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!

More for Reference

Sometimes I take pictures so I can refer back to them later after advancing the quilt. If a block isn't repeated often, I have a tendency to forget exactly how I quilted it above in the beginning. But, sometimes it's just because I want to capture the texture and beauty custom quilting gives us. 

This time it's for reference. The batting underneath (not my choice in batting this time) doesn't lend a lot of texture but I need pics to reference on this quilt. 

Only four of these blocks

I think there's only four of these too

Once I got done working yesterday, most of the rest of the day was spent with my DIL and granddaughter, although once she went down for the night I was able to get a Flower Power block done.

 

I have a dentist appointment first thing this morning. I'm already showered, laundry is started, beds are made, and the dogs are taken care of. Not sure what we're doing when I get home but work probably won't happen today unless Evie starts taking longer naps.

Happy Belated Flag Day

Yesterday was flag day. Do you know the significance? Look it up. The kids in Germany had family come to visit from Michigan; Jim's sister and BIL. Their daughter (Jims niece and SIL) live about two hours from our kids so they all got together on Friday.

Our newest granddaughter, Evelyn, ate it up and had a ball with all the people loving on her. Not much else to report. We had lunch with mom yesterday at Riverwalk. Yup, that was about the extent of our day. 

I'll be working on Bernie on the row by row today while Jim is getting his annual strawberries. Usually around 20 quarts to make his strawberry jams with. The whole family loves them. 

A Whirlwind of Activity...and then Not

Saturday was filled with family, food, and fun. We opened presents, ate too much, and listened to the grandkids squeal and laugh as they played throughout the house after gifts were finally all opened. We played cards, caught up on life, and even talked to Caleb and Lia in Germany for a bit. 

The house was abuzz from 9:00am to 9:30pm and we were pooped once everybody headed home. Oddly enough, neither Jim nor I had a good nights sleep afterwards. Yesterday, which is our norm anyway, was spent just chilling in the living room while listening to it rain and freeze some more while watching holiday movies.

Here are a few things I received from "Santa" this year...

ACORN! A whole gallon!

A new kit to work

That's all the quilting things I received. I'm so thankful to have family remember me during the giving season but I I love to see the faces of others that I gift/give special things do. 

Here's the B family rounded up quickly on the couch...

The B's

The A's are supposed to be up today for their Christmas (post influenza A), but after all the rain/freeze yesterday, and today we have snow/high winds, they may not make it up until tomorrow. Mom doesn't really want to venture over here in the weather today. 

I'll probably be trying to work today since I've got a customer quilt that needs to get finished on Bernie. I may also work some more on DW (Produce Section) or piecing some more on AWAT. 

Reunion Done!

The trailer is in the barn. The kitchen stuff and linens have all been washed. Inventory is complete. We are done for a year. Here's some of the kooky people we do all this for...

Still missing some from the pic, but you get the idea

This reunion wore us out. It was hot. It was humid. And it seemed like I was running more than usual for some reason. I lost a little weight but wow, it took until today for me to recharge my batteries.

And now Jim is getting us ready for our Alaskan cruise in two-ish weeks.

I did get some work done yesterday afternoon. Here's some more quilting going into Bernadettes quilt...

A Crab

Some seashells and a dead fish

A sand castle

The three pics are what long armers call "ghost" stitching meaning it's not pieced or appliquéd, but we insert objects into negative spaces, like above. 

PT first thing this morning. I have a customer coming to drop off later this morning, and I'll be working on Bernadettes quilt the rest of the day. I'm glad to be back into the studio, that's for sure! 

Don't Let the Mouse Die

The mouse on the Mac was dead this morning. I've been fighting with it all day and just finally got everybody all synced back up. I really love to blog in the morning and found my day thus far a little out of sorts.

It doesn't help that our kids (Caleb and Lia) are on a plane headed to Newark for their connecting flight to Amsterdam this evening. The cat isn't taking traveling very well. 

Jim and I were in Troy yesterday spending the day with the kids and Lia's dad and his girlfriend as well as her uncle. We had a wonderful time but alas, we had to finally say goodbye. It was hard and this morning I was pretty tearful. It's hard to long arm looking through tears.

Yesterday was our 40th wedding anniversary and the little kids didn't forget (still haven't heard from the older two, or even my own parents). These Peace Lilies smell so wonderful and were making the drive home a little less unpleasant...

Beautiful anniversary flowers

I made Julie (Tim's girlfriend) some bowl cozies as a hostess gift on Saturday...

