Introducing... Snowbird!

Cue the drumroll...

I asked you what you thought was coming next... if you were one of  those who answered "another longarm"; you're correct! Some of your responses were interesting; but, no, there won't be a merry-go-round, a wood lathe or a piano taking up floor space where Sundance once stood. Yesterday Sundance's successor, Snowbird, arrived; a 2014 APQS Millenium. I smiled when I saw the packaging: "Extreme Excitement Bundled Inside" and "contents may cause excessive hugging, squealing, jumping and fist pumping" were printed on the outside of the carton that contained the head... you won't be surprised to learn that each of those statements held true.

A peek inside that carton found the new baby adorned with a huge, pink bow! Gregory was here for this momentous occasion; he clapped his hands over his mouth when he saw the bow and excitedly whispered "Nana, it's like a birthday". He was right, it was exactly like that, and more... Christmas too!

Here's Snowbird, all set up and ready to go.

The front has a touch screen and new, updated features that will make quilting a breeze.

Among the new features are a bobbin level indicator, thread break sensor and stitch settings that can be customized. Sweet.

First thing this morning I was up and at 'em; I loaded up a practice quilt and worked to dial in the tension and familiarize myself with the settings while thread doodling simple shapes. Snowbird performed beautifully, the Bliss drive system makes each movement smooth and fluid. I was ready and itching to stitch on a "real" quilt though, to take Snowbird for her first quilt run.

My mother pieced this scrappy strip quilt and entrusted me with quilting an all-over pantograph design on it for Snowbird's premiere outing. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy; the stitch quality was perfect. Snowbird sailed through it and was begging for more, no problem; I've got a closetful of quilt tops hanging in a queue and waiting patiently.

Life is Good!