London Fog

The fog of late has been so thick, but today it feels like London (not that I've ever been there). I still can't see down the lake and I'm blogging late this morning. 

Yesterday started out well. Very productive and I thought maybe I'd be able (if I worked late) to get Janices quilt done. But then, before my customer showed, this is what I discovered.

When Jim measured the back he found the length to only be 3 inches (total) longer than the top. He figured if we loaded the quilt the other way it would be long enough that way. He's still having a hard time turning things around in his head to make sure seams and sizes are correct. 

The back is WAY too short. Crap!

Well, now I have to find a way to fix this. 

Measure first to see how much of the sides I need to trim to get to the right length. 

Remove the whole thing from the frame.

Cut sides and piece them together to make a longer section for the missing bottom.

Add them to the whole quilt; and what a pain that is!

Reload after pressing and try to get the damn thing straight on the frame like it was previously. An almost impossible task.

It's reloaded and my customer finally showed up about 10 minutes before closing. She never left until nearly 5:00.

Since I was already in a frustrated, pissed-off state of head space, I decided to get even more frustrated with trying to rectify this awful situation. A few hours later and I had a top. 

There are supposed to be two additional small borders added onto the side. But, as a long armer, I know those small borders are more of a hinderance to quilt they they are a statement piece for the quilt top. I decided to leave them off. In all likeliness, this quilt will be cut up into a coat later at some point and I don't think those small borders (1" and 1 1/2") are even going to make a difference. 

I'm getting a later start today because, well, it's Saturday and it was a busy week. Playing with the dogs this morning was much more important than anything else I had planned.

I need to make a new table/dresser runner for the new dresser in the spare bedroom. Mom is afraid the sun is going to bleach the cherry finish so I'll appease her (when/if she ever comes over) and make something to match the quilt on the bed. 

I want to get on DW today to work on Elijah's quilt. Maybe during the football game later?

Not Sure How To Make It Clear

I've changed my hours both on Google and the web site. I had two people this morning near 9:00 texting me to ask work questions. I answered them right back but maybe being considerate or aware of others has went by the way side?

While I do eat, sleep, and breathe quilting, I like to enjoy waking up gradually. Business related items before I've even had my coffee is not cool. 

I have a customer coming today to drop off and I have another full day on Janices quilt on Marty. I got three rows done yesterday and I work tirelessly on it all day long. I have five more rows to go and since I have two more tops coming in today it won't get done until at least Monday.

Elijah's quilt is sitting on DW but  not basted in as of yet. 

Ready to begin

I wanted to concentrate on getting Jacobs pillow done. Here is his Christmas set ready for wrapping. 

Jacobs Christmas gifts

When you have seven grandchildren, the holidays have to start earlier around the house. Jim was working on our little strip project while I was working on Jacobs pillow. It takes a village. 

New Wednesday Norm

Since I am now closed on Wednesdays we have a new norm. IF the weather cooperates, we'll be in Midland in the morning, maybe lunch after but definitely grocery shopping after that since we're already in Midland. 

When I get home I may or may not long arm depending on the time. Yesterday it was nearly 4:00 before we got home so no long arming on Janices quilt. But, there was lots to do after Jim and I watched (as we are naming them) Fred and Ed across the lake attempting to build a pole barn. And, it was too nice to be inside.

First, get the binding on Jacobs quilt. 

Check that off the list

Next was picking out and making backing for Elijah's quilt. I'm frame ironing today while working. 

Getting ready to load this tonight

Once I had the back made, loaded, and started on frame ironing, I moved over to Mike and blanket stitched the pillow top. 

Top and back/binding selections

I had to decide what colors I was using for the pillow back and binding and have those all figured out. By this time it was nearly 8:00 and I was tired from the Midland activities this morning. My knee has a little twinge in it so I'll not be running any marathons today. 

We are also dealing with mom stuff. She is showing continued decline in her mental faculties and we had to put a bedroom set fire out throughout the day. Well, Jim did anyway. She's supposed to come over later on to explain what happened but we need to have a discussion with her about recent developments in her spending and thought processes. I'll be working all day until she decides to show up later. 

