A Bunch of Things

Yesterday morning started out getting Jills quilt off the frame once it was quilted out. While it was stitching I managed to get half the puff quilt tied. 

The afternoon resulted in trimming Jills quilt and getting backing/batting made for the Scrap Petal top. I didn't want to rob Peter to pay Paul in the backing situation with this top so I pieced four long gray and black strips together to make one. I wanted to put wool batt into it since this is going to be one of mine, and went to the closet to fetch one.

Except I didn't have one in my inventory. WHAT? I always have a wool batt in inventory. Scrounging around the studio and upstairs under the bed resulted in JUST ENOUGH batt to piece together for this top. I loaded and basted in the back and batt and waited until Jim got home to help me load the top. It's pretty fragile with only the fabric glue holding all the petals in place.

What's on the frame this morning

Here's what transpired with my stitching...

Working out pretty well

Once again, this is being advanced with the petal stitching and then I'll have to back roll to put in the filler stitching. I don't want to do this one very heavy because I want to use it as my snuggle quilt on the couch. Thus the reason for the wool batt. Jim likes to keep the house cooler and I'm always freezing at night while we relax before bed. 

Today I'm starting to pack for my trip tomorrow to Cleveland. I CAN'T WAIT! I didn't sleep well last night because I'm so excited and I have a few other family things on my mind right now spinning around in my head. I'm a little nervous too; venturing that far out without Jim which I haven't done in a while. 

No blogging for the next four days because I'm leaving out early tomorrow morning (well...early for me) but I'll have lots to tell (I hope) about my long arming event and meeting Lauren Jackson. 

Making Up For The Lost Sunday

Yesterday was a completely productive day in here. The Cathedral quilt is complete! And I mean bound and everything. Here is a better pic of the overall effect...

Cathedral by Alison Glass...quilted by me!

Once that was done I immediately got the Puff backing and batt loaded and quilted quickly. I then set up for today and this is what's on the frame this morning...

Jills Stacked Coins/Zipper Top

It was too late in the afternoon to get this going so first thing this morning it will be started. 

The Puff/Biscuit quilt was next. I attached the backing/batting to the top and then birthed the piece. It's been whip stitched closed and while Jills top is being stitched out, will tie between the biscuits to finish it up.

After the daylight started to wane, I moved along to the Scrap Petal top. I have all the petals glued on temporarily until I can get it on the long arm. So, it's going to hang on the wall for a week or so I think. 

Scrap Petals

The pattern said to cut 64 large petals, which I did. But then upon constructing it, found it was overkill. Not one to waste my efforts, I made the large flower larger than what the pattern called for, and put the last petal falling off the flower. 

Tomorrow I start to pack to get ready for my Cleveland trip. I am SOOOO excited to be spending time with fellow long armers; people I can chat with on a professional and educational level who actually speak my language. I'm planning on coming home with a head full of information, skills, and purchasing needed notions, long arm supplies, and anything else to keep me entertained during the coming winter months.

Absolutely Zero Sunday

For the first time in a long time I didn't actually do anything in the studio yesterday. I didn't even clean the floors (which is a daily task). We spent the morning with Mike (next door) and puttering around the house, and then after lunch, were complete sponges and just watched movies all day. I can't tell you when it was the last time we did that. 

So, since I have no pics of studio progress, how about a Happy Monday pic from Hazel?

She feels the same way about Mondays as most people do I think

Long arming today on my Cathedral top, which should be finished before lunch. I have a  couple of customer quilts in there to work and I have the Scrappy Petal top to build after long arming. 

Small Project Saturday

Yesterdays schedule was better for me to work small project day. And, I had purchased the new Magic Pins from Pieces and needed a new pin cushion for their home. Here's what I came up with...

Jims grandmothers coffee cup 

 Here's another annual small project I worked on for the house...

Go Green! Go White!

I finished getting the background section done for my scrap petal garden top...

Scrap Petal Garden

And while the game was getting underway and Jim was otherwise occupied I was able to get all the petals and centers cut that are required for the new quilt...

The flower petals

Interestingly enough, I've not yet added any fusible to these. I think, to leave the piece more pliable, I'm going to just fabric glue them down to hold them in place and instead quilt them down to give them a more frayed/raw edge look. I don't like the stiff feeling with fusibles and had already forgotten about the Misty Fuse (seriously, I had them half cut out when I remembered) because I had it in my head to just temporarily glue them down since the pattern isn't so stringent and very forgivable.  

