Last Day Home

We are getting so excited and so ready for this trip. The earthquakes and tsunamis that have occurred recently aren't going to affect our trip, but we are still a little concerned nonetheless.

Three machines yesterday. Marty has the Tilda Sampler that was worked until I could get the backing frame ironed on Ginny's quilt on Bernie... 

Little Birdies

This is going to show in September so I'm on a time crunch for this to be done today. While I was working this, and after I returned from lunch with Linda, I loaded this onto DW...

Another Time Cruncher

This one is called Winterberry and will need to be completed before I leave or as soon as I return a week from Monday. It's getting an E2E but a pretty tight one so it'll need to be babysat. 

I am a little apprehensive starting the one above while working the birds because if anything goes wrong, and I'm still grabbing/doing stuff around here for the trip, I'll become frazzled. 

Here is the quilting going into the little birds...

Close quilting

A little bit of feathers and a close stipple with some ruler work on those HST's. This is today's project. I just made up my mind. I need to remember to unplug all the stuff in the studio when I'm done and sheet cover all the tops on the machines. Whew, so much to do before we leave. 

The Next Couple of Days...

...are going to be a whirlwind. I'll be quilting this morning. I have a customer coming later this morning to drop off and then we're going to lunch. As soon as I get back, Jim and I need to run back into town to get a quit claim deed notarized. The neighbors are going to be up but we don't know if it'll be late tonight or not. If not, we'll be expected to run over there for a bit to visit, because, we have nothing better to do.

Patty came yesterday to pick up her three table runners/wall hangings and I started on Deb H.'s Tilda Sampler. Here's some of the quilting going in there...

Look familiar?

It's like I've taken the pics from February

And once again. Same.

I'll be working on this all day. I did get a pic of half of Gravity yesterday while the sun was shining through the south window...

Ain't is purdy?

I love all the texture in this and I think this is going on one of the beds as soon as I can get it bound. I'm thinking black binding for it, but don't have any around the place so will need to quickly run to Pieces tomorrow to pick some up. 

I need DW for two E2E's that have been asked about. When I get back I'm hoping to get those pumped out. I'll have them loaded tomorrow sometime so they'll be ready when we get back.

Speaking of which; our trip. My toes look so nice. They match my fingers and all I have left to do is color my hair. Isn't it funny that when you look nice you feel more confident? Energetic. Productive. We have some house things to do tomorrow to prepare for departure like cleaning bathrooms, the girls' pen, watering plants, mowing, and leaving notes for the dog sitter. Just to name a few. 

Only The Second Time

I've only had a pedicure one other time in my life and this morning I'm having my second. Jim got me a gift card to the salon I go to for my manicures so I'm going to take advantage before our trip. 

Here's some of the quilting that went into Patty's autumn table runner...

Wandering leaves, swirls, and continuous curves

I worked on this piece yesterday after getting the autumn piece above completed. And got it finished!

Getting ready for fall

While I was frame ironing the back for the Halloween table runner, I loaded and started on this piece for Deb H.

Another Tilda Sampler

Thankfully I don't have to think about this one. She (too) wants it like I did Bernadettes. After getting Halloween done, I loaded this table runner...

Oh! Christmas Tree!

While I was frame ironing this back, I was working on DW (since it was well after quitting time) and was able to finally complete the Gravity quilt! There was a reason I did that in that I have two digital E2E's in queue and I need DW to work those since the customer provided the digitized design via stick. 

I have to wait for the marks to disappear (used a different pen than usual) before removing from the frame but am excited to see it fully quilted once it's removed. After looking at my blog, it was another day using all three long arms. And people ask why I need three?

All Our Bags Are Packed...

...and we're ready to go. Well, not everything is packed, but a good portion was done yesterday. That took a lot longer than I had anticipated. Not only did we pack stuff, but going through our dressers/closets we found stuff we needed to donate or recycle. 

Interestingly enough, we found a set of locks we can't find keys for and we found a set of keys we have not a clue what locks they go to. And if we throw them away, the missing pieces will surface.

Before we started packing, this announcement came through on IG and FB...

Number Seven on the way

We knew about this already, but were told to keep our mouths shut until she passed her first trimester. That was tough! So grand baby number seven is due in January!

