Too Hot

What's with the August weather in May? I left all the windows and doors open yesterday, but this morning shut everything up around 10:00. Temps already approaching the 80's and the humidity seems to have come up a bit. Shall we even think maybe we'll get some rain? Soon?

Here's some of the quilting going into Jodie's quilt...

Wood Grain, flying geese, and piano keys

After working on Jodie's quilt most of the day, I switched to Donna's quilt in the late afternoon/early evening. It was getting too hot in the house so I decided it wasn't good for the machines and I was having a hard time gripping the handles to the long arm. Kayak time. 

Once I got back from a short (1 hour) kayak trip, I decided it was too early to call it a night. I cut and then pieced the next block in Farm Girl...

Mixing Bowl

Today will be much of the same, but when the house gets too hot, the A/C is going to be turned on rather than sweating my fanny off. 

Computer update this morning (which is why I'm blogging late).

Have you heard about the 50 States BOM? I just found out about it last night. I'm pretty interested! It started in 2022 and is going through 2026 (I think) with one block per month. Find it on Green Forest Quilts (or something like that) on YouTube. It's not too late to start and I see the originator of the BOM is using r/w/b themed fabrics. Which I have lots of, but may do in another color scheme. Research! 

Back to Work

My work alarm went off yesterday at 4:00 (per the usual) and Jim silenced it for me since he was right by it. He glanced at the screen and said I had a number of calls and texts. I haven't looked yet to check on those because my work phone died sometime last night. I haven't been on it all weekend, and it was fully charged when I put it down Friday at 4:00. I have NOTHING working in the background! Hmmm?????

Meanwhile, I did some Farm Girl Vintage II blocks over the weekend...

Mama's Apron

Milk Cow

Maple Leaf

These go together so much faster than the Pieces BOM! Working on both Bernie and DW today. And...we still need some rain. 

Happy Memorial Day

Do you know what Memorial Day is even for? You probably do, but does the younger generation? I'd be interested to know that information.

Here's what I worked on Saturday and Sunday...

Pieces of Thyme Block of the Month. Month 5.

I also made this block yesterday; a continuation of my Farm Girl Vintage II...

Mama's Applique Block is what Lori Holt named this one.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday afternoon and had my first kayak trip of the year. I headed down towards the dam despite the kind of strong head wind I was fighting against to get down there. Here's a pic I grabbed of some of the construction...

Rip Rap beginning to get dumped in front of the sea wall

There will be a lot more changes coming in the future. I'll made occasional trips down there to see how it's going.

Today I'm going to work on another Farm Girl Vintage II block. This one is called Mama's Apron.

Weekend Hours

QATL will be closed for customers today (Saturday) and Monday both. As the lady says: "Please make a note of it". 

Here's what's on DW this weekend...

Jodie's Truck/Deer top for her son

This will probably get some thread painting done. A new one for me: Double bamboo batting. 

I worked on Donna's Taylor Swift top yesterday while Jill's was stitching out. I have the first row in and it's coming along nicely.

I cut out of the next Pieces of Thyme BOM and will construct that throughout the weekend. Jim and I are heading out this morning to an association meeting and then to Menards in Mt. Pleasant for some construction research. More to come on that in the future. 

A Quick Post

Now I remember why I dislike loading the top onto the bar rather than floating a quilt. When I have to advance back and forth, I need a third hand to loosen and tighten that pole while simultaneously doing the same with the take-up and backing poles. I have to come up with a better solution.

I did research how to get wrinkles out of batting and it's basically spritzing the wrinkles and then throwing in the dryer for about five minutes. It's not going to take them completely out, but close. 

Here's what's on DW today...

Coin quilt for Jill

This is getting a honeycomb E2E on it later when I return home. The top on Bernie has the first row ditched and that's about it for now. Heading to town this morning and then over to Pieces to pick up another top for quilting. 

Revisited

When I first started quilting, I used to load the top onto a bar on the long arm. Now I just float the quilt tops and measure each end as I advance the quilt. Bernie is hard to do that with because of the way the frame is set up and configured. 