I don't think much is going to happen in the studio today. Jim and I have been running non-stop for a couple of weeks now and we need a battery recharge day. Movies this afternoon and then maybe, if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll get off the couch and do some sewing. 

A Better Pic

After finally getting on the long arm, before heading outside for the rest of the day/night, I managed to get all the colors quilted on Cathedral. Here's a much better pic of the results so far...

Quilting Detail 

We had to run errands this morning and are already back from those. Jim's going to can applesauce this morning and I'm going to long arm the filler on Cathedral and work some more on the new project: Scrap Petal Garden. I just about have all the blocks in place for the background. 

This and That

Nail appointment first thing this morning and then headed over to Pieces to see how the new building is coming along. Susan gave me a first hand tour and the place is going to be HUGE! Can't wait to help them move!

Bought a few items while there and am finally home for the day. We have sunshine now (it was raining earlier this morning) and will have to jump on the mower later once the grass has dried somewhat. Meanwhile I'll continue on with the long arming of Cathedral until then.

Here's what some of the quilting looks like in it...

A little of the quilting detail

Each blade has a color change and I'm using that color for in between and above the sections. This is an unusual quilting project in that I'll finish out the colors first and then re-roll the entire piece to get all the background filler put in.

After quilting until nearly 5:00 yesterday (was having so much fun) I finished the Puff quilt top.

Probably about the right size for Hazel

That didn't take nearly as long as I thought and would have started on the backing for it, but didn't have any pearl cotton to tie the backing on, so picked up the pearl cotton at Pieces.

I rummaged through my projects to see what I could make next. I decided on this one...

The latest project

I need 64 9" squares for the background and got all but 20 picked, pressed and cut last night before calling it around 9:00. 

Happy quilting!

Taking Advantage of the Early Autumn Rain

Having a cold, cloudy, windy, rainy day is to me, a slice of heaven. Fall is here and coming in with a vengeance. To my glee.

It gives me permission to spend the entire day in here on customer quilts and my own as well. Often, in the evening, when it's nice out, I find myself not as productive because I'm dwelling on and/or doing all that needs to be done outside. Bring on the poopy weather I say!

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

Cathedral by Alison Glass

Yep, this has been hanging out on the design wall for about a week now. I discussed the Misty Fuse fusible I put into this piece (rather than the Heat n' Bond Lite I usually use) and found it is very pliable and not as stiff as the H&B. BUT, it's not as robust either. I was finding corners starting to lift while it was hanging on the wall. 

Maybe I didn't press them down long enough, but whatever the case may be, it needs to be quilted before it all comes raining down from the design wall and separating from the background fabric. 

Angela Walters did a Midnight Quilter video on this exact pattern and I'm going to quilt it similar to how she did it. I'm not going to do the pebbling in the center as she did, and the background fabric will be filled a little less than what she put into it, but all the thread changes will occur as well as some of her echoing ideas.

After quilting the "Welcome" panel yesterday and loading this one for today's work, I continued on with the Puff/Pillow quilt. This is where I left off last night. The below pic is the layout prior to starting on the stuffing. 

It's not turning out nearly as large as I had hoped. But it's not nearly as difficult as I had envisioned either. I think maybe I'll make another one with some of the scraps I have in the dresser and make it much larger than this one. Hmmm???

Phone Issues

Isn't it funny how our smart phones are something we both love...and hate. Love them when they are all updated and new and shiny. When we can get any bit of information right at our fingertips. When we can communicate so easily with each other; family members who live so far away with a couple of clicks. Hate them when they become outdated and won't do any updates. When they start getting scratched, cracked, and when half the functions no longer work; like sound.

Mine is heading into the hate category. We have a 14.8 update and a huge 15.0 update that my phone won't accept. I've spent the entire (and I mean more than two hours) deleting photos, videos, and apps no longer relevant. I've checked my storage space. I've turned the phone off and then back on again attempting one more time to get these updates to work. It's thinking about it.

And without my phone I can't communicate with customers. Not cool! 

MJ's quilt was finished last night. I have another I'm loading right now. This is the pic I took while doing measurements and preparing to get it onto the frame. This piece will be getting an edge-to-edge design. 

Going on the frame today

 Here's what I worked on last night after trimming MJ's quilt...

Raviolis!

