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. 

This is Why

This is exactly why I don't get much done on Sunday. I did knit for a while but this occupies my left arm...

And this occupies my right side...

It makes it hard to move my arms when I have a total of 100 pounds all over me. And I LOVE every minute of it. I savor my time with the girls because they don't live as long as people and we have to cherish our moments with them as much as we can.

Here is what is starting my week out on Marty. I love Trip Around the World quilts. They are probably one of my favorites. Except to quilt them. There are a lot (lot, lot) of starts and stops in these because the blocks are following in their diagonal arrangement. And look at all those color changes. 

But it's going to be beautiful when I get her done!

Not Much To Report

I did go out to the studio briefly yesterday to see where I needed to head with my coat. I thought if I had just a small amount to tackle I would get that done so I could bind the outside of everything. There were actually four steps to go and two of them were pretty major; attaching the hood and measuring/making/attaching the wrist binding. 

I came out of the studio a few minutes later. 

While I was puttering around doing other stuff, Virginia texted me on one of her backings so I sent her a pic of the girls. She loves animals as much as we do!

Hello!

I'll be working on Marty most of today. Lots of negative space to work with and it's not getting done by itself. 

Jim is out dealing with a saturated snow situation in the driveway. We received three to four inches of snow yesterday morning and then heavy rain all afternoon and into the late evening. The temps are right at freezing and he wants to get the snow off before the temps start falling later on. Otherwise we have any icy mess out there and he doesn't want that. 

Making Adjustments

Evie (if all goes well) should be coming home from the hospital today. We're discovering they have much better health care in Germany. It's not like it is here in the states where you spit out a kiddo and then leave the next day. 

The Tilda Girls should be finished today and I'll be moving onto the quilt on Marty. After working until past quitting time I moved over to make another block in the Fireworks top. Once the weight of Bernie was out of my system, DW was next up.

Here was the border initially in The Produce Section...

Kind of plain

Jim assured me this was enough border treatment and I pondered this before taking the next roll. Days I thought about it. Nope. Not enough. Here's the new borders...

Much, much better

Jim was watching the pre-game and eventually the championship game between Indiana and Miami last night. Lucy was watching with him just like one of the dudes...

She's so funny

Very cold today but at least the gusting winds have subsided somewhat. We received blizzard like conditions yesterday and pileups on the highway all around the state were reported. So glad working from home solves all those issues!

Every Intention

I had every intention yesterday to work on the quilt on Bernie. I knew I needed to get fabrics cut for retreat though and had another customer coming to pick up. Starting on the Tilda Girls would have resulted in very little progress because the customer was due at 10:00-ish.

It was after 11:00 before the customer left (we were all gabbing; her husband with Jim and she and I) and so that would have left a very small window to long arm. Cutting continued instead. 

After lunch there was a fabric pull mess that needed cleaning before long arming and decided to just cut the pulls laying out. One thing turned into another and it was getting dark before I realized the finishing pieces hadn't yet been cut. 

The quality control brigade sleeping on the job

Getting ready for a retreat is no picnic, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Here's everything getting all bagged up...

When everything was finally cut out and getting packed, it was then I realized one of the blocks needed to be remade. I didn't remake it at the time because shortage of fabric was in the forefront. And, as I revisited the pattern for said block, sure enough, not enough of the copper color was left.

Thankfully, I've made a different (Number 1 I think) Amish With A Twist and had fabrics left over from it. I scrounged around and found a close color to copper in the stash and remade the block before coming out of the studio. Just in time for the Ice Skating Nationals. 

New block on the left. Old block on the right.

Look at the upper right hand corner of the old block and the bottom right hand corner isn't much better. It was shorter than 1/4" and would have pulled out of the seam allowance so it needed to be remade. Done. 

Have you ever seen the ad on IG about the Luminary Quilt? It's been pulling me in as it's stash busting friendly, very few seams need to match (three at the end) and the finished quilt is stunning. I purchased and downloaded the pattern this morning and want to make a test block. BUT, I have to pack and get ready to head to retreat first thing tomorrow morning. 

Maybe just one test block? Maybe?

Don't Ask For Channeling...

Okay gang. You want your sides channeled before I set in the motif we discussed at the planning session. But, you only leave me this much backing...

2 3/4"? Really?

I can't attach the side clamps to steady the sandwich when left only this much backing. And since this quilt is so big, I can't even attach my leader grip bracket because I'm that close to the side of the frame. I've pulled multiple stitches on these channels, and I'm done with doing that. 

