Change of Routine

Since we've been living here, my morning routine has been pretty much the same. I won't spell it all out here, but let's just say it's changed a bit. 

I'm not opposed to change, in fact, embrace it. It will just be a new way to do things and that's okay. I like new, different, better. 

Yesterday, with the wonderful help of my husband, we were able to 'construct' this background piece...

Not yet sewn together

For this pattern...

A Laura Heine pig

This is being made for my brother who turns 60 in November. He saw this pattern at the quilt store we visited in May and made a comment about the Flying Pig race he occasionally enters down where he lives. Apparently it's quite famous. 

I'm not going to sew that bunch of fabrics together either. I'm going to build and lay the pig on top and then tulle the whole thing under the long arm needle to give it all a rather "rugged" appearance. Jim's looking at me like I'm crazy and I had to assure him I knew where I was going with this. 

More work on Anns quilt today on Bernie which is pretty much my whole week. These Tilda Samplers take a LONG time to work. 

An Old Friend

DW is my oldest and dearest machine. He was not behaving when he came back from the shop a few months ago, but he seems to have settled in and is now working wonderfully.

While Jim was puttering around the yard, I was long arming on my old friend and we did a few more diamond shapes in the Gravity quilt...

Love the center of this one

Have to have feathers in my quilts somewhere 

Simple but effective

Prior to working on DW, I built the small zipper pouch I was talking about. This was before...

Carrying all those odds and ends in my purse in a plastic bag

And this is after...

Me and my coffee

Sorry about the sideways pic, but you get the idea.

After working most of the "regular" day hours for us both, we moseyed down to the lake to take a look at the work we need to accomplish there. We made measurements on the current permanent dock to see what boards needed to be purchased for replacing all of them. They aren't looking good. 

Jim would also like to construct a platform next to the permanent dock for resting and relaxing on. This is going to be 10'x10' and will assist in keeping us out of the direct sunlight when the day has become too much in the sunshine. It'll also make a nice place to warm up in the spring and fall in the mornings and still be able to enjoy our coming waters. 

The pontoon (when we get one) will be on the south side of the permanent dock and the platform will be on the north. More trees on the north will result in better shade during our hot summer days.

Wide Feet

I'm on my feet. A lot. So finding comfortable shoes to accommodate my very (very) wide feet is tough. I do know that Keen brand shoes fit me the best. They have excellent support and exceptional comfort. The problem is, they are expensive. Having to choose here in my shoe selection is limited. Like to four pair limited.

For a woman to have four pairs of shoes is NOT cool. I do have other shoes. I have other options (like boots or sandals), but those are very limited as well. Honestly, if I went through my shoes and took out all the ones that are uncomfortable or don't fit any more, I'd have less than 12 pair. My DIL would be appalled. Andrew said she has over a 100 pairs of shoes to choose from. 

My husband has three pairs of shoes and two pairs of sandals and calls that extravagant. What my husband doesn't understand is that woman are NOT like that. We like variety and we like to feel good about ourselves. Ignoring that is mold in the cake; it doesn't taste good going down and will affect you later in the bathroom.  

Here's some of the quilting going into Ann's quilt on Bernie...

Just like Bernadettes

Changed up the grey border, but otherwise the same

And same here too

I got a So Fine! thread chart made up somewhere in all of yesterdays stuff and did my own inventory to see what I should not order when the vendors out there have July 4th sales.

I had a new customer come yesterday morning out of the blue who was referred to me. The customer visit yesterday afternoon was very long and while I had three quilts picked up, the intake for this week was four, so I'm still sitting on over 40 jobs.

Since the visit was later in the afternoon, and after the girls left, it was almost closing time. Jim and I headed north to the West Branch Meijer and did our shopping...and other stuff. 

I'll be working on DW today and at some point, need to make a little bag to hold the odds and ends my old purse held. They are currently in a plastic snack bag which is not cool. 

Exercise

Do you exercise? I don't and the thought of it just makes my head hurt. I just stay busy and try to eat right. My physical therapist is all about eating right and moreover, exercising. She's always trying to impress on me the importance of both. Okay, I get it. It's better for you, but to spend the time away from other life/work/relaxing/fun things just isn't my cup of coffee (I don't like tea). 

Okay, enough about that. We know where I stand. I'm not going to show pics of the Tilda Sampler today (because I forgot to snag some yesterday), but I am going to show what I did after "working" all day...

This one took a LONG time to work

This one didn't take long at all and is one of my favorites

I had all the side gray work to do before I could start working the colored sections above. I've also started the medium purple section but because I'm sliding down towards the bottom, can not get it all in one roll. I'll share those later. 

Two customers coming today to pick up and I'll be continuing on with Ann's Tilda Sampler in between their visit. 

Sometimes the Back...

...looks as good as the front...

A two-sided quilt

Since that one was done (but not yet trimmed) having worked late to get today's set deadline, I'll be moving over to Ann's Tilda Sampler on Bernie...

Another Tilda Sampler

The joy of doing this one is she wants it just like I did it for Bernadette, so all I'll have to do is pull up picks of how I did it. Some of them I remember, but others are a little sketchy. 

PT right after I get done blogging and then when I get home I need to work on my web site for a bit to announce my holiday/reunion days I'll be closed. 

Trimming quilts yesterday was doable, but painful and hard. So, I'm going to stick with long arming mainly for the next few weeks but that's okay. I have plenty of them in queue (mine and customers both) to entertain me. 

Is PT Worth It?

I don't feel like we did much yesterday except take measurements and introduce some new exercises for my hand/finger. Yet, I didn't get home until 11:30.

I did get an earlier appointment tomorrow morning (7:45) so it would not screw up my whole morning. I don't relish getting up earlier than normal, but if it'll be more productive in my day, then okay.

Here's some more pics of what I'm putting into Carla's quilt...

The stars block

In and around the hearts

I love pets! I love all creatures (except maybe ticks and wasps) but to have to remove their hair from a quilt top gets very disruptive...

All. Over. This. Quilt!

After working late on Carla's quilt (to make up for the time I lost in the morning), I moved over to DW and got three more diamonds quilted out...

This one is pretty cool

I love this one!

This one turned out okay. Not my favorite.

I have all the gray work to do tonight on either side of these three diamonds, but I made pretty good headway.

One new customer expected today. I'm actually going to try to trim a quilt after I get done blogging. The wrist still isn't very flexible and I'm lacking strength in my hand, but I'll change the blade in my rotary cutter so I don't have to push down as hard and see how it goes.

Blogger is Getting Stupid

For some reason, my old blog was initially posted to this morning?! I didn't even notice because I do the same darn thing every morning when I blog. I guess Google decided to change things up today. So, here we go again.

Carla's quilt was pondered on over the weekend and again yesterday while I was working on it. I have finally settled on what is going entirely into it and the rest of it is just time. Here are a few of the blocks...

Feathers!

Hearts where I can get them

The name of the quilt is Hearts and Home and so where/whenever I can I get some hearts into it I do. 

I moved over to DW after quitting time. I have progressed through all the "old" colors worked over the weekend and am now ready to introduce some new colors in the diamonds. Because this is a medallion-type of quilt, doing the colors in one pass on the top and bottom isn't going to happen.

I have PT at 10:30 this morning in Gladwin so won't be doing any customer work until I return. I'll need to discuss with them that mid-mornings are NOT a good time.