It's Saturday, Right?

Why am I up so early on a Saturday? 

Jim and I have to run to get our weekly groceries. He's going to be canning salsa later today and I may be working. I did work late last night getting Colleens quilt finished, but I feel like I need to work today.

Or, maybe not. I started this piece a few nights ago...

Not as easy at it looks

This is a paper pieced block, but I think the directions and how it should actually be put together are two different beasts. There are templates involved as well as the paper piecing and let me tell ya, if you're not exact in cutting out those templates, things go south in a hurry.

I'm also hoping to hop on Foster for a while so maybe the work thing will wait. I'm a girl. I have that prerogative. 

Happy Labor Day weekend. 

Nervous

Hazel, my huge golden doodle is a very nervous dog. She likes routine and especially likes music. During our power outage she knew something was wrong. She threw up, had very loose stools and was doing a lot of hiding and pacing. 

Today, now that things are back to normal, she's up on the loft bed taking a morning snooze. 

I didn't have music playing because we had to conserve the battery life on our devices. And I didn't shower. Or, make the bed. Or, do any laundry. She knew. and while this is a blog about quilting, Hazel is a huge part of the process because she comes in to give my eyes a break and to stretch and get a drink of water when she wants loves and pets. 

Here's the east side of their new pen...

Half of their new pen

And that was another change she had to deal with shortly before the power outage. I'm so attached to this dog it's kind of scary.

One customer came to pick up yesterday. I'm not expecting anyone today. Hopefully I'll get Colleens quilt finished on Bernie and then I can start on Mary's on DW. I need to make up for lost time this week and I'm starting to feel the pinch a little. 

Nails this morning and then right back here to get to work. No loafing in town today or running to Pieces. Happy Labor Day weekend. 

Make a List

I should have, on hand, a list of quilting things I can do when the electricity is down. I did get a lot of reading done, and about half of my Helen Godden A-B-C blocks are colored. Yep, that's about it. 30 hours we were without power. It came on last night around 10:30. It went off Tuesday afternoon at 4:30-ish. 

I had planned on getting Colleens quilt done before their retreat ended today, but that's not happening now. 

I did get Mary's first set of hills chalked and the bones stitched. I inquired with Linda (who is also a long armer) about what to do with the hills now. We decided to go with a top echo on every other and then something different in the offsetting hills... 

Getting the bones into the first pass

While this photo was uploading, it occurred to me to explain why we didn't have electricity. We had a nasty storm come through Tuesday afternoon with winds in the 60's and 70's. We still had electricity up until about the last two minutes of the storm, and then, blip. Off it went. Thousands are still without power this morning. 

But today is a new day. I'm catching up on the laundry, tidying up the house, and taking care of things we drug out to get through without lights (candles, matches, flashlights), and then I'll be back out in my happy place. Wow, I was starting to go through withdrawal. Do I have a quilt-related problem maybe? 😁

New Adventure

Have you ever done a whole-cloth quilt? Neither have I. Looks like I'm going to have some fun. 

Blank Canvas

I'm going to use this pic as a basis to get a stream in the meadow...

My inspiration

So, I've been asking myself since I set the first bones into the first pass. Do I just echo each hill? Or, do I give it the "Dream Big" treatment and quilt each one with an individual motif? The thing that separates the Dream Big motifs are the echos in each petal and I'm afraid if I do that with the hills here it'll look not right. 

I'm going to ponder this while I work on Colleens Quilted Witch. Which is coming along slowly. After doing customer stuff yesterday (Linda's quilt is bound and ready for pick up), I loaded the next monster onto Foster...

Leah Day BOM from 2019?

I'm not sure about the year. It may have been 2018. I know it was shortly after we moved in here, but before Bernie joined the family. I'll be working on this for some time I think. 

I did sit-down work after my foot started to protest...

Looks good from here

Ya know, while I'm quilting these, I wonder why I continue to work on this piece because I think they all turn out looking like doody. But ya know, they don't look half bad from a short distance. Maybe it's because I'm like right there in their face when I'm creating them and can see every stinking mistake? 

Nobody expected today unless Linda comes to pick up her quilt. Very hot outside so a good day to play on the boys inside. 