If you don't provide me with the minimum requirements of at least 4" all around, I can not be responsible for shoddy looking work. There is a reason long armers need that much extra. Too many to list today, but it's not because we want you to spend the extra money. We NEED that much to get things aligned and stable on that 12-foot frame.

I had the quality control crew making sure I was staying on task yesterday...

Hazel (l) and Lucy (r)

We have a beautiful snow coming down right now and it's supposed to stay with us until around noon. Then, it'll be kicking back up again later this evening. New snow is always soooo pretty and will be nice to look at while I've passed the half-way point in the Judy Niemeyer quilt. I knew this one would take over a week to complete. 

A First For Me and The Quilts Are Gone

I had the backing all frame ironed. I had the batting laid on top and let it rest all day (packaged batts have to rest to pull the wrinkles out). And, then, I proceeded to lay the top out to see what I was working with. I played and played with this top trying to get it to "smooth" out. Here's the quilt in question...

A giant 108" to custom quilt

But here's the issue...

All the corners were pulling in

And the final issue...

That's all the extra backing I was given

Since the quilt was pulling in on the corners, I can guarantee the middle is going to flare out and this little bit of backing wouldn't be enough once I got down to that point. Even though the backing was telescoping (as you can see by my ring finger), the quilt 'fell' over the sides; it was beyond my Red Snappers and that told me I'd run into [more] problems mid-way through quilting. 

I had to call the customer and let her know I would not be able to quilt this quilt. I have never, never, ever called a customer to take their top back. Thankfully, the customer knew there was an issue and she even stated she had intended to call me a couple of times over the summer to tell me not to quilt it because she knew it was going to be a problem.

She'll be up here (she lives downstate) in a few weeks for a retreat and will pick it up then. I'll unload everything this morning and get ready for the next one to go on Marty.

I had two visitors yesterday. One to pick up her finished quilts and the other to pick up the rest of the Rayola donated quilts. Wow, that was very emotional for me once they left. I broke down into tears and just prayed one little kiddo would find comfort in all my efforts. 

Meanwhile, I would have gotten Janice's quilt on Bernie done, but the neighbors a couple of doors down, were up and we have to visit with them when we can. They are always so busy working down there and they don't come over (they live right in town) during the winter months. I only have the border to go and then I'll have to see what's up next.

Meanwhile, these two were hanging around yesterday morning and looking less than enthused.

Ho Hum. But we love our chair. 

Lots to do today. Is it already Wednesday?

Health

It's funny, how when we get older, our health starts to get stupid. Jim had an anxiety episode on Saturday morning so we found ourselves at Urgent Care. We wanted to make sure he was not precursuring into a stroke or heart attack. 

He has an appointment with his GP tomorrow morning to discuss this event. At any case, his BP and HR were about normal, so it didn't look like anything too severe.

After we returned from Urgent Care and Pieces (found a backing for my Kaffe top) I did get another Koala done...

The newest on the bottom

For some reason this one turned out a smidge too small. I replaced the seam tape on Ellie, so I'm thinking I got it a little too wide when I set it. I'll have to remake that one and replace it. I'll use this one for a pillow to go with the quilt.

While Jim was watching Spartan basketball I went from piecing the Koalas to Foster to start quilting the Camping quilt...

Love putting in swirls

I was going to custom quilt this (I want to custom quilt all my own quilts), but this one was a bit too whimsical and honestly, I think this was the better choice. And I get to use up all the Omni thread I have in my bin that I want to get rid of.

Yesterday was a lazy day. Jim was still a little tired from his Saturday episode and I was just drained. I was productive however. I crocheted the base and started the first slipper from the yarn we bought last weekend...

A partial first slipper

I'm putting a different colored cuff on these, so this is only partially completed. Hazel seemed to need a lazy day as well...

Isn't life tough?

I'm all recharged today and ready to face Linda's intricately quilted quilt. The sun is shining, the neighbors are gone (I can have the music a little louder) and I'm not expecting any customers at all this week. Which is a good thing because I'll be at retreat from Wednesday on. 

Speaking of retreats. A big thank you to Jim for helping me put in the larger spacers on my SewEZ table because I'm taking Ellie along to this retreat; she's deeper than Lilo so different spacers are needed on the table base. 

Undecorating

The house is officially undecorated. Jim still has lights, a wreath, and some giant Christmas bulbs to remove outside, but the inside is put back to rights. Except for moving the computer which I'll do here shortly. 