Saturday I was getting ready for the fair trying to find a small project to take to work on. It was pouring rain and I wasn't looking forward to the trip, and then I received a phone call from our daily point person indicating all the raffle tickets were sold in the preceding days of the fair and I didn't need to make the trip up. 

But while searching for this small project to take along, I found two WIPs that needed to be dealt with. Actually, I found four but I trashed two of them because they were no longer interesting to me.

Here is WIP number one...

Another studio-themed wall hanging

I had eight of the paper pieced blocks done. Could not find the book to do another, so put a quilt-themed block in the center. I sashed and bordered it out and then put it into the "to quilt" pile. 

Next. Part of a Farmers Daughter top. Again, the book is gone, I had no interest in making more blocks, and the colors in here aren't where I gravitate toward anymore. What blocks I did have done made a nice throw once I constructed them into rows, inserted sashing, and a small border...

A nice throw-sized quilt top

Those took me until later in the afternoon to complete. So much for "working" since I decided to squirrel instead. Jim got his first batch of spicy pickles up while I was doing all of this so we were both having a ball on Saturday. 

I'll finish Patty's table runner this morning and then get the next Tilda Sampler loaded onto Marty. I don't know how much of that I'm actually going to work. Patty has a few more smaller quilts in there that I think I'm going to get off the queue list before leaving Friday. 

By The Time...

...I was completely finished with Anns quilt stuff, loaded the next back onto Marty (no imminent deadlines...yet), picked thread for the table runner of Patty's, it was already 11:30. I did get it basted in, ditched, and designed in my head before lunch.

Jim came home early due to the heat/lack of work and we headed to West Branch to get some groceries for the dog/house sitter, a few cruising things (I needed a travel pillow since I'm stuck in the middle seat) and our food for the week. It was past 7:00 before we got everything unloaded.

Needless to say, the table runner did not get finished but here's a little bit of what's going in. I'll tackle that this morning while Jim is starting his pickling season today.

We have bad lighting today due to some rain coming in

I think I need to make a bag for the travel pillow??? I don't know. 

I'm working at the fair later this afternoon, but because it's an hour away, I'll have to leave here around 12:45 to be there by 2:00. Better get to what I need to do out in the studio, huh? 

Getting Ready

Jim and I are embarking on our very first vacation since our honeymoon (40 years ago) to Alaska via Norwegian Cruise Lines a week from today. The luggage is drug out. Clothes are beginning to get picked. Paperwork is getting organized. Yep, we're so ready for this rest.

People who are our age should not be working the amount we work. And for such long periods of time. My next "rest" won't be until at least October, but probably more like November when I head to Shipshewana. 

Back to work stuff (for at least the next week). Here's one last look at Anns quilting in her Floral Felicity...

A leafy feather in the leaves 

What I call a 'prayer' set of feathers

And more feathers in the tulip

That quilt is now nearly done. I still need to bill, record, and call the customer to let her know it's all finished. Not without some issues though...

A missed seam

Fabric smudges

Seams pulling apart

I've noted all of these in her work order so we can take a look at them when she comes to get it. There was one other issue but didn't snag a pic of what it was and don't really remember the issue.

This is what I'll be working on today...

One of many table runners Patty dropped off

This looks like a nice Friday project while I'm frame ironing for the next quilt on Marty. I have some deadlines in the queue I need to take notice of so I'm not sure what I'm loading next on the big frame. And, tomorrow I'll be in Hale working at the Iosco County fair, so not much in the way of studio work. Unfortunately. 

Feeling Like a Machine

I had another customer call yesterday inquiring about the whereabouts of her quilt. I counted how many quilts I received in March. I thought it was 19 when actually it was 22. If you figure one or two per week, do the math. 

I have to make a decision. I need to talk with Andrew about this (amongst other things) to see if declining new customer business is a wise decision. I'm not sure what else to do. 

Meanwhile, here's some more quilting eye candy on Anns Floral Felicity...

Flower Power

The bottom half of the one above

Hopefully today will be the last day on this quilt, making it a full weeks work. 10 or more hours per day on it and there ya go. That's why I'm so behind; intensely quilted work. 

PT first thing this morning and the back here in time to open up the studio. I'm so ready for a vacation, yet I'm stressing about all these backlogged tops. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to enjoy myself knowing these are sitting here waiting for me to work on them all the while I'm traipsing around in Alaska.