New Internet Provider

We've kicked Spectrum to the curb. We now have a new wireless/internet provider and I must say, things have speeded up! They are coming to relocate our Dish cable later today and that means, Jim's man cave/our new living room will be officially moved!

What a weekend. Saturday was insane. I started with Linda's quilt on DW around 8:30 a.m.. Got the motif all set up and cropped and then hit start...

The motif Linda brought over for me to stitch out

Two thread breaks, one bobbin chicken loss, and one motor error later I was taking the last stitch at 9:30-ish Saturday night. 

While DW was doing his thing, I decided to work on other projects around the studio (I think DW was jealous because every time I would neglect him for a bit I'd have a thread issue). The first project was Diane's embroidered gift blocks. Here it is all together...

Much smaller than I thought it would be

I put that away and got out the flannel Twirly blocks that were made at guild. I trimmed all those down, put those together and then put that aside. 

For Rayola

I fired up Foster and finished quilting, trimming, and then binding the quilt for Charlotte. 

Done!

Now Foster was empty so I got the Twirly quilt back out and found some backing and batting to quilt it out quickly. 

Just some loose swirls were needed

Okay, at this point, DW was still only about two-thirds of the way done and was starting to show me he was being neglected. I had to clean everything up and concentrate on what he was doing from that point on. And as long as you watch him, everything works out beautifully. Which it did. 

Linda's quilt is off the frame and the first round of binding is attached. I'll finish that this morning before doing much of anything else except loading the back for the next quilt going onto DW. 

Oh, here's the new living room too....

New living room

While I was working on DW all day Saturday, Jim got the girls' new pen nearly finished (just a latch is needed for the gate) and they are having fun exploring their new digs. Yesterday we moved the TV, the rest of the furniture and then cleaned all that up (electronics are dust magnets). What a busy weekend!

Three Long Arms

I had an emergent quilt top come in yesterday and today I'll be stitching it out. Why? Because this particular customer also asked me if I would please (please, please) bind this quilt. It's not hers but rather a fabric manufacturer sample. Tomorrow while we're watching movies, instead of eating junk food, I'll be hand binding. Here's the quilt I'll be working on today...

Quick turnaround

While this is stitching out I'll initially be keeping a careful eye on how things are progressing. I'm using a 60 weight thread in both the top and bottom and instead of my usual size 18 needle, I'm using a 16. Let's just see how in time DW really is.

Once I'm convinced he's dealing with all the new changes, I'll be trying to get the Diane blocks finished and get that into a top. I'm going to need the sewing table, where everything is currently hanging out, to attach the binding to the front of the stitched out quilt. 

I did get the first "row" done on the Quilted Witch yesterday, as well as Sandy's quilt off DW with the inclusion of trimming. Although, we need to go over that once the customer comes to pick it up in a couple of weeks because it was a hot mess when I was trimming; triangles too short in places, not square, etc. 

I also worked some more on Charlottes quilt last night. Still have the last 1/4 to go, but it's getting there. All three long arms did something yesterday. Ahhh...my passion hard at work. 

Jims going to be working on dog fence while I'm working this morning. It's time to move the girls!

Gut Instinct

Have you ever had a feeling in your tummy about not doing something? I had that yesterday morning. Something told me not to go to Grand Rapids yesterday, which was a bummer, but I heeded the warning. I stayed here instead and worked.

BUT...

I did not turn on my phone and concentrated on finishing Sandy's quilt instead. I have a lot of time sensitive quilts coming/in queue and knew I needed to get some of these "old" ones completed. 

Some of the quilting going in

It's a good thing I "forgot" to turn my phone back on because there were four messages from people. I would have been on the phone all day and would have not gotten this quilt done. As it was, it was well after 5:30 before DW was put to bed. 

This morning will be spent on the phone returning those phone calls while I'm removing Sandy's quilt. Linda was one of the callers and I know her quilts take priority; she'll probably be dropping them off later and who knows who else will be coming by.

Meanwhile...before Linda arrives, I have this one to work on on Bernie...

Wait! I've seen this before

Yep, number two of the Lori Holt Quilted Witch. They take forever to quilt, but are rather fun to do. Lots of pebbles and swirls in the background. Lots of detail in the blocks and accessories. But lots of thread changes too!