I loaded this next quilt onto Bernie with the top also loaded onto a bar...

Next up on Bernie with the quilt top loaded onto the bar

This quilt won't be worked on for a while because I have other tops with nearer deadlines. But it's loaded and I can chip away at it until I can get those others done. 

Here's some of the quilting going into Rita's 365 quilt...

The center medallion

Let's talk about packaged batting. Manufacturing, in general, tries to pack as much as they can in as little bit of packaging as they can. It's a cost thing. They don't care how the batting (or whatever) ends up in the package, just so long as it gets in there. 

The last two or three packaged battings I've received have had situations such as this...

A mild situation

A not so mild situation

Here's my question: What am I supposed to do about this? I load tonight for tomorrow, so the batting "relaxes" for the next 12+ hours. It has the weight of the top smoothing it down and the drape/gravity working to get those wrinkles out. But, these are both the day after. Now what? 

I have to work at each advance by hand smoothing, pinning, separately basting and sometimes spritzing to work through this. It takes (a lot) of extra time and becomes frustrating to me when sometimes the wrinkles just won't submit. I have read [somewhere] that putting the batting into the dryer with a damp towel will ease out the wrinkles. So, I guess we can add laundry attendant to my title. I think I need to work on finding a better solution for the problem. 

How About Flowers

I didn't have any new quilt pics to show today. So how about some flowers that are currently blooming in our yard. They're just as pretty as a quilt, right? 

Deep purple Lilac

Grape Hyacinths

Bleeding Heart

Violet Lilac

Starburst Tulip

And that's about it. Tina's quilt is done but still on the frame getting the markings removed. I'll start actually quilting Rita's quilt sometime today. The customer I was expecting to drop off yesterday is actually coming sometime this morning, as is the plumber to install the new dishwasher. At least, that's the plan when I woke up. 

Making Plans

It looks like we have the wheels just starting to creep a little forward on a possible studio addition. There's still a lot of t's to cross and i's to dot, but Jim is at the research phase of a project this big. Meanwhile, back in the current studio, I am at the half-way point on Tina's quilt. Here's a little of what's going into it...

Jim asked if these were pineapples.

I'll continue on with this today. At some point, I have two customers coming either today or other parts of this week. One to pick up and one to drop off. Actually, I have two customers who need to pick up but I haven't heard back from one of them since I called last week. 

Post Retreat

Since I had originally thought our retreat started Thursday, and I was mentally not prepared to long arm, I only loaded this on Thursday morning...

Tilda Snowmen

This is for the Bittersweet Quilt Shop and I'll start with this one first this morning since it's more time sensitive than Rita's.

I wondered then what I was going to do. I took advantage of my at-home supplies and started finishing a few UFO's. I made the binding for the McKenna Ryan wall hanging and put that on the first day of our actual retreat...

Finsihed!

I then made and stuffed the inside of the turtle. Once that was complete, I stufedf the extremities of the turtle and then put that together secondly at the retreat...

Finished

I tidied up the studio and by that time, Jim was home from work. We spent the rest of the evening with our neighbors around the campfire. 

At the actual retreat, after doing the first two projects I was either a) Making cuddle blankets for preschoolers for Rayola or b) Piecing together the Twirly quilt. 

Twirly quilt is now a top minus the borders. I'll chip away at those once I figure out what color sashing to put around the main body. I have four of six cuddle quilts done for Rayola and the retreat was so much fun. Exhausting (I slept in this morning until 8:30) but worth every bit of lost shut eye! Next retreat; October.

Messed Up

I thought our guild retreat started today. I checked last night just before we headed to bed to make sure (I always do that) and it's a good thing I did. It actually starts tomorrow. Here's what's on DW for the unforeseeable future...

Rita's 365

This is a quilt pattern that came out around 2016 by Kathryn Kerr. It was free but I'm not sure if it still is. There are 365 blocks in this quilt; one for each day of the year. I've made one of these in blues and tans back when the pattern was first released. I need to pull it out of storage to see how I quilted it and do much of the same on this one. Here's a close up shot of some of the tiny 3" blocks...