I did start a new project Saturday. I didn't have enough fabric to do anything larger than a baby-size quilt top, but here's the center sections...

Pineapple type of quilt top

I'm using Kona snow for the background and a Kaffe Jelly Roll for the colorful sections. This is going to turn out so pretty.

And, it's back to the normal schedule today. I'll be on DW working on Janice's quilt. I'm still not up to my usual long days on the long arm so I'll work as long as I possibly can and take plenty of breaks to try to get back up to speed. 

Haven't had a pic of the girls in a while so here they are just relaxing this weekend...

Pretty girls

Lucy looks less than impressed, but I finally got a decent pic of Hazel. She often will not cooperate when I bring out the camera. 

Happy 6th Birthday!

Today is Hazels sixth birthday! 

I'm six today!

If what everybody has indicated I should have at least four customers coming today. Three to pick up and one to drop off. Won't be getting much quilting done if this comes to fruition. That's okay. I have a lot of admin/cleaning up to do.

Mary's quilt is done but is still hanging out on the frame. Worked until well past 7:00 getting it finished and didn't even do anything else afterwards. Too tired. 

While I was working, Jim started hanging the ice guard on the studio roof before the eavestrough guys come to do their thing. He also trimmed some of the lower, dead branches on the Ash tree outside the west studio window so the branch didn't break off, bounce, and then hit that particular window.

I never did get a decent pic of what went into Mary's quilt.

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. 

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!

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. 

Dog Food

I forgot to mention Hazel had to go to the vet on Wednesday. We thought she might have had an infected gland in her bum, but come to find out, she has the doggie version of hemorrhoids. I'm leaning towards changing their food. 

The vet said she was just a nervous doodle, but I'm not buying it. Why, all of a sudden, even with Lucy here, is she being affected by our occasional disappearances? Food was her issue in the past and I'm logically thinking this is the situation again. 

Here's some of the quilting going into Ruths Christmas Stars...

Just a circle in the center

Because there was batting behind the red and green points that I could get to with those 3D layers, the center at least needed to be quilted down. And, that's all I did. The rest of the quilt is getting pretty heavily quilted since it is a wall hanging. 

I had a few customers call yesterday and want to stop by in the late morning to both pick up and ask some advice on another top they inherited. We chatted well past lunch time; they are such good people!

I have a flash and smash appointment at 11:00 in Gladwin today. Meaning, I have to leave here by 10:30-ish. I have another errand to run over in Harrison after the flash and smash. I have customers coming to pick up in the mid-afternoon. Jim wants to run to Midland after we get done with the pick-up customers. And I'm supposed to work when? Tomorrow I guess. 

I did work a few more of Charlottes blocks last night after shutting down Bernie. And, my foot was bothering me so I moved over to Jay and did some sit-down quilting on the 365 blocks. I'm on big block 12 now. 

Four of Six

I currently have six machines set up in the studio. Three are long arms and three are domestic sewing machines; one for sit-down quilting only. Of the six machines, I was on four of them yesterday. All three long arms and the sit-down quilting machine.

I love my new studio!

Sherry's quilt is finally finished and here's what's on DW today... 

Ann's patriotic quilt

This is getting an E2E with DW driving. While that's stitching out I'll be working on Bernie doing some more chipping away at Rae's quilt. Lots of thread going into Rae's quilt and more thread equals more time.

The girls are still having a hard time deciphering the new studio situation. They wander around. Lay somewhere. Get up. Wander some more. Lay down. Get up. Wander some more. Lay down. This is one of the spots they wandered to yesterday...

Can't seem to find "their spot" yet

They'll figure out eventually. No customers expected today. Many deliveries expected over the next week or so. Still waiting on that batting to arrive and I have tattoos for Foster as well as a package from Gall coming. I'm also expecting the Red Snappers for Foster in that bunch of stuff so maybe something will show up today. 

The Girls

The girls are having a hard time adjusting to my being in the new space. Hazel especially. She's been in the old space her entire 5 1/2 years and she doesn't do change well anyway; hides under our bed when we start rearranging furniture in the living room. Lucy doesn't care. She's just curious. I found a fleece/denim chunk of fabric when I was cleaning out the spare bedroom of my stuff and laid this down for them.

Lucy is clearly relaxed. Hazel is trying.

But this can't stay on the floor permanently, so I'll have to take it up each evening after Jim gets home.