I may be working this weekend depending on how the sensitivity of Linda's quilt(s) are. I know we have a lot to do around the outside here, but Jim may be doing a solo. Happy Friday. 

Teaching

It's great to teach if you've been classically trained. Like I have. Yesterday was a great day and while I was nervous going in, I settled right back into teaching mode and had a blast. It doesn't matter what age you teach, whether it's six-year olds or 86-year olds, repetition and availability is key. Having smiles during the process and successes after the lesson is priceless!

Happy faces and lots of progress!

I didn't get home last night until nearly 9:00. It was a long but wonderful day. The weather was gorgeous and here's a view of one of Michigans great lakes...

Lake Huron in the morning

I usually only get to see this lake in the afternoon/evening hours, but the morning views are spectacular.

Two quilt tops were picked up while I was up north and after logging those in and getting them into the queue (another fall finish deadline) I'll be working on Sandy's quilt on DW. But first I have to return phone calls that came in yesterday. 

Tomorrow I'll be out of the studio too. I'm (hopefully) heading to Grand Rapids to the AQS show. I haven't been in two years and it's time to pay vendors and quilt makers a visit. 

Collections

I didn't think I would be blogging today since I did absolutely nothing in the studio yesterday; I wanted to give my foot a rest since I'll be on my feet all day Tuesday and Thursday.  

Do you collect anything? I seemingly collect long arms. 😅 But I also collect (kind of) the letter "C". I had these C's randomly scattered throughout the old studio, yet nobody seemed to notice them. At least, they never commented. Except my mom. Who thought they were stupid. 

When everything was taken down off the wall of the old studio so we could paint (including those elusive C's) I  decided not to put them back in the new studio. I knew it was because they were scattered and not really noticed and instead, yesterday, made a collage of them in our bedroom where "Stitch Happens" was removed. 

A small collection 

Cute, huh? Why the letter C? Because I love my name and it starts with C silly.

I'll be working on/finishing Elleens quilt today on Bernie and starting Sandy's on DW. I'll probably be working late since tomorrow is a bust.

Speaking of. Tomorrow I'm going to be in Oscoda ALL DAY teaching the Radiant Suns class as well as attending the monthly guild meeting. My return home won't be until well after 9:00 tomorrow night. Class starts at 10:00am meaning I have to leave here around 8:00am. I'm so excited about teaching again! I probably won't sleep worth a poop tonight! Ah, well, the fun I'm going to have will be well worth the lack of sleep. Happy Monday!

Rainy Weekend

It's been raining off and on all weekend. It's been warmer-ish so no worries about the rain. A great time for Jim to can peaches and make peach jam while I long arm.

I'm about half-way done with Elleens quilt and after working on that I moved over to the gift blocks Diane left for me. I had to make 11 basket blocks first for the filler. Then cut for the spacing/filler sections. 

Here's the first block... 

Added sashing and a filler set

I'm hoping to work on more of these today, but we have to run to town to get lunch stuff; Sundays are special lunches and Jim wants chicken n' waffles today and we get things fresh for those.

Basically A Work Day

Because I'm going to be gone the majority of next week, I'm working today. And, possibly tomorrow. I finished the 'Last Supper' quilts late yesterday afternoon. Here's the next quilt loaded onto DW...

Sandy's HUGE quilt

This one is going to be a challenge. There are untrimmed triangles running around the borders. If you look you can see them on the left, which makes it difficult to get a straight baste. Meh, I'll deal with it.

Since Charlotte's quilt was loaded I started on that after hours...

The quilt as a whole

Some of the quilting

I picked fabric and started cutting for the embroidered blocks Diane gave to me after working on Foster for a while. At 7:30 (I started in the studio around 8:30) I was done for. Sore foot and started getting tired.

While DW and Foster are loaded, this one sitting to be loaded onto Bernie is time sensitive. I believe I need to tackle that first. It's not so huge but remember, it's not the actual quilting that takes the time, it's the planning. 

Elleen's cute fall top

Life Happens

My Mac is getting dangerously slow. I know I'm living on borrowed time with it. We just switched Internet/Wifi providers and while my iPad and phone are much quicker, the Mac is showing zero improvement. In fact, it seems worse.

