west, where the maintenance classes began this morning. My husband and I worked together to time a machine, it wasn't nearly as daunting as I had feared; and we got the timing down, perfectly! We took a factory tour this afternoon, it was truly exciting for me to see the place where Sundance was born! Tomorrow morning* we'll conclude our series of instructional sessions before starting the long trek home, sometime in the early afternoon.

*Update: I'm posting this on Sunday, after our return home. The Internet service was spotty at the hotel and I was unable to upload my photos or post. I'm happy to report that I can now remove (and successfully replace!) the hook assembly, replace motor brushes, pack the gearbox with grease and adjust the needle up/needle down if and when I need to. That's huge for me! A little knowledge and confidence has replaced the fear associated with repairs. I had to laugh at my husband, I haven't taken a class with him since high school and it was funny for me to hear him saying things under his breath in response to the directions given. I think he was amused to hear things like "righty tighty-lefty loosey" in a technical class but when we were instructed to move the "orange deal" out of the way to access a screw and he muttered "that's a capacitor" I had to stifle a chuckle; all in all, he was very patient with the pace; which, understandably, would be hard for a retired industrial engineer to be. He was nothing but complimentary about the employees, the customer service and the factory, too. I'm very grateful for his support and encouragement, it makes all the difference!

Life is Good!