Making a quilt 15 Times

Could you pick a pattern out of your pattern library or from a quilt you completed in the past, and want to make it 15 times? Long arming is pretty much the same way. To quilt the exact same quilt 15 times is unheard of. Yet, here I go. 

Here is the second Flea Market in a week I'll be working on for the next week. 

This makes Number 15

I truly like doing this pattern. It's not TOO labor intensive and there aren't a gazillion thread changes. I've gotten it down to a routine. The first one I did took me seven days to work. I have it down to about 4 1/2 days now. 

I do the borders a little different for each one, and I move the quilting around in the dresdens; what one pink flower had in one the next one might get something different. Here are the borders going into this one. 

I love doing feathers

This quilt is going to be an heirloom and I like to put heirloom things into the quilting so this one got feathers rather than a piano key or loose bubble feather. 

Yesterday was grocery day since we were pretty much out of half our salad fixings and we had to hit Lowe's to get some deck sealer and paint for some of the trim work around that house that's looking pretty tired. We didn't get everything unloaded until after 7:00. Too late to start something in the studio so it was an early night off for me. 

More of the same today. Although, I am going out to lunch with a customer/friend and will probably be gone most of the midafternoon. 

It May Be Time

The computer I'm on currently is a Mac. This Mac is about 10 years old and it's getting kind of sick. Slow to load. Slow to respond. Often items just disappear or the machine tanks. I think maybe during back to school sales I need to investigate a replacement.

It's DeGroot family reunion week. I'll be dividing my time between the studio and the camper getting everything loaded. The shopping has been delegated out to other folks, but we still have a majority of the reunion stuff. That's supposed to be distributed out when we arrive but we'll see. I don't think people realize just how much we do and how much space it takes to do it. 

We wanted to go somewhere yesterday just to get out of the house and the truck took us to Elm Creek; about the only place that was open after the holiday. Here's what I brought home.

Something for the grandkids, the kids, and me

Those pillows are personalized and I'll get started on those this fall (or sooner) so I don't have to sweat shop Santa this winter. 

I'll be working on this quilt today and most likely the rest of the week...

Virginia's Pickle Dish

This is the quilt Jim had to skim and now we're getting ready to make it right. The previous long armer really messed it up and I'm hoping to give the customer back something she's proud to have in her home.

Dodge'em Storms

We were watching one of our favorite meteorologists on line this morning on Youtube and apparently we have a high threat of storms later today and throughout tomorrow. That means the long arm is only on when they aren't. 

I'm up earlier than usual and am preparing for such events. I finished the quilt on Bernie yesterday, she's coming this morning to fetch and I'll be working on this I-need-it-now quilt for the next few days...

Lori Holts Farmyard Friends

The neighbors are starting to filter in for the holiday. Our directly north neighbors are expected up sometime today and we haven't visited them their past few visits; they've had chores to take care of and other people to deal with.

Nothing else in the studio last night. We headed to West Branch to get groceries for the week trying to beat the vacationers rush. We didn't get home until after 7:00 and that was too late to start getting into something. 

No Sleep. Again!

Last night was the third night this week I have fallen asleep only after 3:00. Good thing I'm taking today off. 

Not because of the "holiday", but because we are going to the lake I was raised on down in Crystal. We are reconnecting with people I grew up with and visiting the ole stomping grounds. I moved a lot when I was a kid but every summer until I was a teen were spent with grandma and grandpa at the cottage on the lake. I've only been back a handful of times since getting out the Army 35 years ago.

Mom sold the cottage when grandma had to be put into a care facility. It had been in our family since the 50's. The cottage was torn down two years ago and a new monstrosity now sits in its place. But the memories are still there and some of the people we knew growing up are still living right next door to our old lot. 

Today we are taking a pontoon ride around the lake. Something we used to do often as kids with the whole neighborhood. Bring your own chair and a coffee and away we'd go for a two-hour ride around this beautiful body of water in central Michigan. It's a hidden gem and property values there have skyrocketed because of it. Which is why we aren't living there instead of here. 

Anyway, pics from todays adventures will post tomorrow. I started in on Evelyns Farm Girl Vintage II quilt yesterday morning first thing. 

Border(s)

Corner

Let me show you the difference in custom versus edge to edge quilting. If this had been E2E quilted, this wonky block would have never laid down correctly...

