Change of Routine

Since we've been living here, my morning routine has been pretty much the same. I won't spell it all out here, but let's just say it's changed a bit. 

I'm not opposed to change, in fact, embrace it. It will just be a new way to do things and that's okay. I like new, different, better. 

Yesterday, with the wonderful help of my husband, we were able to 'construct' this background piece...

Not yet sewn together

For this pattern...

A Laura Heine pig

This is being made for my brother who turns 60 in November. He saw this pattern at the quilt store we visited in May and made a comment about the Flying Pig race he occasionally enters down where he lives. Apparently it's quite famous. 

I'm not going to sew that bunch of fabrics together either. I'm going to build and lay the pig on top and then tulle the whole thing under the long arm needle to give it all a rather "rugged" appearance. Jim's looking at me like I'm crazy and I had to assure him I knew where I was going with this. 

More work on Anns quilt today on Bernie which is pretty much my whole week. These Tilda Samplers take a LONG time to work. 

Wide Variety

I did a wide variety of quilting things yesterday. First, remove Donna's quilt from DW and get the next backing loaded and started on the frame ironing.

Oh wait, I need to wash and dry this backing for the customer before I can do that. While that was in the washer and dryer I trimmed Donna's quilt, got it billed out, and packed up. She has been called (LM). Once the backing was done drying it was loaded and started the wrinkle free process.

Meanwhile, I worked this on Bernie... 

Another Tilda Snowmen

Here's the start of what's going in here...

Just like the picture

This is how I did the quilt for Bittersweet Quilt Shop and this is what Lynette wanted.

Once the backing was done on DW this was loaded and will be worked today...

Sharon's Flower Power

This one is going to be minimally quilted, BUT there are four layers of fusible in there, so it's going to be slow going around the circles. And look at all those thread changes!

After that was basted in and threads were selected for today's work I got the binding on the baby quilt that was on Foster...

It's a quilt

Jim was very late getting home last night so I started to play with all those threads I've been saving...

Doing some playing in the sunshine 

I love/hate the time change. Love because I get a lot more sunshine in the studio for my work day. 

Here's what it finished out to...

Isn't this weird?

Can you tell it's an apple? Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I think it's fun. I did not put any batting or a back of any sort on it. It's just a "thing" right now. I'll have to think about this. 

Meanwhile, I'm probably pretty much done with anything on Foster. I'm so excited to be getting the new machine and I know his capabilities so I'm holding off doing any more of my quilts until he arrives.

I attempted to lay out the scrap quilt I'm doing with Susan Smith of Stitched by Susan, but I was having a heck of a time turning things around in my brain and couldn't seem to get stuff right on the design wall (yes, I cleared it off to work on this). Jim is going to have to help me with this one I think. My brain just doesn't work that way.

Off to enjoy another sunny (yet, colder) day in my beautiful place to create. 

Taking the Girls

We had errands to do after getting morning chores done and we took the girls with us. Something we haven't done in a while, but we weren't going to be in any one place any too long. They were so tuckered out when we got back home they were very quiet the rest of the day. They get so excited going bye-bye.

One of the stops was Pieces of Thyme to pick up some background fabric for this new project...

The newest project

After lunch and a movie or two, I headed out to the studio to read the directions for this project and started cutting the background pieces...

Backgrounds all cut

Jim was out in the workshop cutting and making shim pieces for the two north/south long arms. DW is wearing his latest "heels"...

A new set of shims

During our second movie the medium I had purchased Friday for the Girl with the Pearl Earring was applied. Here's a before and after treatment with said medium...

Before

After

Yep, just some fabric medium on those InkTense pencils brings out the life of the party.

Not sure where I'm headed today but it'll be low-keyed. 

Michigan Weather

We're supposed to have cloudy and windy weather today. Nothing about snow, yet that's what it's doing outside. Nothing earth shattering, but snow nonetheless. Wouldn't it be nice to have a well paying job telling people only half-truths?

Here's some of the quilting going into Anns QOV...

One of the 20 blocks

The border treatment

I'm going pretty light on the custom area but it's still taking some time. Many thread changes and a lot of ditching. 

I worked on the Girl with the Pearl Earring after I turned off Bernie after 5:00. Here's the second stitch out...

Now to color

I didn't think I'd get to the color last night, but I still had some time to frog around and here it is prior to doing a textile treatment on the InkTense pencils...

Prior to medium treatment

The colors will be extraordinary when I get the medium on there.  

I'll be working on Anns quilt all day today. Yesterday I had a pick up and drop off both. I had a phone call for two more tops coming in next week and a call from the Shop Hop folks to get all the information on Linda's Michigan Shop Hop quilt (that I did a while ago). It will be going into the magazine later this year, and they are giving me credit, which is very cool. And it's Friday already. Holy crap. 

