Midland Quilt Show

The morning started out busy yesterday. A quilt show in Midland and then off to Meijer to get this weeks groceries/birthday gifts for the grandkids.

The quilt show was somewhat disappointing. There were only a few "stunner" quilts and the remaining quilts were merely for utility use. The quilting in most of them was loose and lumpy. And hey, if that's what you want, great. But when those quilts are hung the loose quilting doesn't flatter them.

Here's one of the stunners...

Tantor

Look familiar? This is a quilt Linda M. made and as you can guess, I quilted it; last fall. People sure were going nuts over him and he should receive the wall hanging best of show award. Linda is very humble about her winnings and unless I ask, won't know how he came out in the voting. 

It's nice to see a quilt I did in its entirety! It lets me see where I need to improve and how I did with the overall effect.

I didn't head out to the studio after we returned because we hadn't eaten lunch yet (can't afford to go out anymore) so had to make that and watch our Saturday movie.

One movie turned into several and I just wasn't very motivated to head out there to work so swapped out Saturday for Sunday. Maybe?

As we were finishing our last movie (My Big Fat Greek Wedding II) our power went out. But nobody elses did up and down the lake. Bellers may have lost theirs but they are not currently up this weekend so they weren't here to ask. 

Jim went out to investigate and with our wind (though not alarmingly high) it appeared the ceramic insulator above our transformer broke and then pulled the connecting fuse out. It would have only affected us and Bellers because it was the transformer right here in the back yard.

Consumers said they'd be out around 1:30 a.m. so Jim waited for them and sent me to bed. It was a potential fire hazard so he wanted to make sure all was well until they arrived. They were early arriving around 1:10 and had it fixed within the hour. 

I'm glad this didn't happen during the day when I was trying to long arm. Oh man, I would have been hopping mad. 

Updated Web Site

After finishing the quilt on Marty and working on mine on DW, I finally sat down and (re)worked my web site. Its original intention has changed now that I'm beginning to wind down so I needed to modify it so not to encourage new business.

While at retreat last week I did a few short demonstrations/clinics about long arm quilting, when to get custom, and how to work borders. The Tulip quilt was using the techniques I subscribe to and look at how flat the border lays as well as how straight it is...

ALL borders should be like this and if you think you're going to kid your long armer about not measuring or using mitered piecing in your borders, they WILL know. It introduces all sorts of issues in the long run.

Jim and I are off to Midland to attend the quilt show and get a few groceries he missed when shopping local earlier this week. I'll work on DW later this afternoon/evening and get Diane's quilt on Bernie marked out for an E2E design I'm putting in on Monday.

Catching Up

I didn't blog yesterday because I was busy, busy, busy and it actually slipped my mind. That's what happens when the routine is skewed. 

I left for the quilt show up in Oscoda as soon as morning chores were done and left Jim here to his own devices. He canned, broke a jar of salsa, burned the stump by the barn, and hung my screen door. He was busy.

I, on the other hand, was socializing and looking at some beautiful, magnificent quilts. We sure have a lot of talent in that group! So, much to my surprise after walking around the show, was greeted with some ribbons but not surprising, some very missed friends.

Here's a rundown of the ribbons...

First Place, Multiple Technique Large

1st Place, Machine Pieced Large

Award of Merit (Best of Show) For Outstanding Achievement in Quiltmaking

And then non-long arm related...

Domestic Machine Quilted, Small

This was a class I taught earlier this year and about how to piece curves and she did a stunning job with her monochromatic color! 

Once I returned home, I was helping Jim with the last of the screen door installation and then headed to the studio. Have you ever used Acorn Pressing products? OMG. I was looking for some Best Press to fill up my spray bottle that is just about gone, and a few of the guild members, as well as the shop owner (vending at show) sold me on the Acorn stuff.

I had to make my BOW and the surrounding log houses for both last week and this week. While I'm not working with tiny pieces (which do not like to lay nicely) I was impressed at the feel of the fabric and how nicely my seams matched...

