Taking Some Time

I'm not rushing the finish on this piece. It's fun to quilt and requires a lot of self-talk to get through where the feathers need to be placed, the ruler work needs to happen, and thread changes throughout.  Here's some of the quilting detail...

Quilting Detail

Notice the selvedge ribbon in the upper corner. I'm using this to give parameters for the arcs and feather placement. 

Worked on a few Town and Country blocks...

#233 Driving School

#234 Car

The commission piece mentioned in previous posts were for a neighbors friend who comes up with her on occasion. She looked at the Town and Country top on the design wall and immediately saw the electrician block. Her (deceased) husband was an electrician and asked if I would make her a larger version of the block. 

Look Familiar?

The wind is howling out there today and I have a few afternoon appointments. I'll work on Paulette's top for a while until the lights start blinking, and some more T&C's later today upon my return home.  

Quilting in the Rain

It's not raining yet, but it will be soon. And there's nothing better than working in the studio in the rain. Or the sunshine during the winter months. Sunshine during the spring/summer/fall months mean I should be outside working on something; a flower bed to weed. Or Trim. Or a yard to mow/weed wack. Let's not open THAT can of worms.

Here's what's on the frame this morning...

Paulette's Bargello in the Round

I started getting borders in yesterday and decided to make it even more difficult than needed.  

Talk about thread changes!

Every one of those colors need a thread change. I think I walked about a mile running back and forth behind the machine to change those out. 

After working on this piece for most of the day, I did a few T&C blocks and made the binding and hanging sleeve for the commission piece. 

#232 Community Hall

#231 Tree

Long arming some more on Paulette's quilt, a few T&C blocks, and I have to run into town for a few things later today. Visiting our local S.O.S (Secretary of State aka DMV for everybody else in the world) office is one of the appointments I have so that should be super fun. 

Long Accomplishment

Carla's king is quilted. It's still on the frame and needs to be trimmed, but the quilting is complete!

After finishing at 5:01 last night, I worked a bit on the commission piece I was hired to do over the weekend, and then on to the Town and Country blocks. Two done before I finally called it.

#230 Mechanic

#229 Fence

The labels noted on all these blocks are directly from the pattern creator, The Gourmet Quilter, btw. 

Today I'll remove the king, load another (although I'm not sure who/what is up next in the queue), complete a few more T&C blocks, work further on the commission piece, and since it's supposed to be poopy outside most of the day, can assume I'll get plenty completed in here today. 

Snowing in April

After blogging yesterday, the rain we were supposed to get was actually intermittent snow/sleet showers all day. Not enough to relieve us of the current drought we're experiencing, but frozen stuff nonetheless.

Worked on Carla's king most of the day. Still haven't wrapped it up. Maybe today?

After a long day on the long arm, I made two T&C blocks...

#227 Golf Hole

#228 Golf Club

After I finished these two blocks I started working on a commission piece I was hired to make over the weekend. Jim got pretty quiet in the living room and I peeked my head around the corner to see what he was up to.

ZZZZZZZZ

I guess hanging out on the couch all day and watching videos and playing games is hard on the big guy. He was zonked out.

 

Work Weekend

Unfortunately, the work was not anywhere near the studio. The B's came up this weekend, minus Hannah and Jacob, to help us get about a dozen spring work things completed. Before they left on Saturday night, all were completed and now I feel a little better about having to deal with the yard solo this summer. 

Since the quilting was neglected all weekend, I have to hunker down and work on tops all week. I have a  few minor appointments scheduled for this week but nothing like having to head to Grand Rapids again. 

It's snowing/sleeting this morning and tomorrow it's supposed to be near 80. It's Michigan. 

Hazel was wore out by Saturday night

Winter's Back

Temps the last few days have been back to winter-like. Here's hoping all the spring flowers/fruits/trees aren't too damaged by this.

The king quilt I'm working on for Carla is going to take a few days. Here's some of the quilting detail within...

Carla's King-Size

After long arming most of the day and getting through four rows I was able to put together one Town and Country block for the new row.

#226 Golf Cart

Customers coming all morning this morning. The middle kid and the neighbors are all coming up (one is already here) for the weekend and we have a lot of yard work to deal with so I'm not entirely sure just how much work will occur in the studio for the next two days. Thankfully, it's supposed to warm back up to normal spring temps to assist in our work endeavors. 

Well...

Yesterday I started to load a king top for Carla. The batting was going to have to be cut into (2) 120" runs and then pieced together. I didn't really want to do that and it would have cost Carla a lot more money than just getting a king-sized batt in a package. 

Since we had to run to Grand Rapids again today for Jim's ankle suture removal appointment, stopped by Seven Sisters quilt shop to pick one up. And, drop off the Sisterhood block I made for the cooperative quilt they are making.

Go Green! Go White! Sisterhood block

I also picked up some off-white background fabric for a flag quilt I'll make later this fall for the next DeGroot reunion (2022). As well as a new bottle of Best Press.

Jim got his sutures out and we finally got back home around 6:15. It was a very long day on the road.

And since I didn't have batting yesterday to long arm, I worked on the Town and Country blocks and have all the light blues done. 