Overkill

Ginny's quilt is done! I have to find a box big enough to get all three quilts in so we can ship them this weekend. These are all the pretty threads that went into her quilt in a row...

I love thread!

I'll be working on this QOV for Ann today...

Not normally a custom but...

I don't normally custom quilt a QOV because I charge a set fee for them. But this one had so much going into it I'll definitely be losing a ton of money taking the time to do the custom work. But our veterans are worth every bit of my time.

After finishing Ginny's quilt (late afternoon), and after loading the QOV, I moved on to the binding on the quilt sitting on Foster. I had to get it done. I needed the machine for another project...

And it's a finish!

I love the green binding I put into it!

I loaded the fourth Girl with the Pearl Earring next. Is this overkill?

A 15" art piece on a 12' frame

My little Janome 1600P that I use for sit-down quilting is showing its age and is causing me some grief. I stitched this out on Foster and then started doing the fill. It was time for Spartan basketball and I was getting tired. Here she is so far...

Doing the back stitching

I'll continue with her tonight since this is going to be my finished class 'model'. I have one customer coming today to pick up and should be able to make decent headway on the QOV since it won't be quilted to death, but some nice easy custom will give it some spark. 

Titles

Sometimes it's hard to pick a daily title for these posts. Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I long armed ALL day. Stopped near dark again. Worked on the Girl with the Pearl Earring stitch outs...

One of three stitched out

Two of these are actually stitched out. One more to go. Yep, that took me to about 7:30-ish. I knew if I started the third I'd be out there for another hour or more. 

Can you see any of the quilting?

Do you see it?

Probably can't because, once again, mostly just ditching is occurring in the center section blocks. The border blocks are another story as are the borders. More on this quilt for most of today. I have a few more thread changes on this pass and then I can work the border blocks, which take a very long time. 

I haven't done anything with the quilt coming off Foster yet. If I take it off I have to put something else on there and quite honestly, since we don't get along so well, I'm just not wanting to fiddle with him. The binding is made and all I have to do is trim the quilt, but there it sits. 😈

Digging Out

Jim was late getting to work this morning. Another six inches of snow last night and we still have a little coming down this morning. He said the secondary roads are a wreck so I don't think I'll have anybody wanting to come over today.

I'm closing a little early though as we have a tax appointment at 3:30 this afternoon. Have I ever voiced how much I detest this whole tax process? Bleh!

Back to quilting related stuff. Millies Dresses is done! I finished right before lunchtime. I had a quick art quilt I was hired to finish and so got that right on the machine after getting Bernadettes off...

Her dad in 3-D art form

I forgot to grab a pic before getting it into the pick-up closet; it looked much better stitched out.

I'm not sure what's going on Bernie next, but here's what's on DW for today...

Janice D.'s colorful top

Still not sure what I'm going to do with this one. She is open to me doing either E2E or custom. I really want to do some custom work but I don't know that it would enhance it that much to warrant the extra expense to her. Hmmm???

After getting that loaded I moved over to Foster to get his new back frame ironed. While working on that I got the binding into the Kaffe quilt. Isn't this cool?

Using the same thread as it was quilted with

And it's a quilt!

Cotton Cuts Mystery BOM from 2021 (I think)

Once that was done, the back was ready on Foster so this is what he's wearing now...

Haven't a clue when I made this

I already have pics of what's going in here, but I'll save those for tomorrow; I've already got enough pics in here for this posting. Happy snowy Thursday.

New Tablet

UPS pulled up yesterday while I was out watering the Mum. Hmmm???? I wasn't expecting anything. 

Then I saw the label. Eureka! The new tablet arrived for DW. I mean, why did I need a new tablet? The other one was only 12 years old for heavens sake.

Getting ready for installation

What I thought would take Jim and I hours to get installed only took about 45 minutes. The front handle bars had to be removed as did the old tablet bracket and all the wiring. Initially I put the tablet in upside down and we had to refigure everything, but my amazing man helped me get it all to rights, and after taking a quick test drive, it seems to be working well.

Except, the new tablet is taking a LONG time to power up compared to the old one. I guess if I'm doing any Pro Stitcher work I'll need to get it going sooner than usual.

Janices quilt is done...

Love all the texture!

I'm headed up to Hale, Michigan this morning to give a brief presentation on the art quilts I make and to let them decide if they want to hire me next summer for a class. I'm okay either way of their decision. 

They offered to let me stay for lunch, but I need to get back here and work and start wrapping my head around retreats. I'm going to Shipshewana after all (yay) and was on the phone all morning with folks trying to get rooming/rides/dates squared away.

