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.

Water

Since our flood 9 months (has it only been that long?) our water quality has begun to deteriorate. Rapidly. Our softener and R/O system can't seem to keep up with the ever changing extremely low water table. And then we had a power outage two weeks ago and that seems to have really sent the softener into a tailspin. 

This is my sterling silver ring after noticing last week the rotten egg smell and the high salinity when rinsing out my mouth after brushing my teeth. 

Water issue

Culligan will be here Thursday morning.

Did not do any long arming this weekend AT ALL! Had my top draped over the machine admiring it before folding it up today to put it away until a backing is obtained.

But I did do some long arm communication with the AIQ squad via Zoom yesterday. That was fun. But we are all feeling a little neglected and shoved aside from the HQ folks. I know "the thing" has a lot to do with it, but an occasional bit of communication would be stellar.

I did do a little sewing though while Jim was called on out Saturday. Another 10 string blocks and a new layout. And since this layout pretty much calls for an 8 x 8 setting, I'm deducing the blocks number to 64 rather than the 100 originally planned. It's going to be a nice size quilt top even with the reduction since the blocks are finishing at 10 1/2". 

New string layout

I'll put them together in 4 x 4 quadrants, but these are not nearly as strict in their placement. Clearly. 

Loading a new customer quilt today. I don't know which one but there will be a pic tomorrow of who was next in line to get completed. 

Friendship

I am very fortunate to have about four or five close friends; those people you can tell just about anything to.

And I am blessed to have many other friends whom I can share quilting pitfalls and accomplishments with. Sarah McNary is one of the new AIQ friends. You can see her on the latest HQ live talking/teaching/inspiring about color theory. Which, until this week, was a yawner subject to me.

Sarah talked about the color wheel (don't yawn until you watch her video...seriously). She made one and although didn't out-and-out challenge us to make one, there was a challenge where I was concerned. Here's mine in the works yesterday.

A very fun, but very challenging project

This was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do in a while. I could go on for hours about what it took just to prep the underlayment.

Here's another project I've always wanted to tackle in my quilting world.

Double Wedding Ring Wall Hanging 

This was a class on Craftsy/Bluprint by Jackie Kunkle. I wanted to see if this was a direction I would head in with Lia and Caleb's wedding quilt. It. Is. Not. It took three days over the weekend to get a 30" wall hanging pieced and while it's beautiful, I'm just not going there for their quilt. Next option.

Work yesterday, work today and then tomorrow I hope to get some long arming started on the new Dresden a customer brought over last Wednesday.