#225 Corner Litter Bin

#221 Topiary Tree in Barrel

#222 Archway Trellis

#221 Weeping Tree (but this one looks scared)

#224 Bird Bath

I didn't grab a pic of #223 Lily Pond for some reason.

I'll get these together tonight and then can move along to the next round of colors...a mellow yellow. 

Where it'll be after construction tonight

This is what's on the frame for first thing tomorrow morning...

Carla's King-Size for her daughter

I've started sketching in the most likely quilting I'm going to put into this. Deciding what to quilt into a quilt takes a lot of time and I was up late last night deciding. This was one of the possibilities, but changed my mind due to the thread changes that would be needed. I'll think about it some more tonight while I'm constructing my blocks.

Possible quilting

Keeping on Task

I was pretty good at keeping on task yesterday despite a quick customer stop-by hiccup. Going backwards in my day (because that's how the pics loaded for some reason...

#219 Birdhouse

#218 Tree & Cat

Carla's Dinosaur baby quilt

I had DW insert some dinosaurs into the first round of stitching and then I want back and did some messy double loops, because the dinosaurs were kind of cartoon-ish and I thought a perfect loop wouldn't look as well. 

Today I have a king to load and get started on. I haven't even looked at it to know how or what will go into it, which should prove interesting. Sometimes deciding on what to put in takes longer than the actual quilting. 

Whew I'm Outta Shape!

Since Jim's surgery, the yard work (every stinking bit of it) is now on my shoulders. Since winter is finally departing, the spring clean up needs to happen and wow, I'm sore, tired, and a bit cranky about it all. Thankfully today is a workday and I get to spend most of the day in here. 

This is what's on the frame this morning...

Jill's "Baby" quilt that kinda grew in size

DW is stitching this one out since Jill requested a simpler motif and we wanted something with stars in it. I'm doing stars and moons. 

I did get a few blocks done on the Town and Country top after coming in from daily yard work.

#214 Garden Shed and Plants

#212 Bunny and Flowers

#213 Trees

Those three above were done Saturday.

#216 Water Tank

#217 Poplars

#215 Tree

The last three were completed yesterday (Sunday). The background for the next round was also cut before calling it a night last night.

Long arming heavily today and tomorrow since Wednesday is another trip to Grand Rapids for Jim. Hopefully they'll remove the sutures this week because going back next week (once again) seems like a rather big downer. 

Small = Intensive

Sometimes a small top is just as intense as the larger tops. It depends on what is put into them. Currently on the frame...

Look Familiar?

I had two almost identical tops come in and this is the second one. I'll finish this one up today.

Here are the Town and Country blocks from yesterday...

#209 Bench with Bird

#210 Corner Trees

#211 Corner Flowers

#210 Ended the third row of the round and #211 started the last row of the round. The top and bottom will go on once the last row is completed next week (hopefully). 

While Jim and I were out and about Wednesday for his doctor appointment, I stopped by Seven Sisters Quilt Shop in Carson City and bought a spool of thread (Mettler) and a panel called "On the Go" by Moda. 

It may get done quickly (on the frame this afternoon) before the kids come up next weekend so the grandkids have something more to play with around here should the weather decide to be stupid keeping them indoors.  

Just the Blocks Ma'am

After Jims appointment on Wednesday, all I really had time for in the studio was a Town and Country block or two. We got home late.

Yesterday we determined we needed softener salt and dog food, and I needed a new pair of appliqué scissors, so off I went again spending half the day running errands. By the time I got home, filled the softener, talked to Tractor Supply about a price-match situation, made and ate lunch, it was late afternoon. No long arming again.

But more Town and Country blocks. Here's where I'm at...

#206 Potted Bush

#203 Plants for Sale

#202 Rocks and Snail

#208 Wheelbarrow

#207 Birdhouse

#205 Out House

#201 Bucket, Trowel, and Bee

#204 Fence and Flowers

For some reason the designer has put much embroidery work into this batch, taking longer than usual to finish each one. And for some reason, I failed to snag a pic of #200 Flowers, but it is complete.

No errands today, although am expecting a phone call from our neighbor. Long arming today and more T&C blocks. 

Back on the Border Soap Box

Guys, guys, guys...measure your borders. And I don't mean the width (3", 4" etc.). I mean go to a class, check on YouTube, talk to a seasoned quilt maker, and ask how to correctly measure your borders to get them on your quilt.

IF you choose to not measure them out correctly and just slap them on, this is going to happen to you once it gets to your long armer...

Not measuring your borders results in something like this

...guaranteed!

And if you butt seam them rather than diagonally seaming them it helps keep everything a little more snug. Diagonally seaming them introduces more bias and again, I find there are issues (curving) when long arming your quilt.

Here's the blocks from Town and Country completed last night...

#197 Bird Bath

#198 Dog House

#199 Apple Tree

Here's what's on the frame this morning. 

Peggy's snuggly embroidered top

It's a sunny day and we have visitors expected off and on for our 36th wedding anniversary. Don't know how much of this I'll get done today, but will try my best.