These were NOT paper pieced either!

I've started ditching this one in, but until retreat is finished, that's about all I'm going to do on it. Bunny's quilt is done and off Bernie and I'm frame ironing Tina's backing to get onto Bernie next. I'll work on that a little bit today but have some admin stuff to do around the studio before I can start long arming. I'm going to take advantage of the day I originally thought I was going to be off by taking care of neglected paperwork things. 

Quilt Retreats

Have you ever been to a quilting retreat? I feel like I need to get away from the long arms for a little bit. My mind and my body say it's time. I'm dealing with wrist and back issues (just minor so far) and my head yesterday was starting to get a little burned out. So, tomorrow I leave for a three day quilting retreat. It's actually four, but we have to head to Lansing on Sunday so I'm cutting the retreat short. 

Here's a little more detail of what went into Keri's quilt...

Love, love, love the texture these quilts get!

I had a guild meeting I should have attended last night up in Oscoda but felt like I needed to stay here and get Keri's quilt done (so I could go to retreat guilt free). It was in the evening I finally shut the machine down. I only have a little more work to go on it this morning and then it's another finish. 

I also need to prep stuff for the retreat. I'm only taking two projects to work on this time (maybe I'll stay more focused). The Cotton Cuts BOM top which needs to have those borders put in, and the twirly (Radiant Suns) top I just spent the last four days cutting out. IF (big "if" there) those don't keep me busy enough, I always have a kit I purchased at Pieces a few weeks ago to play with for Zechariah's next birthday. 

Once I get Keri's quilt off and trimmed, I'll work on Bunny's on Bernie while the backing is being frame ironed for the next top on DW. Haven't a clue what IS next, but I have a few deadlines to look at and see what direction I need to take. 

P.S. I've been told wool batting doesn't have memory. But not all wool battings are alike. The wool I provide to my customers comes off a roll. Here's what happens when you buy pre-packaged wool batting...

Yep, and there was NO smoothing this down either

This was the very top of the batting as I was preparing to load the quilt top itself. I had to pin like crazy to get these to smooth out as much as I could. The rest of the batting was just as bad on the sides and the bottom, so there was no turning it to get away from this situation. Dream [brand] batting is the best if you do have to buy pre-packaged. More lofty and much softer. This was a Hobbs and while I like their other batts, wool is not their strong suit. 

The Positive Side

 Here's some of the quilting going into Keri's quilt...

Using a finer thread

Because I'm using So Fine! instead of Glide on this piece, the quilting shows a little less. But it was the color that matches these backgrounds better and so there's that. I've hit the half-way point so should be able to get through most of it today. That's the positive side of doing the same top over and over. You know the lay of the land and just have to insert what the customer requested be put in there. 

Customer expected shortly and then our new dishwasher is supposed to be here sometime today. Don't know when it's going to be installed since we haven't heard back from our plumber, but it'll be here waiting for him. 

I'm hoping to crank on Keri's quilt today so I can head to Oscoda for a guild meeting tonight. I haven't been since last year and it would be good to see everybody again! I do have a retreat tentatively scheduled for Thursday with this same group, so if I do miss tonight, I'll see some of them there. 

Happy Monday

It's a beautiful sunny spring day out there this morning. But, we sure need some rain. We had a frost last night meaning all the plants purchased on Saturday had to be brought in last night. Jim just came home to "let them all out" for the day. 

Here's the Twirly Quilt pile accumulated yesterday ready for putting together. 

I may need some more

Jim counted 50. If I set the blocks at a 7x8 configuration I need six more. The pattern only counts for 48, but I would like to make this bigger than previously with less of a border needed. The pattern doesn't even give a border, but all the ones I've seen have put one on and it looks much better. 

Here's what's on DW this morning...

Keri's Flea Market top

We've seen this one before. I have three more sitting on the rack waiting for quilting too. Tina said there were 32 in the class, which accounts for why I'm getting so many of these. Since I've done these before, it won't take me as long to figure out what to put into it, but Keri and I came up with some specific ideas so I'm going to need to pay attention to each section as I start. 

