Love Letter Top Done!

Lunch with friends is fun isn't it? And then the icing on the cake was a phone call from another quilting friend later in the afternoon. I miss talking to people of like mind and the retreat in September can't get here fast enough. 

Although, Jim is pretty supportive of my quilting passion. He visits the studio usually every day. Which is a great thing because I've heard awful stories from other ladies who quilt whose husbands/partners are not nearly as enthusiastic as Jim is. That's sad. 

I did get the first row completed on the Flea Market before leaving for lunch and the second row started after getting back. 

The quilting in the background

While on the phone I stuffed my earbuds into my ears while talking. I was working on Love Letters and after I hung up realized I only had a block or two to go to finish it. So, that's what I did. Not only that, I ended up taking the time to actually get it all together.

Love Letter top is complete!

I don't have enough floor space to get the whole top in the pic, but you get the idea. I think I'll finish the table runner I've been working on while using it as leaders and enders before I start anything new on that machine. But then, once that is done. HA! I get to start something new. Yay!

I picked up background fabric for each of the three patterns I have hanging around that I want to start so now I'm all ready to start digging into a new project! Don't ya love starting new projects? First, work. Happy Friday! 

At Our Age

Whenever we can we visit with friends and family. Every day is a gift and should be enjoyed as best as possible. We love our neighbors to the north and when they are free to take a few hours out of their day to catch up we jump on it.

We live here full time and they do not, so their visits have been brief over the past six years since there's no real reason for them to hang out long other than to do lawn/house maintenance.

The Flea Market quilt for Julie is finished. The frame ironing on the next Flea Market is also finished and I'll be loading as soon as I get done here. There's a very sad story that goes with my next job but I'm not going to get into why. Tender care and love will be especially thick on this one!

After working and visiting with the neighbors, I headed back out to the studio to make a Love Letter block and then started blanket stitching Flower Power. 

Flower Power top

Here's the first block of the 15 needed. I didn't have enough time to work on DW unfortunately because of the chat session next door, but I did have a little time to go through the next three quilt tops I'll be tackling. I discovered I did not have nearly enough scraps/leftovers to complete the Granny Squares pattern by Lori Holt. 

Instead of trying to piece meal it together, I did break down and purchase a fat quarter bundle from a private seller on Etsy. I don't usually do that, but her prices were pretty good and she had the particular bundle I wanted. 

More of the same today so not much else to write about. 

Finally, Some Rain

While everybody in the state was getting rain the past day or so, we were not. The dirt pile Jim was moving, which is mostly all clay, was like dustbowl Oklahoma. It was dry throughout even to the bottom. 

Last night we finally received a thunderstorm and some decent rain. Even the dirt under the oak trees is wet. Hallelujah!

One more day on Julie's Flea Market and it should be a wrap. Fingers crossed. I did a Love Letter block after working and then realized I hadn't done any Temperature blocks in a while. Two weeks actually. I don't like getting that far behind and so took some time last night to get those caught up. Isn't it pretty?

That took most of the rest of the night so nothing else was accomplished. More of the same today minus the temperature quilt. Hopefully I'll be able to jump on DW and get the Raven finished. I am so excited to get the next quilt loaded but am not going to share just yet in case something else grabs my fancy. 😁

Why Do I Post Everyday?

Generally I'm out in the studio everyday and since this is my quilting diary, that's one of the reasons. Another reason is to make me accountable for what I'm going to be doing later on that day, and reason number three is to summarize what I did the previous day.

If I wait two days, details are often forgotten. When I don't post anything I wasn't here to do anything quilting related. 

Yesterday was one of those days when I wasn't here all day. But what did I do Friday?  

After working on Flea Market for the day I made a Love Letter block. I did the two leaf blocks left in Flower Power, and then instead of jumping on DW, I sorted and glued down the circle parts of Flower Power. 

Now I can start stitching all of those down. The class for this quilt used a variety of stitches to go around each circle. I'm not doing that. Just a regular blanket stitch is good enough for me. 