Notice all the lifting and weirdness happening here

This is the after pic after I got it quilted...

Pretty much fixed

I got a Love Letter block done after working and then did my daily cowboy boot...

The second star boot

I got the baby quilt off DW and bound that...

And then I loaded this onto DW...

It's all basted in and ready to get quilted. Maybe later tonight if we get home at a decent time?

Changing a Few Things

The closet doors in the studio, while esthetically pleasant to have, are not of good practical use. I have to have full range of both closets to cut batting and seek out future tops in queue. The doors only allow me to view 1/3 of each side. 

Here is the now...

With the closet doors

Here's what we're changing to. 

Like the idea. Don't like this particular top to hang here

While I liked this quilt top hanging originally, the longer I looked at it yesterday, the less I was in love. We need to find a different top for this side. We're hanging the koala top on the right where the closet doors are above. 

While Jim works on that project, I'm working on Grannies Garden for Bunny on Marty. Here's some of the quilting going in...

Body treatment

Border treatment

I'll be continuing on with this today while Jim digs further into my flimsy's to find another top to hang on that left side. He also needs to modify the rod for the right side because either it's too big, or too small, depending on where he sets the screw.

Memory Lane

Yesterday was not a good news day. I found out my childhood friend from our cottage had a death in her family (FIL) and one of my customers lost her husband the previous day. 

My father texted me and asked for another quilt for his bed since his wife 'borrowed' his indefinitely. While I was going through totes after my PT appointment, I couldn't help thinking about these two deaths and how precious life is. 

And then I pull out quilt after quilt and think about how much joy making those quilts gave me and how it's hard to let them go (for sale, or whatever) just like a member of our lifes circle. Here are a few of the ones I sent pics of to dad to see if he'd like any of them...

This is the one he selected. Farm Girl Vintage II by Lori Holt

I don't remember the name of this one

Seasons by Edita Sitar

Just a scrappy pattern I found on line

There are a crap load more out there, but he was looking for a large queen/king-sized quilt and it needed to be dark in color since his dog sleeps with him sometimes. 

I'll continue to make quilts because it gives me joy and happiness and damn it, life is too short to not be doing what we love to do. 

Had a drop-in set of women stop by yesterday morning. I don't think I'll be seeing them again since price was their main concern. I also had a previous customer come to drop off just one top around lunch time. I did get Bernadettes quilt finished in the early evening. I worked on DW for a bit and then moved over to the Tilda piece for a while. 

 

Hopefully today I'll have uninterrupted work time and can enjoy the rainy day headed our way. We need the rain. The lawn is starting to turn yellow and Jim's garden is looking pretty wilted. 

Screaming

Last night, just before heading to bed, I let the girls out. I always go out with them to look at the stars, look for auroras, see what wildlife is prowling down at the beach, and to make sure the girls don't get face to face with a skunk. 

Talk about screaming. And then a slight purring sound. It was on foot because it was going back and forth near our two docks. Once it realized I was out there, it scooted down the beach to the north. I researched this sound to see what the heck it was. 

Apparently our fox is still in residence. It was her calling out for a mate. I guess they don't actually mate until December or January, but they establish territories and find their potential suitor so when the time arrives, he'll be in the area.

But her scream was enough to keep me up very late last night. I'm a little bleary eyed this morning, but alas, I've already gotten chores out of the way and am already heading into the studio. Kathy's quilt is done and I'm frame ironing for the next one; Judy's Pickle Dish.

Still no thread, but I'll track the order at lunch to see where it is. While frame ironing last night I worked on the "new" version of Lori Holts Bee Happy top. Here are the blocks, side by side showing the interfacing method and the Misty Fuse version...

Left...ick! Right...Very nice!

I still wasn't through Judy's back, and Jim was out working on the ice guard on the east side of the studio, so proceeded with the next three blocks...

The left one is a little far apart, but I'll take it

I'm not in any hurry to finish this quilt, so I'll take my time working on it. I received a distraction in the mail yesterday though...

A long-time want

I've eyed this quilt for almost a year now. When the pattern came, I received two of them for some reason. I have to check my invoice to see if I inadvertently selected two instead of just one. Otherwise, somebody coming through will grab the extra. 

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!

Didn't Get the UofM Quilt Done

And MSU only won with one second left on the clock and a field goal to give us the W. See...bad juju. However, Michigan lost and so maybe it isn't such bad juju after all.

