Thank Goodness for A/C

First this spring the rain wouldn't stop. Now we can't seem to get any and are in a drought situation. It's good in one way; mosquitoes are at a minimum right now. Bad for Jims garden and all other living creatures though. But with the hot (90+ degree) days, I stay inside and work. 

Here is what was completed yesterday on the frame.

Jill's baby quilt

Hook swirls grace this cute baby quilt that some lucky little one-year old is going to receive for their birthday.

New customer quilt being loaded today. With Minky as the backing. I'm told many long armers won't work with Minky. It's very stretchy and a bit flighty with the quilting aspect. It likes to pucker and pulling it tight just makes matters worse. Finding the happy medium of stretch versus slop is the key. Wish me luck on this one.

Moving Week

Not for us...thank goodness! Mom's movers are supposed to be at her house right now. She has an offer on the lake house and spent the last night there last night. She's pretty sad about it, but excited too for her new condo in Gladwin.

So, most of Saturday was spent with her moving frames and other miscellaneous items. Things too delicate for the movers to trust. 

This was on the frame when the weekend started.

A little baby quilt for Jill

This still needs to be squared and bound today. Another baby quilt for Jill will get loaded later today. That too will need binding made and added once it's complete.

Our grandson, Elijah, was baptized yesterday. Proud parents for sure.

Baby Elijah didn't mind the ceremony

And the Northern Catalpa tree is in blossom. What a beautiful background when looking out the window where my pressing and cutting tables are.

In full bloom

Hot and sunny all week which also makes for great quilting weather since we still don't have a "lake". It continues to drop 1-2" each day and this is our fate for the unforeseeable future. I measured the amount of new "lake frontage" we now have. We were estimating around 20-25 feet; we are actually now at a little over 40 feet! Not cool!

I forgot to mention the weekend was also spent at the Pieces of Thyme sidewalk sale. A few fat quarter bundles, some background fabric, a pattern, a book, and eight panels were purchased to keep me busy during my evening sewing time. It's fun adding to the stash and to the projects pile too!

Another Day Off

The new truck needed to go in for undercoating yesterday. Mom and I spent the day shopping and eating out. What a treat.

But this was on the frame and started when I left. 

Mickey's Kaffe Feathers

Now it's quilted and just needs trimming. Mickey will probably be ecstatic to get her three quilts back that have been here for six (Ugh) weeks. 

Another little project was completed yesterday.

Emily's patriotic wallhanging

The customer asked me to bind this for her after it was quilted, and so I need to contact her too.

Accomplished

Day 2 of the quilting marathon trying to catch up from the little life tosses.

Quilted this one for Mickey yesterday.

Mickey's second quilt

I have three total from her and this is only the second one done. I feel terrible for not getting them done quicker. 

This is a new customer piece I also worked yesterday. 

Emily's little wall hanging

I still have to bind it for her, but the third project I undertook didn't work out for me to get it done before calling it a day. Jill's coin quilt came back to me for the binding she didn't have when I quilted it a few months ago, so that was completed instead.

Today I bind Emily's quilt (hopefully), I have customers coming to drop off more (two I think), and I have to load Mickey's third quilt onto the frame. I have to get her stuff done...I've had them long enough! Two additional tops were dropped off yesterday and just when I think I'm getting a handle on my work load, in comes another bunch. 

It's a good thing, but getting only one of mine done every few months is kinda not a good thing. But mine don't pay the bills and it's not like I don't have a huge inventory already. 

Progress

Finally, some studio progress. 

This quilt wasn't expected to be completed yesterday, but since Jim was canning strawberry jam, I persisted and finished this for mom. Just in time. Her new bed arrives sometime today and this will look wonderful on its top.

Look closely at the blocks in the center

I started this table topper on Sunday (or thereabouts). I needed something patriotic for the dining room table and finished this one yesterday too. It was not quilted on DW but rather my Janome 1600P; which actually does a better job then the long arm. 

Happy 4th of July...soon.

Today I have a customer quilt to load. I received a wall hanging from a new customer yesterday. I have two more regular customer tops coming in today, and another two tomorrow. Better get busy and quit messing around with my own stuff huh? 

Summertime

Even though we don't have a lake, per se, with the flood and with the state and feds having to inspect our dams, summer still brings the projects forward that are otherwise weather neglected. 

This keeps me outside much more and inside the studio much, much less. Unfortunately. 

But I'm still quilting here and there. This was completed this weekend.

Paulette's Frog Face

This is on the machine right now.

Not a good pic, but a better one will come

Using the HQ Swiss Cheese Template works out excellently on this particular section of border! Will continue to work ruler work and free motion on this piece today.

Bought a new truck on Tuesday. Traded in the yellow Jeep (Skittle) and now we can travel with more than two people in our vehicle. And...when DW needs to go down for service, I can actually take him and not have to rely on mom to want to take him downstate for me. 

Meet Rudy

Shop Example

Had to pick the brains of the AIQ Squad about a panel Pieces of Thyme wanted me to quilt for them. Decided on random circles of random sizes randomly placed throughout.

What to put in here?

Haven't written about Hazel in a while. Here's our pretty girl sporting her new summer cut. She is so much more comfortable! And since we don't have a lake for her to swim in, this will suit her better during those hot days we have already experienced. 

