Lucky

This is Lucky.

Lucky is an APQS long arm quilting machine that has been living with me since May 2005.

You may think that naming a piece of machinery is a little odd. However, it is tradition in the long-arming industry to name your machine. Other quilters have come up with names like: the obvious, Millie, Glinda (the Good Witch), Polly-Ester, Lucy (after Lucille Ball), and Patience. If you are interested in reading about some other names for long arm machines and the stories behind them, have a look at the APQS site by clicking here: http://www.apqs.com/quiltboard/viewthread.php?tid=2046#pid15359

I named my machine Lucky because it has a 13 foot table. Standard sizes are 12 foot and 14 foot when it comes to table length. I wanted the largest table I could get and 14 foot was just too long for the room that I was going to use without taking out a wall and doing some major renovations. I thought 12 foot would be too small and I would be sacrificing something I would regret later. The dealer suggested that I go with a custom table length and I ended up with a 13 foot table. ..................hence, Lucky 13 came to mind and the name stuck.

For me, naming things that are not human is not unusual. I named my Ford Explorer Suvy because she is an SUV. Last April, when the price of gas rose to levels equaling the price of gold, I bought a Honda Civic and named her, Maggie, because she is the colour of magnesium. I named my Singer sewing machine, Zip because he only had two speeds--very, very fast and stop. Zip was replaced by Heidi on April 17, 1999. Heidi is my Bernina sewing machine (of Swiss origin) and her and I have logged many happy hours together. Naming the items we spend a great deal of time with gives them personality.

Have you noticed the trend? The things that "challenge" me the most have male personalities and those objects that provide trouble-free service are female. Hmmmmmmmm.

The quilt on the frame shown in the picture with Lucky is the raffle quilt from the PieceMakers Quilt Guild. This is just a sneak peek. I will post more pictures of the completed quilt after Lucky and I finish working on it.