I started on this while Jim was watching the game... 

Lori Holt's Bee Happy Quilt

I've had the fabrics for over a year, but hadn't gotten the templates to work on this. Tina, from Bittersweet Quilt Shop ordered them for me and Jim picked them up on Friday. Unbeknownst to me, I also needed some bias tape makers, so I ordered those yesterday via Amazon. There are other blocks I can make without them though.

I'll still continue to cut out pieces for the cottage quilt. That's one of those projects I can take to retreat next month because it's relatively mindless sewing/piecing. I did complete the 25 partials from earlier this week, so now I have more than 40 made. 

Unfortunately today I will not be in the studio at all. We are leaving here in about 45 minutes for Lansing to celebrate Bens birthday. That's a whole day shot in the arse. It's a four-hour turn and then the time at the restaurant with all the kids/grandkids. We will probably end up over to their house after we eat, which is more time away. 

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!

Gut Instinct

Have you ever had a feeling in your tummy about not doing something? I had that yesterday morning. Something told me not to go to Grand Rapids yesterday, which was a bummer, but I heeded the warning. I stayed here instead and worked.

BUT...

I did not turn on my phone and concentrated on finishing Sandy's quilt instead. I have a lot of time sensitive quilts coming/in queue and knew I needed to get some of these "old" ones completed. 

Some of the quilting going in

It's a good thing I "forgot" to turn my phone back on because there were four messages from people. I would have been on the phone all day and would have not gotten this quilt done. As it was, it was well after 5:30 before DW was put to bed. 

This morning will be spent on the phone returning those phone calls while I'm removing Sandy's quilt. Linda was one of the callers and I know her quilts take priority; she'll probably be dropping them off later and who knows who else will be coming by.

Meanwhile...before Linda arrives, I have this one to work on on Bernie...

Wait! I've seen this before

Yep, number two of the Lori Holt Quilted Witch. They take forever to quilt, but are rather fun to do. Lots of pebbles and swirls in the background. Lots of detail in the blocks and accessories. But lots of thread changes too!

I may be working this weekend depending on how the sensitivity of Linda's quilt(s) are. I know we have a lot to do around the outside here, but Jim may be doing a solo. Happy Friday. 

Voting

Do you vote? I most certainly do. Last night was our local township and county vote night so not much personally in the studio completed. I am nearly done with the Quilted Witch though. Would have finished if we didn't have to go vote. And the north neighbors are/were up and we spent some time with them as well.

Once the Quilted Witch is done (about another hour-ish to go) I'll be moving over to Bernie to work on this...

Diane's 'tis the season quilt

Look familiar? She did hers exceptionally better than I did mine. Life is good isn't it?

Welcome Early Morning

The furnace guys are here!

Yay!

Hopefully by days end we will have real heat in the house instead of running all these space heaters. Which are not keeping up with the current temps. This morning...8 degrees with a wind blowing outside. 

More on Linda's quilt today. I'm officially past the half-way point. I worked diligently on it until 5:30 last night and it seems like I barely got anything done. But now that all the decisions on what to put in each section, and, establishing a kind of got a rhythm, should get things going faster. A little anyway. 

After standing at the big machine all day I needed to do something different. I've had a Lori Holt project just itching to get started so this is my new [whenever] project...

Bee Happy by Lori Holt

I've got all my fat quarters pressed and have pawed through any whites that I have that may work in the quilt. I need to get more whites, but with having to replace the furnace, getting the little furnace installed, and the mudder guy, I'm going to have to wait for a few weeks. 

Wild Weekend Planned

Many birthdays this weekend; Hazel, Ben, and Daves (neighbor) birthdays are all being celebrated this upcoming Labor Day weekend.  

Tomorrow I have an appointment first thing in the morning, two customers coming to drop off after I return and then the fun begins. But I have today to get all the washing done, getting Jodi's second quilt finished, and getting another loaded before all the weekend chaos ensues. People are going to start trickling in beginning this afternoon.

Here's what is on the frame this morning...

Woof!

I'm stitching dog faces into this and it's turning out so darn cute. I still have about a quarter of it yet to stitch this morning so will work on that first thing. 

The Sew by Row was started yesterday while this was stitching out. These blocks are pretty intense and are not going as quickly as I thought they would. That's okay. I'm not in a hurry and there is no timeline; just enjoying the piecing process and the time I have with my machines while fall is threatening to come early this year.  