I've always wanted to make a puff, or sometimes called a pillow quilt. There's a long story about why and I won't get into that, but this is the start of the puff quilt I'm determined to make. There are several video's about how to make these. Two of the videos suggested making all the squares, putting them together, and then slitting the back to stuff. This method would require one to then hand stitch all those slitted seams closed, that is, if you didn't slip and possibly also snip the front fabric. 

I decided to choose the method from the Missouri Star Quilt Company (with Misty hosting) as the best method. I have two machines that are quite capable of handling bulk and weird sewing issues and she provides insight on why not to overfill the puffs and how to handle matching seams and other possible problem situations. We'll see how it goes over the next few days.

Typical cold, wet, windy fall day today. I took off all my summer jewelry this morning and broke out the turtleneck and sweatshirt. But fall is absolutely my favorite season since the bugs will eventually be gone. 

Three Tries

It took three tries to get the tension right on this top but I'm finally happy. And, DW is a lot cleaner since a little bit of the issue was his tension knob.

Looks okay from the top, but the bottom wasn't so great

Once I got everything to my standards I was off and running. It felt so good to be back on the frame after being off for (only) a week. It seemed like longer. The top is half way complete and should be finished up today. Here's a little bit of the quilting detail going in...

So pretty!

I often take pics of the corner motifs because I never seem to remember what I did at the beginning after I've rolled a few times and tucked everything under the take-up bar. 

Corner detail

I worked on the little panel quilt after shutting DW down. Jim headed into his shop to start a Christmas present for the B's and we both worked until almost dark. I think today will probably be more of the same. We have a wet, cloudy, and typical fall day out there so a GREAT day to work on projects inside. 

Back in Business

After taking a test drive with the new bobbin case, it looks like we have all systems go. 

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

ML's quilt top ready to work some custom magic

This is an Edyta Sitar design and I can't wait to get into the quilting! 

Yesterday was pretty much a bust in here after testing and making sure the new bobbin case was going to work. Our neighbors to the north are still here and we spent most of yesterday with them. We never know when they'll be up again and it was nice to enjoy our summer-like day on our deck and around their campfire watching the nearly full moon come up. 

I did get some HST's sewn and trimmed while they were eating supper and made a trimming snake out of the bits and pieces.

Scrap Snake

Long arming most of today since it's been, what, a week or more? I MISS DW! I'll work on my other top this evening since it's supposed to start raining this afternoon and will continue through most of the rest of the day/night. 

Great Day!

Look what finally showed up yesterday in the mail!

New bobbin case!

I've already played with the tension and ran a test run this morning. This bobbin needs to have the tension a  little less than the previous case, so that'll take some getting used to; a constant vigil until we relearn.

Because our mail does not arrive until later in the afternoon (if at all), I started this little top (because I found something else on the shelves). 

The Way Home

I'm not working with the actual yardage requirements and am actually going to do this through a fat quarter bundle Jim bought for me about two years ago from Pieces so mine will look a little different.

Here's the top I finished yesterday morning before starting to cut for this new project...

The United States

While I was cruising around on YouTube about a quilt a co-Handi Quilter Inspiration Squad member makes entirely on the frame (I'm very intrigued about this and need to try one) I stumbled upon the quilt our Inspiration Squad made for the Handi Quilter folks...

My blocks is right there in the bottom, right hand corner

This is a pic of a pic of a video, so it didn't come out very clear, but very cool nonetheless. 

The weather today is supposed to (probably) be our last summer-like day for the year. We seldom get near the 80's this far into September, but we are today so very little time will be spent in here this afternoon. Need to take advantage of the sun and warmth before we start getting out the turtle necks and sweatshirts.

Another Top Born

What a FUN project! I was worried about the placement of all the pieces, but once I drew a foundation circle from the center, it actually went pretty well. And that Misty Fuse fusible...a dream to work with when getting everything set it. 

Cathedral. Pattern by Alison Glass

Once again, my camera is taking less than stellar pics; this looks much better in person. I can't wait to quilt it! 

Once this was finished I found another "kind of" kit in my little retreat bin (seems like this stuff is multiplying in my studio) to work on. I've got the main body constructed and now just need to get those borders built and added on. 

Still no bobbin case in the mail. In fact, we haven't received mail since Tuesday. Our mail guy is really behind apparently. 

Packing Them Away

All the WIPs completed in 2021 are either quilted or standing at the ready, including those shown on the loft rail in yesterdays post. 11 of them were photographed, labeled, and packed into inventory.

Heading to storage

Here's the project I'm working on currently...