Not. In. The. Budget.

I didn't blog yesterday because I was off and running first thing in the morning. Got most of the chores done before I had to meet Diane at Pieces of Thyme. We both came back here and she picked up her two quilts and dropped another one off. She gifted me with an amazing embroidered set of blocks she decided she didn't like. I should be gifting her since she's the one leaving.

After we did quilt stuff, she got out her room design tools (who knew there were that many things?) and she started designing our new kitchen addition. Of course, that's way, (way, way) into the future. Other things take priority right now. 

I did work after lunch though. I did the E2E on Gail L.'s quilt and here's what DW stitched out...

Blustery Breezes

While this was stitching out I was working over on Bernie on the two Last Supper panels. Lots of thread going into each of them since they're wall hangings.

You can't see the checkered pattern in the black area...bummer!

I'll be working on these most of the day while I'm frame ironing the next back to be loaded onto DW. I should be able to finish these today though. I'm not expecting any customers and I'm not planning on going anywhere. I'll be gone enough next week. More on that later. 

The Dog Days of Summer

I've noticed our Maple tree starting to change a little in color. Our neighbors tree is doing the same thing. Summer is just starting to wind down; my grand kids start school on Monday. Where, oh where, did the summer go? 

But, I'm happy fall is approaching. It's my favorite season. And with that, I'm starting to work on all the fall quilts in the queue. 

I have three quilts I'm going to be quilting over the next few days. This one on DW will probably be done on Friday. Today I have a luncheon a ways away. The quilt on DW is a large one and will take about five or so hours to stitch out; it's getting an E2E...

Another very large quilt

I'm going to work on the two I've loaded onto Bernie this morning before I have to leave...

The Last Supper

Yep, two at once. They are getting nearly identical quilting in them, but all custom. One is a gift. I had to add to the backing on these since the piece the customer gave me was NOT square and lacked more than an inch on either side as I would have advanced. I wasn't going to fight with this situation so decided to just add to her all black backing.

A good long armer goes out of their way to make sure the quilt is finished correctly and this is just one example of that.

After working on both machines getting them loaded I moved over to the 365 sit-down piece.

Section 16

Section 17

I'm getting better at finding my rhythm with Jay and getting back into the sit-down stuff. 

I didn't do much on Sunday

We had to run into town and then had a visit with my mom. By the time we returned home it was lunch time. And the rest of the day was relax and movies. 

Here's what I'm working on on Bernie today...

Evelyn's beautiful embroidered top

Remember me mentioning last week about small being more work? Well, this is a perfect example. I worked on this little guy all day yesterday and have just reached the half-way point. Here's some of the quilting going into it...

Lots of thread going in

I debated on whether or not to quilt the blue squares. They are small and to get from one square to the next would be cumbersome. I have chosen to quilt heavily around them and then just let them pop like the butterflies are with the grid work I put behind them.

This will be most of todays work. I've decided I'm liking So Fine! thread (#401 going in here) more and more. Do I have storage room to get all their colors too? Hmmmm????? Happy Tuesday. 

Done, Done, and Well...Started

Arcadia Avenue is done!

The last of the quilting

It's all trimmed and bound! Twirly quilt is also bound since I was doing one I thought I'd do another. Charlotte's quilt is marked and ready to be loaded but I don't have a back for it. I'll get something else quick on Foster until next Thursday when I can run over to Pieces to get one for it.

We are heading into town this morning to get lunch stuff and visit my mother. We have a bowl to take back to her and I can finally pick up her carvings. Which is the "something" I'll probably put onto Foster. I want to make a skirt of sorts to place the carvings on before setting them on top of the batting/quilts-in-wait closets. 

Everybody's Free

DW and Bernie are both free of quilts. Well, actually, they do have something on them, but nothing I'm actually quilting. DW has to have Dianes quilt removed and Bernie has to have Evelyn's loaded. 

But if all goes well, today I'm working on Foster to complete Arcadia Avenue. I only have the black work to go on the sides and bottom border. We've already moved some things around the house and are hoping to hang the "Quilt" sign Jim's cousin Blair made for us. 