I'll be working on Kathi's second quilt today; Flower Felicity. When I started ditching in yesterday on DW I felt so at peace. Working on DW is like coming home. I checked his stitch count (in case it went away with the new computer) and I'm at 98+ million. Whew. That's a lot of thread!

Every Intention

I had every intention of getting this quilt stitched out today... 

An Edge to Edge with the Pro Stitcher

But after I got it loaded and all ready to start this morning, I looked at the work order last night and discovered she requested cream (#20001) thread. This is how much cream thread I have left...

Ummm...not happening

That is not enough to quilt this piece out. By a long shot. This quilt is a super king and this amount of thread here would only do a twin-size. At best. And I need this color for the other quilt I'm working on Bernie.

An immediate thread order went in last night and hopefully it'll be here quickly. Although, they usually send through regular mail, so maybe not until next week. Drats! I'm not pulling that quilt off the frame since I had so much difficulty getting the backing all straightened out and ironed.

I'll continue on with Kathy's quilt on Bernie and when that gets finished I'll just have to stick to working on him for the next few days on something different. 

After making three new pincushions (left over jars that I could put buttons on the bottom of) I moved on to something else. 

I tried to do the first two blocks in my Bee Happy quilt. Epic fail! That interfacing stuff and I are not getting along. It looked messy and after blanket stitching the appliqué blocks, I'm still not happy with it. And the frustration level was over the top. This should be a fun hobby and getting frustrated isn't fun. I'm switching modes of adhesive. Hello Misty Fuse!

I gave it a shot. I didn't like it. I gave it another shot. Liked it even less. I'm cutting my losses to a few yards of lightweight interfacing. Which I'll just use for another project. Moving along. 

I have a new customer coming today. I don't know how much business I'll get from her since she's an art quilter and only makes small pieces. She just can't seem to get the eyes right and wants me to bring the rest of it to life. But it should be fun. I love doing art quilts!

Closed Today and Tomorrow

We are heading out of here right after lunch; the new owners have a 2:00 check-in time which, in my book, is purely stupid. Mostly everything is packed and I'm snugging up any last minute things as I think of them. 

Here's another pic of Joyces quilt as I was working on it yesterday...

The petals

This was finished as business closed last night. 

I'm going to make a detour over to Pieces of Thyme on my way over to the campgrounds to see if they have the Ink Tense pencils I'm looking for. Meanwhile, this weekend is anything but a vacation for us, so I'll have lots to tell on Monday. Happy weekend for the rest of the world. 

Packing

I started cleaning and loading the trailer up this morning. It's pretty gross out there, weather-wise, so that's about all I'm going to do for now. And honestly, I'm about as far as I can go at the moment. 

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

Diane's beautiful EPP and hand embroidered quilt

Pics of the quilting tomorrow. The other two machines are loaded as well. Here's what's on Bernie...

Joyce's Dahlia

I've done a few of these previously and she would like it quilted to death, and with the wool batt it's going to turn out beautifully. IF I get to it before leaving.

Here's what's on Foster...

Another Twirly top

If you look the blog a few days ago, you'll find a mini version of this quilt. This is a more wild and larger version and wow do I love making these! This is actually getting "piece specific" quilting in it. Don't know how much the camera will pick up on what I'm doing, but I'll try.

After long arming all day and into the early evening, I turned my attention to the pillow off of Foster. Here's the finished product, complete with a zippered back...

Not a great pic, but the idea is there

I used all my batting scraps to make the insert, so it's pretty poofy and full. Once that was finished I started on the Helen Godden alphabet blocks. I did a test run on "Z" and I'm not sure if the InkTense blocks are going to cut it. What do you think?

Using the blocks instead of the pencils

I don't own a set of the pencils, and I'm thinking, for the inside portions, I need a little more control. I haven't "washed" them down yet, so the colors will be more vibrant when I do that after the stitching out. Maybe I'll get to that tonight?

Where Does the Time Go?

Yesterday flew by. I was so darn busy it just seemed to pass like the speed of light. 

Nails, dig out quilt to hang, call Verizon, do normal chores, administrative stuff, hang quilt, quilt, lunch, quilt, dog sitter visit, quilt, customer came to pick up, grocery shopping, and then the clocks say 9:00. WOW!

Here's the quilt I dug out and hung in the new studio. It's my pride and joy as it was on and off again over the course of five years...

Town and Country

If you don't remember this quilt...it has 365 little 4" blocks, all of which are individually appliquéd. It's one of those quilts you could look at for hours and still find stuff.

While shopping, I found a really cute door mat for the new studio...

And everybody is truly welcome here!