Yesterday, despite not being in the studio, I did do something quilt related. I've been wanting to get down to The Hen House quilt shop in Charlotte so Jim and I took a trip there after Jacobs birthday party in Lansing. Now there's a hidden gem! I know the owner and most of the people who work there and so it was like a mini reunion. These ladies all belonged to the guild we had there (until Covid killed it) and catching up over the past four years took over an hour. I picked up this layer cake to add to the fabric for the Quilt Room I'll be starting soon. 

I haven't been sleeping very well lately (again). I did get some sleep last night, but the previous two nights I saw 3:00 a.m. and beyond and still got up before 8:30. Today I'm not feeling too good and my energy level is about zero. It'll be a quiet day reading and snuggling with the girls. 

Lots to Report

But not many pics. I finished Ginny's quilt right before lunch. After lunch, Jim and I needed to find him some wide mouth lids for his pickles. We started to head towards Colonville Hardware but stopped at the grocery story in Beaverton. They used to have a large canning rack including sleeves of lids. 

They no longer have those and while I was in the store looking Jim was calling Colonville to make sure they had some before we drove all the way over there. Good thing he checked. They did not have any and so we picked up four boxes of the lids that the grocery store in Beaverton had.

I did a Love Letter and a Flower Power leaf block before jumping on DW. All the while I'm frame ironing the next back on Marty because I have two customer quilts I need to get done ASAP. After working on DW for a few hours I decided that was enough and noticed it was only 6:30. Embroidery?

Yep, and all the pieces are embroidered that need to go into the Quilt Room. 

I am having trouble getting my phone to talk to the Mac. Our iCloud is nearly full and the Mac won't accept any more information. That's how it syncs. Maybe tomorrow I'll have this figured out?

They Use To Make Fun Of Me

The boys used to say I had so many quilts on the walls that I may have to start putting them on the ceiling. Does this qualify?

It looks great up there but I must admit it's going to get some getting use to in having something hanging from the ceiling. 

While Jim was hanging that up for me I was continuing with Ginny's quilt on Marty. I slipped a few hidden things into it and this is one of them.

Woof

I have one more day on her quilt and then I can call that a wrap. After working her quilt I did a Love Letter block and then finished getting together section four (of five). I did a Flower Power leaf block (only two more of those to go) while talking to Andrew and then headed right over to DW to work on the Raven.

Here's some of the thread painting going in...

Not everything needs to be quilted

And here is the background fill I'm using around the raven...

Swirl Feather

This is a new-to-me motif I have wanted to use for several months now and thought this was the perfect opportunity to incorporate a swirl (mimicking flight) and the feather (mimicking the bird) into a quilt. 

Jim is going out mowing. I had a few texts flying around this morning regarding Shipshewana in November. One girl would like to abstain this year (too much other stuff going on around that time). Her replacement not comfortable going down under the circumstances surrounding getting her there. And one to Virginia and Monica to see if I could stay with them this year. Looks like I have everything sorted and can now move along with my morning.

We have to run to Colonville Hardware this afternoon. Pickles are on and Jim needs wide-mouth lids. They have the best price and we like going there anyway. It's hard for me to start a new quilt in the afternoon and I think Ginny's quilt will only take this morning to finish. A period of celebration is needed after completing each quilt I think? 😗

Still Smokey

Yesterday was pretty bad with the smoke. I had to light a few candles in the house to dissipate the bit that was coming in with the dogs. Or lack of a seal tight house. It helped.

After getting Virginia's Pickle Dish quilt off of Bernie (and all the post-quilting stuff that goes along with removing a customer quilt from the frame) I jumped on Marty and started working Ginny's third quilt; Laura Heines Houses. Here's some of the work going into the borders...

"Roads" and arcs

When I'm working a customer quilt I see every millimeter of the quilt even if it's an edge to edge design. I check for seam threads and any other abnormality that may pop up. This is what I found yesterday...