Aren't these fun?

Here is our last pic of the kids in the states for a while.

Lia and Caleb on departure eve

But, today is a work day and I'm working on Evelyns flower quilt. I will be finishing that up by end of the "closing" time. We should hear from the kids in another hour or so to see how the first flight was, especially with kitty. They have a two hour layover in Newark before the long flight across the pond. 

Saying Good-bye

Saying good-bye is very sad. Usually. In this case, hugely. We will only see Caleb and Lia one more time before they depart for Germany in two weeks. He's stationed there for at least three years.

Such great kids!

Not sure how I took this pic, but it's cute

We are going to miss them so much. 

Subject change. Karen's quilt is through the custom work and now I've rolled back to the top and will begin the E2E maybe later today. I think we're going to move DW over to where Foster is so I need to get Karen's quilt off the frame. 

I also have to start to prepare for a class I'm taking tomorrow in Midland. I need to find one of my own quilts or purchase an old quilt from somewhere to cut up and make into a coat. I'm going to hit a few of the shops in Gladwin this morning after my nail appointment and see what I can find because cutting up one of my own quilts makes me shudder.  

If I can't find something in town, I'll hit Pieces of Thyme on my way home and see what kind of panel/backing fabric I can throw a simple E2E on. If that doesn't work, one of my own quilts is getting murdered. 

So, I have a busy day ahead and didn't sleep worth a poop last night. Well, I did sleep well actually, once I got to sleep sometime after 2:30 this morning. Note: Don't get into intense or heated discussions just before going to bed. Your brain will oft times not want to shut itself off until much later. 

Going to E.R.

Jim got a call yesterday afternoon; mom had to call an ambulance, while I was here, to come get her for a really high heart rate. She's had this before, and the meds keeping from this happening had to be D/C'd for her surgery. Needless to say, she's back on her meds and hopefully this won't happen again. After spending time in the ER and then at home with her last night she's insisting she's fine now and we could go home. 

I have nails this morning, so another trip into town. Then, at some point today, we have to run and get Thanksgiving Day fixings. Our local grocery store is too pricey to purchase all that stuff so we'll be running to Midland or West Branch later.

The quilt I'll (hopefully) be finishing today was a BOM from The Quilt Show...

More crosshatching

Crosshatching, while simple looking, is very, very time consuming. I never did get to start stitching out on DW last night because of the hospital visit. 

Jim is taking today off to hang lights and get some stuff done around here. Honestly, they don't have enough work for him and his co-worker to do anyway, so he's taking advantage of the lull.

Well, happy Friday I guess. I'll be working through the weekend since I've spent so much time away this week (and the two previous weeks). And, then we have the grandkids the weekend following the holiday. 

Unexpected Visitors

I was quilting along yesterday thinking I'd have Maggies first quilt done at the end of the day and at just about public studio closing time an SUV pulled up into the drive. This happens occasionally where retreaters from down the road come and visit the studio thinking I'm a quilt shop. Because it was 4:00 the sun was shining in my eyes as I greeted them asking, "What can I do for you ladies today?". 

It was Jims aunt and his cousin from another aunt and I recognized the aunts voice immediately. What a pleasant surprise to have them come by for a visit.

They stayed until about 6:00-ish and by then I was past working on customer quilts and moved over to Foster. I have all the black done and only have the bottom half of the colored areas to do.

Here's Maggie's first quilt...

I love these subtle colors

The thread I'm using in this is So Fine! 50 and talk about hard to see. I know there are areas I have overstitched some of the motif I'm putting into the center section, but as long as I do it more than once, then it's a design choice, right?

While the furnace ran a couple of times yesterday I worked on my acrylic sleeve for the SewEZ table and finally finished this...

A sleeve for Jay/Ellies acrylic

You're wondering why I can't long arm when the furnace is running. We knew this would be an issue when we built the studio, and honestly, once the room gets up to temp, it only runs about five minutes at a stretch. The blower for the hot air is at the bottom of the unit (if you look close you can see it behind Maggies quilt) and I don't want my machine or the customer quilt to be exposed to direct heat. I get it up out of the way when I hear the furnace "click" telling me it's going to fire in a minute or so. 

And, I don't want me to be in front of it because I'll get all warm and toasty and think the rest of the room is too cold. 

I'll be finishing Maggies quilt today, frame ironing the next back, and hopefully finish the quilt on Foster so he and DW can head down to Lansing for their PM's and timing issues. We finally received some rain today (we were very dry which, for autumn is odd) and are expecting more later this morning. Happy Friday!

