Peek-A-Boo

I see you!

Another critter seen around my 

yard is this silly cat.

Yesterday evening I looked out the window and there he was, just chilling in the yard. Some days he hangs out on the ramp by the front of the house. Other days he is in the hay field behind the house. He is never in a hurry. He acts like he owns the place. He lives in the barn - when he is here. The neighbors report that a gray and white tom cat frequents their places a few days at a time, then is gone for a few days. I think this guy is roaming the neighborhood. We are all probably feeding him. Husband says he was good manners and worries about him when he isn't around for a few days. If he keeps the rodents population down it's all good.

Meanwhile, I got two more colors finished for Border 4 of Designer Star.

The Windmills quilt is finished.

I was making good progress on 

Sweet n' Sassy. 

Then this happened.

This knob is used to adjust the height of the take-up bar. Over the years the threads of the bolts that the knobs screw onto have gotten stripped making it impossible to tighten them. These are important because they keep the bars in place. The take-up bar, which for me is the most important and the one I use the most, is lower at the beginning of quilting a quilt and is raised as the quilt is rolled up on the bar. It keeps the quilt off the bed of the machine allowing the machine to move freely. Depending on the size of the quilt this adjustment happens 6-10 times for each quilt. There are two of these knobs on each end of the take-up bar. 

I was in the process of 'stealing' one from one of the other bars when Husband came in. He took it off and went out to his shop to see if he had anything that would work. He says that the bolt and nut inside the knob are fine thread and he didn't have anything. But he found an bolt and nut that would work without the plastic knob.

This is what we ended up doing for now. He is at the local hardware store now to see if they have anything.

PAUSE: We decided to make a run for groceries since it had been a while.

UNPAUSE: Our trip to Aldi was pretty uneventful. There was an employee outside retrieving carts as shoppers were finished with them. He wiped them down and put them back in the rack. All carts already had quarters in them. Everyone was wearing masks. Most items had signs that said 'Limit 2' or 'Limit 4'. That didn't really affect us. I understand why there are limits, but wish there didn't have to be. I would have liked to stock up a little more on certain items because we haven't been shopping in a few weeks and don't plan to go again for a while. There was a lady in front of us who had a case for tomato sauce. The cashier told her there was a limit of 4 and the register would not allow her to ring up more than that. My thought was what if she had a large family
 or is feeding several families/neighbors? I hope they are able to get what they need. There were bare spots on shelves throughout the store, but for the most part I think things were pretty well stocked. 

Back to the quilt frame bolts. The very knowledgeable and experienced hardware store owner was very helpful to Husband. The bolts are not fine thread, they are metric. He came home with 6 of them. So my quilt frame will be back in business soon. Thankful for a supportive Husband who know what to do to keep things working. 

Stay safe and well.