Aren't I pretty?

After running over to drop off the quilted panel to Pieces, yard work finished out the rest of the morning. I have the little July wall hanging I want to get onto the long arm and whip out real quick this afternoon and then I'll see where the rest of the day leads. Maybe some sashing strips onto those Bear Paw blocks? 

What is Going On?

My blog posting page looks different today. Again. This is the third "change" in to how submit in the past couple of months. Maybe they're all off with the virus thing too?

The Lona nightmare is now complete. Well, the quilting anyway. I still need to trim and invoice. 

The blocks for the bear paw top are finished too. 

All 100!

Since we had some severe storms roll through most of yesterday afternoon, long arming was not an option. Making blocks was. It was better to risk a machine that cost a few hundred dollars then one that cost way more. Sashing has to be done next on these...which I fear will take quite a while. 

Then once the storms finally passed late afternoon, and my long arming for the day was nearly complete earlier on before the storms, I was able to start my little July wall hanging. 

Then I had to prod the AIQ squad for some advice about this.

Hmmm????

I was going to get super intense with this little panel, but the back that goes with it (another panel, thus making a two sided quilt), isn't going to allow me to get all that nuts. The group suggested some random circles echoed and then filler inside. With another filler in between. I like the idea, so this is getting loaded today. 

Quilting Friends

When customers come to pick up, or drop off their quilt, it just tickles me. It's new friends who share a passion together talking about a variety of things both quilting and non-quilting related. I cherish days like yesterday when Pat and Paulette stopped by.

One of Paulette's charity quilts.

This little quilt is getting swirls and pebbles put into it. I can't believe it's a charity quilt as it is so cute and whimsical.

Today I'm reloading Lona's chain quilt to try to get it finished for her. This is the one I had to take to Lake O to finish doing the Pro Stitcher work on last Friday. Because I was renting time for the machine, I didn't finish it there but rather chose to bring it home and work on the ruler work here.

Yesterday was also a cutting and piecing day (well a little any way) for the yellow portion of the bear paw blocks. I still have to snowball the blocks and then yellow will be complete. Pink is next.

A Little Something

A very welcome and unexpected visit from the kids/grandkids over the weekend kept me on the down low...again.

BUT, was able to work this on Thursday night prior to heading off to do some stuff with mom on Friday.

Kind of a funky corner to have to deal with

And this was done yesterday.

Yep, I know. Maize and Blue and all that happiness

As you may/may not know, we are green and white in this house. It was all I could do to not stick a block "S" in there somewhere.

Going to load another one of Paulettes charity quilts this morning and maybe, just maybe later, work on another color in the Bear Paw blocks. I only have two more colors to go before I can start building the actual top.

Good Intentions

Despite all the appointments this week, I had good intentions of getting back into some sort of routine around here with the customer quilts stacking up.

And then life happened.

What's wrong with this picture?

Where's my carriage?

The internal motor sensor that drives the computerized quilting on my Pro Stitcher decided to try to burn itself out yesterday. I had a hiccup with it a few days ago, but attributed it to maybe a tied up cabling issue.

And then it happened three more times yesterday. A call to Gall (they were already closed for the day) and then one to Handi Quilter determined the problem. It's such a technical problem that Mike at Gall can't even fix it. So back to Utah the carriage goes to be fixed. Because of the virus problem, it's going to be 3-5 weeks before the carriage makes it back here.

Meanwhile, I'm only half way through Lona's quilt and had to call to give her the bad news. BUT...then I got to thinking after I called her. Friends Quilting Basket is open now and I asked if I could rent time on one of their machines to finish out at least Lona's Pro Stitcher work. "Sure," Christie said.

Tomorrow I'm heading downstate to Lake Odessa to do that. Mom's tagging along and hoping to get some antiquing done while we are there. I'm not sure if the antique place is open yet or not???

Meanwhile, I'm now trying to get a handle on a replacement carriage until the original comes back. We gave Gall back the free motion carriage when we moved up here, so Jason is trying to locate it in his warehouse. Hopefully (fingers crossed) he'll find it while Jim is downstate today getting his new implant done on his tooth.

I guess for today I'll work on my Bear Paw blocks. Here are the purples I did two days ago.

The purples

Nope

Schedule did not resume as normal. Mom closed on her condo. Brother came up from Cincinnati. More deck materials arrived. Maybe this week?

Yesterday proved to be a semi-successful studio day. I did a little long arming.

Lona's quilt for her granddaughter

And later, after two appointments, I was able to continue on with a few more Bear Paw blocks. Oh, I didn't mention that? Katie found a cool quilt on Instagram and she was able to trace the pattern back to a MSQC video. We are reversing the light/dark areas and are making a ROYGBI/VP version. Each color will be 14 or 15 in numbers to make 100 blocks total. These will be set in quadrants of four and then sashed between quadrants. Here's what I have been able to slip into my life over the last week.

Unnamed quilt top in progress, but it's the Bear Paw blocks making the top 

Today, no appointments! Maybe just a run to pick up Jim if his pickup truck is done at the shop. It went to the hospital as it was running very rough of late. Long arming and cutting more blocks for more Bear Paw blocks in my future today. Happy quilting day!!!