Block #1

I pieced the second block but haven't yet made the house surrounding it. There were a number of errors in the second block and so wanted to make sure the directions for the houses were correct before cutting for the next set. 

Last Day Home

We are getting so excited and so ready for this trip. The earthquakes and tsunamis that have occurred recently aren't going to affect our trip, but we are still a little concerned nonetheless.

Three machines yesterday. Marty has the Tilda Sampler that was worked until I could get the backing frame ironed on Ginny's quilt on Bernie... 

Little Birdies

This is going to show in September so I'm on a time crunch for this to be done today. While I was working this, and after I returned from lunch with Linda, I loaded this onto DW...

Another Time Cruncher

This one is called Winterberry and will need to be completed before I leave or as soon as I return a week from Monday. It's getting an E2E but a pretty tight one so it'll need to be babysat. 

I am a little apprehensive starting the one above while working the birds because if anything goes wrong, and I'm still grabbing/doing stuff around here for the trip, I'll become frazzled. 

Here is the quilting going into the little birds...

Close quilting

A little bit of feathers and a close stipple with some ruler work on those HST's. This is today's project. I just made up my mind. I need to remember to unplug all the stuff in the studio when I'm done and sheet cover all the tops on the machines. Whew, so much to do before we leave. 

Class, Quilt Show, and Moving

Class was very fun and I have all the pieces cut out for the quilted jacket. Talk about an emotional thing to do; cut up a completely finished quilt... 

A repurpose exercise

The coat in chunks

So, after we were finished with our class (around 2:00) I wandered over to the Midland Quilters Guild show at the Midland Center for the Arts. What a beautiful venue and what a great show! Several quilts I've worked on for customers were displayed and it was nice to see them in their full glory instead of laterally on the frame. 

I purchased a quilt kit from a quilt shop in Chesaning related to our lake and talked to a LOT of people during both the class and the quilt show. I have one business card left and I had zero intention of doing that. 

After getting home around 4:00-ish I inhaled some lunch and then Jim was able to show me what he did while I was gone. 

Getting ready for Marty on the east wall

DW is now facing the garage

The room looks kind of empty on the east side but only until Thursday morning. Haircuts this morning first thing and then I think I may piece a little before lunch. 

Fun Stats

We still don't have any heat. But we do have a space heater and are working with that to make sure the current studio is at a decent enough temp for me to work. But it takes a while to get the room warm enough. 

I did my books yesterday for month/year end while waiting for the space heater and here's some fun stats: 

In 2023 I quilted 136 quilts. 

Only eight of those were mine and they were either turtles or small wall hangings. 

29 were edge to edge and 107 were custom making custom nearly 80% of my work. 

I average a quilt off one of the machines every 2.68 days 

To date (meaning since I've had my long arms...not just in 2023) I've quilted 3,810,743.43 square inches. That number is actually under the amount because that does not factor in any basting or ditching I've done. The number only includes the square inches of each quilt prior to loading. 

Enough with the stats. Still working on Linda's quilt. Here's what is going into each of the arcs...

The quitting on the light areas shows up so much better

More of Linda's quilt today. I was stuck on the section below the arcs. I doodled with that last night on the iPad and came up with several ideas. I'm going to preview paper it today and see which one is the winner. Stay tuned. 

No Heat

Woke up this morning and Jim had the "door" to the new studio all wide open and that furnace was just cranking away. Our main furnace, for the rest of the house, does not have heat. The furnace guys were already here this morning and apparently the mother board has blown. They went back to get one. Cha-Ching. 

Meanwhile, the backroom, spare bedroom, and current studio are all closed up trying to conserve heat. This on the cusp of the new six inches of snow we got overnight and the winds that are picking up out there. 

I can't work out in the studio until we get heat. Trying to long arm in 50 degree temps just doesn't work so maybe I'll drag my Sew Steady table out and my small sewing machine and put some blocks together until the heater guys reappear. 