Seams pulling apart

I called to let her know (as I usually do unless it's something minor) and I'll pin and mark it for her when we ship her quilts next week.

All of today will be spent on Marty since this is taking way long than I thought. It's FPP and every seam needs to be ditched and I think I'm about 15 colors in on this one already. 

I constructed two Love Letter blocks, got row one and two together in section four and then blanket stitched a leaf block on Flower Power. DW was my next target and I was able to get the little canning table runner quilted out. I made the binding for that and had I not gotten Mike set up to work the next leaf block today, I probably would have attached it last night. Tonight maybe?

I found the next thing to go onto DW. Pressed it out. Made the back (pieced together some left over backing from previous quilts) found a batt that would work and it's ready for basting in. 

I'm A Woman...

...I can change my mind! I did do some packing last night in the trailer despite my having said I wasn't going to. We have rain coming tomorrow (what a great way to start out a four-day camping trip) and it's supposed to be icky muggy today. 

I am at the half-way point on Virginia's Pickle Dish quilt. Jim can't believe how much better it looks than the first go with the other long armer. 

I did a Love Letter block and two leaf blocks prior to getting into the trailer stuff as it was a bit warm yesterday and the trailer had gotten hot with my having shut it up the previous night.

After packing for the night (I don't have enough clothes/food to pack it entirely yet) I was itching to do something small. It was after 7:00 already and I didn't want to fire up DW as I knew I would be out there until late if I did.

I picked up this pattern at Seven Sisters a few weeks ago and looked through it earlier. The way it was packaged would have let me to forgo starting anything right now. Pages were folded in half in plastic bags for each "month" this original BOM was released. 

I'm an organizer and so I took them all out of their packages, organized them into months/blocks, three hole punched them and then put them into a binder. 

I have an empty crate under Marty I'll put the blocks as I finish them prior to putting sections together. There is a bit of hand embroidery in this pattern and I'm going to attempt it as it should be. 

Jim and I are having our date day today and while we are in Midland getting groceries (for us and the dog sitter) I'll pop into Hobby Lobby to get the floss and hoop I need to do such a thing. Maybe this will keep me busy at the reunion instead of constantly wanting to each junk food. 

And It Begins

Jim pulled the trailer up yesterday late in the afternoon. I was already done working and we don't want the thing sitting in the direct sunshine while we have to clean it out from whatever got in it over the winter.

Given what I was cleaning out of it, it appears Mr. Mousy got in earlier this spring when all the Comet had  washed away from around it in the spring rains. Our barn is not weather tight, just resistant. 

Meanwhile, in the quilting world of things, here are a few pics of what I'm putting into Virginia's Pickle Dish quilt.

Feathers in the arcs

Straight lines in the blades and second border

Swag with a feather in the lower portion and piano keys above

After getting the trailer cleaned and prepped for packing (we have some supplies coming for the trailer today and tomorrow so I won't pack much tonight) I came back into the studio to do some other stuff. 

A Love Letter block was done and two more leaf blocks were blanket stitched for Flower Power. 

I had every intention of getting on DW after working the two leaf blocks but I was pooped and it was after 7:30.

One customer coming to pick up this morning and that's about it. 

On/Off

Marty was on and off more times yesterday than he is all week. Thank you weird weather systems. Looks like it's going to be more of the same today.

Here's some of the quilting going into the Barnyard Friends by Lori Holt...

Chicken wire for the left side background fill

After getting off Marty around 4:30 (for the fourth time yesterday), I finished the daily Love Letter block and then put Cowboy Boots away until I can get to a design wall. Or, the front deck is power washed and I can lay it out there. 

I hadn't spent enough time away from Marty to get onto DW yet so I pulled out the Flower Power I started a couple of weeks ago. 

Many people do not like the prep work that goes along with making a quilt (pressing, fabric treatment, measuring and cutting), but I LOVE that part of the quilt making process. The circles are all cut, as are the leaves and the background squares...

