"How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?"

Argh, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day again, mateys

Here are some cartoons just for today. Hope they make you smile!







Of course, I need to throw one in for my birthday:


We are in St. George this weekend. Saw "Annie" at the Tuacahn last nite. This morning we are taking a road trip to Las Vegas for breakfast at the Paris Buffet! YUM!

Barudan Training

Today I had the most fun! Kent from Daines Sewing in SLC came down to train us on the new embroidery machine. Emilie had several hours between classes, so she even dropped by to learn how to make Frog Belly run. Here are a few pictures from today's fun:


Emilie and I threading the machines. 15 spools per head. We would stick the end of the thread into a black tube, then give it a shot of canned air. If all went well, the thread would be blown thru the tube & come out the front of the machine.


Now you can see the black tubes the thread goes down.


If it looks like we were having fun, it's because we were! Threading the front of the machines was a bit more tricky. It was possible to tie the new thread ends to the old thread ends that had been cut off (left in the machine at the factory after the test run) and just pull them thru, but it did not always work that smooth.


Ben, (a TTOD employee) threading a needle.


It took quite a while to get 90 spools of thread, threaded thru the machine. But there were many hands helping.


Two of our first learning test runs. We tried to use all the different colors to make sure the machine was threaded right. There were a few problems that Kent had to fix along the way.


Next lesson: How to load and embroider on a hat.
Anybody want a Callaway Golf hat?


At about 5:30, Kent left for the day. He left his CF card with us that had all his test designs on it so we could practice some more. We did this one all by ourselves.


Closeup. The colors are a little strange, but hey! Not bad for a couple of rookies.

Our New Cabin in the Woods

If we were to get a cabin in the woods, it wouldn't need to be big & fancy. I think the first picture on the left is a cute cabin. Heck... I'd even be happy with a cabin that looked like the second picture.

Not that we've been saving for a cabin in the woods, but this past week we had something delivered that probably could have been that cabin in the woods for what it cost.

Here's what the delivery looked like after it was taken off the truck:


The past two weeks Terrell has been as excited as a a kid on Christmas eve:


Any guesses what it is?


How about now?


Kimball was even there for the big unveiling - It's a Barudan 6 head embroidery machine!!


Moving it into the shop:


Ready to go:




I missed all the excitement as it was happening, but I did get to go over to the shop that night with Kimball for my own private viewing:

Next Tuesday the salesman (from Daines in SLC) is coming back to train Terrell, Kimball and I on how to run the machine. It will be exciting!
The next adventure for Textile Team Outlet is ready to begin.

My name for it is Frog Belly Designs. Emilie drew me this picture several months ago:


Many thanks also to Gary (aka Dr. Carp) as he has given us invaluable help on the technical side - getting the new computers that will run the embroidery software up & running!