I did get Bernadettes quilt done yesterday just before lunch. Right after a quick lunch I got right on Linda's quilt and despite not coming off the machine until 6:30, only got about the first 10" done. This quilt is intense!

Still can't see much of the quilting

So. Here I am. Stuck until we get heat. Oh how these modern conveniences are so relied upon. 

Song Titles and Words

If you know anything about me at all you know I love music. I'm at that age where instead of just singing along to the melody I actually listen to the words of a song. Many of them, while growing up with them, make so much more sense now. 

Listen to some of the music you grew up with and when I say listen, really, really listen. Not only to the words, but the music itself. It's a wonder all todays artists do is remake songs of old, because honestly, that's the best music out there. 

Linda's quilt is sitting on DW just waiting for the batting to arrive. But what's different here?

Are those pins?

Wait. What's with the extra bar in front?

Okay, here's the deal. I charge a LOT more to do a show quilt. This is just the beginning list of reasons why. Show quilts should not be floated. Even though they are judged laying flat and how they hang is not gerenally a judge-able event, quits that are floated on the frame can sometimes hang a little weird.

I don't think any of mine do since I measure with each roll forward to make sure they are not veering off into never never land. But since this quilt is going to an AQS show, I'm not taking any chances. Since I have to actually attach the top to the extra bar, I have to pin the quilt onto that leader of said bar. 

But here's a glimpse of the quilt top before it all gets tucked away. 

NOT a Judy Niemeyer

This is actually a design by Lakeview Quilting and Linda McGibbon, who is on par with Judy Niemeyer and Jacquelyn deJong...as you can see. 

On a lighter (or hotter) note

This is some of the quilting going into Bernadettes quilt. She asked I put flames in all the black negative space. I'm going to work on that this morning and part of this afternoon before getting into anything of my own. 

The drywall mud guy (Mark) was supposed to come out today. He may still, but we haven't seen anybody yet, although, it's still kind of early I guess. 

Houston, Baby!

Still working on Janice's top on DW. Diana's top is the actual first quilt I've worked on Bernie. We started last night (man he quilts like a dream). So here's what's on Bernie today... 

Diana's beautiful wooly wall hanging

Linda McGibbon, from Lakeview Quilting, designs quilt patterns and generally does her own quilting. She has had me do a few custom pieces in the past to include this one...

Going to Houston

This is being featured on the cover of the Timeless Treasures catalog and it is also going to Houston. This exact quilt! Linda obviously made it, but I quilted it for her and I'm so honored!!

Had a nail appointment today. Went to Pieces and found a cute kit with books on it to make for somebody (probably my dad) and have chores yet to do this morning before turning on the machines. 

The neighbors are getting the framing put in for their new deck and Lucy has determined, loudly, they don't belong there because before I left this morning, was barking up a storm. She hasn't discovered them since I've gotten home, and hopefully she won't. Her little bark is a bit nervy!

Show Goodies

Well, I did it. I think. Still trying to get the financing end of things worked out, but I purchased a second long arm. And another no-frills piecing machine. And Jim bought me a Critter Cutter for my birthday. DW got a new set of leaders sitting here waiting for me to put on. I purchased two new patterns for Caleb and Lia's new apartment, and we got to meet up with old and new friends and customers. We stopped by moms on our way through Gladwin and finally got home around 8:30. What. A. Day!

Linda's quilt is still on the frame, but we had errands to do this morning starting with getting the girls. From there it was off to Pieces to drop off brochures, run to the produce stand for tomatoes, pick up the new (used) snow blower, stop by the butcher to get chicken breasts, and then back home to unload said snow blower out of the back of the truck. It was well past lunch time when we got everything done. 

I'm just getting on the machine now but thought I better at least share the news about the new machine coming. 

Now I have to think of two new names for these machines. I think the Elna (this machine is exactly like my Janome 1600P but cuter) will be named Ellie, but the new long arm (a Bernini Q20 on a 10' Frame) still needs a name.