Nothing else planned today. I've given up asking Jim what his plans are because he never really knows much. I guess men are like that. Brenda asks Joe the same thing every morning and she hardly ever gets an affirmative answer either.

After Arcadia is done, I have to plan out the quilting on Charlotte's quilt. I'm going to grid it out before getting it on the long arm. I'll have to bind Arcadia at some point and as long as I'm binding, I'll bind the twirly quilt sitting in my bag waiting for me to do such a thing. 

Here's happiness...

What's going on here?

When I have DW in constant mode at 50% it's a constant sound. He behaves very well when I do this and so listening to him is an afterthought since I keep my hand on the quilt at all times to feel any kind of issues that may crop up. I put on my headphones, crank up the tunes, and just quilt away. I completed a rather large quilt yesterday in under four hours doing this...

Putting in an Edge to Edge design

Thank you Susan Smith for introducing me to this very versatile motif and it's now one of my go-to favs. It's cold today for August. We may not even hit 70 degrees. Isn't that weird? 

Labs and Nails

I had to have a fasting/no vitamin lab draw this morning (part of my physical from earlier this week), and from there it was a nail appointment. I'm finally back home. Not expecting anybody today (Joan already dropped off a back while I was gone).

I'll be working on Dianes pink Stack and Wack all day (it's a pretty good size). It's receiving an E2E and I'm going to drive this one. That way I can rest if I want or whatever. 

It took all day to get the rest of her first quilt done yesterday since I had a pop-in customer come and visit for a while. 

After working on The 'tis the Season quilt I moved over to Foster to work on Arcadia Avenue. No more outdoor work for me for a while. The eye is not as swollen as yesterday, but there is new swelling below the eye now; looks like I haven't slept in a week. 

After getting two octagons and a black row done, I moved over to sit-down quilting. Section 15 is done and have now started section 16...

Starting section 16

Nothing major planned for the weekend that I know of. We do have to work a little on the girls' new pen. Well, Jim will dig holes and I'll only go out to help string wire...if we even get that far. I plan on doing mostly Foster work tomorrow and then maybe it's time to start something new. Or, maybe I'll just crank out some of that sit-down work. Happy Friday. 

Bugs Bug Me

More on the bugs thing in a minute. I'm about half-way done with the 'tis the Season quilt and I'll continue on with that as best as I can given what the bugs did to me last night. 

When I was finishing Bernadettes Quilted Witch yesterday, the pumpkin I quilted didn't set well in my head. Here's the before...

I back rolled and did a modification. Here's the after...

Did some matchstick fill

Doesn't that look better?

I was working on Bernie in the afternoon and after being done for the day I was going to switch to Foster to work on Arcadia Avenue. BUT, the temps are calming down and it was a rather nice day. There are a number of outdoor chores that needed to be done, and Jim was in here canning peaches so decided to head outside to work.

Dumb idea.

After picking up doggie poo, mowing and weed whipping the pen, I moved to the privacy fence to start digging up the flowers to move them into nether regions of the yard. The area I took them from is going to be the girls' new pen; the one they are in currently was a temporary during construction. 

I got those all transplanted and then still had some daylight to work with. I grabbed the post hole diggers and tape measure to start getting their new permanent post holes dug. Jim had some pressure cooker downtime and came out to help me. We have rock hard clay and I was making very little headway. While he was doing that I grabbed a couple of buckets and headed to the lake to get water for the new transplants. 

After that was done, Jim had to head back in to work more on his peaches and I dug the last post hole on the east side by myself. I was about spent after that yet need to work more on the west end. Maybe tonight? Or maybe not. Look at what happened to my eye during all of this...

Swollen

Something bit me and it's so swollen I can only look straight ahead or down. There is no looking up. I hate bugs!

If I get the 'tis the Season finished today I'll be moving over to this one on DW...

Stack and Wack

Voting

Do you vote? I most certainly do. Last night was our local township and county vote night so not much personally in the studio completed. I am nearly done with the Quilted Witch though. Would have finished if we didn't have to go vote. And the north neighbors are/were up and we spent some time with them as well.

Once the Quilted Witch is done (about another hour-ish to go) I'll be moving over to Bernie to work on this...

Diane's 'tis the season quilt

Look familiar? She did hers exceptionally better than I did mine. Life is good isn't it?

