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!

Sometimes It Feels Like Forever

This was the first weekend in five weekends (Jim pointed out) that we haven't had to travel over 200 miles. The weekend was long, but quick...if that makes any sense. And it feels like forever since I've been on the big machines. 

They were mocking me this weekend while I was working on this...

McKenna Ryan "The Gentle Barn"

This is where I ended yesterday...

Time for borders

It still needs to be trimmed/squared and then borders need to be added, but the appliqué portion is done. I'm not going to blanket stitch this. I think, instead, I'm going to add some tulle over the top and straight line quilt it. Or checker board quilt it. Still debating and probably won't make up my mind until I get it on the frame. 

I'm going to work on Linda H's quilt on Bernie most of this morning while frame ironing the backing for the next one going onto DW. That's today's plan anyway. We'll see how that plays out as the day progresses. 

Taking Advantage of the Early Autumn Rain

Having a cold, cloudy, windy, rainy day is to me, a slice of heaven. Fall is here and coming in with a vengeance. To my glee.

It gives me permission to spend the entire day in here on customer quilts and my own as well. Often, in the evening, when it's nice out, I find myself not as productive because I'm dwelling on and/or doing all that needs to be done outside. Bring on the poopy weather I say!

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

Cathedral by Alison Glass

Yep, this has been hanging out on the design wall for about a week now. I discussed the Misty Fuse fusible I put into this piece (rather than the Heat n' Bond Lite I usually use) and found it is very pliable and not as stiff as the H&B. BUT, it's not as robust either. I was finding corners starting to lift while it was hanging on the wall. 

Maybe I didn't press them down long enough, but whatever the case may be, it needs to be quilted before it all comes raining down from the design wall and separating from the background fabric. 

Angela Walters did a Midnight Quilter video on this exact pattern and I'm going to quilt it similar to how she did it. I'm not going to do the pebbling in the center as she did, and the background fabric will be filled a little less than what she put into it, but all the thread changes will occur as well as some of her echoing ideas.

After quilting the "Welcome" panel yesterday and loading this one for today's work, I continued on with the Puff/Pillow quilt. This is where I left off last night. The below pic is the layout prior to starting on the stuffing. 

It's not turning out nearly as large as I had hoped. But it's not nearly as difficult as I had envisioned either. I think maybe I'll make another one with some of the scraps I have in the dresser and make it much larger than this one. Hmmm???