The background squares need to have a flip and sew corner added to each of the 15 blocks, but it was past 8:00 when I shut down and I had started early yesterday, so I called it a night.

I see the skies in the west are getting pretty dark already so I think today may be a repeat of yesterday?

Apparently Backwards Day is a Hit

I got SOOOOO much done yesterday. Not in any particular order I made a Love Letter block, matched the cowboy boots up with their checkerboard blocks, cleaned the iron, received the batting I was expecting, started this quilt below, quilted two sections of the Judy Niemeyer on DW, frame ironed and have the Farmyard quilt on Marty ready to start and made a 9-patch top. Here's the pics I grabbed during the day. 

Detail work on the Judy Niemeyer on DW

For the 9-patch quilt-along

Some of the quilting going into the one below

Finishing this one today hopefully

Today I'll be finishing the quilt on Bernie and hopping on over to Marty to start working on that immediate deadline. The one on Bernie is a July deadline so I better get to it. I'm quilting barefoot today since the temps when are already in the 80's with high humidity. Air you can wear! My feet will complain later tonight, but I'm wearing a lightweight dress for the icky weather and don't want to add more heat. 

After working for the day and then receiving a [past closing time] customer for both a pick up and drop off, I finished the cowboy boot I was working on while waiting for the customer to arrive.

This one went quicker because we were talking to Andrew while working on it

I have one more cowboy boot to blanket stitch and then we can start matching up the checker board sections with the boots. 

I didn't want to fire up the iron before the customer came (no burning the customers) so moved to Love Letter block. Well, that was the last one in that row/section so now sections A, B, and C are together.

Love Letters sections a, b, and c

I may take a day off from Love Letters since I have other stuff to do today and I did so much on it yesterday. More on that in a bit. I had set up DW to do two projects at once.

Bathing Beauties

I just ran a straight line situation through that table runner (better pic later) and then I started this Judy Niemeyer table topper/wall hanging.

Getting the straight work done and now filling in

I'll work some more on that later today too. BUT, since Jim and I were out and about last Saturday and next week is the 4th, I better get the temperature quilt caught up. I also have a new quilt-along starting on Monday. It's the 9-Patch quilt-along with Natalia Bonner. She does it on a panel but I'm going to just take all the solids I have and cobble something cohesive together. 

Sort of like I did the flag bunting and table runner. Lots to do and a beautiful day to work. Sunny and mid-70's today. 

Weather Changes Everything

Well, once again, it's a good thing goals are written in sand and not stone because I certainly missed my goal for yesterday. Right at lunch our thunderstorms started and there wasn't any sign of them letting up anytime soon.

We went to Midland to get groceries and mail a package to Germany instead of long arming. When we finally got back home around 4:30 it was still raining pretty good and then around 5:00 it started letting up.

My long arming mojo had disappeared. No storms expected today so the Farm Girl Vintage II should be completed by days end. 

Here's one piece of the Farm Girl I particularly like...

When we did get back I did a Love Letter and a Cowboy Boot block.

It doesn't look like this one would be that difficult to blanket stitch but on those curves and points it's basically one to two stitches at a time as well as all the turning. 

DW was naked and I knew what I wanted to put on him next. It's a Judy Niemeyer that I did early this winter and it's small in size. BIG in the quilting and some of it needed to be marked before loading. I got the back on to frame iron and started right in.

It doesn't look like much but there was a lot of measuring involved. Oh, and geometry. My favorite. 😈

The Catalpa Tree

The Catalpa tree outside the studio window blooms for about a week this time of year. It will bloom longer if we have a decent spring/early summer but since we've been in a dry spell, it's already shedding its flowers. It started blooming on Sunday.

After working here's the cowboy boot completed...

Lightning McQueen?