All the little pieces

Cathedral by Alison Glass

I used Misty Fuse on these pieces instead of the usual fusible (Heat and Bond Lite). It's supposed to be much more pliable and works without all those nasty chemicals. And since I want a raw edge finish, it worked out pretty good once I got the hang of it. It certainly was a learning curve (had to clean the iron four times). 

I think I need to invest in another silicone pressing mat because I was trying to make due with just the one I have, which is how I ran into problems. 

Adhesion of these onto the background will happen today so should be fun.

The long arm bobbin case is somewhere enroute. Our mail person isn't delivering every day and choosing to skip us about three days out of the six they deliver. Once I find out its actually in Gladwin, I'll just go pick it up from the post office maybe. 

Empty Long Arm? WHAT???

Until my new bobbin case arrives, DW is looking like this...

Not Cool

He should never (ever) be empty unless he's going in for his annual spa day. The science dork in me decided to research why his bobbin case may have decided to poop out. Here's what I discovered...

Back lash spring issue

Where the arrow is pointing appears to be the problem; a bend in his backlash spring. And the spring isn't sitting flush with the bobbin case itself causing it to give me erratic tension. But this provides me the opportunity to do some much needed cleaning and maintenance I've neglected to deal with. Like centering his foot position...

Realigning needle center

And I've thoroughly cleaned his rails, rail wheels, the bed, and the bobbin area, so when that bobbin case does show up I'm all ready to rock. 

Meanwhile, The Zoology top is finished. 

Zoology top complete

I found this in my stash for backing. I didn't have enough to do the complete back so I paired it with one of the stripes within the top and now it's ready to go onto the frame. Someday. 

Perfect backing for the Zoology top

The next project is one I've been holding on to for a while and am going to hold off sharing what I'm working on until I do some more experimenting with fusible. I've blogged enough for today so we'll just stick with this for now. 

Bobbin Case

I was having a little trouble with the bobbin case on DW yesterday. I was either receiving no tension or complete tension stoppage on my bobbin thread. I fiddled with it for a while and got it a little better, but not stellar. I cleaned it. Readjusted things. Cleaned it again and it seemed worse. 

I powered through the addresses top and completed it's quilting, but I'm not particularly happy with the tension it gave at the end. I thought I had a spare around here and have spent the morning trying to find it with no luck. 

I've fiddled with the case a little more and it's a dead duck. New bobbin case on order and it'll be here in a few days. Meanwhile, no customer quilting until I get that rectified. UGH! It's always something isn't it?

I still have the addresses quilt to bind and the Zoology top to put together so I'll work on that most of today. Here's where I left off with the Zoology blocks last night...

Zoology Blocks

I watched a Handi Quilter video last night about all the feet we have available to us (I have them all but one) and remembered how to better utilize these feet in my quilting. It's always good to get back to basics and I came up with a couching idea for this top above. I'm going to acquire some low volume yarn and couch between each of those blocks in the seam line to give it some texture. Kids love that and I think it will set this top off.

Fall Storms

I remember now why sometimes it takes me a lot longer to quilt a top up during the autumn months. We get a lot of pop up storms with high winds and lightning. This morning it's the lightning. I can't see it but can hear the thunder booming all around me. 

It's moving off to the east and they sound more southerly so I can safely turn on the long arm and get started with my day. For a little while anyway. More storms expected later this afternoon. And, a visit from mom at some point. 

After working on the addresses top (for longer than I usually do), I started pulling fabrics for the Zoology top (with Jims very helpful eye) and started putting the blocks together. Here's where I left off last night...

Zoology in Progress

My goal is to finish the addresses top and get another top loaded before the day ends on the long arm. That's entirely mom visit dependent as well as the storm frequency. 

Late Start

Getting a little bit of a late start this morning, but I'm finally here in the studio.

Didn't work on much yesterday. No long arming anyway. But I did get the fabrics filed from the three previous projects, the studio tidied up and a new project is underway. Here's where I decided to head towards before taking a totally relaxing afternoon and evening on the couch with movies and Hazel snuggles. 

A-B-C Zoology

This isn't my actual top but a Cluck, Cluck, Sews design using this particular panel. I'm going to do about the same thing with my panel which is already cut apart and on the design wall ready to make some block frames. The only difference in this one and mine is I'm running a consistent striped fabric in every other block rather than making them all different. 