Life...and Death

We were privileged to have a weekend with family starting on Friday afternoon. Life is precious and surrounding yourself with family and friends who love you is important. 

A fun lunch

Beautiful autumn day

And then Monday comes and I learn about a fellow Handi Quilter Inspiration Squad member who passed away last night. That's two from our small group in five years. Both from cancer. Both too young!

Wrap yourself around splendors and good things. Cherish each and every moment. Be thankful every morning when you awake somebody isn't hurting because you have left this earth. Overlook the small things and embrace them instead. 

RIP Scott Hayes for you shall be missed dearly. 

Ever Wonder?

I am thankful every day for the life I have. I'm truly blessed to have the greatest family and friends...

Missing Andrew who had to take care of his kids

This is Calebs military commissioning which occurred on Friday. 

I was able to give Caleb his first salute as an officer...

That was a pretty moving moment for me

Thursday we were here...

Lia's Masters hooding

Lia and Caleb are now both Masters recipients and the weekend rounded up heading to Lansing again for Zechariah's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. 

Okay, so Sunday the girls needed baths and after that I HAD to sew something. Since I was sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, and you see what we were doing Thursday-Saturday, Sunday was spent intermittently sewing stuff. I finished the Cabin quilt (didn't get a pic), got the binding put on this little piece...

Ready to head to the new studio when needed

And I'm working on getting the blanket stitching around the Welcome piece for our RV. Sewing machine is hanging out in the back room while I'll be working on that for the next few days. 

So, now it's back to our regularly scheduled programming. Expecting a customer drop off later today. I'll be on DW working on Pat's braided quilt, and getting Dianes quilt off Bernie and another loaded. Wow do I miss long arming; I can't wait to finish the house chores and fire up the big machine!

Not Much To Share

I started my fourth set of blocks for the Pieces BOM on Saturday. I never did get back to it yesterday. We visited mom in the morning and then unwound the remainder of the day in front of the TV watching movies. It wasn't a very nice day out and we needed to decompress. Well, Jim did at least. I can't even tell you how many naps he took, but after the emotional and then drama filled week he endured, he probably needed it. 

Here's the entire "B" family together at Zechariahs first birthday party. 

Good looking family!

Lots of construction in and around the neighborhood today, so lots of drills, banging, and sawing. It sounds like the "lake" is waking up from its winters nap. 

Written in Sand

Thankfully, goals are written in sand and not in stone. My goal of getting Joyce's quilt done yesterday fell short. I hustled my hind end off to try to get it done and yet...I'm still a few hours away from finishing. Today will be the day as I have to get it in sent down to her ASAP. 

It's a snowy and very cold (in the 20's) morning. How is it I was in capri pants and short sleeved shirts just a week ago? Granted, I was still in Indiana, but Jim said it was just as warm up here while I was gone. 

A frozen Quilting at the Lake

I love this pic. It's the winter version of my logo.

And I have to get a little personal because I'm a proud mom. Here's a pic of Caleb and Lia (son and DIL) at the Military Ball on Veterans Day week last week. 

Even Sparty got into the act

Nails this morning. I have to run over to Pieces right afterwards and then I have a customer coming to drop off a top. I'll be finishing Joyces quilt in the afternoon/evening and maybe get a little more quilting on Bernadettes top in before calling it a day. 

A Little Diversion

Tina's quilt was completed early last evening (the girls were being uncooperative in the afternoon yesterday). I have to get this turtle quilted as we have a (tentative) baby shower coming up in the next couple of weeks. And there's still a LOT to do on this after the quilting.  

This is a turtle?

I'm going to finish this out this morning. Get the back on and quilt it zippy fast and then get the next "needs yesterday" top on (Pat's t-shirt top). Hopefully, all before lunch. I have a feeling that may be a stretch. But goals are set in sand aren't they?

Had some not-so-good news delivered yesterday. Jim's Great Aunt Lil passed away in her sleep night before last. She was 105. Looks like we'll be attending a funeral soon. Thankfully, we have a wonderful dog sitter, who during circumstances like this one, is willing to make room for the girls in a pinch. And...she's a quilter! 

Aren't most quilters just the best?

Summer?

How is it that we were snowing last week and this morning, before 10:00, I have all the windows open because it's so nice out?

The birds sure are loving the warm temps as they are just singing away out there. Or maybe they were before but I couldn't hear them because the windows weren't open.