I did do a Love Letter block prior to doing the cowboy boot. I moved over to DW to quilt out the flag table runner after doing cowboy boot. I was still rocking so I trimmed it up, put it on Mike to bind, and we now have a new table runner for the holiday. It's already in the dining room.

Do you wonder how many more Love Letter blocks I have to do? Well, there are 64 blocks in total, so it'll be another while since I'm currently working on section three of five. 

The quilt on Marty should be finished today if the t-storms hold out until later this afternoon. Here's crossing our fingers and toes to wish that's what happens.

Ah, Such is Life

My eldest closed on his new house yesterday. The buyers for his [now] old house backed out on Saturday. Now Andrew owns two houses. Since the house sold quickly the first time six weeks ago, I'm sure it won't take long for it to sell again. Such is life.

A Love Letter block and another cowboy boot commenced after working yesterday.

I was still moving and hadn't fallen over from the lack of sleep the night before so I quilted up Rita the Ripper...

I made the binding for it once it was quilted and will hopefully get that on tonight so I can load another something on DW.

More of the same today; working on Marty (Farm Girl Vintage II for Evelyn), etc., etc., etc..

Second Shop. Nothing.

Yesterday was the second time in the last week I've walked out of a quilt shop without purchasing anything. We had many things to do in Houghton Lake yesterday and attending Beckys Best Sewing Center was one of the many places we visited. 

Nothing. It was so busy there (her anniversary sale) so I didn't want to push into having to cut fabric or answer a lot of questions. 

Here's something below I need to explain.

Doesn't look like much does it?

This abandoned pontoon is the actual pontoon I grew up with/on. This was my grandfathers pontoon and it's coming here. We're just waiting for the guy to send the registration to my friend before we can haul it up here. 

Jim will try to restore it but we'll have to see if it floats first before taking the time to do so. There are a lot of memories on this old boat and it'll be fun to make more with our grandkids should we be able to get her on the water again.

Here's something else I need to explain...

Ignore my goofy face but can you see the rainbow over my left (your right) shoulder? That's a roller skating rink. My grandfathers cousin use to run it but his cousins dad actually owned it. It's one of the largest and oldest wooden floor skating rinks still in existence in the state. They are still using it and it's been cared for well. I can't tell you how many hours I spent on wheels in that place even off hours helping Barney (the cousin) clean and dust floor. And every chance I got I was there skating with friends from the lake.

My happiest childhood memories are creeping around this area we visited on Friday. From pontooning on the water with my childhood friends to seeing the place change over time, it was a bittersweet day. It's not the same lake I grew up on, obviously. But hopefully other kids are making their best memories here just like I did. 

Since I was out of the studio all of Friday and Saturday (all I did yesterday when we got home was make a love letter block) I'm going out there today to see what small project I can muster up. 

Not Responsible

I was cruising around on IG last night while listening to another season of Alone. One of the fellow long armers made a sign for her studio that said: I am not responsible for stray seam threads, pet hair, puckers (should you fail to measure your borders), and your back being short. I think I need this in my studio. 😉

Ginny's quilt on Bernie was finished in the late afternoon. This is what I'll be starting today...

Evelyns Farm Girl Vintage II by Lori Holt

We have attempted to load this quilt twice already and maybe the third times a charm? I investigated how others have quilted this including Lori Holts long armer (or maybe she does her own long arming?) and EVERY picture I found has this quilt edge-to-edge quilted. Weird!

We're not doing that per the customer. She said to just have fun so that's what I'll be doing. 

After getting this on the frame I did a Love Letter block, a cowboy boot and I finished quilting the baby quilt on DW. It's still on the frame, but it's quilted.

This one only took a little over an hour to stitch

One customer expected today to pick up. I have to do some batt ordering and a little other admin work first though. Bleh. 

Beat the Clock

I was playing beat the clock yesterday with the humidity and the air erasable pen I use to mark with on quilts. I was also playing against mother nature who decided to cut my day short (more than once) with thunderstorms. Not only did I get off Bernie before 3:00, I couldn't even get on DW later in the evening.