Sew by Row by Lori Holt

This project book was in the bin...

Sew by Row by Lori Holt

I've done a few of Lori's quilts already. She has excellent instructions, options, and pictures/diagrams to assist even the most novice of sewers. While DW was stitching out Jodi's top yesterday, I started pulling fabrics.

Here's the pull

I started cutting fabrics for the first row first (scissors) and then decided, since there are so many fabrics, and rifling through them with each row would cause some mix up issues, I would precut everything. Since precutting the fabric for The Blue Plate Special (burger) top worked out well I started right in cutting. I worked until almost 11:00 last night (started around 3:00) and still have five or six fabrics to cut yet today.

But then piecing can commence tonight. 

I made a mistake yesterday saying Jodi's quilt was the one I finished; it was actually Deb K.'s quilt. Jodi's was the one loaded yesterday morning...

What's on the frame today

It's still on the frame since I can only stand DW screaming at me for so long. It'll be finished today though once I get all my Sew by Row bags off of DW (he's helping to sort). 

911. Never Forget.

I did manage to complete the Vintage Christmas quilt yesterday. It was a fun process working on this piece. I didn't quilt it to death and left everything organic given the whimsical feel of the blocks within the top. Flowing ribbons throughout the borders and sashing. Simple X's in the cornerstones. Ditch quilting (mostly) in each block with a few fillers to add more whimsy.

Vintage Christmas. Pattern by Lori Holt

I started to load my next top; Long Time Gone as a storm was starting to roll in. And it was a nasty one, so I have everything laying there waiting to set needle and thread to fabric. This pattern is by Jen Kingwell.

Long Time Gone. Pattern by Jen Kingwell

I haven't a clue how I'm going to quilt this piece. There is very little negative space to do much detail work, and it is a very busy quilt. I think perhaps much of it will be ditched and I can get some gentle curves in there wherever possible. I never know until I turn DW on and start laying down thread.

Today is the 18th anniversary of the horrific 9-11 tragedy in New York and Washington DC. Let us never forget those thousands of people who were victims of such a terrible act and even more people who fought to save/assist those affected. The younger generation were just babies during this time. My eldest son was in high school, and my middle son in junior high. My youngest was just a grade schooler, yet they all remember what they were doing during the breaking news. As do I.

Quilting brings me peace and joy. For those disturbed or mentally manipulated people who think killing is the answer, I sew a stitch for you today to hope you use the common sense given to you to make the right choices in life and maybe find your inner peace through something worthwhile rather then senseless acts like 9-11.

Instagram? Facebook? Blog?

Which platform to post which quilt is starting to get a little confusing. Katie and I are participating in a 100 blocks in 100 days quilt along and I see they have a facebook page. We usually post on Instagram. And there's a blog to refer to if you have any questions, but you do not post there. All. These. Rules.

I'm starting to wonder if this is making it a little less fun? The other two quilt alongs I'm participating in do not require any postings. We just get our little pattern each month and make our blocks. Easy enough. But to win any prizes on other quilt alongs the set of restrictions and rules is becoming not worth even adhering to the restrictions and rules. Maybe a white board to keep everything straight would help if I participate in any next year (since most of the 2019's are done or nearly done).

Rant over.

Here's what was worked on with the long arm yesterday.

Vintage Christmas by Lori Holt

There are only two more rows to go! What? This was just started yesterday and it's a fairly decent size. And ditch quilting is being done throughout. Maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this. LOL!

I'm hoping to finish this up today and get something else loaded later tonight. There are a few other little projects being worked on right now. Yesterday I squirreled and made this little cutie.

Zippered Triangle Pouch

These would make nice gifts for all the little girls in our lives; the neighbor girls, our granddaughter, etc. and it went together before lunch yesterday so they are not a major time consumer.

Two Days on the Road

And was somehow able to finish this cutie last night.

Log Cabins and Flowers

This top was obtained from an Amish Quilt Auction last spring in Clare, Michigan. It would make a wonderful lap quilt for an elderly person or a cuddly quilt for a toddler girl. It measures 40" x 52" and will be offered for sale.

I started loading the Lori Holt Vintage Christmas top Katie and I worked on last fall/winter.

Vintage Christmas

 It's just basically sitting there not basted in, but ready to be when time permits later today. Maybe.