Went to the Pieces of Thyme VIP night last night for their annual tent sale. Bought three wide backs and saw a butt load of friends and quilting customers. It was fun to browse the store since I hadn't been over there in a while.

Here's a little quilting detail of what went into Linda's quilt...

Doing some channeling

Lindas quilt is done and she's coming to get that and I another customer is coming as well to pick up first thing today. 

I've got Raes quilt basted in and border ditched. Still debating on what to put in the first border: Feathers or Orange Peel but I need to work that out. Oh...here's something I made last night for my granddaughter before heading over to Pieces...

Hannahs birthday gift

When we went down three weeks ago for Zechariah's birthday, Hannah met us at the door with a way-too-big apron on; she was helping her other grandma make rice krispie treats and while she looked adorable, making her an apron that fits is probably something she'll use since she's showing interest in cooking. And is safer since she won't be tripping over the thing. 

Will be loading the next quilt onto DW while working on Rae's quilt. I got word yesterday that the new machine (name still undetermined) will be here Monday between 10 and 11:00. So excited! 

Go, DW, Go!

My brother just texted me to let me know our lake dad passed away...last July. Why am I just finding out about this? Why didn't I get a call or text message? We were like his second set of kids. Kinda bumming right now. 

DW was cranking yesterday. Two quilts and another backing frame ironed. I'm hesitant to get the next one started. Our electrician is expected shortly to finish with all the wiring and lighting in the new studio. I'm not sure if he's going to have to shut the main house down to do all of that. Once an E2E is started I don't want to stop the momentum and it's nearly impossible to get everything lined back up again. 

Here's what DW did yesterday...

Trailing Leaves

Here's the second one...

Wandering Baseballs

But then I ran into a problem...

The blue is the backing. 

So I had to take this off after pass two and rob Peter to pay Paul from the sides and attach to the missing end. And, of course, that didn't go smoothly because I attached it incorrectly and had to rip out the whole length of it and do it again. But I got it handled. 

And while DW was doing his thing, I was working on Dianes quilt on Bernie. Here's some of what's going into that...

Dianes snuggly flannel quilt

I'm going to start with Diane's this morning and wait until Nick gets here to see whether or not he's shutting down the main house. I want to make sure before I get going on any computer work on DW. But here's (maybe) what he'll be doing today...

Linda's cat quilt

Once Jim got home last night, he finished the exterior of the bathroom wall. Isn't this pretty? And of course, Lucy had to inspect everything. It's coming along slowly but steadily. Jim does a little each night and I'm so proud of what he's accomplished each night after working all day long at his "real" job. 

Bathroom exterior wall

Winter III

We already have a couple of inches on the ground and are expecting more throughout the day. It's a GREAt day to stay in, put on some mellow jazz, and quilt, quilt, quilt. 

Bernadettes quilt is not done (yet) but will be today if the quilt fairies are with me. I'll work on the Jacqueline deJonge on DW while frame ironing for the next Bernie quilt. I have most of the quilting decisions done on that one, which I swear, takes the longest when actually quilting. 

Have already poly'd the door this morning so only one more coat on one more side. That'll be later tonight. 

Today's Instagram Quiltfest question was your favorite quilt. The one everybody, the dogs, and the visiting family members snuggle up with. Well, it's definitely this one!

As Lucy is demonstrating

It's nothing detailed or elaborate. It's just quilted with a wool batt, and quilt shop quality fabrics. THAT makes the difference! Batting more than anything is what give a quilt its drape and snuggle factor, yet folks always want to skip spending money there because they feel like you can't see it so what difference does it make? 

ALL the difference! Fabrics with a good hand are also important but the batting, despite the hidden value of it, is the key. And, quite honestly, the difference between a good batt and a discount batt is about $20 on a queen size quilt. I think I've sang this song before, but it is something I'm passionate about and want to share. Don't skimp on your batting people! Seriously!!!

No Sewing

I didn't sew a single stitch yesterday. But we did start the main room floor in the new studio. 

Getting started...

...and this is where we ended before running out of boards...

About 1/4 of the way done

It smells so good in there with all the cedar!

Then Lucy and I took a nap together...

So. Darn. Cute!

I'll be working on Bernadettes first appliqué quilt today. Don't know if it will be finished since all those little pebbles take a while to do but I'm going to try my hardest. 

I have a few phone calls to make/return this morning first thing and we have to run to the tax preparers office later this afternoon; those take priority today.