I'll be working the addresses quilt on the frame all day and see how far I get on that. My stomach is rolling (big vaccine decision setting it off) and I'm probably going to end up working through lunch since it doesn't seem very interested in any food for a while. 

Quilt Detail

It astounds me how long custom work takes. Ruler use isn't fast. Here's a little detail of what's going into the addresses quilt top...

Only 29 more to do

Here's some good news; the Sew by Row top is completed. This is a portion of it as I was finishing cleaning up last night...

Sew by Row

Since Sew by Row is a top it's now time to see what may be up next. I have a few ideas and a few bins/bags to go through to see what spikes my interest. It's a mystery!

As soon as the Grass Dries

This is probably going to be one of our last summer-like days for the year. Temps in the 80's with a breeze and a nearly cloudless sky. Rain expected for the next four days so mowing needs to happen today. 

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

This is kind of a big one

It's a moving diary with houses and addresses showing where the creator has lived. It's being completely ditched and custom quilted so will take a few days to complete. After working on this for most of the day (and only completing one row of the five), I moved to Sew by Row.

All the rows are built and I spent the remainder of the night cutting for the row sashing and all the borders. Here's where I left off...

Sew by Row with all the rows built

Today I hope to do a little long arming after mowing this morning (still waiting for the dew to go away) and then starting to get this top together somewhat. It's quiet around here with all the neighbors gone which is both good, and bad. But I won't have the distractions I usually have into the evening when they are here. 

Eating Trends

In the autumn months it seems our metabolisms tell us to start eating comfort foods. I know my appetite usually increases two fold and the kinds of foods I crave are carbs and fats. Oddly, the opposite seems to be happening with both Jim and me. What's up with that? 

Here's what was on the frame yesterday afternoon...

Paulette's second QOV

I had to text Caleb to ask about the center sculpture and what it was called. The Battle of Iwo Jima thus naming the quilt after it. What our fellow soldiers have endured during war time. The loss. The sadness.

These two QOV's will be finalized today and since it's Friday, I may slip one of my own tops onto the frame to do quickly before loading for Monday. 

Not much was done on the Sew by Row because I was tackling two quilts at once with Paulettes projects. Oh, and my burger quilt is now bound as well. I figured since I was working two bindings, why not three?

Future fabric bundles

Is Normalcy Good or Bad?

Jim and I like to think of ourselves as a little not normal. But sometimes getting back to a schedule and normalcy seems right too. It's the question of the day. 

Here's what's on the frame today...

Paulette's first Quilt of Valor

This will be completed today and her second one will be loaded right behind it.

The Sew by Row is coming along fairly fast. I don't normally (see, getting out of the norm again) cut my pattern pieces all at once, but for the last two tops have somehow went in this direction. The last row won't be as quick as the previous two because there are about a million 1" squares that need to be diagonally sewn, trimmed, and pressed before even thinking about putting the block together. But here is where I'm at this morning...

Sew by Row with only one more to go

I'm sure there is sashing in between each of these rows because the rows seem to be melting together. 

And that'll be my day. Long arming first; Sew by Row behind that. And...maybe the asphalt guys will actually show up today to throw a little zinger in there. 

Change of Plans

If you didn't already know...I DO NOT run my long arm when it's storming. Particularly if high winds and lightning are present. After lunch yesterday, we had both. I was able to get the burger quilt at least done before the bad weather hit. 

Because of what turned into an all afternoon and early evening weather event, I spent the remainder of the day working on Sew by Row. Here's where I left off.

Sew by Row progress

I'll be loading another customer quilt top today after pulling burger off, while waiting for the driveway crew to get here. Which is any time after 9:00. I guess my time isn't very valuable since it's almost 10:00. 

What. A. Weekend!

 The lake, on a whole, was very quiet this weekend despite it being a holiday. With the exception of our little curve of it, which was rockin' all weekend long. Games, music, fireworks, movies, campfires, kids, dogs, and the endless food. Needless to say, I slept in today. 

And I stitched approximately zero on the long arm and very (very) little in the studio on the sewing machines. 

The company who made my sign wanted a pic of the final hanging when Jim got done with it. Here's what you would see upon your arrival here.

What you see while pulling in

Long arming the burger top this morning. They are predicting horrible storms for this afternoon (despite it being cloudless and rather mild this morning) and except for a load, I'm not sure how much more long arming I'll get done.

Working on the pincushions for the Sew by Row top and will commence with those later when (if) the storms hit like they're predicting.

All the party goers have left except three by now and I'll see them off as well.