Noticing Things

I've mentioned before that when I'm quilting a quilt I see every stinking millimeter of the top. I inspect for tears, holes, threads, and other anomalies. Like the one below.

Blood? Food? Drink?

I'll be continuing on with Janices quilt later today but this morning is skating day and we have to get groceries while we are in Midland. 

Since I had a guild meeting last night and we didn't get home until nearly 9:00 nothing else was done in the studio other then cutting out more strips for the other project I'm working on. 

New Hours

I went into my web site yesterday to modify hours of availability with my 'retirement'. Same with Google. However, one of the two (I can't remember which one) would only let me either be closed on Friday or stay with the same hours (10-4). I wanted to reduce Friday to 10-12 since we seem to get pulled away on Friday afternoons for one reason or another. 

I opted to mark it closed and if somebody needs to come on Friday I'll make arrangements to be here. 

Meanwhile, here's some of the quilting going into Janice's quilt.

A corner

The border corner

After working I took a few minutes to cut up a bunch of strips. More on this later. 

Strips in green, white/off white, and red

I got the top together on the horse quilt and have to get a bunch of borders in next.

After getting that top where I wanted to be last night, I moved over to DW. I removed and trimmed Jacobs quilt and made the binding after that. It's not attached but ready for me to do when next available. Not tonight.

Tonight I have a QQQ meeting up in Oscoda and we have to leave here around 4:30 to get up there in time for the meeting. 

Change the Web Site

If I put a blurb in here I'll be more inclined to remember to do something later. Like changing the hours on Google and on the web site. I'll be closed on Wednesdays, remember? 

This is what I'll be working on for the next few days. 

I laid in bed last night thinking about how I'm going to quilt this, but thought it was pieced differently than what I was 'quilting' in my head. Back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile, nothing quilting or knitting yesterday. We were in Mt. Pleasant most of the afternoon and once we got home our neighbors three doors down were out to the property and we went to visit until nearly sunset. 

It doesn't feel like I got a lot done in the studio yesterday but I was busy out there all day long. At first, after running around in the morning, I started right in on Tristans potty quilt because decided it needed to be enlarged. 

One of our stops was Pieces of Thyme to find more toilet paper fabric. They were out so I made due with something I had here in the stash. 

I remembered I needed to make a baby quilt for Jims cousin due in about January/February, so I picked up three yards and a back for that.

After lunch I was animate about finishing Jacobs/QAL quilt and by nearly dusk, I called it a win. 

Block #20 (my favorite)

Block #18

Block #19

Block #17

Block #16

From there it was time to fix/finish the quilt I started with on the first day of retreat. It's still not done but at  least some of the blocks are squared and fixed. 

I'm on the phone right now with the kids in Germany so getting photos in is a challenge. I may knit later, but Jim and I are running to Mt. Pleasant to start picking up Christmas lights for the house. Every year a couple of strands burn out. 

Taking A Me Day

Technically we are supposed to be in Ohio, but because of Hazels situation right now, we postponed that trip. I had already, in my head, scheduled a day off yesterday so I 'played' in the studio working on holiday gifts for the grands. 

Here's Zechariah's set all complete. 

They call him Zecky but I spelled it like I wanted

After working all morning and most of the afternoon on his pillow (took way longer than I thought it would), I jumped on DW and worked on these three blocks.

Block 15

Block 14

Block 13

The QAL from Sam Alberts and Quilting Curve Studio is going to Jacob. I have to get this quilt done so I can get his gift(s) finished. But I did start his pillow.

We have to run to town to get some ingredients for dog food. We are making it here because Hazel is on soft foods for a few weeks. We replicate the Farmers Dog recipe in our insta-pot. I'm hoping to jump on DW to work the remaining five blocks later today. 

Not Going to Ohio

We were supposed to be leaving this morning to head down to Andrews. Tristan (our grandson) isn't feeling well, but moreover, Hazel had to have five teeth removed yesterday. She has stitches, pain meds, and is on antibiotics. Too much for the dog sitter to deal with. We had to cancel.

