MOVING DAY

After we decided to move the Quilt frame into the sewing loft, we thought some more about the amount of work it would take to ready the space; work AND expense.

We took a look around the house and came up with a different idea.  Why not knock the wall out between the two guest rooms to make one room large enough to accommodate the frame?  I needed at least fourteen feet.

"That's not a bad idea.  I can do the work.  It only involves eating plaster dust for a few days.  We will need to get someone over to move the radiator.  But that's no big deal."  Steven was into it.

Our house is over a hundred years old.  The bedrooms are small and the closets smaller.   We started on the only closet in the two rooms and moved baseball cards and some other of the DS's personal paraphernalia out to the storage area. I hauled some stuff to Sal's and we made plans to donate one of the beds to Betsy.

The other two rooms are the Master (HAH, it's where we sleep) and Steven's "GYM."  It's really his room.  He has his stuff, bike trainer and his clothes in there.  I ride my little air bike in there too.  The windows overlook the yard. The light is terrific.   It's the best room upstairs.  Which explains why it is Steven's room.

 One day, on my air bike, I got out my mental tape measure and wondered if that room wasn't fourteen feet long.

"Honey,  I think we have 14 feet in your room.  Just enough for the frame."

"Let's see."  We measured (I held the dumb end). Thirteen feet eleven inches.

"I think it will work. It might be tight, but I think it will fit." I declared.

He agreed wholeheartedly.  "This is a great idea.  Much better than tearing out a wall.  I'll just move into the bigger guest room.  I think my trainer will fit just fine."  Now, the bigger guest room is bigger only relative to the smaller guest room.  It isn't larger than his room.  So this was a bit of self sacrifice on his part.  But not much.  He won't have to eat plaster.

That was about a month ago.  As long as we were at it, he decided to do some plaster repair on the ceiling and the walls. Then of course, came the paint job.  There was a gap between the baseboard and the floor that needed some trim. This meant that the baseboard needed to be scraped (someone had painted over the cherry).  I turned into the  proverbial can of worms.  We persevered  All of the baseboards aren't finished  and the rest of the trim needs work, but we moved the frame today. 

It wasn't too hard. Mostly tedious.  I had directions re: how to put it together.  We just started at the end of them and worked backwards.

The take up bar was already off of the frame.  The backing bar came off next and after that, the batting bar.  

We had to remove the rails to remove the carriage.  I have to admit, the electrical connection on this frame is quite elegant.  It is housed in a track that moves with the machine.  It was very easy to unhook everything. 

We hoisted the whole frame onto a couple of saw horses so that we could remove the legs. Four bolts at each end. 

Then we took the table apart, supporting the center with the adjustable out-feed support from Steven's table saw.  It worked quite nicely. 

Of course we had to haul all that stuff into the house, including the saw horses and the outfeed support.   Miraculously, we did it, without too much distress.  Well, one minor upset.

I was struggling with the 7/16 socket.  You really need two.  I had two socket sets, both pretty cheap and not at all well suited to the job.

"I have better tools than that," declared the Professional Builder Renovator, Mr Smarty Pants.

"Well, why don't you get them?" replied I, the independent DIYer.

"There is a specific reason why I didn't get them......Never mind."

Now I knew dang well what the reason was.  I had expressed that I would need his help but I would really appreciate it if he didn't just take over the whole job.  I had told him that I was concerned that the table needed to be set up just so and that I appreciated his help but I was worried that he might just barrel in and take over and not listen to me about it.  So he was pouting a little and acting out in a most disagreeable way

"Well, for heaven's sake.  Why don't you just get them so we don't have to struggle and quit being so passive aggressive about it."  So much for me being patient and appreciative.

He got his better tools and we were able to complete the job much more easily.  I think I will go tool shopping.  One of my 7/16 sockets is really 11 mm.  It works, but I deserve better.

I had to stand in the closet to take this photo.  There is not much wiggle room and Wilson looks worried.

I won't push the frame that close to the radiator (see below) when in use.  We might need the room for company and we pushed it there to see if a single mattress might fit on the floor.  It will, if you don't open or close the door.

I am thrilled.  The new machine is not due for a while.  I will have time to finish scraping the baseboard and maybe even get it sanded and a coat of polyurethane or two applied.  The new machine will have longer carriage rails.  I will drill a hole in each end of one of the rails for a lynch pin,  home made stop.  Looking at this photo, it's a must.  If I were to roll the machine off of the frame again, it would go right out the window!