I received a package from my youngest son and his wife yesterday. Three fat quarter bundles, a Kaffe jelly roll, and the cute lumberjack pattern. What a GREAT and WONDERFUL Mom's Day gift! 

All the way from Washington State

Here's what's on the frame today...

Paulette's Winter Panel

Okay...we just left this season. It's hard to quilt on something we just left behind for at least a little while. But I love winter so it'll be okay.

A Day on the Road

First stop was here...

DW's First Home

Jason was wonderful about listening to all of DW's little "problems" that have cropped up in the past 16 months. They'll take good care of all of them and I'll be able to run down to get him (hopefully) on Thursday. 

From there, Bed, Bath, and Beyond to do a Christmas Exchange. From there I met Katie at Cheddars on West Saginaw for some lunch. We have such a fun time together. I hated to go, but still had a few more stops to make...and it was already past 1:00.

The next stop was the B's house to drop off meat and jam/jelly. We had a nice (albeit quick) visit and I promised the grandkids I'd stay longer when I came back down later in the week. There were ugly black clouds looming in the north and I wanted to make sure I didn't get myself stuck.

Final stop was Country Stitches. I wanted to take a not-hovering-over-you look at the Bernina Q24 long arm machine (because both Gall and CS sell them). Once I did that, as well as a little shopping, I headed for home. 

I did manage, once replaying our days to each other, to get two pineapple blocks done before running out of steam. And I had a raging headache. Probably due to the stress of getting the machine down, the driving in not so great road conditions, and not getting much sleep the night before. 

I plan on working on the pineapples some more today as well as the remaining ditch stitching on the puzzle wall hanging. I was also thinking that I would start taking pics of the customer quilts I have in queue and planning the quilting on those. That way, when they hit the frame, I'll already have a plan laid and the quilting will go quicker since I'm losing nearly a week of productivity. And the planning is what actually takes quite a bit of time. 

Solution

We MAY have found a solution to the water issue. We have bacterium and minerals coming into the house because of the extremely low water table (no lake, very little rain, low snow volume this year). Our water heater, being set at 120 degrees wasn't hot enough to "cook" the situation. We turned it up on Friday night to 160 degrees for a few hours to get rid of the bacterium feeding off the iron and sulphur minerals.

My ring is nearly back to normal. For now.

Had a house full through late Saturday night and then spent yesterday working on Andrew's binding. I did manage to get two blocks done on Town and Country.

#197 Bird Bath

#198 Dog House

The dog house was just supposed to have the word "dog" on the label but I couldn't do that. 

Long Arming and finishing the king-size quilt today for Kathy and Jim said he would work on getting the hanging sleeve sewn down for Andrew's quilt. A few more Town and Country blocks are in the hope category as well.  

Kinda Busy Weekend

Working on the BOM (Celestial Stars) and the Rail Fence Katie sent to me via text was interspersed with visiting family.

Block 3

Picking from the scrap buckets

My brother here from Cincinnati

And my brother is staying through tomorrow so we're going to go out and do something with mom today. I'm going to try to get a little long arming done before they arrive around noon so at least I'll feel a little productive and less neglectful (is that even a word?) to my customers.

Saturday I picked up four more tops to do. I think the current count is around 14; therefore today is my last "play" day before I really have to buckle down. It has been nearly a month since I really dug my heels in with the business between the holiday and the "thing" and...it is time to get fully vested. 

Triple Play

This is kind of the quilt I'm working on three of. What?

Luann dropped off three of these pretty similar quilt tops Sunday. I've got two done and today will work the third.

Number 3

These are a Missouri Star Quilt Company patterns in case you're wondering. Each top is being quilted differently and NOT edge-to-edge.

I received what I thought was a robocall last night/this morning (2:38). I didn't pay it much attention because it was already a rough hot flash kinda night. Upon awaking this morning, found out it was our local hospital with reports that mom was taken in again, by ambulance, for chest pains. Again.

Jim took her home around 5:30 this morning and she has multiple appointments today and the rest of the week to try to get some of this straightened out. The physicians feel it was the new meds they put her on Saturday and have altered them accordingly. She doesn't want me to cart her around (mom is very independent) and be a burden. She insists doing this herself. I'll let her for a while. A very little while.

I've also finished my PQ top. Maybe today I can slip it in between customer tops and get it quickly quilted. I was planning on doing some custom work in it, but it's a charity quilt and the kiddo who receives it won't know the difference.

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