I'll be fussing around the studio today. Not necessarily working but, yes, working. To shorten a lengthy story, I came home with a crap load of fabric from the retreat and have filed most of it away. But I have other things to take care of. 

Here's what I accomplished in four days.

Day 4: Potty Humor

Day 4: The Quilt Room

Day 3: Ho, Ho, Ho

Day 3: Cowboy Boots

Day 2: Flower Power

My birthday was amongst the retreat happenings and Jim not only got me a long stemmed rose for the retreat table, but he got me these for the house.

Gorgeous!

From the pics above, I managed to get five tops put together. The piece I worked on the first day was not going together well. And, quite honestly, I was being lazy. I didn't trim each block as I was building them and it's not going together very well. I'm hoping to rectify that soon since all my big projects are now all together. 

Happy (Re)Birthday Smallwood Lake

This is birthday month for our family. Laura's was this past Wednesday, mine is this coming Wednesday, and Lia's is two days after mine. Smallwood Lake has returned so its re-birth has begun. We are now at our legal lake levels for the summer months and we've seen so many boats (pontoons and speed boats too) up and down the waters since Friday. 

We grabbed mom yesterday, went out to eat and then bummed around West Branch St. Vincents afterwards. 

Today I'll be busy skating and packing up for retreat so we knew we wouldn't be able to go in today to visit with her. 

She got me this WONDERFUL kit from Bittersweet Quilt Shop for my birthday.

I want to get started on it right now, but I know I have other pressing things to work on like Christmas gifts for the kids. 

I did get caught up on the Temperature Quilt blocks last night after we returned back from moms. But I couldn't start right away because my mom has a buying habit and she's been fawning all her stuff to us. We had to take care of a literal truck load last night before I could start sewing. 

Clothing, food, furniture, electronics, and birthday items all had to be taken care of. Oh mom, please stop! 😑

Retreat Dates

I'll be out of the studio all next week. Monday through Thursday (October 12-15) I'll be retreating at The Springs. Friday through Sunday (October 16-18) we should be in Ohio. That depends on this big girl. 

Not feeling the greatest

Hazel has some bad teeth and I don't know if they will just clean them or remove them. If they remove them, we won't be doing any traveling because it's not fair to the dog sitter to have to deal with her convalescence. 

I finished Lynettes quilt and hung it on DW temporarily while I was doing admin stuff for the project and look how the sun shows the detail I inserted in this.

Sometimes the back looks as nice as the front

I wanted to get on DW last night to start working on the first (second now) QAL but I knew if I didn't get this one below bound I was breaking my own "rules". I know if I don't get the binding done I'll regret it later. 

For Zechariah

This quilt is going to my youngest grandson along with a matching pillow, which I started last night instead of long arming. Today though I need to get caught up on the Temperature quilt. I am way behind on that. We also have lunch plans with mom and so I may be just cutting pieces instead of actually sewing them together. I'll take it to retreat to work on if I have to.

Have you priced poly fill lately? Holy cow, it's averaging $7/lb versus $3/lb less than five years ago. And I have six pillows to make all needing about 1.5lbs each. Yikes. Good thing I started making holiday gifts early this year so I can spread that expense out a few months. 

Out of the Box

As we get older we fall into a comfortable routine. When the routine is disrupted it's like working outside of the box or coloring outside of the lines. Remember in our younger years routine changes didn't seem as big a deal?

Today is back to the norm, but I quite like getting outside of the box. I like change. I like to mix things up. While getting back to the norm is like a favorite pair of shoes; comfortable but not quite as supportive or clean anymore, let's get those shoes really dirty! More in a bit.

Here is some of the quilting going into Lynettes quilt. 

Frosty?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Honk

The previous night I did get all the blocks done on the QAL and only had to do the border. Here are the last four blocks. 

Block 12

Block 11

Block 10

block nine

And the last big block in the Quilt Room is finished meaning it's time to get the whole thing put together.

Last block is done

I have a few hours left to go in Lynette's quilt this morning and then my day will be done. I may start in on the fifth quilt from Diane, but since it's supposed to be nice today (another pic-perf autumn day) it may be difficult to stay in the studio this afternoon. 