Here is row four of the row by row for Ginny...

Textured wood and some flowers in the background

So I did some sit-down work and as the storms continued to roll through I continued on with more sit-down work. I got a love letter block done before 4:00. I moved over to a cowboy boot...

That was done by 5:30. Jim was still canning so I had plenty of time to do something else. I decided to get Rita the Ripper out and work on that. Turns out I had more than enough time to work on it and even put a border around (which the pattern did not).

Rita the Ripper

This pattern is still available on-line and in some stores. There is a whole series of them available including bobbins, thread, and other sewing notions. I thought this would go well with the needles wall hanging I have on the 'design wall'. 

Well, I still had some more energy and started going through my bag-o-tricks to see what I could start next. I have to have a half-dozen things going in the studio at once. However, only one or two appliqués are permitted. I can only take so much blanket stitching. I know this next project needs to be pieced first and the cowboy boots should be done before having to blanket stitch things here so this is my next project...

I've quilted a few of these for customers already and mom bought me this kit for Christmas two years ago. I'm NOT going to fuse these down. That's a lot of layers and the long arm isn't particularly jazzed about it all. Neither am I frankly.

They are large pieces and I feel like I can stitch them down as I build the blocks. I may get some fraying, but I'm okay with that. In fact, I may just promote it because that would be stinkin' cute as heck. 

Today is another round of beat the clock. Very humid and we have rain (maybe storms) coming later this afternoon. Ginny's quilt would have been done yesterday had I not had the interruption. And I have a customers' husband coming to drop off this morning, so I should be able to get the quilt done. 

Doing Pinwheels

I forgot to mention about making pinwheels for that little garden table runner. Instead of tying off I run a HST through the machine and construct pinwheels while make the love letter blocks. I think I have about 10 of them made already.

 Here is some of the quilting going into the RxR for Ginny. This is row two.

Lady Bug row

I completed row three before taking a roll in the afternoon but forgot to take a pic beforehand. On to row four today.

After working I made a Love Letter block and have the first row together in section three (there are five sections). I moved over to Mike and did the daily cowboy boot...

Moo

From there I fired up DW and did some quilting in the baby quilt. Why can't I just do E2E on these things? Oh, because I know how to do custom and it looks better. But I did do a hand guided (not computerized) E2E design in the center panel section...

Swirl flower edge to edge

While I was out playing in the studio Jim was playing in the kitchen. He loves doing this stuff (which is good because I DO NOT). Here's his accomplishments for the night...

Some of these are for customers

I'll be giving away a small jar of jelly to anybody who visits after Thanksgiving. These are all strawberry, but today he'll be doing strawberry banana and strawberry rhubarb. We don't actually eat this much jam throughout the year. Some of these are given away to family and friends. Mostly family. 

Data Centers

The new controversy out there are these data centers they want to put in our state. HUGE water and electricity consumers and thankfully, the little town of Mason we used to live in (about 12 moves ago) said "NO" to one in their community. Not to mention they are loud, loud, loud, and provide very little employment. And, as we're researching the situation, the electricity they use is passed down to the neighboring communities and population of that area increasing their already high bills.  

It seems they could find an alternative to the resources these places take?

I did work on Illa's quilt for about two hours yesterday before Linda showed. The rest of the afternoon was spent with her. When I finally got home it was nearly 4:00. I knew I had a couple of hours more worth of work on Marty so I decided to wait until this morning to try to finish her quilt up.

I did a Love Letter block, did a cowboy boot, and put the borders on the baby quilt for Jims cousin...

After taking a quick break, I started in on DW and actually got the Fireworks quilt done. It's off the frame and all trimmed. I'll have to make and bind that maybe yet tonight? I have to make the backing for the baby quilt and get that on the frame ASAP since it's going to reunion in less than a month from now. 

I'll be starting on Marty to begin the day. Hopefully I can get that finished up?