Tomorrow is sit-and-sew/guild meeting and I really want to go. But one of my customers is coming first thing tomorrow morning so I may just end up going to the meeting in the evening. And, I really should stay here and work since I'm still pretty deep in unfinished customer tops. Ahhh...the life of a working girl.

Happy Mom's Day!

Yesterday was our actual Mothers Day day. Today, however, Jim has taken over most of the chores and given me a little reprieve. Last night, after blogging, I started in right away making freezer paper templates and cutting out for the "Twirly" quilt. It's actually called Radiant Suns, but because I don't use the color palette given, I've nicknamed it Twirly. 

Here's where I'm at this morning...

At least eight more sets to go

I can usually cut these four at a time, but I'm NOT buying any more fabrics to make this and am instead, taking all the fabrics from my stash. Sometimes I have to individually cut to get all the pieces out of that just-too-short scrap.

Planning on working on this most of today and since the weather has cooled considerably, it's comfy clothes and casual day. 

Late Blogging

Headed out first thing this morning to do some flower shopping for Mother's Day. And bonus, we have a new dishwasher coming which will be here on Tuesday. Just got home. 

Yesterday...I quilted these two quilts...

Number One

Number Two

These are identical quilts for June's twin beds in her Airstream trailer. While these were stitching out, and since they were computerized edge-to-edge motifs, I was working on Bunny's fishy quilt on Bernie.

After these were removed I started frame ironing Keri's Flea Market backing. This is still in the works but I was tired and didn't get it done last night, and as mentioned previously, we took off first thing this morning. 

I received this in the mail when we arrived home...

Love this pattern!

Yes, I've made two of these before. Somehow I've lost my original pattern. I think I loaned it out to somebody yet don't remember who to to get it back. 

Jim hates this pattern. This is one of the few patterns I would like to make more of and my old quilt shop owner had been keeping an eye for one of these for me. She delivered much to Jims displeasure. I'm so excited! 

Business Hours

I have a business. It's small. It's cozy. It makes a tiny little profit. But, it's a business. And, with the business, I have regular business hours. Why do people think that just because it's out of my home, I don't have regular business hours? If I had a brick and mortar in town, business hours would be respected. Why the difference? 

Did you know I am an Integrated Sciences Major? I find the unknown fascinating and wonder about things I don't know the answer to rather interesting. Like, why are these guys falling out of my downspout?

What the heck?

June Bugs generally borrow into the ground. Their pre-adult stage is what we commonly know as grubs. The pupae stage if you will. Knowing that, why are they coming out of my downspout? This warrants further investigation. Which we'll do when that downspout gets moved later this summer. 

This is supposed to be about quilting isn't it? Okay, why did my bobbin case decide to either not tension at all or have just too tight tension? Jason had to fix this last year, but I have a couple of replacement bobbin cases in my inventory. Thankfully. Yesterday I had to switch those out on DW. But Martha's quilt is quilted. It's still on the frame and needs to be trimmed, but that was another 11+ hour day. Jim did end up solo mowing last night because I still had quite a bit to tackle. Onward ho.

Good Neighbors

We have relatively good, no change that, great neighbors. Except one. Why is there always one? The list of ridiculous and stupid things they do over there is too long to elaborate on, but this morning he's out cutting his grass already. Which is soaking wet from the very heavy dew we received last night. And he's mowing over every stick and branch in his yard; sounds like a wood chipper rather than a lawn mower.  

Meanwhile, in the quilting studio, this is on Bernie for the unforeseeable future...

Bunny's absolutely adorable baby top

I won't be able to work on this for the next few days. Unfortunately. I have to get Martha's quilt done and get a few pressing matters done on DW first before I can even think about working on Bunny's quilt. 

Here's some thread effects I'm getting into Martha's quilt...

Giving it a 3-D look

Yesterday was an 11 hour day, and today will probably be the same. While I didn't have any customers physically visit, I had plenty of phone calls inquiring about getting tops to me. One is coming later this morning. Two more in the near future. 