Good, Rainy Tuesday Morning

We have a rather nice rain shower coming down but is expected to be out of here by late morning. Meanwhile, the annual physical is at 10:00 today so I'll be starting out with that this morning. Bleh.

Here's some of the quilting detail going into the Quilted Witch...

Curly Hair

A spider web

Pumpkin face

I have about a third more to go on this piece and don't know, if with this mornings appointment, I'll get this one finished today. Hopefully.

After working later last night (to make up for this morning) I had to rest my foot and worked on some sit-down quilting. I haven't been taking many pictures of all of that and I'm not really sure why. Here's some of last nights...

Section 14 or 15 (I think)

What's funny about this project is that even though it's quilted to death, once I get all the sections done and together, I'll have to still put it one the long arm to do the borders (because four of the blocks are cornerstones) as well as ditching all the actual quilted blocks. I'm not doing a traditional quilt-as-you-go assembly on these and that's why. 

Small Project Sunday

I finished two bags for customers and got caught up with my July BOM/Mystery quilt-along with SewVeryEasy. Yep, that's about all I did in the studio yesterday. 

Jim washed the dogs. 

We vegged the rest of the day after a late lunch. I think Jim and I run so fast during the week we need that downtime to recharge our batteries. Isn't it funny that when we were younger this was never a need?

I never did get a pic of the finished studio as you walk into it from the porch. Here's a visual to show what you see when coming through the door...

As you walk in

I have one customer coming later this morning to drop off three quilt tops and I'll be working Bernadettes Quilted Witch on DW all day. Happy Monday. 

Happy Place!

Jim and I are both going to be in our happy place today. He's canning...

Pickle time!

And I'm going to be on Foster all day working on Arcadia Avenue. Here's another glimpse of the quilting going in...

One of the "blocks"

Last night after working on the Quilted Witch all day, we headed to Midland to grab some new, correct shoes for me. As well as inserts and compression socks. Apparently I have developed Plantar Fasciitis in my left foot and we're hoping this will correct it. We did other errands as well, but that's not quilting. 

Once we got back I worked on Charlotte's top, which is now complete (I didn't grab a pic) and then started a few more customer bags.  

We've already did errands this morning (shower fixture, turkey burger, and milk (Meijer was out last night)) so we're hunkering inside since the temps are already stupid. 

Happy Friday Heatwave

What's with these Georgia temps and humidity this week? The lawn really needed mowing and Jim kept putting it off because it's hard on the mower to run it at these temperatures. Well, last night he broke down and did the lawn; it was looking pretty shabby. 

And it's time for him to do pickles so he won't have time this weekend to fuss with it. 

I finished the cute baby quilt on Bernie yesterday morning and moved over to start this one in the afternoon...

Bernadettes Quilted Witch by Lori Holt

I have two of these in the queue to work, each being quilted a little differently. When I researched how others quilted this piece, most everybody chose an E2E for it, but a few did exactly what I was hoping for. And, once you begin a quilt you're committed to doing that throughout the quilt.

Here's the insane amount of filler going into the negative spaces. Thankfully we are putting a bamboo batting in here so it will remain soft and pliable despite the amount of quilting going in.

Large pebbles and a swirl here and there

The blocks themselves are given about a 1/2" echo and then ditched inside. I am quilting inside the blocks if there is a big enough space (larger than 4") for me to do so. 

The "accessories" in the quilt i.e. witch, broom, pumpkin, etc. are going to get special treatments once I get there. This quilt is going to take a few days to complete because I'm insane. 

After working on DW until about 5:00, I moved over to Charlotte's quilt and attached the first white border around the rainbow blocks all the while thinking to myself how am I going to quilt this?. 

Attaching the first set of borders

It needed another "block" treatment on the top and bottom to make it rectangular shaped rather than square so I made these rainbow 4-patches. I called Jim in once he was done mowing to ask his opinion on which layout to choose...

Which one?

Since the first rainbow blocks are kind of stand along-ish we decided the top option. 

No customers expected today and we have to run to Midland this afternoon to get groceries and a new pair of shoes. This foot issue I'm having isn't going away and without my feet, I'm sunk. Hopefully we'll come up with a solution.