I love the buffalo plaid!

I've already been "choring" this morning while, once again, on the phone with Verizon, but I think we got everything all settled with them (one of the kids "left the island"). 

I'm going to finish Rae's quilt today if it kills me; I only have two borders left to do. Jim is out mowing so he'll be busy for at least another hour which means I should be working too. Maybe later today/this weekend, I can play some more on Foster??? 

Holiday Moving

We have to do some moving around in here to get ready for the tree and other decorations accumulated the past 38 years. We found our tree yesterday afternoon and got it as far as into the house. Jim received a call out on a 'smells gas' so the rest had to wait until he got home. Once he returned the lights were put on but that's as far as he got. We'll finish decorating tonight. 

While he was working on outside chores yesterday morning, I colored my nutcracker and have him layered, sitting in-wait to be worked on...

Helen Godden's 2022 quilt-along piece

While he was out on his emergency call, I worked on the background for my new sewing tree pattern...

Doing it differently

All these appliqué directions say to first adhere the appliqué pieces to the background, stitch them down and THEN layer and quilt. I do it differently. 

I build the background (to include borders), mark the placements out with a Frixion pen and then quilt the background on the long arm. Afterwards I'll put the appliqué pieces down and THEN blanket stitch. 

It's like appli-quilting. The Yammy Cat and Pod Cats were done this same way. It works out better for the quilting end of things and the backing is double adhered down so gravity can't take its toll on the piece over time. 

Today, nothing (yep, you heard right) is on DW. My goal is to have the Gnomes done before anything else gets put on. I'm more likely to steer in the right direction if I'm not tempted in the other. 

Got Sidetracked Already Today

Small project Sunday: Jim just completed a puzzle with quilt blocks in it....

Puzzle by Cobble Hill

I want to create said puzzle into some type of quilt. We want to hang both of them below the "QUILT" sign heading into the studio so the quilt I want to make won't be huge. I'm not even (na uh, no way) going to try to piece something that small, so I'm going to do it artistically.

Here's the beginning of what I'm planning on doing...

Look at all those markings

I was going to thread paint the "blocks" but decided to ditch everything first, Ink-tense the blocks in their respective colors, and then, IF NEEDED, quilt each block accordingly on my sit down machine. 

Drawing and figuring all those blocks took longer than I had anticipated but it looks kinda cool. I have the "sashings" already ditched and now on to funner things in it tonight.

On the frame this morning is this top...

New Quilter; Old Problems

So, as I'm loading, I'm identifying lack of border measuring, but not to any earth shattering extreme. However, there are some things I am going to have to keep an eye on while quilting. There is NO extra backing on the sides, which makes me wonder what's going to happen when I get to the bottom despite using only about 1/2" on the top to baste in (I usually use around 2"). The back is pieced, but the center section is cotton and the borders are flannel, causing "drape" on the side sections.

A little quilt detail

I've already started working this one this morning (thus the sidetracking mentioned above) just to see where I stand with it, and to try to get it done quickly for the customer who made this for her mom...for Christmas. Ooops. I should be able to get through it today if other distractions don't present themselves. 

A Productive Day

Karen's quilt is complete but not without some thread breaks (used Omni in the top) and an issue with her last border...

This ain't right!

I had a decision to make on this. Either I could a) Modify the quilting going in to better match the situation at hand, which would make the motif wonky, or b) Just let it stitch out and keep the motif square. I opted for b. I'll have to discuss this with her when she comes to fetch the quilt later. She may have me pull the stitches and try again, or (fingers crossed) just roll with it. 

After Karen's quilt was done (she had me put E2E in it, which doesn't take nearly as long as custom), I loaded Jills top. Here's what's on the frame today...

Jills cute Gnome(s)

Jill said she wanted and E2E in here as well. But. I. Just. Can't! Too many color variations and it's going to be a wall hanging so I need to do my thing. And Jill will be fine with that because I won't charge her for the custom work I'm going to put in. 

Once I was done marking Jills borders out I had had enough of the long arm fun for the day, but continued to quilt. Only on my sit down. I'm about a 1/3 of the way through this and it's really making this little piece cute. 

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

I have a customer coming by later this afternoon to drop off, but I'll work Jills quilt most of the day before and after. And then some more Partridge work later tonight. 

Got a call from Lina M. last night and her quilt top will be here this weekend (she hopes) and so all other tops will be parked since Linda has an extremely tight deadline to meet on this one. She usually does her own quilting, but with her health situation (of late), doesn't think she should be standing at her machine for that long. I'm honored to be chosen to do one of her pieces (and honestly, a little nervous because she's a perfectionist), but all I can do is my best and hope it's okay by her standards.