It's hard to put in a long day in the studio when spring is here and going outside in the afternoon seems like more fun. We need to mow later today but Jim may have to do a solo this time around (which he doesn't mind) because I'm feeling the quilting pressure building. 

Rushing an artist (and I've said this before) is not exactly the right thing to do. But the grad/wedding quilts are coming in fast and furious and nobody seemed to plan ahead, meaning I'm going to have to work even faster and harder. But there are limits and I'm about there. I guess, from what I'm hearing around the long arm block, all of us are feeling about the same way. 

Two Out, Two In

I had two quilts leave yesterday (Marge came and got hers), and then I had two more [Flea Market] quilts come in. I'm sitting on 35 customer tops right now.

I worked Martha's farm top in between customer visits yesterday and once the second batch left, shifted over to Jodies top on Bernie. I'm about 3/4's of the way done with that and then the nice weather pulled me outside. 

What's going into Jodies quilt

 

One of the panels in the farm quilt

I'll be working primarily on Martha's top during the daytime hours today. It's so big, and there is a LOT of ditch work that needs to be done with each advance so I want to get a handle on getting that further along. 

Another nice day (weather wise) in store for us. It's great having the studio windows open and hearing all the wildlife and hubbub going on around the property; makes me feel like I'm working outdoors without all the inconvenience of the bugs bugging me. 

Large Quilt Trend

It seems like I'm getting a lot of large quilts in lately. Large queen and king-sized seem to be the norm for some reason. These take A LONG time to work; four days minimum, unless they are an E2E. I'm not complaining, just wondering why all of a sudden I'm getting these larger quilts more than any other sizes?

Here's what's on DW for the next few days...

Martha's very large farm quilt

I haven't a clue what I'm doing in here yet. It's a very busy and full of panels quilt, meaning things could get a little wonky if I'm not careful. 

I worked on Bernie yesterday while frame ironing the backing on Martha's piece, and I'm about at the half-way point on Jodies last quilt. 

I also got the three pieces worked Sunday all trimmed, and the zipper is in the belly of the turtle too. 

Two customers coming today; one to pick up and another to drop off. The neighbor has work being done to his new deck, the guy across the street is prepping for a new structure (???), and the dam work started right in early this morning. The busy-ness of spring. 

Family Visits

My brother only comes to Michigan about four times a year. This weekend was the weekend he chose to visit. We spent last night and this morning with him and my mom and so am getting a late start to my day. And...I had a customer appointment at 10:30 this morning so there was that too.

Here's a little of what I worked on in between family...

The McKenna Ryan is now quilted

And so is the turtle front and back

Once I got my little things quilted up and pulled off the frame, Jim had to help me load this one onto DW...

A unique situation

This is the second quilt for Margery, but I didn't do the quilting. She had it edge-to-edged somewhere else and had already bound the quilt. She decided later on, to make the Dresdens and then have them attached by me. 

So, I don't have any extra backing to work with, resulting in us having to pin a faux leader onto the quilt. The white clamps in front are giving me some stability on that end of the quilt and then I'll use the side clamps to get it even more stable. The Dresdens are just getting some circles put in to adhere them down and she wants the points to be free, so nothing there either. 

This one should (I'll emphasize should here) only take a day to do, but I'm already an hour and a half behind in my day. Thankfully, it's nice weather so that's making things okay. 

Just a Workin' Girl

After getting nails done, and spending some time (and money) over to Pieces, and returning phone calls, that came in during m absence, I started right in on Margery's quilt. My goal was to get it done. And I made it around 8:30 last night. Wow, was I tired!

It's still on the frame. Jim's going to need to help me get it trimmed and folded. The next quilt being loaded is already quilted. I'm attaching some 3-D Dresdens to the top of it with the long arm. A previously quilted [large] quilt is quite a feat so Jim is going to have to help with that too. 

Is it here officially? Finally? 

We are going on some errands this morning so won't be in the studio much until later today. 