Yesterday was another 'norm' day, but I'm doing my skating exercises to regain the balance I've lost and adjust to my new 'older' body (which is not 16 anymore). I'm planning on sticking with my skating (re)endeavor and that's getting the shoes very dirty!

Where Was I Yesterday?

I did do quilting things both Tuesday and Wednesday, but yesterday morning I was off and running with Jim. We were doing this...

Trying to get the old boots off. The bolts/nuts were rusted on. 

My old skates received a minor overhaul. New boots, cleaned bearings, and new inserts. Here they are ready for me to pick up on Sunday...

The skates reconditioned

Here's the thing about my skating habit. I used to go whenever I could. Didn't matter the weather, temperatures (most rinks are not air conditioned), inside or outside, I loved to skate and would get on them as much as possible. I started training for speed/distance competitions and then I found out I was pregnant.

The doctor said I was not allowed on my skates. Life, moving, college, boys, moving, new careers, moving, and now age have gotten in the way along my lifes path. 

Nearly 40 years later I'm treading into a very familiar, yet oddly new experience. When ya start losing your balance (as we do as we age), skating becomes a new experience all over again. And, my skates were not done yesterday in time for me to enjoy getting on the floor. I grabbed a pair of rentals and at least played for a little while. Well, played is not correct. Trying not to fall is more like it.

But it'll come. 

Back to the quilting end of things. Tuesday was a busy day. Here is what I've been working on the past two days...

Another Tilda

And since I've been long winded this morning I'll just tell you all the blocks in the 9-Patch QAL are done. I just need to get the border in. The last block in the Quilt Room is being constructed and I've got a little less than half done on Lynette's Tilda quilt above. 

Another Visit from Mom?

After working yesterday, which btw, I have two quilts off the Bernini's and two more backs already loaded and getting frame ironed, I had to do the long work on the Quilt Room. The last set of blocks (the banner) needed to have setting blocks and top blocks added.

That section is now done

After working on the Quilt Room I headed over to DW. I spent the rest of the evening marking, and then quilting all the thin sashings and part of the border. While I was over there working I spied my Temperature quilt row hanging out and oh crap, I haven't done that in a few weeks. 

Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight.

Got a text from mom. She'll be over later this afternoon to discuss this bedroom set that's supposed to be coming over here. I believe she's having second thoughts. Which is fine by me. I don't have to rush to get the room ready (new paint). She volunteered the set. I didn't ask for it, but she knew I liked it and wanted to get something new for herself.

Mom visits about three times a year. She doesn't like dogs and we are a little below her housing expectations. She used to bitch about my grandmother tsk-ing our family home when I was growing up. Mom wasn't a great housekeeper back then. Now my mom is doing the same thing to me. Funny, huh?

I have nothing to share on what I'll be working on the machines today because each of them needs one more roll before I can load. 

The Lake is Back!

After nearly 6 1/2 years our lake is finally back. With the rain we received a few days ago, and with the runoff from tributaries and Secord Lake, our legal lake levels have returned. While it has risen a few times during the 6 1/2 year period, we knew it would dissipate in a matter of days; which it did because the gates were wide open still with construction going on. Now we are staying full until 12/1. 

I did spend a little time in the studio yesterday morning/afternoon.

Two new portable design boards

The kids went to a real Octoberfest (in Germany) on Saturday. Aren't they adorable?

In Munich on Saturday

I guess Evie was a hit and the star of the whole show. 

Today I'll be on Marty all day. I don't know if Lynettes quilt will be done today or not. There's still a couple of rolls hanging there and I usually do about a pass and a half a day. 

As Predictated

Zero time was spent in the studio yesterday except to plug in my iPad. Today I'll be out there for a bit because I miss it.

Here's why I was otherwise occupied.

Boiling the cider before packaging

Filling the press hopper

Our water is nearly at summer lake levels

Bailing out the pontoon cover

Family is everything and after talking to the mom of this motley crew (happy face) it looks like each of the kids need a new quilt for their beds. Don't know how many I'll get to before the holiday, but hey, bonus!