The Balcony

Fisher Contracting is working on our dam (two hips and a hurray), and their work schedule seems a bit disconnected. Some days no noise is heard until later in the afternoon. Some days (like today) they start right in first thing in the morning. The noise is extremely loud today; maybe because the air is still and clean after last nights rain. But we're just in the balcony. I'd hate to be in the front row down river. 

I'm not complaining. At all! Just glad they're making progress. Still working on Margery's Carpenter Star today and this is what will follow on Bernie...

One of Jodie's last quilts

This top makes me sad. This is my customer who passed away earlier this winter from cancer. She was working on this one right up until she left the Earth. She had helpers since she was so weak; and it's an honor to be working on one of her last creations. 

Nails first thing this morning, then to Pieces to deliver Linda's quilt. And I'll have to get into any kind of mischief I can find to get into in a quilt shop. 😃

Block of the Months

Do you like BOM's? I do, but when they offer it as a "lump sum" situation, I prefer to take that option so I can work on them at my own pace. The Cotton Cuts BOM top, which was a true BOM without a lump sum option, is nearly together. I have one more set of borders to construct (there's a middle flying goose) and attach and it'll be complete. But here it is so far... 

Signoria from Cotton Cuts

By the time I get the borders attached it won't fit on the design wall, so thought I'd share it as it is now before it gets put into the "To Quilt" totes under Bernie. 

Let's talk about markings. When I make a mark on a quilt top, it's with air or water soluable products. Period. I do NOT use the heat removable products such as Frixion pens. They leave a very subtle waxy substance behind that never comes out, even after heated. I've proven this and seen it with my own use here in the studio. 

So here is Margery's quilt marked out for today...

Chalk and water removable pen

I did the marking for today last night after I finished (finally) Linda H.'s Kim Diehl quilt. It's still on the frame and I have to trim it yet, but the quilting is completed. 

So today I'll be loading another top onto Bernie and working on Margery's quilt while the Bernie back is being frame ironed. See a trend here? 

And let's talk about Bernie. He was purchased to do a few customer quilts here and there, but moreover, to get some of my own almost 50 tops done. But because I'm so busy, that's not working out like I had originally intended. So, I'm looking for a third machine.

I don't know how the studio is going to be reconfigured to accommodate this, but I've got about a year to work through it. I'm not going to stop making tops so something has to change here to make sure I continue to provide good service to customers, but not become frustrated at the growing pile of my own tops sitting down there just patiently waiting. 

Dust or Quilt?

Dusting is one of those chores I detest. Jim doesn't mind doing it so I don't have to. It's one of those age-old questions: What came first; the chicken or the egg? In my book, quilting always comes first, which is why, when customers visit, they get that "down-home" feel. 😂

I'll be working on Bernie most of today. I want to get Linda's quilt done so I can deliver it on Friday after my nail appointment. What happens when you forget what you put at the top of a quilt? You roll it back and take pics...

Can you see the quilting?

From this pic, you probably can't see the quilting. But when I blow it up on the iPad, I can see where I've been and make some drawings for further reference while working the quilt.

Three customers yesterday (one was a call I got after blogging), but only one expected today. A total of two drop-offs and two pick-ups. The weather is still hanging in there for great quilting (overcast, windy, and chilly). I love these kind of weather/quilting days!

Got Borders?

I had to run out to vote this morning so am getting a little later start. Here's what's on DW this morning...

This is a BIG Carpenters Star!

This is Margery's quilt and look at all that real estate to quilt! This is the before...

Just getting the first border in.

This is the after...

Look at all that texture!

A lot of long armers cringe when they see this many borders, especially with solids that show EVERY little bobble and mistake. I relish them!

I'll be working on this most of the morning and early afternoon. After that, I have two customers coming to drop off and pick up mid-afternoon/evening. 

I'm at the half-way point on Linda H.'s quilt on Bernie. I'll be working on that some more this evening. That is, if our north neighbors don't show up, which they are supposed to do sometime this week. It's rainy, cold, and windy out there so a great day to stay in and jam to some tunes and work.